My love affair with ravioli started early, with the canned variety.
As I grew older and my palate became more sophisticated, I ventured beyond the can.
For fancy dinners my family would go to an Italian restaurant on Barton Street in Hamilton, Ontario called The Trocadero. That is where I first encountered homemade ravioli. It was a wonder and a revelation. They made marvelous cheese ravioli. Delectable little half-moons stuffed with cheese and seasoned to perfection. The restaurant is still there, still serving Italian food, though I;ve not been there for many, many years.
While attending the University of Toronto, I told my boyfriend about my love affair with ravioli. These were the days before the internet, so we went to the Toronto Public Library near Bloor and Yonge
and found a book that gave step-by-step instructions on how to make ravioli at home. We bought the ingredients on the way back to my apartment and spent a glorious day making, then eating our ravioli, until we were as stuffed as the ravioli themselves.
Since then, ravioli options have exploded in the grocery store. Cheese, meat, three cheese, four cheese, cheese and spinach, butternut squash, lobster…. The options are endless, though a simple cheese ravioli is my preference. I judge an Italian restaurant by the quality of their cheese ravioli.
When kids ask, “Miss Gillespie, What is you favorite food?” I always answer, “Ravioli, but not the kind in the can.” I want them to know there is an alternative out there so that, someday, they might have culinary love affair with a food of their own. Maybe it will be ravioli.
booksandbassets 
You had me at ravioli. I too “graduated” from the canned variety to a fresher version. My favorite are fried ravioli from authentic restaurants. Thanks for a delightful post this morning!
Yuck, canned ravioli. Bleh. I do love me some ravioli but I could never stomach it from a can. I hope most of your children don’t either. Your post is making me hungry though!
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee was always a welcome guest at our house when I was a kid. Like you, I have expanded my horizons, although I have never tried my hand at homemade pasta. Cheese ravioli in Alfredo sauce—one of my favorites.
Now I’m regretting my dinner choice! At Boston Pizza they have fabulous ravioli! I ate the canned stuff as a kid too, and was grown up before I knew there was an alternative. Going to REAL Italian restaurants also introduced me to gnocchi. I love it so much, but can’t find any around here that make my heart sings. It’s one of the things I always have when I go home to New Jersey.
We recently found a place with to-die-for meat ravioli. Now we try NOT to go there more than once a week. I’m not someone who enjoys being in the kitchen, but I could easily become best friends with someone who could make fresh pasta.