Funny Story:

In college, I had to use a million different passwords to access all these different sections of classes and email inboxes and to see different assignments. You had to log into practically each new window. At one point I had changed the password for my university email and forgot to write it down. So I went down to the campus center and waited in line only to reach an old, no-nonsense student-hater behind the desk. I politely explained that I had forgotten my password to my email and needed her to look it up for me. She asked for my student ID and began vigorously typing. At least sixty long seconds went by before she stopped typing, looked at me and said, "It's Spaghettios."

Even though I don't eat anything I used to eat and love as a kid, I still get cravings for the canned, boxed, or frozen food-like substances I used to eat with my brother when I was growing up. I remember my mom packing me a thermos full of Spaghettios in my lunch box in 1st grade. Some of the Spaghettios even had meatballs in them. Now I don't want to know what that meatball goes through to stay tasting delicious after sitting in a can on a grocery store shelf and then in a pantry for over a year, but damn.. those meatballs were good. So, I've made vegan meatballs before using various methods, and though the flavor is always great, the meatballs simply aren't meaty, and they turn out mushy. I've tried baking, pan-frying, dry-frying, deep-frying, roasting, freezing then cooking... It seems my meatball days are over. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Now, however good a canned and aged meatball tastes, the"Os"are obviously the best part. And since I currently take no issue with their O-like shape, I can still fully enjoy them. But not from a can, please: what do you take me for? I saw a bag of "O" shaped pasta while at a specialty market in Massachusetts and have had it on hand for a while with this purpose in mind. I made a fairly regular red sauce but added some cashews and brown sugar and gave it a blend. Success. I was 9 again. Mmm.

Now, it's the weekend, and half my state has been evacuated and everyone else has to stay inside until Monday because of the hurricane. Pie sounds good to me.