Last night I cooked up an amazing batch of eggplant ravioli from Andy’s Italian Food & Deli on 256 Delaware Avenue in Albany, New York (518-463-2754).  Wow, delicious.  Boil salted water.  Cook up the ravioli and take out when they rise up.  They won’t be done, but that’s part of the plan.

In a frying pan, heat up about four tablespoons of good olive oil.  Add 1/2 a chopped carrot.  Stir.  Add a chopped garlic clove and a small, chopped red onion.  Stir.  When everything looks done, lower the heat from high down to the lowest setting and add 1/2 a container of Pomi chopped tomatoes.  Stir.  In about five minutes, add the ravioli and some shredded parmigiano.   Stir for a few minutes.

Place the ravioli in two deep bowls.  Add the sauce.  Add some chopped, leafy parsley, a chopped (sweet) radish, freshly grated parmigiano, and black paper grated to taste.

Dig in.

This beats going out: I find that the conversations with people my age or about my age tend to be about mortgages, retirement plans, their next trip, their last trip, their kids, our kids, their work, some uninformed but shared political or cultural opinion, a new book they want to read or have read, the new Wes Anderson movie, a spouse’s amazing dinner that’s better than what they ate in a restaurant, a new restaurant they loved or feel is overrated, and the weather: How hot it’s been, how cold, how unseasonable.  Clearly, I need new friends.

Until then: Albany Ravioli.

These two are friends.

This is ravioli: