Linguine and clam sauce… exotic and hard to make, right? Not at all! My Aunt taught me a simple way to make this wonderful and easy dish.

The next time you are grocery shopping, pick up a few cans of clams, some linguine, a lemon, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese and oregano. For a family of five, I like to use two soup-sized cans. If the store only has the “tuna sized” cans, I’ll get four.

To make this great dish, sauté some garlic in olive oil in a pan. Add some oregano, and then throw in your clams, including the juice. Pepper to taste, but you probably won’t need any salt after adding the clams.

Then, add about a cup of water and turn up the heat enough for it to simmer. As the sauce boils down, keep adding more water. This brings out the wonderful flavor of all your ingredients. You can make this ½ an hour before you eat, or keep it cooking for a few hours, adding water as it gets low.

Believe it or not, you are done! I like to add lemon juice to mine, and fresh parmesan cheese on top makes this a delight. But it is actually fabulous on its own. And even more surprising? My three children LOVE this dish. Clams??!! Yes… clams!

When I was young I would go to the movies with my parents and become completely engrossed in the story on the screen. The movies would take me to far away places within seconds of the opening credits.

Sadly, my children will never be able to experience the potential magic of “the big screen.” Today, we went to the movies with great anticipation. That was when I came to the unhappy realization that society has reached an all time low.

At what point did people become so attached to cell phones that they can’t turn them off for the simple pleasure of a two hour movie. Throughout the entire film I was distracted from flashes of glowing cell phone screens as theater-goers checked voice mail, texted and even took pictures.

The movies are no longer the movies as they used to be. They are simply temporary distractions in between highly critical text messages. I am sorry to say we have lost something magical, and I don’t see any chance of it coming back.

At some point, people have got to realize that turning off a cell phone for a few hours will actually make their lives better – not worse. Until then, I will be waiting until “the movie comes out on DVD.”