Weekend with family serves ravioli, savored time

“Because I Said So” column for The Commercial Appeal

November 12, 2009

What is the recipe for family?

Each person’s idea of what family is can be as personal and cherished as favorite recipes of ancestors, brought here by boat, plane or covered chuck wagon. Mother and father, sure, plus brothers and sisters and all manner of blood relations. Sprinkle in neighbors and a healthy helping of friends and that family can become large enough to fill any dining table.

I spent the weekend wrapped in family. A family that grew each time I turned and satisfied a hunger for closeness and community.

On Sunday afternoon, we had friends and family into our home for the yearly making of my family’s ravioli recipe. The Zanone recipe has been handed down through generations; pages filled with handwriting of those long gone, recent notations scrawled over stains from ages past … (read more)