Some Days...

..it isn't about spending all one's time trying to perfect a recipe and making a pile of dirty dishes with the effort.  On some days, food is about simplicity.  Tonight was just that kind of day.  Thanks to another care package [Thanks, Mom and Dad!], dinner was an example of good, simple food.  In that box was a lovely bell-shaped piece of Italian cheese known as Ricotta Salata.

When I was young, I remember we only had ricotta salata when one of my aunts went to Italy and smuggled it back in the luggage.  I also remember when I was young, I rarely ate pasta with red sauce.  It was plain pasta for me.  Heresy, I know.  But let me tell you how good my pasta or ravioli was when we had ricotta salata in the house.  I remember the same bell shape.  The outside was a gold-light brown hue from the aging and was really salty.  But inside...oh, inside was white and smooth as silk and made my mouth happy.  I would grate so much on top of my pasta it bordered on ridiculous.  Mounds of it.  If the pasta was warm enough, the cheese would begin to melt.  This was bliss.

My tastes have matured.  Tonight was a notch above plain pasta.  Tossed with a little butter and a hearty sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper.  I've also learned moderation.  There wasn't a mountain of grated cheese on my farfalle, but just enough.  I won't lie and say I wasn't tempted to keep piling it on.  But as I said, I've learned moderation.

Some days it's about good, simple food and what it reminds you of.