Dear Gentle Reader,

My utmost apologies for my lack of correspondence of late. However, as has been said by others, rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.

I must say that the past days have not been kind to yours truly. By now, you must tire of hearing my laments regarding the physical ailments that keep me low and out of good humor, so I will spare you the details about the agonies I face when my body conspires against me. I will say that it seems the greatest sort of cosmic unkindness to punish someone who loves food – in its preparation and its consumption – to periods where neither is possible.

Before the beginning of the ills that struck me, you will be happy to learn that at least some food was prepared and through the magic of photography can be shared with you. Because the great sporting season is upon us, it is time to begin practicing those meals that are simple to make but hearty and tasty enough for the crowd that inevitably gathers for our outings.

First on our list for this season is lasagna. I had intended to avail myself of that ancient art of pasta making and thereby create fresh sheets of the lasagna noodles themselves, but found that time was not on my side for this event. Nevertheless, I soldiered on with sheets purchased from a purveyor of goods.

The sauce used for the lasagna – a delightful tomato-based sauce, seasoned in the Italian style – came from my pantry, one of the six quarts canned recently. This, with ricotta and mozarella cheeses, and then ground meats of beef, veal, and pork, were layered with the noodles to form the pie.

As you know, we have a very nice oven at our disposal, and the entire layered dish was put on the bake.

We cut into the layers so the diners could enjoy some sustenance.

Some diners preferred a more deconstructed look to the portions on their plates.

I had also made some bread, since as you know baking is just as enjoyable for me as cooking happens to be. The main dish was Italian, so I decided the bread should be in the Italian style as well.

The finished loaf was baked on a stone, and rather rustic. I suppose an egg wash could have been applied to lend a bit more color to the bread; still, it turned out well considering that I had never, to that point, braided dough for baking.

The exterior was crusty but not too difficult to bite through, and the interior was soft and chewy, perfect for mopping up sauce.

I am pleased to report that the diners who were partaking of the meal judged it fine indeed, which is gratifying.

Alas, from Friday evening and into today, I have done no further cooking for myself or anyone else due to those ailments alluded to at the start of this missive. I am hoping this will pass so that I may continue my recovery in this arena.

I hope this finds you well, and further hope that this short note to you will be followed with more alacrity by others that are both richer in depth and broader in scope.

Yours very truly,

A