52 Ancestors Week 5: In the Kitchen

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 5's theme is "In the Kitchen." So many memories revolve around meals and cooking together. Do you have an ancestor who was a good cook (or maybe a notoriously bad cook!) What about a favorite recipe -- where did it come from or who always cooked it? If that doesn't spring any ideas, what about ancestors named Kitchen or Cook(e)?

With Dinah?

     

    Cooking for a lot of people, especially in an Italian-American house, takes three things: 1. Skill. 2. Time. And three a LOT of patience! Thankfully, my mother has always been up to the task. Even though she isn't Italian, she still learned from plenty Italians the art of preparing some pretty good meals. Caution: Some of the images show in the blog may make you hungry. We here at "All Roads Lead to Haverhill" cannot be held responsible for the damage done to your screen.

 

Chef Wilfred

     It should be noted that my mother DOES have an ancestor who was a cook. His name was Wilfred Felker and he worked in a restaurant in Haverhill. That's unfortunately all we do know about him. He passed away in 1951 when my mother was only two years old. I've always wondered what he cooked or where his restaurant was. City directories and the US census haven't been that informative and my grandmother never really talked about her grandfather much.

    My mother has said to me that her side of the family never really made anything French-Canadian and because of that she thoroughly embraced the art of creating Italian cuisine by learning from the best. After all, who else was going to teach her how to cook for two growing Italian boys? Well, aside from Grandma Ollie, I mean.  

    Olympia was the first person to teach her how to make really good sauce. That's the key ingredient for any pasta dish. You want the ripest tomatoes and other fresh ingredients. You also want to let it simmer on a stove for hours so that the house fills with a sweet, sweet smell. Naturally, Olympia learned this from her mother, Clementina. 

    I've never been completely sure if that was a recipe that was handed down from generation to generation. But, I can tell you that sometimes she puts in a spoonful of sugar in the sauce. It does more than just help the medicine go down. It serves to thicken it or else it's just warm tomato juice with bits of basil and garlic in the mix. And who wants that runny mess? NO ONE! Tomato paste also helps, too. For that we, unfortunately, need to go to the grocery store.

Look at that lasagna!

     If there's one thing my brother and I can agree on it's that our mother makes the best lasagna in the world. For as long as I can remember she made it for special occasions like Thanksgiving. You would think that my Grandma Ollie would critique her cooking such a very hard to master dish. She didn't. She loved it! I can remember times when my grandma would smile at her cooking and even cooked together if things got a little hectic in the kitchen. Or if...two Italian boys were trying to sneak a taste of something. FYI: Wooden spoons hurt.

  My grandmother wasn't the only person my mother learned how to cook from. My great-aunt Nicolina on my father's side also taught her a thing or two about how to best make pasta. So, my Italian cuisine at the table was usually a mix of Calabrian and Campanian treats. She loved cooking it and still does to this day. In fact, my mother has offered my sister-in-law tips on how to make lasagna. The legend continues!

Hungry?

    This isn't to say my father has never done any cooking. Oh, he has and he has offered to help my mother in the kitchen on many occasions. From his parents he has learned how to make things like fried calamari, stuffed calamari, seafood stew and recently he learned how to make mascarpone cannoli cheesecake. Hey. Every meal needs a great dessert. 

    Together, my parents always made the best food for my brother and I. They even cooked for a ton of people at our Christmas eve parties. Every Christmas eve, they would be talking to guests while cooking in the kitchen. There really is no rest for the weary. I always felt bad that they rarely got a chance to enjoy their creations fresh and warm. But, there was always leftovers. I think it just pleased them to know that their food always made everyone smile. They are pretty good chefs. You kind of have to be if you're juggling cooking and talking to a guest at the same time!

 They took what they learned from everyone in their lives and everyone would talk in the kitchen about how great the food was. There was never any complaints and I've even tried my hand at a few things.....with varying degrees of success of course. I can honestly say I've never burned down the house. Burned pizza in the microwave? Yes. But, not the house! That's an important distinction!

    Like the prompt this week said, I have had very good memories surrounding the kitchen. I can remember walking into the kitchen while my grandmother and my mother were cooking and grandma Ollie would talk to me about some recipe she learned from Clementina or how to properly prepare any cuisine. I learned a lot about cooking from her and my parents and I'm glad they taught me how to make things other than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

    My favorite recipe will always be my mother's lasagna. It's a rare treat nowadays. When I was growing up, it would always be served with turkey on Thanksgiving or as the main course on New Years Day. These days it's been relegated to Thanksgiving and that's okay by me. It's a bit filling! I've never been entirely sure where the recipe came from. My grandmother preferred making baked ziti for her big meals. So, there's a good chance my mother came up with it on her own. If that's the case then, that is AWESOME! 

    I guess you could say that my mother fully embraced the Italian art of cooking to the point where we would have a pasta meal every week. She and my father would make meatballs. She would even go to the deli and pick out the freshest ingredients and sausages. She embraced it all and my grandmother encouraged her. She wasn't about to say "no". Cooking should be appreciated by everyone who loves to cook. 

    Cooking meals for a bunch of people has a way of bringing everyone together and I'm glad I've learned so much from the good cooks in my life. I will say I've stopped burning things. Though, the less said about using meat loaf meat for tacos the better. I almost had a visit from Gordon Ramsay that day!!

Kitchen's closed, guys. See ya next time!