My Mother-in-Law, Adriana

I have named this blog "Adriana's Kitchen" because Adriana, whom everyone in the cortile called "Maria", was my never-to-be-forgotten mother-in-law. When her son arrived home for the first time with his new Canadian wife, I might as well have come from the moon. But she looked at me, embraced me, and said, "Welcome, daughter." And that set the tone for our relationship. She was loving and formidable, all at once, and I immediately set about following her from pantry to kitchen table to stove, watching and learning. At first, when I had very little knowledge of either the Friulano language or Italian, I was often at a loss when she'd send me out to the garden or into the storeroom to get something she needed, but she was unfailingly patient, and eventually I learned both to speak the language(s) and to cook. These recipes, and these memories, are a tribute to her.