Why A Recipe Site?

So why a recipe site?  I know it's kind of lame and not really me, but here's where I'm coming from with this.  Some of my earliest family memories, outside my parents of course, involve cooking.  Sunday lunches were big family affairs on my dad's side.  I would spend many Saturday nights sleeping over at my grandparents' house, and on Sunday morning, I would wake up to my grandmother cooking lunch for either the whole group or at least my parents, who would come to pick me up.  Either way a fantastic meal was on tap.  My dad's mother was German and his father Italian, but more importantly, they were traditional folks of that generation.  He worked in a factory and came home at 4:30, expecting a home-cooked meal on the table.  My dad often recalls his father saying, "Why go out... Mom will cook." Anyway, back on track here, Sunday mornings often involved rolling what seemed like thousands of little balls of goodness...you may know them as gnocchi.  There was also the constant stirring of a polenta pot, roasting chicken, making risotto, baking goodies, and so much more.  There were insane rituals like placing the gnocchi on floured dishtowels, only stirring with a wooden spoon, electric frying pans, and of course boiled hot dogs for breakfast.  My moms side was equally odd at times with famous dishes like spaghetti soup, mixed up meat, and pressure cookers of pea soup, which by the way, you poured liberal amounts of white vinegar in to eat.  You know, kind of like Parmesan on pasta.  Many of today's kids don't experience these memories, which are some of the things that make up their past.  The family make up changes, priorities are different, both parents often work, and the hustle and bustle of sports, dance classes, band practice, etc...take up so much of our time that scratch made meals have been replaced with fast food garbage.  This blog is a testament to one of the things I value most in my life - family time with my kids over a home-cooked meal.