Happy new year!

This is the first day of the second year of my food column, “On Eating and Loving Food.”

The first year was a blast, and so far this year has started out the same. Last night I went to Sue and Tom Witt's for lasagna. And manhattans. Duh.

Sue makes some of the best lasagna I've ever had. If you don't believe me, ask Tom. He was really happy that I was coming for dinner, not so much that he’d get to spend some time with me, but more because I asked Sue to make the lasagna for the first in a series of columns about friends and their favorite recipes. Tom loves her lasagna. So does their son, Sam. So do I.

So, lucky us. Sue made lasagna, Tom made manhattans, Sam told stories about splitting his chin open three times, and I laughed, ate, and drank. Dinner at the Witts’ is never boring. I really need to get together with them more often because we always have so much catching up to do it takes a long time to finish dinner. And I always think of something I forgot to tell them on the way home.

Tom and I have been close friends since the first summer I came to Boothbay Harbor, when we were both 19. (okay, he was 18 – big deal – he's six months younger than I.) I actually met all three Witt brothers that summer, Tom, Bruce and Dan, and they all remain friends to this day. Their parents had a cottage on Cameron’s Point and the brothers still own it. Some day I’ll write a story about how they all ended up having homes here.

I remember being slightly bummed out when Tom told me he was getting married a few years later. That tends to put a damper on a friendship with someone of the opposite sex.  I said something like, “Oh great. I guess that means you'll be spending more time with her than me.” Sadly, I was serious. I can be a spoiled brat.

But I lucked out. That woman turned out to be Sue Hallet. Two besties for the price of one :-)

Anyway. Sue's lasagna. She often makes it for Tom’s birthday dinner, on Feb. 10. I’ve been there to enjoy it several times, but one year when she made it for his birthday, we never got to enjoy it. It was 26 years ago, on Feb. 10.

Sue had called to invite me, along with three other of Tom's besties, to a surprise birthday dinner. They were living in that cool converted barn on the River Road. Sue was pregnant with their second child. On the morning of his birthday, Tom called me to say that the “surprise’’ dinner was off. Elli had come into the world early that morning.

I ended up coming to Boothbay that day, anyway, and went to Miles to meet Elli. She was, and I’m not just being nice, one of the most beautiful babies I’ve ever seen. Tom didn't get to have lasagna with four of his closest friends but he did get to have his birthday dinner with his three favorite people, and he got the best birthday present ever.

So! Sue's lasagna! Everybody has his/her own favorite recipe for lasagna. It's pretty simple really – especially now that there are those lasagna noodles that you don't have to cook first. There are usually three basic ingredients in it: noodles, sauce and cheese. Sue's recipe has a couple other things, and trust me – it's good! She uses a recipe from the Prince lasagna box, but adds finely chopped pepperoni and sundried tomato pesto to the ricotta mix.

As I said, it’s pretty basic, but for some reason, Sue’s always looks and tastes better than your everyday lasagna. Might have something to do with the extra ingredients, and the ambiance. I only make it, like, once every five years, but after having it at the Witts’ I want more. Now.

So today I will buy the noodles, and the ricotta, and the sausage, and the mozzarella, and whip up a tomato sauce, and make a lasagna.

I think you should too.

Up next week: Shrimp scampi, manhattans, and too much wine with the Maryellenz.

See ya then!

(And please, always feel free to email me with positive comments. This is not the place to air negativity.)