The Joy Of Cooking

No, I'm not writing about the cookbook that everyone uses, but the joy of cooking with family. My mom recently visited us, and one of the things we did together was cook, or should I say bake. Several months ago we had been in Colorado together, visiting Phil and his family, where we acquired a recipe for focaccia. Phil is into baking bread and he made his focaccia for dinner one night. We enjoyed it so much that we decided we would make it when we returned home. So that's what we did.

There's nothing like cooking together. Almost everytime I'm with my kids, we end up cooking. It's just a great time to enjoy each other, reminise about days gone by, or talk about the future. I remember cooking with my mom when I was a child, cooking with my kids when they were young, and now cooking with my adult children.

Several weeks ago I went to LA to visit my mom and we spent the morning making spanikopa. Those are the delicious triangles filled with cheese and wrapped in filo dough. We talked about the past, how we used to make hundreds of these cheesy delights and freeze them for future use. Phil and I cooked together a lot when he was young. As an adult, I remember several visits to when we spent hours together just cooking. David, who also loves to cook, has spent many afternoons cooking with me. It's one of my favorite ways to enjoy my family.

Anyway, my mom and I made Phil's focaccia. It's easy, but time consuming, about 3 hours in all. The good part is that each step takes just a few minutes, then you have to wait 30 minutes for the dough to rise again. That's great time for talk. We just had a ball, and ended up with some delicious bread. I'm not giving you the recipe because I doubt if anyone wants to make it, but it was delicious. We had the warm bread, a variety of olives, a wonderful aged Gouda cheese, and a great bottle of wine as the start to a fantastic dinner. Actually, it could have been the whole meal, but we also had a marinated barbequed flank steak, roasted vegetables and a baked potato. We were all stuffed. I'm including a picture of our beautiful bread, and I can tell you that it tasted every bit as good as it looks. It was a great day of baking, eating, and enjoying each other.