What would life be without family and friends, especially these days? We find ourselves staying in more, cooking more, and spending more time around the kitchen table than ever before. Long after the meal is over we like to linger to laugh and share and reminisce about life and stuff. It's why we invested in comfortable fabric chairs so you don't stick to the seat after lingering that long! For me, now that my parents are gone, I like to be in the kitchen and cook up those memories of Sunday dinners all those years ago. Most of my specialties are Italian dishes with a fair amount of French dishes (as in good old-fashioned French country cuisine). I can also cook some tasty, tender ribs and a pretty good pot roast too! My sister has her doubts; she lives 3,000 miles away on the East Coast. When I visit her I am not allowed to cook in her kitchen and any idea I have to contribute to the menu gets a raised eyebrow. That's because she is the lead cook. Growing up I had no interest in cooking. My sister would sit on a stool beside my mom in the kitchen and watched everything she did. So, I am a late bloomer but that's OK. So, if you are becoming "good" at something after all these years, good for you! Don't stop being good at it - experiment and make it your own, and have fun!
***TIP: When my mom, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother made pasta sauce they never measured anything. A little of this, a little of that. So it's not unusual for a generation of Italian cooks from the same family to swear that they have the "family recipe," yet differ greatly on exactly what the ingredients are or how much of everything you are supposed to use. The one thing I swear by is San Marzano tomatoes. So why do San Marzano tomatoes make the best pasta sauce in the world? They are the perfect balance of acid and sweetness and since they are less juicy they cook down quicker preserving the flavor. http://www.saveur.com/article/Our%20Favorite%20Foods/Summer-in-a-Can
