Cooking Class

October 25, 2012



This past Monday I attended my first cooking class at Adult Ed. It is called "The Passion of Italian Cooking." Passion is a good word for Italians. As I always try to explain to people, I'm not yelling, I'm Italian. When I grew up there was a lot of yelling and screaming. But I never doubted for a second that I was loved. At the end of our marriage I heard many times that HIS parents never fought. But they divorced. Maybe they should have had a fight or two.

Anyway many of the things the chef talked about were very reminiscent of my upbringing. The Italian grandmothers and moms teaching their kids how to cook the old world dishes. I never cooked with my mother. I was too busy having fun to be bothered. Jennie always said, "You'll miss me when I am gone." And I would make fun of her. But now I do miss her terribly. Fortunately before she died one of her caregivers copied many of her recipes and gave them to me. I had already conquered eggs and potatoes and chicken soup with her coaching me over the phone but now I can do many of her peasant recipes almost like she could.

The only things I can't get right are her meatballs and sauce. I have tried and tried and can't get them to taste like hers. So whenever I go out for Italian food I always order a side of meatballs no matter what I am having. I did learn how to make a quick marinara sauce Monday night so I have added a new, simple, quick recipe to my list. There really should be no reason for anyone to use jarred sauce. EVER!