14000 Things to do BEFORE I die

Mamma Mia! One of the things on my "To Do" list is to learn how to make good Italian food. It is going to take a little bit of practice, but what I've learned so far is that, in order to make good Italian food, you're gonna need to prepare yourself for a lot of butter usage. And by a lot of butter usage, I mean be prepared to not eat all day prior to the meal, and then go running for 1/2 hour to work off all of the calories! But boy howdy, it is sooooooo good!
This is an asparagus pesto phyllo dough roll up. We call them asparagus taquitos-- I think that's maybe a little sacrilegious in the Italian cooking world, but hey, I'M the chef here, and that's what they are like. Next think you know, we'll be making a lasagna taco!

I, Beautiful Lady, hereby solemnly swear, NEVER to make a lasagna taco.

These are the regional equivalent to a spinach gnocci (pronounced knee-oh-key). We have a FABULOUS Italian cookbook called the Italian Farmer's Table that is an absolute must have. This gnocci is served with a butter sage sauce. After making them, we decided that these would be better with a thicker, heartier sauce-- like an alfredo, but they were still so, so, sooooooooo good!

Lastly, these pictures are of our Leek and Pancetta tarts. These were the highlight of our meal. I cannot describe the bliss that you will encounter when you try these tarts. They come from the same cookbook as the previous recipe, and all I can say is- try it! Please try it!
Spaghetti-Os? Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever (I will never have enough "evers") EVER again.