There is no better fish to exemplify maritime territoriality than the cod, sought after and fought over by fleets of many nations. Sacred cod.

I believe my earliest contact with sesame seeds was in the crunchy honey and sesame seed candy that I am still partial to. Or halvah.

Although every self-respecting supermarket stocks zucchini at this time of year, now is really root vegetable season, coming to the "six weeks' want" of bygone eras when the root cellar was empty and the first wild greens of springtime had not yet pushed through the thawing soil. Potatoes, onions, parsnips, turnips, carrots. Carrots!

Homemade pasta is both a challenge and a glory. There are machines to help you cut it but mixing the dough requires a “feel,” that sense of knowing when it is right. Otherwise your result may be permanently al dente to an unpleasant degree.