Spaghetti at Home

Tonight for dinner, I had whole-wheat spaghetti with red sauce, arugula, vegetarian Italian "sausage", and some leftover Nero d'Avola.

All of the components were better together. I was particularly happy with the veggie sausage from Trader Joe's. I used it in the other night's pizza, and was thoroughly unimpressed, but here the pasta sauce disguised its texture so effectively I could *almost* pretend it was real. The sauce was TJ's "rustico" sauce, chosen for its imported Italian tomatoes. I know that sounds snobby, but I really can tell the difference, and I prefer the Italian ones for their lower acidity and more plummy, round flavors. This particular sauce had the mellow acidity I like, but was quite overshadowed by red pepper flavors when eaten alone- which I do, often, as a weird snack. So it was a nice surprise to discover that the whole-wheat pasta and arugula (which I mixed into the sauce) balanced the sweet pepper flavors perfectly.

A note on Trader Joe's. I had never seen one before moving here, despite wishing for one for the last five or so years. I had expected something resembling a Whole Foods- a traditional grocery store model, turned organic- but cheaper. TJ's, with its emphasis on prepared food components, pre-made meals, and house-brand staples, is not at all what I expected, but I'm still finding its presence has completely supplanted my Whole Paycheck fixation. I haven't set foot in the local Whole Foods in my entire month here, even though it's less than a mile from TJ's. It just seems TJ's has almost everything I'd want from that sort of grocery store, and other things are best purchased at the ordinary market. My only complaint so far is that, while TJ's makes a delicious-looking array of granolas, NONE of them have less than 10g of sugar per serving. I hate sugary cereals. Otherwise, good job TJ's.