One of things you’ll invariably notice as you travel in Italy is how fresh everything tastes. While you can’t always feasibly duplicate the ingredients list you’ll enjoy in Italy (my meager kingdom for those anchovies and sardines you can get in Venice), you can still get the essence of the Italian palate on your dinner table with the proper sourcing and use of fresh sage, nettles, basil, onions, peppers, tomatoes, artisanal cheeses, etc found at your local farmers’ market or organic grower. One thing I’ve learned–the aromatic ones like basil really profit from freshness and being added to the dish as late as possible. If you toss chopped basil into your sauce while it’s still cooking, the kitchen will smell great, but that great smell is the essential oils being boiled off and leaving little of their joyful flavor in the dish.

Here Sawyer helps daddy by pulling the wagon as I thought about how many types of basil I could get to grow in the back yard. She didn’t seem super enthusiastic about my request to keep moving down the aisle. What’s the hurry daddy?