From the Old to the Young

We took Norah and Harvey to see Aunt Lena and Auntie Weenie and Uncle Paul in Brooklyn this weekend. We were supposed to spend half of the day with each of them but it didn't work out that way. We arrived at Lena's before nine and went to visit her 96 year old sister who lives a couple of streets away. Norah cowered behind me most of the time and Harvey grabbed giant Italian indoor fences and pointed to glass figurines of dancing women, saying, "S'Tha" over and over. We ate struboli from Christmas and listened to Lena and Mary talk to each other in very guttural Italian slang.

From there, we moved back to Aunt Lena where in a matter of thirty minutes, she made some of the best food I have ever eaten at her house: pan fried pork chops with red peppers soaked in vinegar, a salad, a vegetable stew, macaroni with chick peas, mushrooms, and other yumminess.

Norah sat on the counter next to Lena and watched her cut an onion without very letting the knife leave the vegetable, she watched her salt the food over and over again until it was just right, and then she ate and ate and ate. I watched Brian, Norah, and Lena in her small kitchen making big food. I watched and listened. What a day.