Memoirs

My Last Meal

Up until a year ago last October I was a meat eater, and I would have to say that spaghetti and meatballs ranked way up there as one of my mealtime favorite foods. Whenever my spaghetti pot simmered, visitors miraculously showed up. I have heard of people eating pizza for breakfast, but one of my granddaughters is the only person I know of who asked for my leftover spaghetti

Jim and I both loved it so much, we had it one year for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a big hit! Is there anyone who does not like spaghetti?

I always made my own sauce and for the meatballs, I hand-mixed ground beef with onion, egg, breadcrumbs, grated parmesan, and special spices of nutmeg, allspice and dill. Then I shaped it into balls that I dropped into the bubbling sauce. Next, I added in a package of cubed boneless stewing beef. This gets so tender it practically melts in your mouth. As the pot continued to simmer, I fried sweet Italian sausage, sliced lengthwise and browned to a surface crispiness. Drained of as much fat as possible, it got dropped into the mixture. It simmered all day on low heat, and by dinnertime the sauce was ready to wrap itself around each strand of angel hair pasta with that perfect meaty and tomato flavor.

With it we always had piping hot garlic bread made from a fresh Uppercrust or Publix baguette. Nothing can beat the aroma of baking garlic bread drifting from a hot oven…except for maybe the taste of it on your tongue. And of course it’s always good when soaking up extra sauce.

In order to alleviate the cook’s conscience for all this rich meat and garlic butter, I had to prepare a healthy salad of broccoli florets, mandarin orange slices, dried cranberries, and pecans tossed with a low-fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Sometimes I would lose my focus and sprinkle crumbled blue cheese on top.

For dessert, store-bought New York style cheesecake was the norm, but I never had room for any. And the next day…and the next, the sauce got even better, and it was always gone too soon.

When Penny asked me to write about my last meal, the first thing that popped into my head was a whopper bag of potato chips since I am a potato chip junkie. But after thinking it over, and even though I call myself a vegetarian now, I would have to choose my spaghetti and meatballs for my last meal, not only for the taste but for the many memories of loved ones I can picture in my mind as they gathered around my kitchen table to share in this family favorite.