February 22. Spaghetti Carbonara. Onion and Zucchini Frittata. Roasted Tomatoes. Salad. Middle Eastern Snacks.

Wednesday.  Ann was having a hard evening.    Jesse and Ngan spent the night but left for work in the morning.  Jesse had called Sam and told him he should probably return sooner than Friday.  He and Drea were planning to arrive around 10pm that night.
I threw together a salad for lunch--which we ate with bread and cheese.  
Susan, the hospice nurse came mid-afternoon.   She said Ann should definitely have a hospital bed.  I think this had been decided previously, but the bed had never materialized.  This time it did.   Remarkably enough, Susan had  called the fire department to move Ann to the hospital bed.  They arrived in minutes and swiftly, each one grasping a corner of Ann's bottom sheet,whisked her through the air unto the waiting hospital bed.


Ann had appeared to be sleeping.  As she flew through the air, she broke into a huge smile.  As the firemen gently placed her down, she exclaimed, "Whew--you scared the shit out of me!"  
What had she thought was happening?  Hard to know.  We pulled at various levers, top and bottom,  and she soon looked much more comfortable.  The firemen left after admiring the large photograph of a Hawaiian Bay in the dining room.  And the day went on.


Last night, with plenty of bacon left over from those delicious brussels sprouts, Dan had suggested we have spaghetti carbonara tonight.  Oddly enough, my next to the last dinner in Hanoi had been that very dish. It wasn't something I'd cooked much in the past--the vegetarian options--lacking that crucial bacon--were never appealing enough, but I'm happy to add t to my repertoire.   
The ingredients were all conveniently on hand when Drea called later in the afternoon.  She and Sam would be arriving hungry from Los Angeles around 10pm, Ngan and Jesse were eating dinner as well.  It was Ash Wednesday, Ngan would not be eating meat--so no carbonara for her or vegetarian Drea.  Stephanie would also be coming.  It  turned out she doesn't eat bacon.  The menu definitely had to be expanded. 
Years of cooking for a family which included one hard core vegetarian (that would be Sam, Sam Jacoby, not Sam Raskin) and three carnivores had trained me in the art of cooking for an assortment of eaters--so this was scarcely a problem.  

Late afternoon, Rene,  Sam Raskin's baby-sitter almost 30 years ago, arrived with an assortment of middle-eastern snacks-humus, tahini, tabouli, baba ghanouj, pita bread--the pressure was off for me to whip up a quick dinner=--and since we knew we'd be eating way into the night when Sam and Drea would arrive--there really was no rush--so I poked along, cooking the various dishes more or less at the same time.  I poked around for recipes--they were all pretty similar--

Here's what I made:


SPAGHETTI CARBONARA


1 pound spaghetti (could also use linguine--any long thinnish pasta) 
8 slices thick bacon--maybe a half pound, diced
1 small onion (or shallots) diced
a few cloves garlic, chopped, crushed, whatever
1/4 cup white wine
4 eggs, well beaten
1/2-1 cup freshly grated parmesan 
salt and pepper
1/2 cup parsley
olive oil


Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.  Drain well.  Toss with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and set aside.


While the pasta is cooking, cook the diced bacon until its almost crisp in a large, heavy skillet.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.  Pour off most of the bacon fat, keeping a tablespoon or two, add another tablespoon of olive oil and saute the onion or shallot until it's soft and translucent--add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.  Add wine if you're using it and cook for another minute or so.
Return the bacon to pan along with the drained spaghetti.  Toss the spaghetti and reheat.  When spaghetti is hot, add the beaten eggs stirring constantly.  It should be silky, not scrambled--but even if you muddle it a bit, it will still taste fine.  Quickly add the parmesan, salt, pepper and parsley.  Serve.  

To accomodate the vegetarians, I made a big salad, another round of roasted tomatoes and a frittata with zucchini and onions.  So much emotion, so many things under-way, I have to admit my mind wandered a bit after popping the frittata under the broiler (oh--let me continue with the excuses--the oven was also hotter than I'm used to)--and their was a fine black layer on top when I remembered to remove it--but as it turns out--the blackened frittata was a great hit as well (even so, not an experiment I'd repeat).