Nightmares and Delicious Food

So I don't know if you can tell, but those are ants.  They're everywhere in our house.  Well, sort of.  There's perpetually one or two in the main bathroom, and one or two on the floor of the kitchen when I sweep--which is at least once a day.  But every so often they break out in swarms and attack random places, mostly in the kitchen, although when we first moved in they also came out in swarms in the master bathroom.  Why?  I have no idea, because there was no food of any sort in there.  Maybe they were just exploring all the new smells from bottles of hairspray and the like.  Who knows?

Also two Sundays ago, we played games and had popcorn with the kids at the table, and an hour later after the kids were in bed, I went to clean up and lines of ants were marching from the wall to the spilled popcorn on the floor.  Another time, I was making shredded beef tacos, and when I was shredding the beef on the counter some splashed on the tile backsplash.  About an hour later, after dinner when I was doing the dishes, again swarms of ants were all over the wall eating away at the small chunks of meat that had stuck there.   Anyway, I've dreamt about ants rather frequently since moving in.  Maybe not nightmares per se, but obviously they're disturbing me enough to make me dream about them.

But seriously, I was EXTREMELY disturbed on Saturday night when I went to use my iron--my nice, expensive Rowenta iron.  One of the few things I own that I spent oodles of money on (for an iron anyway) because I wanted a nice one for sewing, and because well, I actually like to iron.  And when I did a few sprays of steam just out of habit first (my old iron sprayed out orange and white junk at first, so I'm in the habit of testing it before I begin ironing), about FIFTY stupid, icky, annoying ants sprayed out all shriveled and newly toasted and steamed!!!!  It took me a good forty minutes to clean out my iron.  Seriously, why would ants be in my iron??!???!?!?  WHY!?!??!?!??!? WHY!??!?!?!?!??!??!?

There were hundreds in there.  Really, I'm not exaggerating.  Leo helped me vacuum out the front steam holes because so many were fried in there and stuck.  It was disgusting.  I was so angry.  Errrr.....  I hate ants.  I'm sure more disturbing dreams are on their way....

But Sebastian was at least sleeping peacefully here, with his new favorite book.  Leo's Military Aircraft book, from 1914 till whenever it was published.

Just a bit of light reading.  Sebastian sleeps with it every night.  He loves airplanes, cars and trains.  Funny boy.  

So on to the delicious food.  Remember that magazine I recommended, Real Simple: Easy, Delicious Home Cooking?  Well, I hit a new favorite.  I've tried a bunch of recipes and they've all been good, but this was exceptional.  And SO, SO easy to make that I decided to share.

Basil Spaghetti with Cheesey Broiled Tomatoes

1/4 lb spaghetti

3 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lb), cut into 1/2 in-thick slices

3 Tbls olive oil, plus more for baking sheet

8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese (definitely spring for the fresh here--so worth it)

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 c fresh torn basil leaves

Cook your spaghetti.

Lightly oil a baking sheet, and spread tomatoes in a single layer.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add on top a slice of mozzarella and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Broil in oven for about 3-5 mins.  Till cheese is melted and turning golden in places.

In a small saucepan, heat the oil with the garlic and crushed red pepper over medium heat until fragrant.  About 1-2 mins.  Add to spaghetti.  Add basil, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper and toss.

Serve spaghetti topped with grilled tomatoes.

See, so easy, but so delicious.  (Natalie, is like the cheese and tomato sandwiches we made all the time, but in dinner form.  I'm counting on you to try this recipe!)

We just went vegetarian for the night and had it with watermelon, and a salad (also from the magazine) of lettuce, radishes, radicchio, and snap peas.  It was supposed to have a dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, and mustard and sugar, but I just left it plain.  That salad was delicious too.  I highly recommend it.  There's amounts for all of that, but really it's a salad, it doesn't really matter the exact ratio, except if you want the dressing.

And now I have to go.  Ta-ta.