R.I.P. Marcella Hazan

Marcella Hazan, a chain-smoking, determined former biology scholar who reluctantly moved to America and went on to teach a nation to cook Italian food, died Sunday at her home in Longboat Key, Fla.

I keep a couple of her wonderful cookbooks within reach in my kitchen and I have made many of the authentic recipes they contain.

I was glad to see that despite being a smoker, a drinker and a lover of good food she lived to the ripe old age of 89.

Read more at the NYTimes.com