Dinner with Friends

I'm totally going to think that this evening was just an excuse so that our good friends Melinda and Ernest didn't have to cook. Not that I mind of course, I love to feed people but their ruse was that they were lonely and were "missing y'all". Actually Melinda said that, I don't think I've heard that southern slang from Ernest despite his many years as a Virginian. Spaghetti was recommended as a dinner of choice and so Pasta Night came to fruition. Inviting the gang over to our place we furiously cleaned and deodorized as there have been a rash of indoor poopings from a cat whose name shall not be mentioned. As I was spending the morning waiting for a UPS man who did not show up, I took the time to make my homemade tomato sauce. Here's my recipe...
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of big honking garlic
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped or 1/4 cup dried basil
2 tbsp sugar
Cook onion and garlic in 3 tbsp olive oil until translucent. Turn up the heat and add sugar and cook until they brown in the pan. Add tomatoes and simmer for an hour or more if you like me are waiting for the UPS guy...more time just intensifies the flavour. About 10 minutes before you serve add the fresh basil otherwise add the dry with the tomatoes. Freezes beautifully. Makes enough sauce for a package of spaghetti noodles.
Having decided to make spaghetti and a lasagna I just add about a half a cup of cream to half of the sauce to use in my lasagna, my version of a rosee. I am also a advocate of fresh pasta in lasagna, you can buy the President's Choice ones now for 99 cents for a pack of 12 which makes a three layer beast in a 9 x 13 pan.
Onto the set up. We broke out the company dishes, matching flatware and giant serving bowls. I hid the chocolate zucchini cake and lemon pound cake from my sweet addicted husband in case he had the pre-dinner munchies and grated some fresh Parmesan. The doorbell rang and in popped our friend Linda with a cold noodle salad full of veggie and shrimp. Next up Melinda and Ernest with a huge salad, homemade dressing a pecans, that woman loves her nuts and we love her for loving them. Our very special guests came next, Jordan and Vanessa, fresh off a bike tour that took them from Ottawa to the valley in search of farmland. They didn't find their land but did get paying jobs at our neighbours farm up the road and a some work with their former WOOFing hosts at the organic beef farm. Bearing fresh picked blueberries and peaches they were readily welcomed. Nahleen and JC and Mark and Julie arrived en masse. Homemade garlic bread and saffron mushroom cream pasta joined the buffet and we all took seats at our harvest table including the beagles at strategic begging spots. With more wine than you can shake a stick at...Nahleen was in attendance...good food, good friends, good conversation, the evening was a great success.