Grandmom's Spaghetti and Meatballs (and sausage)

I always really love going to visit my Grandmother at her at her home in Pennsylvania, near the Delaware Water Gap in the Pocono mountains. Going to visit her is a great escape and a return to my roots. I always look forward to the one thing (besides Grandmom) that always welcomes us when we visit - her amazing homemade spaghetti sauce. There is always, never fail and no matter what time of year, a huge pot of it simmering away (in her copper-bottomed aluminum sauce pot) on the stove. The smell beckons you to come inside. This is the smell I love and takes me back. [It's like the scene in Ratatouille when the scary, bitter old food critic tastes the ratatouille that Remy, the rat, made for him and it causes him to flashback to his beautiful childhood and from that point on he becomes a changed man and a nice person again and is so grateful for the beautiful memory of his youth].

The smell of Grandmom's homemade pot of tomato sauce is divine. She often used tomatoes from her garden that she had canned. Even when she has to used the store bought cans - the sauce comes out tasting like HER sauce. It isn't just the tomato sauce itself... it contains (no one else can duplicate) meatballs and sausage swimming in the red goodness of liquified lycopene rich fruits... otherwise known to many as il sugo di pomodoro con polpette e salciccia. Just as soon as we get inside, the water gets boiled and the spaghetti thrown in for a dip. This sauce is always the first thing we eat when we arrive. This stuff just can't be replicated by anyone other than a nonna. (I'm also starting to think there's something to do with the sausage you can only find in her small town it seems)

Back to those meatballs that have three kinds of ground meat. Lord knows she's talked us through it, standing right there next to us and it still doesn't taste like hers. My Mom is an incredible cook and grew up as her daughter and still cannot make it taste the same way. [Don't worry: She won't be offended I wrote that because she knows it's true and one of our shared personal life missions has been trying to duplicate Grandmom's sauce for as long as I can remember.] My Mom and I are both pretty good cooks and make a stand-up spaghetti pomodoro. We even have "the recipe", know all the ingredients an steps, yet still cannot quite master her sauce. I think I finally figured out that everything just has a different and better taste when you have it in my Grandmother's home, cooked with her love.

*Disclaimer: Please forgive my grammar. The point is to recognize all the grandmothers and mothers out there that nourish our bodies and souls with good food and love and who have given us amazing memories and traditions to pass on and cherish.