Monday, September 3, 2007

Confession Is Good for the Soul

What words can put fear into that of a fellow woman? I can think of two: Recipe Exchange. I must confess that when I get an email from one of my friends asking me to participate, I go through a buffet of reactions:
  • Do I even have 5 people to forward this on to? (Oh, and I should mention that the latest request asked me to send it on to 20 friends?!)
  • Will I let down the person who sent it to me? Will she think I am a bad friend if I don't send it on? I really care about her and hate to let her down.
  • Will the person who was supposed to be #1 on the outgoing email be upset if no one replies?
  • What if the #1 person doesn't have many friends and this is a way for her to make connections with other caring women?
  • Will my friends get frustrated with me for sending on to them? Aren't they already too busy?
  • Who has 20 friends that are available for this kind of thing?
  • Why can't I just say "No??!!??"
  • What if I just don't do anything? Will anybody really know?
  • If I am ever in doubt that I am a "Feeler" vs. a "Thinker" I need to reread this whole entry.
  • These directions are so complicated! Send a recipe to the number 1 person and then move the number 2 person to the top and then put my name on the email and then forward...
  • Are people really still cooking?
  • With the internet and great magazines, do people really want recipes?
  • Can't we just ban together and pledge not to do this to each other?
  • Will this land me on people's spam lists?
  • Will people send out recipes using spam? (ugh!)
You get the idea! All this angst! Several of my friends had the where-with-all to say, "I am so sorry, I just don't have the time to participate! [good response!] I thanked them for being honest! I also realized I should have crafted a similar response!

Then I got an email from the lucky recipient who was supposed to get all the recipes. She was so excited. Then I started getting recipes, all of which sounded sooooo good!

I have decided to go ahead and put out a recipe for succa (Italian for spaghetti sauce). It is a treasured recipe. From now on, every request labeled, "Recipe Exchange" will get this as a reply and none of my friends will be bothered again. They have already done their duty!

Confession really is good for the soul. I feel better (and hungry) already.

Italian Succa

Tomato sauce, large, 4 cans I use Wal-mart’s generic brand

Red wine, ½ can (I use it to “swish” out all the cans of tomato sauce)

Basil, fresh, ½ package

Lawry’s Garlic salt, 2 tsp.

Nature’s seasoning, 2 tsp

Fresh ground pepper, 2 tsp.

Sargento Romano cheese, ½ triangle grated

Combine the above and simmer for four hours

Pasta: Cook, but DO NOT let get mushy!!

Romano cheese: Put on pasta FIRST, then put on the succa!!

2 comments:

Maelynn Cheung said...

What a terrific blog post. Very thoughtful about your recipe exchange angst! :)

I am one of your friend who has had every intention of forwarding the email and sending a recipe but can't seem to get it together! PLUS, I don't think I have 20 friends I'd feel comfortable enough sending it to. What a dilemma. :) Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I am the "friend" who sent the recipe exchange to Sharon in the first place. I, too, had all the same feelings that Sharon enumerated. I chose to take the chance that I would still have friends left after sending out the request, and I'm not sure why. Thanks for your insights, Sharon.