THE LINGERING OF REGRETTABLE RECIPES IN THE MIND'S EYE: About a month ago I tried to adapt the Grandma's meatballs recipes for tofu. I am a tofu novice. I bought the extra firm kind and just used a pound of it and the other ingredients as normal. The meatballs stuck together like meatballs should, mostly. They fried up nicely, but I could tell they were a bit fragile. The taste was acceptable. I thought I could be careful and gently simmer them in the sauce--but there was no way. They were destroyed in the simmering process--every attempt to stir the sauce brought more destruction--and I ended up with this rather disgusting red tofu glop. It's been a month and I can't quite forget how eeeeeyucky this was. I may need counseling.

I bring this up because the Easter raviolis met a similar fate yesterday, as problems with the gas flame boiling the ravis led to the assumption that a little extra time was needed to cook the things. This was not the case as it turned out. The raviolis did not survive the straining process. Dinner was not destroyed, though; the raviolis were not the only dish, and my aunt makes Grandma's meatballs the way Grandma intended, and far better than I can make them.