Italian birthday dinner

Definitely an Italian theme today, thanks to the (if I may say so myself) delectable dinner I made last night for ProcrastiGirl for her berfday.

clockwise from right:

• Spaghetti with a damn fine red sauce made by yours truly: caramelized tomato paste as the base, to which I added caramelized onions and garlic, sauteed mushrooms, tomato sauce, onion, green pepper, and toward the end, fresh basil and sea salt. The caramelized tomato paste turns a deep, deep burgundy, so the overall sauce looks more like a BBQ sauce than a marinara, and it has a little sweeter flavor, too.
• fresh mozz on a bit of romaine with a few slices of baguette
• simple salad in homage to the Italian flag: green=romaine lettuce, white=Marcona almonds, red=dried cranberries
• off to the side is a teensy container* of balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil for a simple vinaigrette for the salad -- can't get more Italian than that!

*I know everyone uses those special sauce/condiment containers made specifically for bento, either the squeezy clear animal-shaped ones or the colored ones in the shapes of animal faces. They seem to take up way too much valuable space, imo, and I rarely need a sauce/condiment anyway, certainly not in those quantities. Instead, I went to Storables and got a couple of teensy containers from their bath sundries travel section meant for pills and small quantities of liquids. The one shown here is perfect for things like a vinaigrette, since I can just make the exact quantity I need right in the container and shake it up to emulsify, or squeeze ketchup into it or whatever. I have another even smaller one for sea salt or other seasonings. Both of them together cost me less than a buck.