Black Vodka

While we were in NJ this past week, we had dinner at my friend Fran's house. She has been like an older sister to me for the last nearly 20 years. On my wedding day, my girls and I got dressed at her house. Both her daughters played a huge role that day, including her youngest daughter being a bridesmaid and her oldest handing out programs, bubbles and getting the party started on the dance floor.
Every time I went to Fran's house,- mystery feast would magically appear out of nowhere, taunting me and hampering whatever current diet plan I was on at that moment. Willpower would be pulverized, like pesto in the mortar & pestle.
This time, I was completely prepared. I was so grateful for "real" Italian food. There is a huge difference between real and restaurant food. Restaurant
Italian is olive garden, where it's a dish. Real food is sunday dinner, with you have several courses (and salad is eaten after the main course) and finish with an espresso and some fruit. In South Dakota, I can't find the proper ingredients for many of my favorite dishes, but things are slowly changing .
One of the Big Man's favorites is vodka rigatoni, which Fran treated us to when we visited.
This is the recipe I use, courtesy of food.com:
Creamy Pink Vodka Sauce With Penne Recipe - Food.com - 76198