Cencione Pasta with Rao's Marinara Sauce and Vegan Italian Sausage

Today, I stopped at A Southern Season, a local gourmet store that I visit once in a while. My wife had mentioned that they had signs up that the whole store is on sale, which I thought they only did each summer. I found there Rao's marinara sauce two-for-the-price-of-one. I've always wanted to try their sauces; from a restaurant in New York (and Las Vegas), their sauces seem good and simple, but are always expensive. (The marinara sauce, for example, has imported Italian tomatoes and olive oil, sweet onions, fresh basil, fresh garlic, crushed black pepper, salt, and fresh oregano.) I also bought Cencione pasta, shaped like flower petals.

I didn't want to embellish the sauce at all to appreciate the as-is flavor of it. I simply served it, gently and slowly heated, atop the pasta, with Field Roast Grain Meat Company Italian artisanal vegan sausage, cooked with very little oil on a cast iron pan.

Dinner was very good! The sauce was quite tasty, though I'm not sure if it is better than locally-made Thomas Gourmet Foods' marinara sauce. I liked the pasta; it is firm and chewy.

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Yesterday was the last session of one of my photography classes. We also had a doctor's checkup visit for our baby before class, and both baby and Mommy came to my class. While my wife shopped, I kept the baby with me in a sling, much to the delight of all! My wife, our baby, and I went out to eat after class to nearby Panzanella, where I got another of their delicious pizzas with their vegan pesto sauce and artichoke hearts & sundried tomatoes, and my wife got a tasty pasta dish.