10/365 Sunday Dinner Belly

It is feeling more like March today so I am making a crock pot vegetable stew. It is also Sunday. Sundays to me should be days when family spends the day together. I remember when I was younger our relatives from other parts of New Jersey would pop over on the weekends for an afternoon visit. My dad always stocked up the frig with cold cuts, potato salad and coleslaw. The counter top would be filled with fresh rolls from Elmer's country store and some Entenmann's cakes. There was an extra pot of coffee brewing in the afternoon. It was always a surprise to us who would come. Us kids would get excited if cousins our own age would show up and sometimes a little disappointed if just the adults did. Except when Aunt Elda and Uncle Tom visited. Those visits I cherish the most. Uncle Tom would teach me boxing moves so I could defend myself from my brothers when they got too rough. He was a golden gloves boxer in the 30's. We would hear stories of my feisty grandmother Lucia who died when my dad was 5. I remember Elda would tell me with a smile in her eyes how much I looked like her sister Emma who died way too young.

It is rainy Sundays like today that I like to have a pot of stew or a dish of lasagna ready just in case someone shows up. It is rainy Sundays like today that memories of sitting around our picnic table sharing a meal with Aunt Elda and Uncle Tom fill my heart.