When I was young, after church on Sundays, we would always have a delicious Italian dinner at my grandmother's house. My grandmother's slow-cooked sauce(酱) was the key. We would all eat, talk and laugh until our stomachs were full. After Mum and grandmother passed away, my dad would still make the sauce from time to time and invite me and my brother over to his little house for a dinner full of fine food and happy memories.

When my dad died, he passed the family recipe(食谱) on to me and my daughter. We often made the sauce for dinner, but for some reason it never tasted quite right. At first, I thought we had gotten the recipe wrong, but one day I realized what was missing. On that day, right before dinner, I closed my eyes and imagined my dad, mum and grandmother all sitting at the table around me. Then I placed the pasta on my fork and slowly put it in my mouth. It tasted perfect. From that moment, I realized the secret was, of course, what it had always been: Love!