Pasta

Eastside Road, January 14, 2016—

I REMEMBER MY GRANDMOTHER, in her wheelchair, rolling out egg noodles on the kitchen counter. I remember at home never having anything quite so good; my mother resorted to Chef Boyardee and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Memories of early pastas in my own household are lost, in quantity as much as in antiquity.

I could type "pasta" into the little search box above and to the left, I suppose, and find out how many posts here have mentioned it: but I'm not online as I write this, and here on Eastside Road our connection is ungenerous. Try it yourself if you like.

We routinely eat a lot of pasta: the last few weeks have been unusual in its paucity. We did very much enjoy the puttanesca a friend made in Voorburg, though, and last night Cook whipped up a batch to feed a guest. We don't have it often enough, in my opinion. Tomato sauce, onion and garlic, capers and olives — it's hearty and warming on these cold winter nights.

And it keeps: here you see it the second day. Fusilli are a perfect shape for it, the screw-shape threads holding the sauce well. Tonight was our third pasta this week; we're making up for lost time — Monday night, after the long flight from Stockholm, we stopped in Berkeley for fettuccine. Tuesday, of course, was a fast day. And tomorrow and Saturday — well, they will be special days, I promise you…

Mourvedre, Preston of Dry Creek, 2014

• Café Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; 510-548-5525
☛Restaurants visited in the last year are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants