I'm 100% Italian with my mother from Northern Italy and father from Southern Italy. I grew up eating terrific fresh Italian food and once I got on my own, i made sure to take the best recipes from my mother to pass them down after she passed away in 2001. Tomatoe Sauce is something I have yet to share on this forum. I love to make a large pot of it and then freeze for later use. I'm partial to Marinara because I think it's lighter so I had to spend many month's adjusting my mother's and grandmother's recipes to combine my favorite things they did into my own creation. I love my mother's manocotti recipe with a filling of meat and spinach. I find very few Italian restaurants make these correctly (where the shell is more like a light crepe instead of a noodle). See above. I once tried to make some Italian Cookies based on a recipe my Aunt gave me and it was the biggest mess I ever experienced. Pots/Pans dishes everywhere with a result of a gooey chocolate mess.