oooh! I grew up eating paste e fagioli AKA beans and pasta soup!

Thanks for the info, Caroline! Maybe if I put down landscape fabric around the walls of the bed, I can at least stop further invasion of grass. I have hazelnut shells on the pathway now but the grass grows right through them. There may be nothing I can do for the grass that’s already gotten in but at least I can stop more, right?

My garden needs some serious work. Question: Grass is starting to poke through in some of my raised beds. On one of the shorter ones, I removed the soil in the fall and lined the bottom with cardboard to stop the grass from popping through. But I have another bed that’s at least 2 feet deep and I can’t fathom removing all of the soil. Do you have any tips for stopping grass? It is so invasive!

Ideal tournament day food for me (I play ultimate frisbee): bacon and eggs for breakfast (or oatmeal), 1 Clif Bar Shot Blok per game for calories during the day (I know, I know, chemicals... but I can’t eat when I’m running that hard), hummus when I start to get really hungry (around 2 pm) OR my teammate’s Famous Chicken Salad (we all kind of just stick our dirty hands in there and shove the food into our mouths before getting back on the field), the occasional salty chip, lots of Gatorade throughout the day to prevent cramping (more chemicals... but I’ll be done by Game 3 without it), pickles (also to help with cramping), and water by the gallon, of course. Afterwards, food is usually determined by where can the whole team go to eat as fast as humanly possible. I can eat a whole cow by that point.

Agree about stocks. That’s the best way to cherish the meat (and veggies) we eat. Scraps = delicious homemade stock.

I made that simple pasta recipe from Bon Appetit last week - the one with just cheese, butter and pepper. I had some leftover Italian sausage, so I cut it up and added it. Seriously delicious, and SO easy.

I don’t know if hers were The Best Hamantaschen Of All Time -- I don’t remember poppy seeds. But they were delicious. I want to try your recipe now!

Shoshanna, I love this story! Your writing always brings a smile to my face. A friend of mine made a batch of these for Purim and they were absolutely fantastic.

loooooove cannoli... I may have to try this!