My favorite sous chef

After all the kids left yesterday Ash and I headed into the kitchen with our matching aprons to make a treat for dad- homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Ashley is the only person that wants to cook in the kitchen with me but even if there was a hand full of other people she would still be my first pick. I love that she loves to cook with me it makes my heart melt every time. Sometimes I can envision us in the kitchen years down the road getting ready for holidays or making food for her class parties and even when I'm an old granny making cookies with my daughter and grandchildren. I can't wait to teach her the family recipes Jason and I love so much. I'm one of those people that thinks meal times are sacred times, it's when the family gathers together, shares stories from their days and usually has a few good laughs. There are many memories I have around various dinner tables and the food eaten at each of those meals becomes just as important as the people that were there in the memory. There are certain smells that come from the kitchen that remind me of when I was about Ashley's age making fudge at grandma's or decorating Christmas cookies with my brother and sister. It's nice to have a night off every once in a while and not cook but there have been times (like when we moved into this house) when I couldn't cook for almost a week and it was killing me, I desperately wanted to spend the early evening in the kitchen and have a home cooked meal with my family. I hope Ashley will catch the cooking bug and enjoy it as much as I do so she can share these times with her family and give them love filled home cooked meals.