Three generations

Summer has always held a magical power for me. A summer morning brings with it possibility. An owl coos near my bedroom window in the pause between sunrise and the day, and in that moment I feel like I can do anything. When I was younger, the days of summer would stretch before me endlessly. Sam and I would make lists of our must-do activities (usually a trip to the waterpark topped our plans) and take notes on the new things we discovered. I vividly remember the summer I learned to like blueberries and wear gold jewelry. That was also the summer I graduated from high school and would be leaving her for college 2 hours away. We had to make every second of that summer count even more because we saw the end of what we'd known for 11 years barreling toward us.

Sam and I on my wedding day, Sept. 18, 2010

Now, I have a family and a job that offers me summers of freedom again. Sam is the one who is hours away at school now. She is startling no one with her success in medical school, but we see each other much less frequently. She'll be home next weekend and we've already made plans to squeeze about 8 of our favorite summer activities in--Redamak's, taking our pups to Doggie Beach, Lighthouse Outlet Mall, Hacienda, and ice cream to name a few (seems like our friendship revoles around food!).


I have dubbed this my Summer of Productivity. I don't want to go back to school in August and feel like I let my summer pass me by. I want to make it count, to get done all of those things I never get to during the school year, to make memories and photographs and laughter with my children, to create new traditions with my husband, and to return to my classroom feeling invigorated and inspired. That right there is a lot to tackle already, but my list is much longer. One of my goals is to try one new recipe per week. If you know me, this is HUGE--I do not cook. I don't like to cook, I don't like the prep time, and I certainly don't like the clean-up involved. I'm still in single girl mode when it comes to food. I'm content with cheese quesadillas, egg and bagel sandwiches, cereal, and pizza. My husband and children, however, require slightly more prowess in the kitchen. My New Year's Resolution last year was to try one new recipe a week, but then I found out I was pregnant and used that as the perfect distraction not to cook. So, the Summer of Productivity will also be the Summer I Start Cooking.


Last night was meal #1. Zach was coming back from a bachelor party in Las Vegas and I thought it'd be a nice way to welcome him home. I headed to my mom's to snag one of her recipes. I plan on trying out new Pinterest dishes and using the cookbooks collecting dust in my cabinet, but there's something about a meal you grew up with to make you feel like a proper wife and mother. I chose stuffed peppers. As I was copying the recipe from my mom's recipe card box, I noticed a date in the bottom right-hand corner. 7-1-1968. I asked her what that meant, and she said that's when she copied the recipe from her mother, one year after she'd graduated high school. I was so excited. Here it was, 43 years later, and the same recipe my grandma created would be prepared for my children. She passed away when I was graduating high school, and she meant the world to me. Her cooking is one of the things I most remember about her. As a matter of fact, writing that now, I'm surprised I've never tried to emulate her in the kitchen before.

Anyway, the dinner turned out pretty OK. The sauce wasn't as thick as my mom's, and I had to use minced onion because I forgot to buy a real onion, but it was pretty tasty. Zach devoured it and said it really hit the spot after a weekend of overpriced food and ample drinks.I felt happy that I'd fed my husband, and proud that I'd started working on my goal. More than that, though, I felt connected to my mother and grandmother. Three generations of women have made those stuffed peppers, a Moore, a Wort, and a Kanney, and I now had at least one dinner to add to my repertoire. The Summer of Productivity is off to a great start :)