Are we talking about wine, cars, beer or even rare works of art? No. we are talking about food.

I was recently on vacation at a beautiful home we rent in the Finger Lakes. We love it there and we all have a ball. (Even though it rained for the entire week) Anyway, our main focus was not about the clothing we needed or board games and puzzles for rainy days. We needed to have food, and the good stuff.

Auntie Lou and Uncle Pete are the epitome of great Italian (people) and cooks. As my brother-in-law John says, “If you leave their house hungry, that’s your fault”. So we are having pasta and meatballs from Ascioti’s and the discussion comes up about pasta. We all agreed that DeCecco (http://www.dececcousa.com/) is the best and that pasta needs to be imported to stand up to a good sauce. Dimartino’s Bucatini #7 is our favorite too. I won’t even start on sauce, pork and bread…I’ll save that for another discussion.

I recently had lunch in Manhattan with a friend from Brooklyn who knows and loves Italian food. She was so kind to share her stash of secret places and I will not betray that bond, but here is a great recipe to try that I think you will enjoy: http://lionimozzarella.com/recipes.html .

Be well and ciao.