Another Weekend with Kenzie and Lukey

Kenzie and Lukey spent some time with us this past weekend and, as always, we had a great time with them!

For dinner, I prepared Kenzie's favorite meal which is a recipe I obtained from my grandmother almost 40 years ago. When I was in high school and college, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house. My sailboat was kept in their backyard because they lived on the water on the south shore of Long Island so I would go there to go sailing but I also visited frequently to help them out and just say hello. Gramps was still working at the time and every now and then I would go to work with him. My grandmother regularly needed help around the house since having serious heart problems a few years earlier so I would spend some time with Gramps on the weekends when he was home from work and I would spend time with my grandmother during the weekdays as I helped out around the house, mowed the lawn, and ran some errands for her. My cousin, William, and I would make sure one of us was there for at least a short time each day of the week to help her out.

There were many advantages to spending so much time with my grandparents but one of those advantages was that my grandmother taught me a lot about cooking as I helped her prepare for the Sunday family meals. While I was in college, she would often just watch me make her meatballs giving me directions as I moved through each step. Physically, she was a little tiny woman who stood no more than 4'-9" tall but she commanded every room she entered and this was especially true when it came to her kitchen. She definitely was good with Italian dishes. Looking back on our times in her kitchen, I honestly have no idea how she ever saw into the big stock pot of tomato sauce on her stove because she could not have been tall enough to see into the pot! Perhaps there was a little step stool hidden somewhere in the kitchen that I've forgotten about after all these decades.

Fortunately for little Miss Mackenzie, I've made her favorite meal many times with my grandmother looking on and directing me (I wanted to write "with my grandmother looking over my shoulder" but we all now know that was physically impossible!) and I've made this dish perhaps a thousand times since then... homemade tomato sauce, meatballs and pasta... so I've been able to pass part of my own grandmother to our own grandchildren. Lukey loves this meal too but I don't think it is his favorite like it is for Kenzie. 

So, we had meatballs with penne on Saturday night while Kenzie and Lukey were visiting and it was delicious. We watched Planet 51 after dinner while eating some chocolate chip cookies and then everyone was in bed by around 9pm. It was a nice night.

This morning, Lukey and Kenzie wanted to play Life Jr so they played a quick game with Gee while waiting for mommy to pick them up. 

It was a nice weekend with them and, if we could cut a bunch of medical appointments and emergencies from our lives, we'd definitely spend more time with them just like this past weekend!