I had a friend ask for a quick and easy marinara sacue she could use for dinner. I gave her mine, and thought I would share it with all you as well. This sauce, coupled with 1/2 pound of pasta, will feed two to three people.
Ingredients
1/2 large onion diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
salt to tastepepper to taste
Directions
Dice onion. Put sautee pan over medium high heat, then add one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil. Add onion and sautee until onion is translucent, stirring often (4-6 minutes). Add tomato sauce, cover with lid but leave space for steam to escape, drop heat to medium and cook 9-11 minutes, stirring often. Take off heat and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil and basil. (Add olive oil after the sauce has come off the heat because raw olive oil has a different taste than cook olive oil.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add ins
You can dress this up with protein in any number of ways. My favorite is to add about 1/4 pound of browned ground beef. Another option is to add three strips of cooked (but not browned) bacon. Tuna is another suggestion. Enjoy.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Facebook's 25 Random Facts -- Marco
On Facebook the new craze is to write twenty-five random facts about yourself, share them with twenty-five friends, and then ask them to do the same. It's like a get-to-know-you exercise on virtual steroids. Anyway, a couple friends tagged me, and here were my facts:
1. I’ve broken six bones (right leg, left ankle, both wrists, clavicle, and right middle finger). After breaking my ankle last October, I walked on it for a week before seeing a doctor.
2. By contrast, I’ve only had stitches once. I was playing racquetball and my opponent hit me in the mouth, tearing open my upper lip. Demaree and I were dating at the time. When I told her of the injury, her first reaction was, “So, when are we going to be able to kiss?”
3. I’ve seen Pope John Paul II holding a guitar.
4. There are many cute kids in this world. Mine happens to be the cutest. Get over it.
5. I never finished high school. Got my GED instead.
6. I grew up in a village on the Aleutian Peninsula called Cold Bay. Average wintertime high: 32 degrees. Average summertime high: 45 degrees. Highest temperature ever recorded: 77 degrees (I remember because I got a sunburn from so much sun). Population: 85. I blame all my social problems on Cold Bay.
7. I’ve seen a bear eat a whale, and one of my dogs.
8. I didn’t like King of The Hill until I went to Texas and saw that people actually stand in their alleys drinking beer talking about football. Now I love King of The Hill.
9. I used to weigh 250 pounds. I now weigh 175. It’s as if I lost a whole cheerleader.
10. I’m married to an incredibly wonderful, talented woman. Why she condescended to marry me is a mystery.
11. My favorite book The Trial by Franz Kafka. I read it instead of studying for a psychology final one semester.
12. I’ve visited almost as many European nations as I have American states.
13. Demaree and I got the name Elliot from Law & Order SVU (one of the detectives is named Elliot Stabler). I’m going to name my first daughter Tristan, which was the name of my first dog. I loved that dog.
14. My favorite sport to play is squash. Yes, I’m a yuppie.
15. I skydive. Demaree is okay with this activity; however, she has informed me if I were to ever run with the bulls on Pamplona, she will divorce me. Yeah, I don’t get it either.
16. I’m a lawyer, which mean I work directly for the devil. Oddly, he takes less of my paycheck than the federal government.
17. My favorite food is pizza (Italian pizza that is). If they don’t have pizza in heaven, I won’t be attending.
18. Grizzly bears used to walk into my yard often. I would shoot them in the butt with a shotgun and watch them run away. Bears jiggle like Homer Simpson when they run.
19. When I was young, my brother Conrad and I would have contests to see who could vacuum the floor best. He let me win so mom would pick vacuuming as my permanent chore. Damn you, Conrad.
20. I speak Italian to my son. I have said maybe five English words to him since his birth.
21. I can see a food I’ve never tried before being made (yet never smell it) and know exactly how it will taste.
22. I have better friends than I have ever deserved.
23. While working with mentally retarded sex offenders, I was on the crisis team. This meant I was called when things really went south, bad. During my time as a crisis staff, I was spit on, peed on, sworn at, punched, kicked, gouged, and had to get in a tub with a naked, very slippery, very fat individual, and push him out by his buttocks, all in order to them restrain him while he lay naked on the carpet for thirty minutes screaming about what he would do to me when he got me alone. I can honestly say I enjoyed that job more than any other I’ve ever had.
24. I cry every time I speak with my mission president.
25. My favorite American is Teddy Roosevelt. No one else has ever lived a life that large.
Hope you enjoyed that little soiree in my soul. We'll post Demaree's when she gets around to putting pen to paper, as it were.
1. I’ve broken six bones (right leg, left ankle, both wrists, clavicle, and right middle finger). After breaking my ankle last October, I walked on it for a week before seeing a doctor.
2. By contrast, I’ve only had stitches once. I was playing racquetball and my opponent hit me in the mouth, tearing open my upper lip. Demaree and I were dating at the time. When I told her of the injury, her first reaction was, “So, when are we going to be able to kiss?”
3. I’ve seen Pope John Paul II holding a guitar.
4. There are many cute kids in this world. Mine happens to be the cutest. Get over it.
5. I never finished high school. Got my GED instead.
6. I grew up in a village on the Aleutian Peninsula called Cold Bay. Average wintertime high: 32 degrees. Average summertime high: 45 degrees. Highest temperature ever recorded: 77 degrees (I remember because I got a sunburn from so much sun). Population: 85. I blame all my social problems on Cold Bay.
