Having grown up in Italy, my great-grandfather expected the family over for dinner every Sunday. Homemade pasta, or macaroni as we called it, was just one of the items on the menu, usually served sometime after an appetizer and before a meat or fish dish.

My grandmother would hand-cut the pasta dough, dry it on her wooden rack and serve the pasta with one of the many jars of marinara sauce she prepared and stored in her cold cellar. There would be more courses after the main dish which usually led to a very long day at the table. Card games were played while we cracked nuts, shared orange slices and biscotti, enjoying stories about the old country.