oh my glob, ravioli lasagna! i remember making one from a rachel ray cookbook in college (early 2000s) with alfredo sauce and artichokes and spinach that was actually really good. (my then boyfriend was a vegetarian and it was one of the few things we could both eat and enjoy and was easy to make.)
speaking of college, i left RI for college in boston in 2001 and i remember my mom sobbing and waving from the park that runs down the middle of commonwealth ave in back bay as i left on my orientation tour. i was only an hour away! so embarrassing! and i never, ever liked being away from home as a kid. and yet she was acting like she would never see me again. i had a pretty miserable freshman year and i think i was home that very first weekend, and every weekend after that. but that first weekend, i took the train and didn't tell anyone i was coming. my mom is VERY easily scared so after i got home (while my parents were still at work) i put a sticky note on the door so she wouldn't have a heart attack that "someone" was in the house when she got home. i remember this all so clearly because my dad said when my mom saw that note she was "happier than a pig in shit."
fast forward to last christmas. i always get my parents cards and this one was about how christmas for me is being home. (i have lived on my own since 17 but i always, always come home for xmas and still consider my parents house "home.") it was such a cute card and perfect for us, but i didn't expect my mom to start crying at the breakfast table. and she told me she always hoped she could raise kids who would want to come home again. and of course i was like, what are you talking about? why wouldn't i? but i never stopped to think that it's not something every parent gets, nor is it something every kid gets, and how lucky we are. and then we were all crying! haha, anyway, i'm happy for you, and for everyone, who gets to have that. 🏡💚
Oh wow, ravioli lasanga takes me back to those crazy daycare pickups at 6pm kind of days -- this was a lifesaver of a dinner (along with Dinner: the playbook, of course).
We had a ditalini salad served to us years ago in an Italian trattoria, and you're right, it was pasta salad without the cloying (right word?) pasta-mayonnaise fight. Or something like that. We're definitely going to find some--but will still serve it ice cold! We especially like your photo at the top of the post--guessing dinner for eight? We need to do a better job of dressing the table like that instead of relying on just the food to wow the guests. So pretty.
oh my glob, ravioli lasagna! i remember making one from a rachel ray cookbook in college (early 2000s) with alfredo sauce and artichokes and spinach that was actually really good. (my then boyfriend was a vegetarian and it was one of the few things we could both eat and enjoy and was easy to make.)
speaking of college, i left RI for college in boston in 2001 and i remember my mom sobbing and waving from the park that runs down the middle of commonwealth ave in back bay as i left on my orientation tour. i was only an hour away! so embarrassing! and i never, ever liked being away from home as a kid. and yet she was acting like she would never see me again. i had a pretty miserable freshman year and i think i was home that very first weekend, and every weekend after that. but that first weekend, i took the train and didn't tell anyone i was coming. my mom is VERY easily scared so after i got home (while my parents were still at work) i put a sticky note on the door so she wouldn't have a heart attack that "someone" was in the house when she got home. i remember this all so clearly because my dad said when my mom saw that note she was "happier than a pig in shit."
fast forward to last christmas. i always get my parents cards and this one was about how christmas for me is being home. (i have lived on my own since 17 but i always, always come home for xmas and still consider my parents house "home.") it was such a cute card and perfect for us, but i didn't expect my mom to start crying at the breakfast table. and she told me she always hoped she could raise kids who would want to come home again. and of course i was like, what are you talking about? why wouldn't i? but i never stopped to think that it's not something every parent gets, nor is it something every kid gets, and how lucky we are. and then we were all crying! haha, anyway, i'm happy for you, and for everyone, who gets to have that. 🏡💚
Also: You've inspired me to start a one-woman Elizabeth Strout reading group.
As always, you make me look forward to the next stage of parenting, even while holding tight to the little-kid phase.
Oh wow, ravioli lasanga takes me back to those crazy daycare pickups at 6pm kind of days -- this was a lifesaver of a dinner (along with Dinner: the playbook, of course).
Off topic but I LOVED that fake it don't make it column back in the day! That kind of easy cooking is my jam.
We had a ditalini salad served to us years ago in an Italian trattoria, and you're right, it was pasta salad without the cloying (right word?) pasta-mayonnaise fight. Or something like that. We're definitely going to find some--but will still serve it ice cold! We especially like your photo at the top of the post--guessing dinner for eight? We need to do a better job of dressing the table like that instead of relying on just the food to wow the guests. So pretty.