Cooking with Love

Fall is here! My favorite time of year...

October arrives with the colorful display of pumpkins, apples and different squash. My mom never cooked pumpkin. I don't think they existed in Italy. However, she did cook zucchini and once in a while, a friend would give her a squash from their garden. This squash was called cucuzza. They can grow very very long.

Mom would peel it, cut it up and removed the many seeds. She would cook the squash in so many different ways. 

Look at my blog for sauteed zucchini. You can put the cooked zucchini in eggs for a delicious omelette. You can use it for zucchini bread, muffins. Keep in mind, there is a lot of water in these gourds. You must drain the chopped and peeled zucchini.

The cooler weather brings out the sweaters.

I loved wearing sweaters. My sister wore turtleneck sweaters in all colors. I would sneak and " borrow" her sweaters, carefully fold them and put them back in her drawer. She always knew I wore her clothes....I tried to be very careful...

My sister was very mean....

My older sister had a lot of shoes. That didn't do me any good because we weren't the same size. She wore a 7 and I wore a 9. Shhhh, don't tell her but I would try on her shoes and sandals, hoping that they might fit. Well, all my bunions and hammer toes today are from squeezing into my sister's shoes.

Running for the subway in heels was not easy!

When I worked in Manhattan in NYC, the "uniform" was a suit and heels. My commute was to first take an elevated train to 149th Street. The seats were weaved wicker that pulled your stockings and by the time you got to the office, you had to go into the ladies room and turn your stockings around so that the holes and runs would not show. The garters were tempermental in that they would SNAP just when you sat down. Ahhh, whoever invented pantyhose must have been a woman! After 149th Street, I took the subway to 42nd Street. Rushing, running to 46th and Madison Avenue with my heels. After 2 years, the dress code was announced that women can now wear trousers, but they had to be dressy.

Mom started sewing for me and my sister. Fabric was chosen and the pantsuit became very popular. 

Of course, we can't leave out Halloween

Halloween was a very big deal where I lived. Getting a costume was all we thought about in October. We were lucky enough to have such generous neighbors. One of our neighbors had a relative in the costume business. Imagine that! There was one costume that I adored. I was Scheherazade wearing an authentic costume. I won best costume in school that year.

I was only in the third grade.....

10.12.2021 05:02

Jan Conte

Mom was a woman to handle any situation and not let anything get in her way. She was an amazing cook. Thank you for your comment.