Pizza Margarita, Florence, Italy, circa 1969. A whole pizza cost the equivalent of about $1.50 and was eaten with a knife and fork. I still can taste the creamy mozzarella mingled with the tomato sauce; the crust in the middle, saturated with oil and flavor. I gained 15 lbs that winter, eating pizza margarita everyday.
My current drink of choice:
Wine is always my drink of choice. I also recently had (and loved) Domaine de Chandon--the french ginger liqueur.
I really wish I could:
Eat as much of whatever I want, whenever I want it, without gaining an ounce.
My "Go-to" dinner party dish:
If it's summer, then it's tomatoes with basil or nothing at all--just sliced tomatoes--and just-picked corn. In the winter months, it's fresh tagliatelle with a sauce of canned san marzanos, eggplant and red peppers, with a touch of hot pepper flakes
My favorite comfort food:
Pasta with anything--mushrooms, truffles, tomatoes, greens; and chicken--dozens of preparations for roast chicken.
My top 5 favorite restaurants:
Ducali, Nebo, Craigie St. Bistro, Emma's, Fore St. (Portland ME), Beacon Hill Bistro. Oops, that's 6!
My most tattered cookbooks:
Mollie Katzen's, "Moosewood Cookbook;" "Joy of Cooking;" Patricia Well's "Bistro Cooking;" Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cooking;""The Tao of Cooking," circa 1982; James Beard's "Theory and Practice of Good Cooking;" and I'd like to add "The Silver Spoon," but honestly I 've hardly ever even cracked the thing.