One dish my gram made that was always the best - postada - using leftover spaghetti and pastas with raisins and held together with lard.

Mom always made it with ricotta. But that one particular dish was a depression era dish and that is how gram made it.

Rick - you speak of ravioli on steroids??? OMG - my gram's ricotta cookies and ravioli were more like TORPEDOES!

ONE would fill Godzilla for a week and he'd be rolling on the ground frm being overstuffed.

the older she got - the bigger they got!

TheFamiliaKitchen a/k/a The Family Kitchen: Being an Italian woman -

Really nice piece, mama!

I'm in a similar boat as Max. My parents were much older when I was born, so I never knew my grandparents. The good news is that my parents cook just like them, so when my parents visit I get to experience their awesome old school Italian cooking. One of my favorites is one my mom made. She learned it from her dad. Ricotta and Pasta. I don't remember the recipe off the top of my head, but it's so ooey and gooey, the deep flavor of the Ricotta with Pecorino Romano cheese...wow! I'm ready for dinner now!

>>sit in my grandmother's kitchen one more time

I kinda' had that opportunity - after my grandfather died my grandmother moved in with my parents - who lived about 40 minutes away. from time to time she would come stay a week with us and often that turned into a cooking/baking fest.

we always picked on 'the favorites' [g] - for her a me it was fresh liver & onions.... never could get the rest of the family into that . . .

after Thanksgiving she'd come up and we go into Christmas cookie mode - she had a lifetime of knock'em dead cookie stuff - we still make them.

believe me, you get some funny looks when you hit up the grocery store for 15 pounds of butter . . . .

Cool story, Dilbert!