A vote... for the importance of family

Today I read in the paper that the man who wrote "itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow Polka Dot Bikini" passed away. His name was lee Pockriss, he was 87. How many of you remember that song? I was only 1 when it was released but I have SUCH a vivid, wonderful memory of it.

When i was little, it was such a treat when we took (what had seemed like) the Looong trip into Queens to visit my cousin Terri's family.

Terri was born 4 years before me on the very same day. I always felt that gave us a special connection and I Always idolized her! As was very typical in Italian families, My Aunt Marie entertained in the finished basement of their Queens home, Not to Dare rustle the plastic on the 'good' furniture upstairs! The basement had a full kitchen with a dining table equipped for (what had then seemed like).. 52 people. The sauce was always simmering, the love was always brimming, the laughter...bountiful. Terri's dad, My mothers Brother Joe, always made me feel very special, very part of his beautiful family. Not having a dad of my own, I think that is part of the reason, those rare trips to their home always made me feel so warmhearted... yet afterward, so lonely..... longing for all that they shared.

On one of our trips to Uncle Joe's house, Terri asked me if I wanted to go 'UPSTAIRS' to the living room, to hear some records. I remember thinking she may get into trouble to venture to the 'forbidden' part of the house. Even though I was her younger cousin, Terri Never made me feel it was a chore to entertain me. She was always so kind to me, always with that gorgeous big smile! When she played the record 'polka dot bikini', I was sooo excited and thought it the most fun song I had ever heard. I think she must have played that song for me, at least 10 times! ( It was also fun to peak into the actual kitchen, across the way, to see what it looked like!)

As I grew, Terri and I became pen pals. Through her letters to me, I followed her career, her crush on the boy down the street, their dating, their engagement! When I was 16 she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids at their wedding! You can imagine how exciting that was for me!

Through the years my husband and I became close friends with Terri and her husband and even though they moved out of our state a very long time ago and we don't get to see them often... My heart will always hold a very special place for them. For All of them... uncle Joe who passed 5 years ago Aunt Marie , thoughtful and sweet.... and for Terri....for the beautiful memories that stir up.... with a song title or a pot of sundays spaghetti sauce.

A luscious language

I often think that when my children look back on growing up in our home, they will always have memories of me in our kitchen. Always with a pot of something yummy simmering on the stove top or roasting in the oven.

To me, nourishing my family with healthy home cooked foods is the same as telling them How much I love them. Tonight while preparing a pot of my Moms broccoli soup, something dawned on me and no matter how hard I tried to reach back through my memories of my early childhood, I just couldn't visualize my mom in our kitchen back in our first house on first street. I can see the railroad rooms, the tv, the front sunroom/dining area. I see these few blurry things but I don't remember a great many details of our first home. I do remember that we had a broken couch leg and it wasn't until we moved away from first street when I was ten that it hit me like a bolt of lightening ....we had been poor!! I remember that my Mom had worked in Tony's pizza restaurant as a waitress until I was about 6 and then she moved down the street a bit to a restaurant called the 'red barn', which I guess was equivalent to an applebees of today. Most of my early memories of her are during this stage of her 'career'. I visualize her In this restaurant but never at home with me and my sister and brother.

My mom has had a rough life. She fell in love with and married my dad despite his serious heart condition. When Dad passed away my mom was only 33 yr.s old. She had to leave her 3 children, pretty much on their own, and take on a full-time, pitifully low paying job which barely made ends meet for us all. Stirring my soup again just now, I can't remember what healthy foods sustained us during this early period, I only have memories of Many pizzas and italian heros from Tony's (our neighbors pizza parlor) and the rare exciting outings to Wetsons.(they were long islands Mcdonalds before we got an actual Mcdonalds).

So why then as I sit down and am eating this delicious bowl of soup, am I feeling my mom's love with each warm spoonful?
Ah! The memories of my later years with mom, that's why. After re-marrying and cutting her hours down to part-time, She was finally able to reach back through her memory and stir up the favorite recipes that her Mom had loved her with.
Favorites like, Zucchini Soup, Pasta and Peas and Tonight's Broccoli soup which inspired this post and will probably inspire my kids to use as their language of love towards my future grandchildren.


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