Friday, October 30, 2009

cooking at the "man spa"......

Gotta admit to having a great morning.  Went to the chiropractor's this morning.  Dr. Avi
is a wonderful, young, talented, ex-ice hockey playing jock and there are times when being
in his office is sort of like hanging out in a men's locker room.  Love listening to the conversation
when no one realizes you're in the massage chair in the inner office.  But this morning was the best.  There were 3 or 4 guys in the office when I walked in, sitting around and chatting with each other.  The fun started when I heard one of the guys say that his wife asked him if we was going to Dr. Avi's "man spa" again today.  I chuckled to myself because the term "man spa" hit the nail on the head.  Guys relaxing, talking, and all the while, getting the kinks taken out of their backs, necks, legs, and heads.  The chatter took a decidedly interesting turn when a man's voice, unknown to me, started talking about his marinara sauce.  He had a Brooklyn accent, and was recounting in some detail his love for simplicity, and his recreation of his Sicilian mother's Sunday dinner marinara sauce.  Nothing but the basics:  crushed tomatoes, garlic, salt, basil and olive oil.  All cooked for hours while the family went to Mass and eaten when they returned home.  There were at least three other male voices chiming in with enthusiastic "yeahs" or personal variations on the simple theme of marinara sauce.   After about 20 minutes or so, I strolled out of the massage room and asked if anyone had tried knitting.  The doctor turned on me.  "What do you think we are!" he snapped.  The Sicilian said he knew a bit about sewing, but that knitting was out of his league.  And another one of them offered the opinion that cooking was seductive and demonstrated a man's more sensual, passionate nature, whereas knitting was for sissies.  I asked what kind of tomatoes the Sicilian recommended and he replied that you could try some fancy San Marzano's, but that he personally always followed his mother's lead:  Progresso crushed tomatoes.  Said you can't beat 'em.  And who am I to argue.  All I know is I'm going home to try the simple marinara sauce from the man spa in the slow cooker and I'll let you know how it turns out.

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