Christmas vacation - Day 12 (New Year's Eve)

(or, what I like to call, "The Curse of the Christmas Visit")

I woke up at 7:00 AM and checked outside. They had predicted 1-3 inches of snow, but I doubt we got even an inch, here. I made myself a breakfast of scrambled eggs and Frank's Red Hot sauce. While I was eating it I heard a weird "crackling" sound. I went and checked on the cats, but they were in the living room and both sleeping. Hmmm...

So, when Sadie came out of the office, she told me there was a weird noise (which I had heard) and an electrical smell coming from under the desk! Uh, oh! I ran in and checked. Everything was working (the printer, the cable modem, the monitor), everything, that is, for except the CPU! It was off and I could not get it to turn back on!! I called Jake (way too early, I knew) and left a message.

So, we all proceeded to take showers. At some point, Lu decided to do some laundry and she told me the downstairs drain had overflowed! Uh, oh! I told her not to worry as I do have some trouble with my drain tiles out to the road.

The situation just got worse and finally, I decided to worry. So, I took off the access cover to a cleanout located in front of the downstairs bathroom and got my Dad's old 100-foot metal snake. I got about � of it down the drain before I hit something solid and had to quit. Is it fixed? Even though it's only 45 feet from the house to the road, somehow, I don't think so...

Lu and Sadie were scheduled to spend New year's Eve night at Lu's friend Kathy Dunbar's, so they left about 5:00 PM. I had been thawing out one pound of ground pork, about 3/4 pound of ground chuck and a full pound of hamburger for tonight's dinner. Before she left, Sadie make a joke about me needing some meat after spending too much time with vegetarians. I agreed!

I read until 6:00 PM and then started making simple spaghetti and meatballs. I used an Alice Water's recipe. I combined my meats and then seasoned them with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. While they were getting happy, playing together, I cut about one cup of the Italian bread into one-inch cubes (also cutting my thumb in the process), putting them in a small bowl and covering them with 1/2 cup of milk.

Once the bread was softened, I squeezed it dry and combined it with the meat and a medium yellow onion, grated (on the box grater). Then I added a tablespoon of olive oil, two garlic cloves, peeled and ground into a paste (email me and I will explain how) a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs, a tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley, a pinch of cayenne pepper, one egg (lightly beaten) 1/4 cup of grated Parmesano-Reggiano, salt and fresh ground pepper.

I made meatballs from this, slightly bigger than a ping-pong ball. Normally, I would have used the cast-iron pan to sear them on all six sides (brown meat tastes good!) but I was lazy and used Alice's alternative method, which was to put them on a sheet pan. I cooked them in a 450 degree F oven for about six minutes.

Meanwhile, I took a 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes and added them to a pot with olive oil and sauteed, minced garlic. I squished the tomatoes with my hands (always a sensual pleasure) and then let that reduce. I added the leftover sauce from the eggplant Parmesan and called it good (after taste-testing).

I added all the meatballs to the sauce and let them get happy for a while. Meanwhile, Jake called and said he would be over New Year's morning and pick up the CPU (he thinks its the $50 power supply I fried) and drop off a loaner laptop so the Blog could live again!

At 7:00 PM, I called my two friends to wish them a Happy New Year. I got through to B___ but only could leave a message for Leon.

Back in the kitchen, I cooked 1/2 pound of spaghetti and then topped that with three meatballs and sauce. I topped that with Parmesano-Reggiano and ate it watching some taped TV. The rest of the spaghetti and meatballs, I divvied up into three 4-cup freezer containers, labeled them and put them in the freezer for another day.

I ate it watching TV (and it was damn good, BTW) until I fell asleep. I woke up for a bathroom break at 11:30 PM. I stayed up to watch the ball drop in New York's Times Square (Channel 4 with Carson Daly - Channel 7's Dick Clark was like waaay too creepy) and then shut everything down at 12:30 AM and went to sleep.