Nana's cooking

So like I said, I come from a family of that is centered around food. Every family gathering I've ever been to has been fueled massive quantities of food that has been cooked by the best chefs--namely the mothers, aunts, and grandmothers of the family.

I visited my Nana (yeah, I call her my Nana, so what?), and she made me a staple spread: home made tomato sauce, ziti, chicken Parmesan, meatballs, spare ribs, and salad. Desert was simple, but a perfect clincher: lemon cake with strawberry yogurt ice cream. A few things to note here:

1. Spare rib?
2. Fanny's
3. Italian grandmothers are bomb

You might think it's weird to have spare ribs in this meal, but it's not so much weird as it is delicious. My grandmother cooks the spare ribs in the sauce with the meatballs so that they are inundated with the flavor and juices of the sauce. My mother does the same, but subtracts the spare ribs and cooks sausage in the sauce--my favorite. Try it, honestly, you could probably throw anything in a pot of sauce and it'll come out better than ever--sauce makes everything better.

If you're ever in the the Framingham, MA area then you should head over to La Cantina. It's the birthplace of Fanny's Italian salad dressing and the home of a great prime rib.

Seriously, I will drink this salad dressing.

Lastly, I think we all know Italian grandmothers are bomb. I scored some awesome old family photos too:


Sauce.