Cooking and marriage
Wow. What a wife I had. She couldn't boil water.. She burned the pot making tea. You see her mother would not allow her to cook, only iron clothes. She learned from my mom, family and me and I believe surpassed us all. Some of her specialties-Jewish Noodle cake, German Chocolate and of course Gnocchi. We eloped in 1953 when I was in the Army and she gave birth to our first, twin boys, three years later.
We eventually made it out to suburban Philadelphia to a town called Phoenixville. We had a home on a half acre with a garden 80 feet wide and 15 feet deep. About 300-350 plants. We had fresh vegetables all summer and jarred tomatoes, pickles and peppers in many forms at the end of the season. So, we had them all year long. Because we couldn't seem to eliminate our weeds, we decided to use them. We made Dandelion Wine from the yellow flowers. It was very good. We added an in ground pool after a couple years, about 23x40 feet which the boys and their friends enjoyed, with a diving board. So did I.
Of course I was the boss of my household, whenever my wife allowed me. I insisted she go out with her sister and friends at least once a month and I will watch the kids. She never argued. She got to see and meet many show biz stars, Tommy Dorsey in NY and Jimmy Durante at Palumbo's in South Philly where the girls had their picture taken with him in his dressing room. What a group.
They played penny-anti cards several times a week but never took anything from the pot, it was put aside for their road trips. A lovelier or wiser group of ladies you will never meet.
Every time we came over to your house we always ended up in the kitchen. Is that an Italian thing or just a Trevelino thing? That kitchen held a lot of memories and a lot of good food. I remember cracking crabs in the dinning room with grandmom and I also remember eating pasta with mussles.. and I always remember her saying "Mangia"
ReplyDeleteHello ... wish I could have seen that it all sounds like so much fun :) Love yas, Kelli
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some of Connie's recipes! The Jewish noodle cake sounds fun, and German chocolate cake - divine! We loved visiting your home, and have many happy memories of times spent with family around the pool. I remember Connie letting me help her prepare some brown gravy, and that was so special to me!
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