I like to cook. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that before. I make all kinds of stuff that I start by learning from recipes and then go on to adapt and make my own. (Coincidently, I also watch Top Chef and Top Chef Desserts. Anyone else?)

I wish it was tomato season. I really do. I missed out on a lot of it this year because I was busy working on my office. I like to buy’em and make lots of sauce. Alas, it’s winter and there are no Jersey Fresh tomatoes to be had. So until next summer, it’s organic canned tommy tom’s for me.

I like to make a huge vat of the stuff and can it. It’s good for about 6 months or more but it usually doesn’t last that long. And it’s way better than the stuff you buy in the store.

“Why?” you ask. Because I add dry, red wine to my sauce (extra wine, please).

I know what’s going into it. There’s no weird ingredients.

The best part of making sauce? Kitty watching on from the window in the kitchen to keep me company while I toil away on all things delish.

We’ve propped her donut bed (the one that started out as a bag and then turned into a kitty bed) on a box on top of a small stand so she can see out the window and watch her minions and arch nemeses from above. We call this window, “T.V. #2″ because it provides a veritable bonanza of wild and domestic animals for her to spook.

Oh yeah, the sauce.

So, once the sauce is made, I can it and the applications are endless.

My favorite sauce incarnation is homemade pizza with kalamata olives and fresh basil. I have shivers just thinking about how tasty it is! This stuff’ll cure a hangover. It’s that good.

Tags: canning, pizza, tomato sauce