First Adventure

I read a few chapters of Julia Child's memoirs, "My Life in Paris" today in between classes and meeting my aunt for coffee. Her writing is simple and marvelous. You can almost hear her operatic voice laughingly saying every word as you read it. I especially loved a chapter titled, "NEVER APOLOGIZE." Julia says,
"I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-deprecations such as 'Oh, I don't know how to cook...,' or 'Poor little me...,' or 'This may taste awful...,' it is so dreadful to have to reassure her that everything is delicious and fine, whether it is or not. Besides, such admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings, and make the other person think, 'Yes, you're right, this really is an awful meal!' Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed... Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food it truly vile, as my ersatz eggs Florentine surely were, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile - and learn from her mistakes."
Well said, Julia! I will never apologize for my cooking again. Had I read this chapter last weekend, I wouldn't have apologized for the first dish I made in this great adventure. The first dish was "Mariu's Spaghetti with Meat Sauce".
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Marius-Spaghetti-with-Meat-Sauce/Detail.aspx
My original idea was to begin with cooking Louisiana syle, Cajun/French dishes, but I made an exception and started with pasta because my fiance and his friend needed to "carbo-load" before their run the next day. The secret to this recipe was the sauce. Instead of containing mostly tomato, the sauce was beef-based and much truer to an authentic Italian taste. It took much longer to prepare than I'd anticipated - about 3 hours - but it was worth it. The aroma in the kitchen was quite nice and beefy, and the sauce turned out great. The only gripe I had about it was that there was not enough sauce in ratio to the pasta. And of course, being the rather timid chef and hostess that I am, I felt bad about this and apologized repeatedly. Julia in heaven - I will never make that mistake again!