“I can teach a chimp how to make linguini and clams. I can’t teach a chimp to dream about how great it is.” ~Mario Batali
While I can’t speak for the chimp, I dream all the time about how great linguini and clams are!
Really? Really.
Keep reading and you’ll see that this recipe—which was published in 2015, the hardest year of my life—left me as happy as a clam.
Cook the 40
Why take on Food & Wine’s best-ever recipes from their forty years in publication? Because if you’ve been paying attention, you know that’s one of the things I’m doing this year!
Besides, I’m hoping that taking on these 40 recipes will also add some fun and new favorite foods to my life. If even half of them end up being tasty, this will be a worthwhile cooking endeavor.
Twenty-five recipes in? This has definitely been a worthy endeavor.
40 Years of Food & Wine
According to the September 2018 anniversary issue of Food & Wine, and editor Hunter Lewis, https://twitter.com/notesfromacook?lang=en, what makes a good recipe is it being delicious, of course, and (I think even more important sometimes) the best recipes “tell a story worth repeating.” Well said, Hunter.
This recipe may tell a story that is worth repeating, or at least tell me that it will be worth making it again.
Indeed, this recipe did just that. I’ll retell this story again, happy as a clam.
I was really looking forward to making this recipe.
Recipe Number Twenty-Five: Ashley Christensen’s Spaghetti with Clams and Braised Greens
I was really looking forward to this recipe. It’s clams and spaghetti, after all! How bad could it be!
I encourage you to click on the link below, check out the photos and make this recipe for yourself; you won’t be disappointed!
The prep and the actual cooking were all pretty simple.
Little Words Needed
Some of the best meals are simple and need little words. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
Beautiful.
It was so good! I can’t wait to make it again.
Where Was I When This Recipe Was Published in 2015, What Was I Doing and Where Did I Go?
2015. Most important, this was the year that Peter and I finally convinced my parents to go on a European trip with us. We left in May for a Mediterranean cruise that left from Barcelona.
My dad ended up dying on that cruise. We had just had dinner and were enjoying the evening on the boat. He passed away a little after 10 p.m. or so on the ship in the middle of the Ionian Sea. He had said earlier that day that he felt like Odysseus, on his very own odyssey.
I wrote the words below on Facebook later that evening to notify family and friends back home.
I still miss him every day.
My mom and dad on May 20th, at sea.
The Best Day Ever
(The paragraphs below are from my Facebook post dated May 20, 2015.)
Yesterday, as we left St. Peter’s in Rome, my dad said that it was the best day ever. He was having the time of his life with my mom, on a trip of a lifetime, visiting the lands of our ancestors.
My dad lived big always, loved strongly, laughed loudly, had no regrets and enjoyed every breath he took in this life, including the last happy ones he took just a few hours ago.
My dad passed away on Wednesday evening here on the Mediterranean Sea, and while many of us have broken hearts, I know my dad would want all of us to be happy for the life he lived, and loved. The life he truly, truly loved. He said that often – just yesterday, in fact.
He always told me that, upon his death, he wanted a celebration of all he was in life. He would want us to remember and celebrate that he was a proud son, he tried to be a loyal brother, he served his country, and had great friends all over the world (he made new ones just this week), he was the best father to my brothers, my sister and me, and the type of grandfather you’d always want to spoil you and love you, and while not perfect—he would always say—he took care of my mother and our family during what is just a month shy of 46 years of their marriage.
It’s been a difficult few hours, but earlier my mom reminded me that my dad always said he wanted “to go out big”…
It made us laugh a little bit, and my dad would like that. He’d want that.
XOxo
Going Out Big, Happy as a Clam
“My one and only resolution is to be the best that I can be..” ~my dad
It seems appropriate that I finish this blog post on New Year’s Eve, 2019. The memory of my dad’s words popped up on Facebook this morning and they made me smile. My dad did indeed go out big, but he also lived and loved every day just as big, happy as a clam.
Elda XO
My dad on the cruise ship a few days before he died. He was so happy, having the time of his life.
For more information about this great recipe, click here to be taken to the Food & Wine link: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/spaghetti-clams-and-braised-greens
Note: When I wrote the title of this post I didn’t realize the year I’d be writing about would be 2015, and thus would be writing about the vacation where my dad died. The title ended up being perfect.
Live big, love big. Happy as a clam.
