Growing up in Hugo, Oklahoma, a small rural community in southeast Oklahoma, there was always a Sunday program or some kind of event going on at the church; anniversaries, special days, revivals, musicals, funerals, etc. In the Afro-American community, we looked forward to having dinner on the grounds, and often staying at church all day. Anytime there were programs and special occasions that were occurring, a welcome had to be said to welcome visitors and guests, or if invited to other churches, a response had to be given in thanks of their invitation. My Mama, wrote numerous addresses for these special days. She was an outstanding writer, orator, missionary, fourth grade school teacher, and the best of moms. This book was written to show off my mothers writing abilities, and more so to give others the opportunity to see how these presentations should be written for their upcoming times of needs. For all readers of this book, May God bless you.
My five-year granddaughter Amelia insists my entire family join in a huddle in the living room before leaving our home after a birthday party, a holiday meal, or just in-the-middle-of-a-week-night at Mimi and PopPop's house. She encourages us to come out of this huddle shouting, "Yay, family!" Even at her young age, Amelia has gotten the notion that being part of a family is something special to celebrate. If I've set this tradition in motion and influenced her, or my other grandchildren's desire to part of my family, I can rest knowing that I've done my job. My own love of family, cultivated long before I was born, by my grandmother, my mother, her sisters and brothers in the house at 435 Union Street in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, this is where I grew to appreciate having a loving family. It was that house, that family, those home-cooked meals that motivated me to present to you this book, My Two Mothers: A Memoir With Recipes. " The small 'village' she was born into and grew up is mostly gone. Patricia has shared her experience with us and we are richer for it." Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr, Author of Cantata for Jimmy
Cucina Amelia shares a combination of stories and cooking that's been passed down between a family with two Italian grandmothers: One Sicilian and one Neapolitan, whose recipes and traditions nourished a family's love of good food, while bringing home-cooked meals along with memories and recipes for generations to come. Patricia says, "It didn’t matter that the recipes were brought over from Avellino, Naples or Palermo, Sicily; these cities crossed boundaries in my mother’s kitchen for the most delicious of everything.”
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