The Beginning

OK. To begin at the beginning, this blog is inspired by two things. First and foremost, the truly remarkable Julie/Julia Project in which our heroine cooks her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Every damn thing in the book. In a year.

That Julie is a sassy bad girl, and we like her a lot.

So, Stacey and I talked about cooking our way through my family's cookbook: The Cosa Nostra Cookbook, assembled by my sister Phyllis. OK, less heroic in scope, but we know our limits.

We pulled it off the shelf and realized this was the 25th anniversary of the volume. Cool, and OK, why don't we also publish a 25th anniversary volume? We've changed, our waistlines have changed, our family has changed, cooking has changed. If we can carry it off, this will also chronicle our work in putting together the new volume.

Second inspiration. We moved to Chicago two years ago, and love it. And, this is it, the Cubs are going to the post-season. Next year is this year. We live a couple of blocks from Wrigley, and we are psyched. So this is also about Chicago life, the Cubs, and whatever else comes to mind.

Ok, the real inspiration. I'm currently unemployed (wait, tell my Mom I'm consulting) so I've got some time to figure out things like blogs. Blessing. Curse. Whatever.

The title of our blog comes from a reference in the Cosa Nostra. The editor's note for Il Fine Del Mondo reads:

This dish is called "Il Fine Del Mondo", the end of the world, because every time we have it, Ray shouts, "Burn my clothes, Ma, I'm in Heaven!" --Ed.

So. The beginning. The game (Cubs/Cornish, take your pick) is afoot.