Page Forty-Four.
I made a large tray of lasagne a couple of days ago for the princes, their parents and grandmother. They liked it very much as they always do, (except for the middle prince who consistently frowns down upon red sauces, but I don't care). Grandma asked me where I learned to make such good lasagne...
One of my sisters was married for about fifteen minutes at a very young age to a fellow named Ralph. One day when I was in about the eighth grade I went with her to Ralph's house just to hang out. We were there for a while when my sister said that Ralph's mom had made some Lasagne for dinner and did I want some? I'd literally never heard of lasagne. Seriously. I was very suspect of this weird word, "lasagne", and had a long and illustrious history as being the pickiest eater in the history of human childhood. But, I was a big fan of spaghetti and it was explained that if I liked spaghetti, I'd enjoy Lasagne. So I had some and I loved it, just loved it.
Perhaps twelve or twenty months later, I called Ralph's mom, Henrietta, and asked her how to make it. She taught me and I began making it for my family right then and there. Over the years, I've changed the recipe little and it continues to be a crowd favorite.
About five years ago, I made some for myself and gave some of the left-overs to my sister. (One of the few problems with Lasagne is that it's virtually impossible to make one portion, or even two.) While eating it, she was very complimentary, as she typically is while eating my food, and asked how I ever learned to make it in the first place. I reminded her of the story of Henrietta. She declared "well she was good for something, anyhow". And, Henrietta was good for something. She taught me how to make one of my signature dishes.(The trick is to use two different sauces which are not mixed; use one jarred sauce on top and one homemade sauce in the middle. That way you get a different flavor depending upon which section of the entree your fork happens to cut into.)
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