A Year of Feeding People -- The Project

As I mentioned on Facebook (if that's how you got to here), I am starting something new. Let's call it "A Year of Feeding People".

This current year, 2013, was awful in many ways, not to be listed here. But we have made it through and for that I am supremely thankful. I have decided to celebrate my thanks in the traditional Italian way ... feeding people. 

My Daddy used to tell us that no one, no matter how high or low their social status, ever refused to put their feet under his table and eat his food. I think he meant that feeding people was the great equalizer. When we sit around a table together and share food, it becomes more difficult to hate them. One can disagree, even dislike, someone with whom you have shared a meal, but hating is not likely. 

Combine my Daddy's philosophy with one I read about Mamma Leone (of New York restaurant fame). Her son, Gene, whose cookbook I have, said that his mother was happiest when she was in the kitchen preparing a meal for guests. I believe there is a great sense of appreciation for people that arises when you prepare food for them. 

In addition to all the wonderful philosophy expressed above, I love to cook! George and I are blessed with such wonderful, interesting family and friends that gathering some of them together each month to eat something I have prepared especially for them seems to be the perfect way to celebrate our thanks for the blessings that have come our way during our lives. A way to concentrate on the good, rather than the bad. 

I will use this blog to announce when the invitations have gone out each month, share the menus, perhaps discuss the cooking, describe the meal and the conversation that occurred, and, of course, thank my friends and family for being who they are. More info tomorrow.

Mangia!!