I returned late last night from a loverly trip to Nashville. I spent lots of fun time with my mamma, uncle, aunt, and beloved cousins. Aside from the family mumbo jumbo, though, I also ate deeeelicious things like HOT CHICKEN and biscuits and, kind of surprisingly, a really tasty kimchi salad? More on that at a later date.

In a bit of a stupor this morning, I knew it would be the perfect stay-at-home-and-cook-comfort-food day, so I did. And comfort food for me is red sauce Italian (or matzoh ball soup, but tonight it was saucy Italian) because I'm a good Long Island girl. I lugged home cheese and eggplants and cans of tomatoes and even made a Caesar salad to really seal the deal. That said, I took some brief breaks to...

1. Watch Drake do this on SNL. I like that he's carrying on the funky dance move thing. My favorite lyric ever to sing nowadays is soonasyouseethetext replyyy me.

2. Research how to watch House Hunter Renovation without cable. That hotel cable and JetBlue DirectTV has ignited a fire in me for HGTV. I'm day dreaming in crown moldings.

3. Floss real good. I always forget my floss when I travel and I feel like a freakin dirty-mouthed pirate when I get home.

Back to the eggplant. I love this recipe, adapted from one found in a cookbook I love--Sicily by Phaidon--which I've mentioned before. The coolest part about this recipe is that, instead of using lots of soft cheese or mozzarella in the filling, instead you use hard boiled eggs. The flavor is perfect and the structure of the things works way better than those too cheesy (WHAT AM I SAYING IS THERE EVEN SUCH A THING) versions. Also there's so much basil that it practically acts as a leafy green filler, but with way more flavor. Yummissimo!