Monday night Justin and I ate at home, collaborating on a batch of spaghetti. He got everything out and ready for me to create a masterpiece of a meal. Among the ingredients were two extra cans of things I would not have normally added to the recipe---a good-sized can of mushroom stems and pieces, plus a can of diced garlic tomatoes. The jar of sauce was a giant one, did not really need to add the additional tomatoes. He reported that the lady of the house where he lived previously, at the Beach, would always add a can of tomatoes, so, okay, throw it in. For our vegetable, I opened a can of peas, a name-brand from the BO/GO bin at Publix.
For the pasta, he had chosen linguine when I would have picked the thin spaghetti but it didn't really matter. Once it was ready, we ate at the table in the living room while watching Jeopardy! At first, I thought it was the peas that didn't taste right so I left them on my plate. Justin had mixed the peas into his sauce and did not notice any sort of strong flavor. He even had second helpings so it had to just be me.
There was a good deal leftover, as you might imagine, so we packed it away for leftovers. On Tuesday night I went over to The Club for a Ladies' Night dessert function, since we did not have Bible Information Class this week. Justin ate the leftovers and reported to me that his food tasted like metal or something. The bowl he used had a rust stain in it to begin with, caused by leaving a spoon in it for a long time in a corner in his room. He blamed the stain for making the food taste goofy but I hardly think that would happen.
Not to let the food go to waste, I took the pasta and lined the bottom of a baking dish, and then poured the sauce and meat mixture over the pasta. Then, I sprinkled a half bag of shredded cheese on top of the whole works, and baked it. Justin told me he had bathed his leftovers with garlic salt to eat it, but I did not do that to the entire batch.
As we ate the 'casserole', the taste was still evident but not terribly strong. We figure it must have been the tomatoes with garlic which affected the flavor. Or, it could have been the larger portion of mushrooms which I would not have used if it was only me eating it. Anyway, I saved the day and the leftovers by making it my way!
