Kathy Scott does not pretend to be a cook. But one of the few things she can cook well is Rose's Irish Spaghetti, a secret family recipe.

"People will crack up if they see my face next to anything that says cooking. I promise you, people will just think I made this up," Kathy said, laughing.

Kathy credits her Italian grandmother for the spaghetti recipe. "She's the one who came up the recipe," Kathy said. Known for conversing with chefs in kitchens of restaurants she frequented during her travels, Kathy's grandmother shared her secret recipe with Kathy's Irish mother, Rose, who may have adapted it.

"If the truth would be told, I'm not so sure my mother changed so much of the recipe but because she's Irish she had to throw her name in there," Kathy said.

The secret to the dish is the addition of two tablespoons of bacon grease to the sauce. "When you read the recipe, you can't possibly believe it tastes as good as it does," she said. "There's nothing in there like peppers or fancy ingredients."

Although the dish is considered by this novice to be easy, it is an all-day affair. She recollects that as a child, the process began with bacon and eggs at breakfast. "My grandfather would save the bacon grease for the sauce," she said.

Simmered for four hours, the sauce contains sausage to which oven-baked meatballs are added. "All these different flavors meld together to make it so good, and yet it's very simple," she said.

Made for family get-togethers, the spaghetti was always the centerpiece. "It's part of my past. It definitely reminds me of my family and my family heritage," Kathy said.