Looking over to the corner with fresh rosemary needles, water boiling, and garlic seeming right — as medicine, and as joy to the palate

— the pestle in the mortar created this dense paste which later dissolved in a small bath of fine olive oil, before the nine minutes expired for the spaghetti, and just before being wrapped in taste and aroma…

Soft against hard may be in agreement

The gentleness of an avocado, next to a subtle cream-stuffed mozzarella, drizzled with a robust olive oil and fresh garlic. Not many edibles are as brutal as fresh garlic. Yet, this contrast is worth repeating. Some opposites marry better than merely attract.