Okay so I like to pride myself with being a great cook. Not a good cook but a great cook. I can cook honestly anything. Go to a restaurant I can go home and replicate. Tonight not the case.

Growing up I used to go to Anna Maria's in Santa Monica, CA. Has anyone heard of it? It was the down and dirty Italian restaurant. Or shall I say SOUTHERN Italian restaurant. The Southern is a big deal since we are from Northern Italy. To me it doesn't matter. To my grandfather it is HUGE! Oh well. It was like home. I went there every Friday night. I loved the fried mozarella. The baked clams. The veal parmigiana. The family style salad and the garlic bread. Oh how I miss Anna.

Tonight the husband is gone, yet again. I decided I was going to try to replicate some of her recipes. Can't be that hard right? Fry some Mozarella, add some salt and pepper and boom you have a dish. Wow to my disappointment I failed. I doctored it up and all but it wasn't the same. The Veal Milanese was amazing and I will put it in the binder of quick, delicious recipe that husband will enjoy.

So now I am on a quest to find Anna and her husband Danny. For my 40th birthday I want a cooking lesson from the true Southern Italian. Don't tell Grandpa! I am going to make my closest friends join even if they don't want to as this cooking is one to pass down to generations to come!