On the hutch in my dining room are framed wedding photos of my parents, grandparents, in-laws and grandparents-in-law. Oh, and me and my husband.  When we married, we had the photos arranged around our wedding cake with little notes about how they all met, how long they’d been married and something about them as a couple. We figured it was good karma for us since we both had grandparents alive and beyond their 60th wedding anniversaries.

Maybe that’s why I was so captivated by Emiko Davies’ book, “Tortellini at Midnight.” Although it’s a sumptuous cookbook full of classic Italian recipes from around her husband’s home country, Davies peppers it with old family photos and tales of those who created the recipes and their circumstances, bringing to life the people behind the dishes. Those tales trigger comforting memories of my own family’s traditional recipes and the stories behind them.