Lasagna

There are a few meals that immediately conjure up images of my adolescence and dinner around the family table. My mom wasn't a gourmet cook, but she was a mighty fine one and some of her recipes did more than just feed a growing boy. When I see or hear about a certain food or meal today, I think about the way my mom used to make it. I also think about those moments frozen in time when I first experienced them. And those memories will live with me forever, or until they're stolen by old age.

When I was a kid I would bolt from the school doors after the final bell rang and race home. I'd push through my front door with the weight of the world released from my shoulders and throw my backpack down, run upstairs to my room and tear through my drawers looking for some play clothes to wear. I'd run back down the stairs, two by two, and right into the kitchen. I used to always ask what was for dinner because I was an inquisitive boy; that and I was always hungry. I knew it would be good no matter what, but if it was something like lasagna the anticipation would kill me.
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Beef Ragu: My Favourite Bolognese Sauce

Comfort food. It usually evokes memories of a moment in our past when food brought us together and connected us. It's usually a flavour or ingredient that elicits those feelings and that binds us to a time when things seemed simpler, were simpler. It's the comfort in food that's been an anchor in my life and allows me to remember and never forget. It's able to reach inside us and pull out an emotion attached to it. I take comfort in that.

When we're in the midst of winter and hectic days in which we're pulled in so many different directions that we lose sight of ourselves, nothing slows us down and grounds us more than a bowl of pasta and time with our family. My wife and I will sit around the table with a glass of Merlot and a bowl of of pasta with our favourite bolognese and reconnect with each other and connect with the food in front of us. We can hear the tic of the clock slow down, the heart beat relaxes a bit and we exhale.
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