Another Random Mess of Friday Randomness

I paid $10 for pasta sauce the other day.  I know, I must be insane, right?  It all started at the orthodontist’s office (as so many torrid tales are wont to do), where I sat reading an issue of Cooking Light while various sadists tortured my lovely daughter.  The magazine had a delicious looking recipe for Chicken Parmesan, as well as a taste test of several different pasta sauces.  Just a month or so ago, I saw a taste test of pasta sauces on America’s Test Kitchen, but unfortunately, I don’t think that the winner of that contest and the winner of this contest were both included in either taste test.  So they never stood up against each other.  But I tried the winner of the ATK contest, Bertolli, and was happy with the results.  Now, I wanted to see what could possibly be so wonderful about a pasta sauce that I would pay more than double what the other brands are charging.  I know what you’re thinking.  A fool and her money are soon parted.  But you know what?  This pasta sauce ROCKED.  It was about 8 times better than any other sauce I’ve tried.  So, if it’s 8 times better, at 3 times the price, it’s worth trying if you can afford it, right?

So now you’re wondering what the $10 pasta sauce could possibly be, right?  OK, I’ll tell you.  It was Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce with Basil.  (not sure why they have to mention basil twice…) Really, really good.  I suspect I’ll close my eyes and pay the price again.  And again.  Really good. I meant to take a picture of the final result, but I forgot. Dang. Mine looked about 10x better than their picture, btw. Here’s the recipe for the Chicken Parmesan, made with Rao’s sauce and really good Parmesan cheese from Italy. I’m not always willing to pay more for premium ingredients, but other times, I remember the old software saying, “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” This was definitely not garbage. Esp with the really good quality chicken we got. We didn’t have as much of it as we would have had with a regular store brand chicken, but it was better, so we didn’t miss it. Mmmmm.

I saw this yesterday, about how President Obama is going to make a speech next week, which will be available for schools to watch all over the country.  And people are freaking out.  Um, why?  We never freaked out when H.W. Bush did the same thing.  We didn’t freak out when Reagan did the same thing.  What is it about Obama that has people so damn scared that he might say something that will turn their kids into freakazoids?  The planned speech, as I understand it, is encouraging kids to work hard and stay in school.  How is that dangerous and somehow going to indoctrinate our youth?  Sigh.

What else. Been watching Thirtysomething on DVD this week. It’s still a captivating, really good show. But gosh, they’re earnest babyboomers, aren’t they?

Weird Meals on Wheels yesterday. 3 houses in a row not home. What’s with that? Since they’re all in one area, I was starting to wonder…is there some natural or man-made disaster around here that I don’t know about? Dangerous fumes? Madman on the loose with a gun, so they won’t answer their door? What? I gave away two of the meals to other people on my route, but the last one got pretty smashed, so I ended up throwing it away. Sad, huh? I would have brought it home for the dog, but she has stomach problems, and I don’t want to deal with picking that up. What a country, huh? When I throw away perfectly good beef sukiyaki just because the container got smashed? That means we (or at least I and those I could find to ask) don’t know true hunger. Be thankful.

Oh, found dog poop in Maya’s room the other day. What’s that about? Stupid dog. It was dry and I don’t know how many days it was there. At least it was easy to clean up, right? For now at least, Maya has to keep her room cleaner, so if something like this happens, it doesn’t fade into the background.

No news on Gen yet. Her vet was out on jury duty for many days, and is now trying to dig through her pile of stuff. I’ll let you know when I hear something.

Oh again, it’s Labor Day on Monday. If you enjoy the 40 hour work week, safe working conditions, and a few paid holidays a year, thank the Unions. I know they’re a pain in the ass sometimes. But they’re still working for all of us, even if it doesn’t always seem that way. Without them, we’d be in genuine trouble. I may be planning on sleeping in, going to a movie, that sort of thing, but I’m going to take a few minutes to remember all who have fought so hard for our rights, for the rights of workers.

Enjoy your weekend everyone, Happy Friday!