Mare's Meatballs

Last night, I finished my 5th batch of meatballs and sauce for the upcoming retirement party for Gene's Judge (another act of volunteerism by my bleeding heart husband). During our evening of stirring sauce, rolling balls and sipping red vino, Gene informed me there may be more than the original 225 people. My weekends between now and August 22nd are suddenly starting to smell very tomatoey. Then it dawned on me… this is probably how Mrs. Fields started her cookie enterprise! And, I remember seeing a talk show episode not too long ago about some celebrity (escapes me) who started a pie business by selling them in her neighborhood. The phenomena took off from there!

Am I crazy, or do I have a future in meatball making?!! Is it time for Mare Mare to commercialize her until now philanthropic work of meatball cooking? I also wonder if I have made enough meatballs for my friends to qualify in the Guiness Book of World Records. To that end, is there a Nobel Peace Prize for feeding fortunate people thousands of meatballs in a lifetime? 

I've had to track the cost of my meatball making for this event. I have calculated that the huge package of meat from Costco and all the ingredients to make the balls and homemade sauce (including the bottle of wine that goes partly in it, and partly in me) yields 65 balls and comes out to about a buck a ball (of course, these are all premium ingredients). From there, my marketing meatball-making mind started conceptualizing packaging Sketty & Meatball Dinners. You get meatballs for 4 (3 each), a jar of sauce and a pound of pasta. All you have to do is boil the pasta and heat the other stuff. I think Ronzoni would partner with me on this with their pasta, don't you? This is huge!