Under Pressure

I recent became an iConvert, so I gave my Blackberry to my oldest son. He said, "I'm going to feel like a jerk." That's how I feel when I go to a grocery store where someone bags my groceries for me. Somewhere along the line, that became my job. It wasn't a job I did well, there was too much pressure - as soon as I got started, the person behind me needed my space, much the same as the short stint I did working at the Jolly Green Giant factory in Glencoe, Minnesota when I was 18. My "job" there was to line up cobs of corn on a conveyor belt under a laser beam so they could go through a cutter to make perfectly sized frozen cobs of corn so people could enjoy that summer feeling all year round. My hands were next to the guillotine and I had steam under my feet and cold frozen air above me, all while standing on a 1' square platform, six stories above the ground. I would glance around me and see others visiting pleasantly in Spanish, while easily keeping up with the conveyor belt, all while my corn kept piling up like a disaster on the interstate during rush hour. I lasted about 6 hours. The next day I signed up for Fall classes at the AVTI to become a bookkeeper (that's what we called accounting in the early 80's).


Aldi understands grocery bagging pressure. Your groceries go back in a cart for you to take to a long counter to bag at your leisure. If you want to put laundry detergent in the same bag as your vegetables, you have their blessing.

I haven't written recently because I have been on two vacations, one from heaven, and one from hell. The first was spent in Fairfield Bay, Arkansas. The second was spent in front of my broken computer. I am happy to say that I am now writing from a new iMac, a gift from the husband I do not deserve. I haven't figured out universal formatting, hence the odd look to today's entry.

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Spaghetti Pie

Toss cooked spaghetti, parmesan, and egg. Place in 9" pie plate. Press along sides and bottom to form a crust.

• 8 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained (or ground turkey/vegetarian substitute)
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix cooked meat and spaghetti sauce. Spread over spaghetti crust. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into pie slices.

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Disclaimer: I do not own these recipes. I cook from memory and often adapt things I've seen, tasted, heard about, or read about.