7. I’ve seen a bear eat a whale, and one of my dogs.
8. I didn’t like King of The Hill until I went to Texas and saw that people actually stand in their alleys drinking beer talking about football. Now I love King of The Hill.
9. I used to weigh 250 pounds. I now weigh 175. It’s as if I lost a whole cheerleader.
10. I’m married to an incredibly wonderful, talented woman. Why she condescended to marry me is a mystery.
11. My favorite book The Trial by Franz Kafka. I read it instead of studying for a psychology final one semester.
12. I’ve visited almost as many European nations as I have American states.
13. Demaree and I got the name Elliot from Law & Order SVU (one of the detectives is named Elliot Stabler). I’m going to name my first daughter Tristan, which was the name of my first dog. I loved that dog.
14. My favorite sport to play is squash. Yes, I’m a yuppie.
15. I skydive. Demaree is okay with this activity; however, she has informed me if I were to ever run with the bulls on Pamplona, she will divorce me. Yeah, I don’t get it either.
16. I’m a lawyer, which mean I work directly for the devil. Oddly, he takes less of my paycheck than the federal government.
17. My favorite food is pizza (Italian pizza that is). If they don’t have pizza in heaven, I won’t be attending.
18. Grizzly bears used to walk into my yard often. I would shoot them in the butt with a shotgun and watch them run away. Bears jiggle like Homer Simpson when they run.
19. When I was young, my brother Conrad and I would have contests to see who could vacuum the floor best. He let me win so mom would pick vacuuming as my permanent chore. Damn you, Conrad.
20. I speak Italian to my son. I have said maybe five English words to him since his birth.
21. I can see a food I’ve never tried before being made (yet never smell it) and know exactly how it will taste.
22. I have better friends than I have ever deserved.
23. While working with mentally retarded sex offenders, I was on the crisis team. This meant I was called when things really went south, bad. During my time as a crisis staff, I was spit on, peed on, sworn at, punched, kicked, gouged, and had to get in a tub with a naked, very slippery, very fat individual, and push him out by his buttocks, all in order to them restrain him while he lay naked on the carpet for thirty minutes screaming about what he would do to me when he got me alone. I can honestly say I enjoyed that job more than any other I’ve ever had.
24. I cry every time I speak with my mission president.
25. My favorite American is Teddy Roosevelt. No one else has ever lived a life that large.
Hope you enjoyed that little soiree in my soul. We'll post Demaree's when she gets around to putting pen to paper, as it were.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monument Valley
Our friend Charmaine Kearl came to visit us (read: Elliot) this week. In celebration, we trekked over to Monument Valley, Utah for the day. Monument Valley is essentially a collection of red rock buttes. While not as awesome as the Grand Canyon, it was undeniably beautiful in its own way. We couldn't find a horse guide, so we drove the tour. It lasted about an hour and a half, and made the 3.5 hour drive (each way, mind you) worth it. So, without further ado, here are some photos.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Finally, a Hike
We've been traveling so much lately we haven't gone on a hike in almost two months. We rectified that today by first driving to Durango and walking the city. We found a couple used book stores (By the way, has anyone else noticed the only people who own used book stores are strung out old hippies. Just an observation.) and didn't find anything interesting. After picking up lunch, we drove to a trail head toward Silverton. Not sure how long we hiked, but it was enough to satisfy us and recharge our batteries for the week. We can't wait for spring. Oh, how nice that will be. Oh, here are some photos.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Old Photos
I've been scanning my old pre-mission and mission pictures and posting them on Facebook, so I thought I would post a few on the blog as well.
And here's one when I entered the MTC. The girl standing next to me was my then girlfriend, Chrstine Pratt. I look super stoked, don't I?
Ah, the memories. By the way, Christine and I dated after the mission, then she broke up with me. Subsequently, she married a guy named Marcus from Fairbanks, Alaska. Mere coincidence? Maybe. (The last bit was a joke. Christine's was a great girl. She now has a couple beautiful kids and lives in Juneau.)
I love this one. It shows me at my absolute fattest (I'm second from the left).
And here's one when I entered the MTC. The girl standing next to me was my then girlfriend, Chrstine Pratt. I look super stoked, don't I?Ah, the memories. By the way, Christine and I dated after the mission, then she broke up with me. Subsequently, she married a guy named Marcus from Fairbanks, Alaska. Mere coincidence? Maybe. (The last bit was a joke. Christine's was a great girl. She now has a couple beautiful kids and lives in Juneau.)Anyway, more photos will follow.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Problem with Pacifism
The problem with pacifism as an enduring ideology is succintly stated as follows:
Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight
But Roaring Bull (who killed him) thought it right.
Hilaire Belloc, The Pacifist (1938). That is all.
Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight
But Roaring Bull (who killed him) thought it right.
Hilaire Belloc, The Pacifist (1938). That is all.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Christmas with the Whirling Dervish
We spent the holidays with Dem's family. Since the Claysons are more numerous than the Yankee's farm teams, each person is assigned one family member for which they are to buy a present. This year, Erick was assigned Elliot. Much to Elliot's (and our) satisfaction, Erick bought Elliot a drum and clothes in Afghanistan. Elliot digs the drum (well, he actually digs anything he can hit, thereby causing it to make noise), and the clothes make him look like a little Whirling Dervish.
Now, all he needs is a pomegranate, a conversion to Islam, and a beard, and he could pass for a native Afghan.
Now, all he needs is a pomegranate, a conversion to Islam, and a beard, and he could pass for a native Afghan.
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