Good Press

I learned this recipe at the 3rd Annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival in Fairmont. The co-founder's father taught it. His tasted way better than what I made last night. Buttery. I'm not sure if he added butter because people were so loud and rude that I missed a lot of his presentation unfortunately. Even if I missed something, what I made still tasted pretty good. I used a whole pound of pasta and we have a couple of lunches' worth of leftovers. It was easy to make, too, and just expensive enough to feel like a splurge. PASTA WITH SHRIMP, CLAMS AND ARTICHOKES From Larry Colaianni 1/4 cup olive oil, divided 1 8-ounce package angel hair pasta 1 teaspoon chopped garlic 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 can of clams 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup chopped parsley 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese Pepper flakes Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water according to directions or until al d...

I guess I just gave it away. Let me explain ... . I had a wish come true this holiday season, two actually, sort of. I grew up occasionally wondering where my family came from but I could never get a satisfactory answer, or really much of an answer at all, about our origins, our heritage. My maiden name is Molisee. I thought maybe we were German but I settled on us being regular ol' American mutt. And I was sad. Though not sad or curious enough to dig into genealogy. My Aunt Mary was spurred by her desire to join the Daughters of the American Revolution to unearth the roots of our family tree. She ascertained that the Molisees are from the Molise region of Italy, beneath Abruzzo (kinda the Achilles heel of the boot) on the Adriatic Sea. So my first wish -- to know my heritage -- came true. And my second wish, which I am almost too shy to publish, was to be Italian. I was romanced mainly by the food, by travel stories and movies to a lesser degree, and by the rich traditions -- of w...