One of our little visitors

Once a month we invite four young families over right after work on a Friday evening.  We all sit down to a family dinner of soup or pasta.  We have booster chairs set up on dining room chairs and other portable high chairs all around.  The kids are learning some table manners like “may I be excused” and “thank you for dinner” but mostly it is the hands into mouth kind of experience that I miss from my family’s younger days.  This past Friday I made spaghetti and you can imagine the fun (and the mess).  I bulked my from scratch sauce up with some extra vegetables and Abby who seemed to enjoy it (for the most part) was able to pick and flick every little shred of spinach that she came across.  We finished with oreos smeared with peanut butter and a banana slice.  The parents go and have coffee and an adult conversation and we take the kids downstairs for a play.  The parents love the hour without worrying about the little ones and my husband and I love the pseudo Grandparent time-so everyone is blessed.

Another Little Guy

When our family was growing up we loved to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory.  We’ve have to put a halt to the number of sough dough bread loaves that we consumed before the pasta actually came.  The kids usually ordered spaghetti and meatballs but D&I had a special favourite.  We had the Manager’s favourite which was half white clam sauce and half burnt butter and mizithra cheese.  We blend it all together and it was absolutely delicious.

We still have many favourite places for pasta, as Winnipeg has a large number of great places to choose from.  Our favourites are Mona Lisa (at the end of our street), Tomato Pie and Colesseo.  I leave it to my gang to order new and different things-I have fruita de mare or clam sauce almost everywhere I go.  At Tomato Pie my choice is not on the menu but they are very accommodating.  From my guess at the recipe they sauté purple onion and garlic in a good olive oil add the clams and perhaps some white wine and then a bunch of fresh parsley-yum.

Shopping for authentic Italian ingredients is also lovely in Winnipeg.  Our favourite is De Luca’s on Portage Ave. as we used to live in the Wolseley area and it was a stroller walk away.  We typically pick up their olive bread, fresh mozzarella, Italian sausage and some good olives.  We are ever searching for the exact ones we had in the bar at our hotel on the Amalfi coast.

at Luigi's in Prariano Italy

When we asked the proprietor Luigi he said they were “small, round green” and the quest goes on.

Do you have a favourite Italian restaurant? A favourite place for Italian groceries?  A favourite pasta recipe?