Book excerpt: Join the popular host of Ciao Italia, seen nationally on public television, for an intimate journey back to her childhood in Buffalo, New York, to a time when her mother and grandmothers ran the household from their kitchens. Food was the connector in our lives; it brought people together. In an Italian family, love is expressed through kisses, kudos, and in the kitchen, writes Mary Ann Esposito. Yet, as a girl, Mary Ann took for granted the endless parade of delicacies emanating from the family hearth. Only when she began studying cooking in Italy did she realize that the techniques and recipes she was learning were so familiar because she'd seen them prepared countless times before! Inspired, Mary Ann spent ten years combing Italy for the secrets of its great regional cooking. Now, in this companion volume to her enormously popular cooking show, she offers two hundred recipes -- some straight from the Mediterranean, others from her family's archives and memories -- plus dozens of anecdotes and tips, to create this intimate loving tribute to her Italian heritage. The hallmark of Italian cuisine is its freshness, and Esposito shows how to make the most of every ingredient. Here's her recipe for quick tomato sauce, ready in just thirty minutes, plus one made with red peppers and another with yellow tomatoes. A chapter on breads covers everything from hearty focaccia to calzoni with a choice of four fillings to sweet, fruit-filled panettone. Many of her soups are meals in themselves, like rich Sardinian Fish Soup or Spinach and Meatball Soup.