When I was a child my mother made a ceramic bowl that looked like a head of cabbage. It sat on our kitchen table and inside the bowl were recipes that she had ripped out of magazines or recipes she had scribbles on scraps of paper. I guess we just can't help becoming our parents and in this instance it's quite ok with me.
My mother was a fabulous cook. She didn't learn it from her mother, lord only knows my grandmother was a terrible cook and quite a sin for an Italian woman in my opinion (and everyone else Italian!) But by some stroke of luck, or Italian genetics, my mom and her sister were wonders in the kitchen. My sister and I are said to be good cooks as well, but our mother didn't really teach us either. She just hated when we got in her way in the kitchen. She preferred working alone, giving us the chores of setting the table and doing the dishes. Perhaps we learned from sheer olfactory osmosis and reading all of her recipes. Or maybe it just runs in our genes!
What my mother did teach me was the gift of hospitality. Not a week past in our home that we did not share a meal with someone. Never do I remember anyone turning down an invitation to dinner at our house. I loved when company came-there was the certainty of awesome food, lively conversation and a room full of love with family and friends snuggly tucked around our dinning room table. My cousin Louie still boasts of my mother's apple pie and mashed potatoes. "The best apple pie I ever had", my cousin expressed to me not too long ago. and "How did she get those potatoes so lump free?" Practice and love, I believe are the answers to those questions.
So I proudly carry the tradition into the next generation- I have no plans of cleaning out that drawer in my kitchen. It keeps me connected to a mother I lost all too soon in my life. I am thankful to have "inherited the gift of creating good food and for the joy of hospitality". In this fast paced, throw away society that we live in, I would like to challenge you this week to find an old family recipe and "whip it up" this week. Invite your family or friends over and squeeze around your dinning room or picnic table and have a nostalgic experience. It will do your heart good.
(Note- photo taken in 1965 when I was living in California. My mom is on the left sitting beside me. You can only see her hair! My dad and sister sit with us same side of table. My mom's sister, nieces and brother-in-law sit across from us and a cousin sits at the end of the table. Those were great times in our family history.)
On another note, if you haven't ventured out yet to see the movie Julie/Julia-go! If you enjoy reading my blog than you will love the movie. It will bless your soul on many levels.
http://www.julieandjulia.com/
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