Today I became a real Italian!!!
 

You guys will laugh when you hear how I spent the day.

I live in a mostly Italian neighborhood. The people here (the ones from Sicily) well, every August they make their SAUCE!!!

And I mean MAKE THE SAUCE!!

In my landlord's back yard, there are propane tanks, seives, and 25 crates of tomatoes.

Well, first you cut up the tomatoes, then you put them in this HUGE vat attached to a propane tank. Then you fill the vat with water, then you cook the tomatoes.

After they are finished, you put them on the table and with this gigantic thing, you put them in the seive (strainer kind of thing). And you put the same batch through 3 times.

So there was Melody, straining, lifting, cooking, chopping, etc.

Then when the tomatoes are all strained. THEN YOU POUR THE LIQUID into these jars that are filled with fresh basil.

THEN. you put the canning tops on. THEN, you place them back in the vat, fill it up with water and you boil this for 20 minutes.

25 CRATES OF TOMATOES. God only knows how many jars we made.

I stopped counting. And forget about what happens after they are finished boiling. You have to take a big pair of pliers, or a ratchet wrench, (something to hold the lid away from you so you don't get burned). Then one, by one, my landlord (he wouldn't let anyone else do this), moved each jar from the vat. The we carried the vats of boiling water over to the drains in the middle of the back yard.

We repeated this process all day long.

DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG THIS TOOK??

These are people in their 80's. They wouldnt buy a can of tomato sauce if you paid them. They also do not believe in eating in restaurants or eating out. They only eat what they grow and what they cook.

And then during all of this, one of my neighbors (we all helped out), she brought out a tray of little cups from Italy and she served Expresso and cookies.

It was like a day in Italy.

So right now, there are hundreds of jars cooling in the garage with cool blankets placed over them.

Very interesting to have participated in this all.

They wanted to give me some of the sauce but I declined.

I want the giant zucchinis growing from the garden. I'll take them anytime. And they have beautiful grapes growing from a tressle behind my back window.

Every year they give me bunches and I make fresh juice for Alan and for them.

Ah the smell of tomatoes and basil is wonderful!!!

bon gusto, sounds like you had an eventful day mel

wow....to me it sounds like fun....Now its time to make the gravy.:)

ummmmm please reconsider and send my way :D

it sounds like a really special day Mel:)

I always put up my own sauce I learned in Italy....in fact made my parents and kids some homemade manicotti tonight! Congrats on learning the art of sauce making!!

Did you make manicotti with homemade crepes instead of noodles???
That is one of my faves.:):grouphug:

Nope I made my own noodles! I have a noodle machine I love it! You put your dough in...turn the wheel and you can make noodles of all sizes!

I can only hazard a guess as to what my sugar reading would be if I started making my own noodles.

I haven't had a noodle in 5 years.

lol

I've tried the smart pasta, the whole grain, the whole wheat, and I throw them in the garbage.

Dreamfields comes the closest to tasting what Pasta should taste like.

Sometimes I allow myself half a cup of cooked pasta with veggies, but usually it's fish and broccoli and zucchini.

But noodles??? I used to eat the NO Yolks version.

remember Hungarian Goulash??

those were the days.

Tuna Noodle Casserole, Hungarian Goulash, Noodle Pudding.

Now, I'm like Flipper. I live on fish.

lol

sounds yummy.:)

OMG Mel I gotta dig it up....but I have a recipe for making pasta out of zucchini, so it really isn't pasta at all! Basically you just take a zucchini slice it very thin with a mandolin and cut it in strips or use a pasta machine to cut it.