“Mornings were the best part of the day! We got to go to work with my mom! My brother and I couldn’t eat breakfast fast enough to get ready! Sitting by the bathroom door we patiently watched my mom put on her lipstick. I loved the sound she made after carefully sliding the lipstick around her lips, pursing her lips together. That pop sound signaled, “Let’s go!”
Working was going down to “the restaurant” to help set up all the tables for lunch. While my brother and I carefully placed the paper placemats at each place setting, my mom methodically placed the silverware in their proper spots. Watching her balance all those butter dishes I marveled at how she tossed the plates like Frisbees landing perfectly over the butter knives! I secretly hoped that one day my mom would let me set up the tables all by myself.
Finally after setting up all those tables we got our much anticipated reward! We followed my mom into the kitchen where she pulled out two little cans of tomato juice out of the refrigerator. As we continued to follow her to the salad pantry where she lifted up the gleaming stainless steel top to pull out a lemon cutting it into perfect wedges we caught a glimpse of my dad and his brothers busy at work! My brother and I stood very quietly as we didn’t want to distract them from their work. The restaurant kitchen was sacred! Grabbing 2 small glasses, my mom had us sit at a table adjacent to the bar. As we slid into the booth my brother and I gleefully opened up those little cans of tomato juice pouring it into little glasses and squeezing wedges of lemon into them! I can still remember the taste of that tomato juice! To this day no tomato juice has ever compared to what we sipped on back then in “the restaurant” sitting next to my mom after a productive morning!” My brother and I felt great satisfaction knowing that we too did our share in “the restaurant”!
See our Linguine White Clam recipe.