I feel blessed that almost all the people who shared my days, weeks, months and years leave beautiful footprints in my life.

And maybe it is because I am a foodie that I find some of the most beautiful footprints in my life are associated with food cooked with love.  This one is for an Italian in Jakarta who means a lot to me, and to whom I will be dedicating my first work of fiction to – we ate spaghetti in the evenings and discussed meaningful things that become the foundation of my book-to-be, Catching Infinity (well the science part of it anyway because it was for him that I wrote The Ten Most Beautiful Equations in the World).

Spaghetti ala Norma is from Southern Italy (Sicily or Napoli, we used to argue). This is how I made mine:

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  1. Drizzle olive oil generously over sliced aubergines, onion and tomatoes until the vegetables are soft.
  2. Pour the olive oil from the grill into a heavy pan. Add chopped garlic, crushed chilli (according to taste), 1 tsp of dried oregano and 1 bunch of basil.
  3. Cook spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water and some olive oil.
  4. When al dente, combine all and season to taste.

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Ecco. Simple but good and soul-warming – the best in life ❤