After drinking a glass of milk and fumbling in the dark for a fleece jacket, I met this day with the same youthful enthusiasm that kept me exhilarated this time of year when I was Abuela Mercedes' little grand daughter.
Churros and Menier chocolate weather has arrived!
Thirty years or more ago, on a morning much like this one, our busy kitchen laboratory would be constantly blazing with Abuela's purposeful excitement to fill the house with those familiar smells broached to her from her beloved Island home of Cuba.
I can still hear her call out to Abuelo, "Lopez, ayudame a rallar el chocolate," and he would appear instantly to churn up some home spun cocoa goodness.
Suddenly, as if an almost visible north wind surged upwardly and out from her stove, the kitchen breeze would soon announce to the entire house that the chocolate, the milk and the sugar had come into a perfect union and would beckon for us to join them. Thanks to her defined Nitza Villapol style Cuban recipes, Abuelo's Iberian palate and plantation voidee, this became my favorite season of all - without exception.
Clearly, I owe most of my eating disorders to this convention; but, in turn, my earliest memories of family had everything to do with my Grandmothers culinary acumen. She mastered and excelled in the art of bringing all of us together around her tables on these cool snappy days despite the distance or time constraints.
Today, needed little amplification. I sported a relaxed grin as I walked out our front door; the very same door that I used to embrace this season of magic memory making while Grandmother was alive and nurtured the seasonal familial feasts.
Today was the first tangible morning of Autumn in Hialeah. The sky was pure white with a blue sparkle that radiated through our tropical setting. The crisp breeze snapped across my newly painted rouged lips. My face was cold and clear. The smell of the bristle of green grass infused the idea that the season was arriving with her habitual roar. These days bring the chill that warms my Florida heart. Tonight my kitchen will sport the same aromas of girlhood. Gracias Abuela Mercedes y Abuelo Lopito!
Churros and Menier chocolate weather has arrived!
Happy Monday. There I said it!
