Surviving the Domestic Jungle

I think I have discovered that Italian food is my favorite to cook and it’s not just because I was raised by an Italian mother. My youth was filled with Panettone at Christmas and Gnocchi for dinner. My grandmother made fantastic lasagna and Nutella was her favorite treat! I think the reason I love cooking italian food is just the shear pleasure of eating it all meaty and cheesy and tomatoey and extra fattening. I have so many italian cookbooks and actually cook out of them with minimal fear that I am going to screw it up. I don’t make any sauces from scratch like my mom does but I don’t have the time either! I have kids dangling off me every time I try and attempt any type of cooking so it better be a quick process! I’d like to one day but at this point in life I am unable. Tonight I made my spaghetti with a meat sauce (it’s soooo good) and then I was feeling all creative and thought I would just attempt some garlic bread. I melted a stick of real butter and then used my garlic press and pressed 2 cloves of fresh delicious garlic. For those who don’t know, I love garlic. LOVE garlic and I only usually eat it raw. I believe that garlic has healing powers and it is actually considered natures antibiotic! Anyway, I mixed up the butter and garlic and used a kitchen brush (I don’t know the technical term for the brush my husband uses on the bbq) and painted (that’s what I call it!) the white bread with it. It smelled heavenly. I turned the oven on a low heat and popped them in the oven expecting to pull out garlic bread heaven. Well, it didn’t quite happen like that. I basically pulled out a piece of white bread that had been warmed and tasted like it had been buttered with a knife that had just chopped garlic. I am assuming I need more heat or more butter or more trail and errors! No one ate it of course except for me and to my defense it was not that bad but it was not that garlic bread I envisioned with a crunch and a buttery indulgence. This will not discourage me on my quest to add as much unnecessary fat to the family dinner as possible! Onward and forward!!