Sunday is sauce day in a typical Italian family’s house. My grandmother followed that tradition for many years. It was expected that we had Sunday dinner with pasta and freshly made sauce. You didn’t want to mess with Italian tradition or my grandmother.  The family sauce recipe is closely guarded amongst Italians. Most will not
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Are you familiar with the song that Dana Carvey sang called “The Lady I Know?” For some reason that song was rolling around in my head as I was creating this recipe. It’s really a spoof of a song and mainly just repeats the lyrics “Chop’in broccoli.” Most people think of the song as the
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Do I call this The Italian Roast Beef Encounter because it’s smothered in wine and tomatoes? Is it because there are about nine cloves of garlic included? Or could it be that there is an abundance of Italian herbs sprinkled throughout? Maybe because I like to add in cooked fava beans when I have them fresh
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September signals the beginning of Fall, school resuming after summer, and harvests emptying gardens of summer vegetables. Change is in the air and can effect many areas of our lives. Are you ready for the transition?  The five favorites for September include a fun video from Dr. Oz and Pasquale Sciarappa on the healthy aspects
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Summer is winding down, and I don’t think I’ve ever been looking forward to a cool rainy afternoon as much as this year. It was one hot summer here in the Northwest. Now maybe I noticed it a bit more this year because I literally spent at least one-half of every day cooking. This year
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The summer season does have an impact on my blogging. I’d rather be in the garden admiring and/or harvesting the vegetables, or sitting under the shade of the gazebo reading a book, or taking a walk in our neighborhood where the water features and ponds are lush this time of year, or wine tasting and
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One endearing memory of dating my hubby is his term for dinner, “din din.” I’d not heard that word before in the circles I hung out in. He’s from New York and I’m a California native, so our lives were from two different sides of the planet as far as I was concerned. Well, they
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Adding grains into salads kicks it up a notch in my book. Farro is a favorite grain that works well in salads. I learned how to make a great Farro salad in Vinci, Italy. I was all set to send you to a link in my blog with this salad adventure and realized that I
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This soup is an oldie but a goodie – one that I used to make a long time ago in the early years of marriage. It is easy to make and budget friendly, which was as important in those days as it is today. I pulled this old recipe out of the archives, dusted it
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Jerry Lee Lewis’ signature song of “Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire” was playing in the background. What a song to get you pumped up and motivated. Since I was going to be cooking zucchini AGAIN, I needed some motivation! I had 13 zucchini in the fridge, neighbors and friends were avoiding me when I
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Cooking truly “in season” can be challenging sometimes but in today’s world grocery stores can supply fruits and vegetables from other states or countries year around. We would all like fresh tomatoes in January sometimes, right? However, you will notice that the best flavor of fruits and vegetables is when they really are “in season” and
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Well, I have to say the trip from the Portland area to Seaside takes about two and a half hours. Our trip took us seven. Why? Because we ate and drank our way across the city and countryside winding our way through the mountain pass and down to the seashore.  We left at a reasonable
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