Sunday's on the way!

Easter - or Resurrection Sunday, if you prefer - is my very favorite holiday.  It's the triumph of life over death, the triumph of hope over despair, and the triumph of good over evil.  If you want to join us at First Pres in Salinas tomorrow to celebrate, click the link to the right.  We're happy to have you!  The title of this blog refers to a very old sermon I've heard preached many times.  "Sometimes it feels like [Good] Friday night - but Sunday's on the way!"

Life is at the center of what I'm trying to do with this blog . . . bring us back to the place where life is connected to the land, to Creation itself.  I know most of us won't give up processed foods or go to only humanely-raised beef.  I still drive through fast food places and sneak a small order of onion rings or french fries.  I keep canned food (that I didn't can - the quantities used in home canning are formidable) in case of emergencies -- like, I need to make a black bean hummus right now -- or we've had an earthquake.  One of those.  And most Saturdays you can find me wine-tasting with Coach at BevMo, a large retail chain.  But if we all do something - like buying from farmers who live near us, and sometimes giving up berries from thousands of miles away - we can start to move away from the industrial food complex and back to, well, home, in the truest sense of the word.

Home is simple, so my dinner tonight is simple, too.  Before you poo-poo the anchovy, I dare you - no, I triple dog dare you, to try the recipe as written.  This is enough for one of me or two more reasonable eaters. It's WAY quicker to make than to write - takes about 12 minutes, once you've rinsed and soaked one anchovy for 30 minutes in milk. Take a clove of garlic (the dried stuff, not the fresh spring garlic).  Hold your knife horizontally over the clove and press down with the heel of your hand to crush slightly.  Peel the garlic clove and cut off the little tough part at the bottom.  Cut out any green parts you find.  Chop slightly and put on the cutting board with your anchovy.  Now, slide the blade of your knife sideways at a low angle across the anchovy and the garlic, scraping them together until you have a smooth paste.

Cook about 2 oz. of spaghetti (I use whole wheat) according to package directions.  When it's within 3 minutes of being done, put 1/4 c. of olive oil into a pan just large enough to hold the cooked spaghetti.  Place the garlic/anchovy mixture in one lump in the middle of the pan and stir gently.  Don't spread it around.  You don't want to brown the mixture, just heat it through.  As soon as you smell the garlic, scoop out the pasta with a slotted spoon and put it into the oil.  Stir gently to coat the pasta.  Add some hot pepper, and/or lemon zest, and/or chopped parsely, and/or dried bread crumbs (a tablespoon at most, if the pasta seems runny), and some parmesan and serve immediately.  Enjoy, and until next time, I'll see you at the market!