Cast Iron Spaghetti

When I was a kid and had a bad cold my father used to make something he called cast iron spaghetti. It was tomato paste, with lots of garlic and red pepper. It was hot enough where you had to drink water in between each bite. Now I carry on the tradition in my own home. I never knew the exact recipe my dad used, and don’t really have one I stick to myself, but I treat each dish as a unique experience. Friday morning I went to work feeling pretty wiped out. The night before had been a end of the season skate with the Hockey team, and the rest of the week was spent out in the cold watching my two oldest boys play lacrosse. As the morning dragged on it became evident that I was doomed. I took the rest of the day off and went home to go to bed. When I got to the house I made some cast iron spaghetti sauce using lots of crushed garlic, habanero peppers, and onion. I topped it off with a dash of black pepper. I poured a very large glass of ice-cold water and downed the whole lot. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…” I’m not sure who said that originally, but I have heard it all my life. I don’t think that it applies to every situation, but sometimes it turns out to be true. I turned off the stove and crawled upstairs to bed. I felt better in the morning, but my wife made a big spaghetti dinner in the crock-pot just to make sure I got my strength back before the weekend came to an end. I went for a morning glass of Orange Zest Alka-Seltzer. I went back upstairs and watched a photo disc that one of the parents had made for the team with pictures she had taken throughout the season. It was done very well, and I really liked the accompanying music sound track. A band called “Rage Against The Machine” did one of the tracks. I started thinking that it was almost the perfect title for the whole season. The team was always working hard and going against the odds to always go beyond what was expected or predicted. It seems like we were always fighting an uphill battle, and this made each victory that much sweeter. It’s at the end of one season that we look towards the next challenge. The season had made each one of us a little faster, stronger, smarter, and tougher – ready to see what lies beyond the next bend in the road. As far as the cast iron spaghetti goes, it seems to have worked once again.