Sweet Balls and Fire

In all fairness, meatballs have to be the most difficult food to photograph. Yes, they're yummy to eat, but they're not terribly appetizing to look at. Since we eat with our eyes first, or whatever it is Bobby Flay always says, I did my best with what I had. Go with me here.

Anyway, yesterday felt like the most normal day I've had since it happened. Not normal, of course, but the most like normal. I cleaned and worked and busied myself with a Christmas present project. (I'll show you that tomorrow.) I also glanced through the Rachael Ray magazine I'd had for weeks but hadn't opened yet. And when I did, I knew what we were having for dinner: Sweet Balls of Fire.

I changed the recipe a little. I used two eggs instead of three and added grated onion and garlic and substituted thyme for the parsley since my summer parsley crop drowned back in June. I also served the meatballs on a bed of campanelle pasta and drizzled the sweet/fire sauce over the top instead of using it as a dipping sauce. Wow. We all were shocked, I think, that a tradition-defying plate of meatballs and pasta could be that good.

We moved outside after dinner, where the final step before the first step of brick fire pit laying was completed. What is it about land and trees and dusk and an open fire that calms you down? Maybe it's all in the shooting, flickering flames and the way they hold you, breathless, and mesmerize your very being. Have you ever noticed that, when facing a crackling outdoor fire, you sort of bliss out? You don't think, really, or worry or talk. You all just sit with your chin in your hands and stare.

And we did. Stuffed with dinner and mesmerized by the flame, we all sat until the sun burned away and the night was still and dark except for the dying flames that grew smaller and smaller until they were little glowing meatballs. Then we went in and said our goodbyes.

I'd had such plans for September, as you may recall. My Simple September turned out to be anything but, instead becoming the most heart-anguishing month of my life. Sad September, really. But it's over now. I'm glad. I'm glad October is here. I'm ready to begin fall now, I think.

Bring on the sweet balls and fire. It's going to be a great autumn.