Aunt Susie's Kitchen

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My Story

Cooking is my passion. My fondest childhood memories are of being in the kitchen cooking with my mother and my grandmother. Growing up in a large Italian household was not only fun, but we ate well and we ate often. I remember waking up on a Sunday morning to the aroma of something delicious cooking and I could not wait to go downstairs and see what was on the menu. Our 40 foot basement wreck room was compete with a second kitchen, the only one we ever cooked in. In fact, I don't even know if the kitchen in 1st floor the main living area was functional since we never, in the 18 years I lived in that house, saw it used. Besides, there were 10 of us for dinner every night and there is no way we would have fit in there, anyway! My grandmother did not have any written recipes, other than desserts, and even they were far and few between. Almost everything we made was from her memory, homemade pasta and ravioli were like second nature to her. I can remember watching her make pasta dough starting with the mound of flour on the counter, no mixing bowl, no recipe,no utensils, she would add the ingredients into the center of the flour mound and start mixing it carefully, with her hands, being sure not to spring a leak in the flour like damn. I was in awe of her and how she taught us how to make home made cavatelli on the side of a box grater as if she invented the technique. Even though she has been gone almost 30 years, I remember these days like they happened yesterday. My mother was what I considered a "double threat" in the kitchen. Not only did she have my grandmothers talent for cooking without a recipe but she worked for many years in a bakery and learned how to bake as well or even better than she cooked. I always took for granted how we would have 4 or 5 desserts at any family gathering, all home made, plus a buffet of food from one end to the other. It was no wonder that cooking is something that comes very natural for my siblings and me. (well most of us at least lol) It's also no wonder that my parents had a very successful luncheonette while we were growing up that they had to unfortunately sell because of my mother health issues. When my parents passed away more than a decade ago I opened a restaurant of my own in the town where I live, we had an Italian cafe in the front and a banquet hall in the back that sat 125 people. Nothing will replace the feeling of people telling you what a wonderful experience you provided them with, and hearing how delicious their meal was. I could sit for hours and talk with our customers and share family stories and traditions. We had one customer who would call twice a week to ask "did Aunt Susie make tiramisu today?" If my sister Annette told them "yes" he would immediately reply "Put aside 5 orders for me Ill be there at noon" memories like this fill my heart and remind me that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do, changing the lives of others one meal at a time. Thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about me and my passion for cooking, I hope that I can inspire you to get in the kitchen and make new traditions of your own wile honoring the ones that you may already have. Feel free to leave a comment below and tell me what recipes you may want to see covered, or just say "hi" I would love to hear from you! Ciao for now~Sue