The Quest for the Right Spaghetti (Final)

The Quest for the Right Spaghetti

by Shaneika Aguilar

There was a large “Happy Graduation” sign posted at the entrance of the doorway of the Max’s restaurant’s celebration room. Stringed mylar balloons were tied from centerpieces that reached the tops of the ceilings and boxes tied with satin ribbons were set on a small folding table. A box with a thin long letter slot was safeguarded by my dad and a line of people were taking turns slipping tightly-sealed letters into it. At the sign in table, my cousin and my mom sat patiently as they informed the guests their table numbers. Many of whom I knew rushed to embrace me. They congratulated me and offered to take pictures with me. The little children who wore cute little pink dresses and black tuxedos unexpectedly grabbed my leg and congratulated me as well.

Then, the sweet aroma of spaghetti began to fill the air and I could hear it as it was being carried away from a box and onto a long, slender, and rectangular table where all the food was placed. That’s when I realized that my mom had cooked up one of my all - time - favorite dishes. Her very own home-made spaghetti.

My mom has been cooking her very own original spaghetti ever since she came to Hawaii back in the early 90's. She told me that she didn't like the American spaghetti or the Filipino Spaghetti because they were both either bitter and too cheesy, but she loved spaghetti. “I came to conclusion with mixing that sour taste with the cheesy or sugary taste. Combine them together and I got the perfect combination. By using some experimental sauce in it, my secret sauce.”

As she was shopping for groceries, she came across a unique kind of sauce that she had never seen before. She asked one of the customers standing next to her what the sauce was. The lady said that it was the best kind of fish dipping and seasoning she had ever tasted. It would give any dish a pleasant and sweet taste. My mom didn’t let this opportunity slip by, so she bought 3 bottles and never regretted it. It soon became known as her very own spaghetti sauce that unfortunately cannot be revealed to the outside world.

Spaghetti is the only food that brings the entire family to the table. "I do it because I’m happy with it, my family’s happy with it. So, I put love into it because I feel happy when I cook it. And I put my personal taste into it.” She also told me that the best part of making it is the effort that she puts into it. She has a passion for making spaghetti and she has grown to be very devoted to it.

While the food was being prepared conscientiously, my nostrils opened up and I was able to get a whiff of the sweet aroma of Italian sauce being poured into the large pot of ground beef. I dipped my finger into the sauce when my mom offered me to taste her cooking and I could feel the hot and soft feel of the sauce. When I placed it onto the surface of my tongue, my eyes widened and I smiled.

There were sprinkles of parsley on the red sauce. The hot dog also complimented my taste bud along with the italian sauce and the secret ingredient. The meat from the ground beef offset the sweetness so that it doesn't come at you too much. It was mild, yet sweet and I could taste the tomato as it dissolved in my taste buds. It wasn't bitter or too cheesy. It was a Heart Smart spaghetti, so it didn't have that fattening and oily feel I would have when I ate American spaghetti. When I placed my nose right under the steam arising from the pot, I could smell that it was cooked really well and didn't have that sour aftertaste. I could see that the ground beef was turning into a brownish color and the spaghetti noodles were turning tender and firm gradually as it was being boiled over the stove.

Once everything was prepared and sampled for taste, the spaghetti noodles and the sauce were placed in separate pots. We all used our own forks and took oversized fork fulls and placed them onto our plates. Our plates were piled with white and long pieces of noodles covered in red italian sauce. It also had small pieces of red hot dogs and dark green little square seasonings sprinkled on top of the sauce. Within a fraction of a minute, the entire pot of spaghetti noodles and sauce were wiped out completely.

Every time we ate my mom's spaghetti, we all felt satisfied and we felt refreshed after a long day's work. And that is the magic of my mom's spaghetti.

Now it's my turn to continue the "New Chronicle of Spaghetti" for generations and generations on.