55 days... Contemplation on Spaghetti, with a side of Marathon

I love spaghetti and meatballs. It has always been a favorite of mine, especially my mom's. We're not an Italian family by any means... Irish, Scottish, English and German mostly, not exactly the lineage of the world's best cooks. But there's just something about my mom's spaghetti and meatballs.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the sauce out of the jar and frozen meatballs from the freezer section, and everything to do with it being made by mom - a comfort in itself. I mean, why else would I request it after spending a school semester in Italy (second only to the real Thanksgiving dinner I'd missed abroad)? So I took a page out of my mom's cookbook today and made spaghetti and meatballs. Wasn't quite as good as mom's, but it definitely hit the spot.

I'm not sure what makes a 'comfort food', some psychologist has probably written his or her (probably her) dissertation on it. From a less scientific perspective, I suppose it's simple - whatever food brings you comfort. Because it's what we were given as children to soothe (flat ginger ale when I was sick), or perhaps it's an association thing? A food that's associated with a comforting time or memory (who doesn't love that scene from Lady and the Tramp)?

I have an amazing cache of spaghetti related happy memories. Memories that are fondly looked back on because of the simplicity or joyousness of that moment in time or because spaghetti was involved? Oh please! Spaghetti was merely an enhancement to an already good memory. So, thanks spaghetti and meatballs!

Ok, here goes a terrible segue... So, marathon runners eat spaghetti before the big race, right? Oh! Speaking of marathons...

My friend Eric is running the Chicago Marathon with his brothers on October 10th. It's his first marathon, and since I find myself at loose ends, I'm going out to cheer them on! I'm so super excited for Eric. He's on tour with Mary Poppins right now and has impressively still found time to train for this. He is an inspiration and a wonderful friend. I can't wait to be a part of his amazing experience. GO ERIC!!