Normal

It’s strange to think about the things that have become a normal part of your life, and then to remember when they didn’t even exist on your radar.

I’m speaking specifically about the strange sensation that came over me as I Facebook stalked an old friend from high school (no, I am not ashamed) and then realized, through a series of strangely linked thoughts that sometimes happens when I’m sleep deprived, that she had no idea who The English One was. How strange, considering the fact that I spent hours upon hours napping in her bed and eating her food and walking back and forth to downtown Andover with her, and I had spent an equal amount of time since then with The English One. Unrelated friends, unrelated circumstances, but two different people who have made an impact on my life and who are completely unaware of the other’s existence.

My blog is a bit like that. In the past three years, it has become a part of my daily life: taking pictures of my food before I eat has become normal, and scratching down clever phrases I think of that I will later turn into incredibly witty, genius blog posts is habit. (OK, not the genius part… but I do write a lot of stuff down on the backs of receipts.)

The point is, things slowly become normal. Slowly, so slowly that you usually don’t notice it until it’s already happened. And then you turn around and look and see what your life has become, and only you know how different it is from what has already been and what will later be.

I notice this every time I move to a new city: I walk through the streets my first day there, taking in everything as new and unusual, and yet remaining constantly aware of the fact that in a matter of weeks, all that is new and strange to me now will be my new normal. That supermarket could be my supermarket. That crazy homeless man could be my crazy homeless man.

This is my 300th post. 300 times that I’ve sat down at my computer to ramble, post a recipe and a picture, and unleash it out onto the Internet to see what will become of it. When I first started, it was strange and new, but now it’s just the status quo… and I’ve loved every minute of it.

I’m very happy to integrate my 300th post with a project I hope as many of you as possible will contribute to: DonorsChoose.com is a website that connects people with school classrooms in need. Tomato Kumato is funding four projects that bring cooking to elementary school, something that I think is very important. To donate or to read more about the project, please visit the following link: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=24617

As has become habit for me, I am posting something tomato-related on this landmark day for me. This is a new way of making pasta with tomato sauce, something I learned to do very recently but that has since replaced my old tomato-sauce making ways as the new normal, the new easy. And anyone who thinks it’s weird or off or not “right,” an Italian taught me how to do it this way. And if we can trust anyone with tomato sauce, I think it’s safe to say that an Italian may be the right person.

New Normal Pasta and Tomato Sauce
1 cup uncooked pasta
salt
1 cup tomate frito
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil

Bring a salted pot of water to a boil, and place the pasta in the pot. Allow to cook for 2 minutes, then drain, reserving the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot with about 1/4 cup of the pasta water, the tomate frito, the garlic, the pepper and the basil.

Cook, stirring fairly continuously and adding pasta water by the 1/4 cupful as needed until the pasta is cooked al dente, about 7 minutes. Discard the garlic clove and serve. The pasta will absorb the tomate frito as it cooks. You can increase this recipe–it may take a few extra minutes–but do not increase the amount of water added at a time: it’s a fine line between silky smooth sauce and liquidy, soupy mess.