5:43 AM on a Satuday morning in September

VITO

VITO

MOM

I know for some this might be a normal time to be awake but for me, not anymore. Of course, during the days when my children were babies or when I working full time out of the house, this was wake up time but for me those days are gone.

I could make some good use of this time, like crochet, play scrabble with my real live online scrabble friends (someone is always around since they live all over the world), clean (like that is going to happen this early), watch TV (nah, that wouldn't be making good use of the time).

I could pray which I do all day. Oh, I could eat a cookie.

My mom bakes the best toll house cookies ever. Now, if you like soft and mushy than you won't like hers since my mom bakes them nice and crispy and when they are hot, the chocolate is melted. She used to bake apple pie and because ready-made crust was a non entity back then, she had to make her own crust which was delicious but never a labor of love. I suppose she found it frustrating but Oh, the end result. There was always that big pie and a little one, just for me.

Now she mostly just bakes cookies for Christmas and relies on her husband, my step-dad, Vito, to cook all their meals. I always thought that my mother and grandma were the best cooks in the world. No-one roasted a chicken like them. Grandma made the best homemade steak fries.

Now the star of the family is Vito and his amazing meatballs and spaghetti.

I am sure that every family has a star cook and a family favorite recipe but try as we might, no one can duplicate Vito's meatballs and sauce. No secret ingredients, no difference in measuring, must be Vito's hands but that is another blog.

This blogging is more fun than I thought so see you next time. ♥