Grown-up comfort food

I was hungrier than I thought I'd be after my 22-minute stints yesterday afternoon.  A recipe on a new friend's blog, Spontaneous Accomplishment, caught my eye the other day.  Kathy is such a good writer that her receipes make my mouth water even when she's talking about food I don't like. 

At any rate, she inspired me to saute a purple onion and some garlic in olive oil while waiting for  my pasta to cook.  I added a third of a bag of spinach.  While waiting for the greens to wilt, I noticed the bag of Italian herbs and spices my friend Patrice brought me from her Mediterranean cruise. 

"You've probably never heard of the place," she said, as I opened the present and read the words on the packet.  "But it's an island -"

"Off the coast of Naples," I said.  Isola d'Ischia said the label.  It's the island my great-grandparents are from.

Last night when I opened the package, the scent of my grandmother's kitchen poured out.  I sprinkled on the herbs with a generous hand, and ate my supper curled up in my great-grandmother's rocking chair.