about the time I let Aaron cook dinner

Ever since we've been married, Aaron has often mentioned how he would like to make his grandmother's spaghetti recipe. I would always reply, "You need to find the recipe."

He claimed that one time she had showed him how to make it and he had written it down  in a random notebook. He also claimed that he remembered it, mostly.

This, of course, made me nervous. Aaron isn't necessarily known as the "rememberer" around here. And I am not necessarily known as one who will make anything without strictly following a recipe.

But, something last week made me decide to let him try his attempt at this elusive spaghetti recipe. Maybe it is my pregnancy brain. Maybe it is because I'm usually dead tired at the end of the day and don't feel like cooking. Who knows.

I told him that he needed to give me a list of what he needed me to buy for it. He said he had to call his mom first.

I listened to his side of the conversation and tried to butt out when I heard him say things like, "So I don't have to add that if I don't want to..."

When he got off the phone, I asked, "So, did you write it down?"

"It's not really something you can write down."

"What?"

"Well, it's never been written down exactly..."

"What?! Well then it's not a recipe! It's play kitchen!"

Then he laughed at me. I took a deep breath. "What do you need at the store?"

"Just tomato paste. We have everything else."

"That's it? Nothing else?"

"Well, I thought we would need more garlic, but my mom said you can just add however much you feel like."

"Dear Lord. What have I gotten myself into..."



That night, Aaron got home with his tomato paste and a smile on his face. "Oh boy! Let's make spaghetti!"

"Do you want my help?" I asked.

"Only if you want to help."

I wasn't sure what the best thing for me to do was. I tried to stay out of his way as much as possible, but I did help with a few things.

Making meatballs. No measuring. Just "what feels right." (a.k.a. my kitchen nightmare)

"I'm not sure how many cans we'll need. So I got four." Oi. Even Penny looks suspicious.

Mincing garlic. He's still super cute.

While I browned the meatballs in a pan, the pasta was boiling, and Aaron set to work on the most important part:  the sauce.

He added two cans of tomato paste to the garlic and onion, and then kept adding water until "it looked right." Then there was spices, salt and pepper, and sugar (which I find so strange to add to spaghetti sauce). 

Finally, we had a finished product.

I have to admit, it was tasty. We both agreed that it needed a little less sugar next time. Other than that, he said it tasted just like grandma's. And I thought it tasted really good.

I liked it. Baby liked it. Aaron liked it.

Therefore, it's on the menu again this week. Anything I don't have to cook is totally on the menu.