I didn’t make my first trip to Italy until I was 37. It was worth the wait.

I went on a once-in-a-lifetime dream vacation with my mother and sister. We started out in Tuscany, where we took cooking classes, went truffle hunting with a real truffle hunter and his dogs, and toured wineries. After that, we headed down to Rome, where we ate way too much pasta and gelato, drank Negroni cocktails on rooftops, drank bottle after bottle of vino, and sipped cappuccinos.

If you don’t have time to break away on your own Roman Holiday anytime soon, make this pasta. It’s like a mini trip to the Eternal City. Whip up a few Negronis and you are there.

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Tonight we had a last-minute dinner guest (my husband’s business partner). Luckily, when I got the call, I was already making a big batch of risotto. I wanted to incorporate some leftover shrimp from a Christmas party the night before. Risotto is fast and easy and fancy enough for dinner guests. It’s also highly nutritious; [...]

Tonight was shellfish night. And what a shellfish night it was! Three words: bacon-wrapped scallops. I ask you, does it get any better than that? Yes, it does, because those scallops were dabbed with butter. And served with a side of shrimp cocktail. Plus a caprese salad. And for dessert: homemade peanut butter cookies (made [...]

Seth is out of town — on a business trip in San Francisco. My best friend Sarah and her dear sister Emily came over for dinner tonight. Since I was busy all day helping Seth get on the road (working on a Keynote deck for his pitch to HP, booking his hotel, getting his clothes [...]