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La Cucina Di Mia Madre

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge is challenging us once again
to create an amazing Six Sentence Story,
this time using the word “access”;
this is my response.

Due, no doubt, to the cold weather, I have been doing a lot more cooking indoors, eschewing the barbecue grill for simmering pots of tomato sauce, bubbling trays of lasagna and stews roiling in slow cookers – a skill which comes naturally to me since, as I have mentioned many times recently, I hail from a long line of talented cooks, with my mother topping the list; she instilled in me at an early age a love of hearty and delicious home-cooked meals and the know-how to prepare them.

Mom was a Sicilian immigrant who attended school only until the age of 9; with her own ailing mother unable to maintain their home, my mother assumed the role of nurse, cook and maid …. devastatingly unfair, but that’s the way it was in 1925 – kids forced to abandon their childhood, growing up in a hurry.

My mother and her cousins did not have access to YouTube or TikTok or cooking channels on TV; there were no cookbooks in her small apartment …. just recipes galvanized in her brain from watching her grandmother and her aunts holding court in the kitchen.

Many of the ingredients my mother used were home grown, such as vegetables, herbs and fruit, and the items that didn’t come from the ground were all bought from the local grocer and butcher, the price haggled and haggled once again until my mother was satisfied; her purchases were of the finest quality and she always returned home with change in her purse.

When I, as a kid, would come home from school or a day outside with my friends, I would always be greeted with the sublime aromas of something magical cooking; I would float into the kitchen as though carried by angels, my nose twitching, and I would dreamily ask “What’s for dinner?”

So many mornings I was awakened by the steady thump thump thump of the base of my mother’s palm kneading and pounding the dough for her exquisite double crust pizza filled with nothing but sweet, caramelized onions sautéed to golden-brown perfection; to this day after too many years and countless attempts, I still have not figured out her secret to that culinary slice of heaven.

NAR©2024

Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

“Mambo Italiano” featuring Rosemary Clooney singing and Sophia Loren dancing.

This portfolio (including text, graphics and videos) is copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR © 2017-present.

47 thoughts on “La Cucina Di Mia Madre”

  6. What lovely memories. I was always the home cook and in time I took up cooking professionally, and despite giving up my pubs and restaurant several years ago, there’s nothing I like more than cooking for my family. I’d like to think my lot will remember my culinary efforts in the way you remember those of your mother!

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    1. That’s lovely, Keith! I remember you mentioned something in another post about being a cook; I think it’s such a great asset for a guy. I’m sure your family will remember you for many wonderful reasons in addition to your cooking skills.
      My DILs are very busy medical professionals with crazy work hours. Out of necessity my sons learned to cook. Now they pitch in all the time.

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  9. Wonderfully done, Nancy. That first sentence was Virginia Woolf-worthy 😉 My mother is not Italian but boy, can she cook and she passed on the love of cooking to me. (My father was pretty darn good, too!)

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    1. For me cooking is a combination of pastime/hobby/necessity; I love to cook and enjoy trying different recipes. There are a lot of great cooks here on WP. My husband never learned but he’s good at other stuff. 😂 😂
      So glad you could relate to this one, Dale!

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  11. You’re blessed with access to that sort of knowledge. My mum was the head baker at your local high school, and only knew how to cook and bake for 750 teenagers. Cooking for four people was some what of a mathematical nightmare for her. Her favourite recipe was a tin of tuna, a tin of cream of mushroom soup, a tin of mixed vegetables, and a bag of smashed-to-rubble potato chips — bake in the oven until it bubbles over and burns on the bottom of the oven.

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        1. Never maple syrup but sugar is very likely, yes.
          She did another one that was stuffed with tuna and finely chopped broccoli which was also very delicious but that onion pizza was heaven. You know how onions get all brown and gooey when caramelized? Well, there you go. Try it, D! If anyone can do it, you can!
          I’m going to ask my sister, just on a wild chance she may know.

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      1. Oh I see! That’s still amazing as she showed her love in her cooking. I had a step mom ( still have ) who lacks all attributes of being a good mother.

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