For Jay

[Towntalk]

Jay, I realize that we do not necessarily have the same taste in the meals we enjoy, and far be it from me to try to push my taste on anyone else. I was taught by my mother who was skilled at taking high end receipts and modifying them to fit our budget without losing the quality of the original, and as a consequence many of our meals looked like meals served in high end restaurants.

The one dish that I have never been able to master is true Italian spaghetti sauce made from scratch as were prepared by Italian ladies of my childhood which made the kind of sauce we can get in bottles at the grocery store.

On a Sunday morning on the way to church, you could smell the sauces being made, and your mouth watered. The aroma was to die for, and the sauce was made from scratch with fresh ingredients fresh out of the garden.

One of the ladies taught Mother how to make the sauce, but because we had no garden, she had to depend on what she could get at the store, and while it was good, it didn't have the same taste.

I've looked through my collection of cookbooks and tried several receipts, but they didn't hold a candle to the receipts of my childhood.