IMG_3002

Leek & Potato Soup

We are sitting atop rickety wooden benches in a cozy corner of a very small, very old pub.  A fire roars to my left and I am enveloped in the laughter of my family.  We dine on a variety of traditional pub fare, swilling beer and wine to warm ourselves as snow falls gently just beyond the stone-framed windows.  We are in the tiny …

IMG_5593

Clam Chowder, a Christmas Tradition

Clam chowder for Christmas.  It’s as sure as Santa Clause.  The stockings are excavated, the presents beneath the tree have exploded into a flurry of paper, tissue and cardboard and the morning helpings of prosecco and egg nog have run dry.  It is now time for clam chowder, our family’s tradition.  Being from New England, my Mom makes a smooth, soothing, …

IMG_5875

Pasta Fagioli

For as long as I can remember I have heard my parents talk about Venice, Italy.  My Dad studied there twice, once for several months before he met my mother and returning after she entered his life.  They spent an incredible three months there, enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon while my father studied architecture.  My siblings and I were lucky enough …