Pasta with swordfish & toasted pistachio and breadcrumbs

I consider myself a positive and pretty optimistic person. My glass is mostly half full, not half empty. I usually wake up with a smile and like to look at what is good in my life rather than what isn't.

Today, however is an especially good day. A celebration of coming home.

This morning I got a phone call from my close friend Y. Some of you may remember my post mentioning her husband was being readmitted to the hospital to fight his ongoing battle against leukemia last month. She called to tell me that after a cycle of chemio and more, he is on his way home right now as I write. This guy is going back home to his wife, his two little children and all that is familiar to him. No more IVs, no more sterile room, just rooms full of toys, the everyday disorder of a house full of kids, laughter and love. Nothing sterile there.

There is no feeling in the world like coming home. I am sure he would agree if you asked him that. The feeling of being somewhere where everything is familiar, from the books to the photographs to the smell. Have you ever noticed how all homes have a unique smell? Home is where you can walk around in the dark and not bump into any furniture (unless you are pregnant). Home is the place where you know where each and every crack and worn spot is, those tiny imperfections that your guests may not notice but that scream out to you every time you walk into a room.

But coming home is also in the embrace of the person you love after a bad day in the office or an argument you had the day before (wait, didn't we all swear we would never go to bed angry at each other?).

Coming home is the feeling of familiarity you have walking through streets where you recognize faces, stores and sounds even if you have been away for a long time.

Home is watching your red-cheeked, open-mouthed children sleeping in their beds, on an airplane, in a car or anywhere, as long as you are there together.

Home is unexpectedly tasting something you haven't had since your grandmother made it for you when you were a child and that you have never been able to recreate in your own kitchen.

Coming home is wonderful, it is the feeling of being safe and loved like nowhere else, and we must never take it for granted, even when we are itching to go.

What is home for you?

This dish may have tasted a little like home to F, with its flavors so reminiscent of the Mediterranean. It is full of the sun, the sea and the colors of the islands.

I was inspired by a tray of swordfish in pieces at the market. I usually do not buy things that are prepared in advanced or pre-cut, say pre-filleted chicken breast or pork loin, because they are much more expensive and often not  as appealing. However the idea of cooking with what were probably the trimmings from perfectly cut fish filets and the less noble parts did appeale to me. First of all, with wild fresh fish costing as much as it does, you don't just go out and buy four huge swordfish or tuna stakes for a simple week night dinner with the kids, if you know what I mean. Plus, I felt it was an environmentally friendly choice to use up all parts of the animal, those parts that are discarded just because they aren't the right width or shape. When you are making a pasta sauce, you want the tastier, fattier part of the fish and you will be needing smaller pieces anyway. I will keep my eyes open for these cuts from now on.

Sicilian oven-roasted artichokes, thanks and awards

Spring has sprung, or rather, spring has exploded. Temperatures have shot up to 27°C and we all spent the week end outdoors in short sleeves and summer shoes. This is by no means normal for this time of the year, we were still wearing jackets and coats last week. I am pretty sure temperatures will drop soon again so I am enjoying every minute of it while it lasts. This is what has been happening outside my kitchen window while I have been cooking.

Now, enough blabbing about the weather. There is much to say, so I better get on with it.

First of all, despite some technological problems, the bake sale for Japan was a success beyond expectations. We collected more than three times the initial target, with a whopping US$8269! So thank you first and foremost to Sabrina and all of you bidders. Thanks for the support on Twitter and Facebook, thanks to all the bloggers who baked and cooked up such fabulous treats. And finally, thank you to Second Harvest Japan for the work they are doing on site to help the earthquake victims. Once again, and I cannot say this enough after a few personal experiences these past couple of weeks, it always amazes me how the foodblogging community gets together to help and support each other in good times and bad.

On this note, I would like to thank Manu for the lovely awards for my blog and would like to pass them on. There are so many great blogs out there and amazing people behind them, so it is really hard to make a choice. I decided to pass these awards along to some of the newer blogs I have discovered.

So here's to you: A Bucks County Kitchen, And Baby Cakes Three, Brown Eyed Baker, Burp and Slurp,  Design Wine and Dine, Dulce Delight, From Donuts to Delirium, Indian Simmer, Labna, Life's a Feast, Like Mother Like Daughters, Moomser, My Fiance Likes It So It Must Be Good, My Kitchen in the Rockies, Taste of Beirut.

Now let's get down to cooking. I will never forget the first time I visited Sicily right around this time of the year. I was amazed by the three-wheeled Ape Car I kept seeing all over selling mountains of artichokes. This recipe takes inspiration from the typical Sicilian way of preparing artichokes and I first tasted it at my mother in law's. My recipe is a quicker version with fewer ingredients. Also, I used carciofi romaneschi, which do not have thorns, are slightly bigger and have a more rounded shape. These are unbelievably easy to make and very tasty: you will get that perfect combination of bread, parsley, garlic and oil with every leaf.