I was knee high to a whippersnapper

I was knee high to a whippersnapper, or about the size of a footstool for those of you too young to remember what a whippersnapper is, when my mother opened a small Italian Restaurant in the living room of our home. Of course everything took place above my head in those days but the unmistakable intoxicating aromas and tastes were commonplace in our home for the next 40 years.

It was there throughout my childhood that I would develop a passion and yearning for great food, and the camaraderie we thought only attainable around a table of Mom's cooking. My mother Eleanora (Lee) and Aunt Ester toiled daily at their labor of love. It was the late fifties when they started and only at my mother's passing did it end some 40 years later. During that time she would become a local legend and mother to all who passed through her doors.

Growing up we were different, oh yes, we were Italian! We thought different, spoke different, and most of all our food was different... it was part of our culture. Most of my friends in those days arrived home after school to a meal of fish sticks or spagettio's. While My mother had been toiling in the kitchen all day. Once dinner was over my friends retired to the Living room to watch Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best while my brother and I were inundated with New York and Boston's cultural and characters in the living room of our home every night .

We didn't get to choose who arrived, they just came...from everywhere and from all walks of life; Catholic Priests, Business Men, Politicians and yes, Wiseguys. They were all there for the same reason...in search of the camaraderie of the Italian table and but mostly for my mother's food. There just was no other food like it. Yes we were different even though we didn't get it at the time.

The Restaurant (Casa Bianca) is gone now, the food will never be quite the same, but the joy, love and family seated around the table holds the same euphoric place in my heart as when my mother gathered us around our Italian Table and would inevitably say "eat this you'll feel better". As Italians we thought great food could cure anything, even cancer!

 Enjoy the Mrs Tom Grills stories and recipes that will be a part of my blogs and visit our show room at Proctor Gas ..."we'll keep the flame burning for ya!".