Saturday afternoon Tom and I were invited over to the Mamie and Ray Crawford’s for a cooking party. We made an eight course Italian meal. Mamie, an expert cook, had made some of the food ahead of time. The biscotti was already made we just formed it, cut it and baked it. The meat and red sauce were already made (as they had to cook all day) and the lemon ice, had been made ahead, as it has to be stirred every half hour for several hours. We helped arrange the platter of antipasti, season the eggplant, and pull things in and out of the oven. However, the most exciting part was making the pasta from scratch! We made two types of pasta, linguine and spinach-ricotta ravioli! I have always wanted to make stuffed pasta, and now I have. It was really a blast. It was great to have the afternoon to spend with Ray and Mamie. They are such an incredible couple. I was reminded once again of how much I admire Mamie pursuit of excellence. She has moved on from cooking, and now is now educating herself on landscaping and gardening. The day before she had gone and bought a huge crate full of salad greens (so ours were completely fresh) as well as herbs, and the gorgeous flowers you see behind us in the picture, I can’t recall their name, and I have never seen them before. She was telling me how she still needed to dig up one of her hydrangea’s so she could air out its roots, and rearrange them, because one of them had started to twist around the trunk. I just love how she researches deeply about the things she is interested in. You can imagine my surprise when a couple of months ago she told me she had never gone to college. I couldn’t believe that such an educated and intelligent woman had so little schooling. I hope I can always remember her example when I finally depart from the university scene. In fact, she mentioned that she had learned much of her cooking skills from some cooking classes she took in Cleveland. I just might have to follow in her footsteps and try that one of the years I am here!

Here we are making pasta! 

 This is Mamie pulling the ravioli out of the pan- notice the incredible stovetop!

Mamie’s parents are Italian. Her father gave her a dish in this style that was her grandmother’s and over the years between gifts from her husband and father she has collected a whole set.