Puff pastry with Swiss cheese, bacon and asparagus. Over the past months, I have enjoyed cooking with ingredients readily found in my well stocked pantry or fridge. Using either canned, fresh or frozen vegetables, with occasional left-overs, meals rarely required a last-minute outing to our nearby grocery store. With some intuition it is fun to combine flavors, textures, and colors and even meet the challenge to cook dishes in less than twenty minutes, from start to seating.
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Ratatouille and Indian coconut curry shrimp. How often have I returned home and craved specific exotic flavors, even though the dishes didn’t make sense as a combination. Confronted with preparing the menu in my mind, my excuse was always that too many different ingredients needed to be purchased, or worse, that time was of the essence. Hence, I would mosey to a favorite Chinese, Indian or Vietnamese restaurant, or stay home and cook a favorite staple dish.
Lasagna with radicchio, pancetta and taleggio sauce. Think about your last dining experience at an Italian neighborhood restaurant; crowded atmosphere with frantic waiters, red and white checkered tablecloths, empty Chianti bottles serving as candlestick holders, and vintage photos of Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni splashing in the famous Trevi fountain. 
Shepherd’s Pie. How often have I returned home from work, tired and eager to splurge on dinner at a nearby restaurant? Although it seems like a treat, at the end of each meal, I often wonder if my instincts were correct. Beyond the good company of family and friends, I remind myself that I love to cook and most often can replicate the dish at home through instinct and memory, and at a fraction of the cost.