Mom and Dad (around 1947)
Looking back, I must say, my mom was the ultimate cook and bottle washer. She was phenomenal in the house. She could do everything and some, and never complained about it. Early on, it was apparent that my dad was in charge of everything outside the house, my mom inside the house, except for the bill paying. I would even say, that until the day she passed on, she probably never made out a check. No need to, she always had my dad and later he passed that onto me, but it was uncanny how she made pennies turn into dollars.
In going through my dad's stuff after his death, I discovered that he and my mom had bought 3 rooms of furniture.........bedroom, living room and kitchen in 1935 for a total of $39.00. When they bought their first house around 1941 on long Island the price was $2,500 dollars and the mortgage was $18 bucks a month. My grandparents and my mothers sisters and brothers all chipped in and bought a very elegant hand carved dining room set with six chairs, 2 buffets and a china closet from some wealthy friends of my grandfathers and that was their house warming gift. We sold that set after them using it for 30 some on years for $10,000 at a tag sale. Well, back to my mom.
My mom, could not only cook just about anything you wanted but baked all kinds of Italian pastries, cakes including decorating them, cookies, her own bread, pizza. She jared her own preserves, and still found time to clean the house and keep my dad and I in clean clothes..........without a dryer............and in most cases hand washed the delicates. Washed and starched her organdy curtains and stretched them on an old stretcher in the backyard. A Clothesline was stretched from our kitchen window to a tree about 40' away from the house. If it was raining or snowing she would hang the wash in the bathroom which seemed to be the hottest room in the house. Talking about starching stuff. My dad and I always had our shirts starched and ironed, and my dad was a blue collar worker. She even made a error several times and starched our underwear............WOW!!!!! what a feeling..............it was great for me ! was it great for you ?? Back to mom.
Every holiday, mom would bake all kinds of Italian cookies, I remember most of my friends would come over to visit "mom and dad" as they were known to get some of her anisette cookies. Mom would always send some home to their parents never sure if it made it that far. She never had fancy chef's tools only a fork or knife or whatever she could find around the kitchen. Always decorated with sprinkles or silver eatable beads or whatever. Some were even fried in boiling oil but they were all delicious. She could spend a whole day mixing, kneading, mixing and more kneading bread, brushing butter over the top. Setting it under blankets to help it rise. kneading it down again and letting it rise again. What a job.......but the end result was what counted. Beautifully shaped loaves of bread. I use to watch her cut the bread, it was just as her mother did. She would put the loaf between her breast and with the knife facing towards her, she would begin slicing...........WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MINNIE??????? would be my fathers reaction............WANT TO CUT THOSE PUPPIES OFF?????.
Now, her idea of a sandwich, or perhaps it was my dad's. Meat and cheese equal to the thickness of the two slices of bread, plus lettuce and a sliced tomato. Little mayo, maybe a little mustard just for flavor. AH!!!! JUST RIGHT.
Regardless of the day of week, or the time of day, there was always food, drink and dessert in our house. Never did we have a want for food. Whenever someone dropped over, whether it be for a minute or an hour, out of the fridge came "the works" out of our home bakery came whatever kind of cake, cookies or donuts we had. Coffee, tea, soda, beer??? what's your pleasure. Want to take some home with you? Want to sell me insurance, sit down, have a sandwich........... here to pick Vito up for school, sit down have some breakfast. Want me to help you build a garage? sit down and have some lunch.........can't work on an empty stomach.
Now on the non-important holidays, mothers day, fathers day, Halloween, Suzie's birthday?, Clara's anniversary----ever notice how the woman always had the anniversary---never the man. Mom would bake her special cake with special pans....little girl with a hoop dress, little lamb shape cake, pumpkin with a black cat poised on top or perhaps a pineapple upside down cake. I don't know if that was intentional or not but it taste good, graham cracker ice box cake, Long Island cheesecake........her version of New York cheesecake. Boston cream pie, Banana cream pie, lemon chiffon cream pie, you name it she baked it. One thing though, her recipes were not to exact. She had an additional set of measures (besides the teaspoon, tablespoon, cup etc)....she had....a pinch....of.. a shake....of... 2 shakes.......of....in the case of salt it was always a pinch of........and one over the right shoulder for good luck......A WHA?????. one quarter of a hand full......whose hand? what size hand? She had two squeezes, a short sqeeze.......ee......a long squeeze......eeeeee........This was great for keeping ALL HER secret recipe's a SECRET!!!!. If Mrs. Pellegrini doesn't understand that recipe.........to bad. "But mom why are you leaving out the baking soda. Because it's my secret!!!!!that's why". One reason, one would never ask my mother for a recipe..............BECAUSE you wouldn't get the right one! Betty Crocker never invented toll house cookies. MOM did because her chips were better and never mixed into the batter, they were hand placed into each cookie ---straight up-----as the dough laid on the pan........guess this is why it was HER cookies. The funniest was, that my dad could not boil water....or at least that's what he said....because that was woman's work BUT my mom when cooking pasta WOULD ALWAYS, ALWAYS, go to my dad with a little piece of pasta on a fork or spoon and ask my dad's opinion if it was cooked. My dad, would sit back, chew it very slowly and ALWAYS, ALWAYS, come back with "1 more minute". That tradition has remained in my household. Margot ALWAYS comes to me to ask if the pasta is cooked to my taste. My reply is " 2 more minutes" at which point it's immediately taken off the stove, drained in cold water(which stops the cooking) and put on the plate..............funny it still tastes good.............
With all of this food, all these snacks, drinking water out of the garden hose, getting a cut in your finger dirty, drippy nose, wet feet, swimming before the half hour after eating was over, getting whacked on the knuckles with a yard stick by Mr. Gregory in shop class, a bout with athletes feet, jock itch, hammer toe, murmur of the heart, measles, mumps, and whatever else we did .....or.......had as young kids........ that now-a-days is not acceptable.............I survived. What a great life it was.
