The weather has finally warmed up in my neighborhood. Not quite warm or predictable enough to plant our usual retinue of garden plants. But one of the most welcome plants has already popped up of its own accord. This is none other than wild arugula. It’s a delightful plant with sawtooth leaves and a delicious, peppery flavor. When we lived briefly in Italy, we’d find it growing wild in the fields where we lived. The plant is an annual but it self-sows readily. We’d go out in the morning and pick a bunch for an afternoon or dinner salad. The Italians call it “rughetta”…

From Hoboken, NJ, this week comes the sad news that John Amato died at the age of 88 on August 30.

Mr. Amato played an interesting role in my childhood and later life.

He was the Hoboken cheese man!

Here’s the story…

Struffoli are a delicious Italian treat that we used to enjoy as kids. I wrote this tiny piece back in 2001 for a national food magazine. They paid me for it, but never ran it. No idea why. No explanation why. Freelance journalism is known for this sort of fickle behavior. Editors love things, then hate them. This article was deliberately short, intended for the magazine’s front-of-the-book section. It was supposed to run with a recipe that I provided. The article has never seen the light of day—until now…