That Saturday feeling...

Thinking of my mom today. It's Saturday. Growing up, Saturdays were clean and bake days. My mom still does that at the age of 80. Still makes the same chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake I grew up on, often adding pie or another type of cookie into the mix. I called home a few nights ago. It wasn't Saturday, but mom was making peanut butter cookies, and Dad was unwrapping the Hershey kisses to top them off. I had to smile at the thought of it.

My mom is the best house keeper I know. Dennis says she spring cleans every week :). She keeps things neat and tidy, no clutter, and clean as a whistle, but still with a lived-in feel. Keeping a well-kept home is something I learned from my mom. Give away what you don't use anymore, throw out what's worn out, and take good care of what you have.

Being the only girl in a farming family, it was up to me to help mom with the homemaking. Once I was old enough to help out around the house, we created a system. The Saturday she would clean, I would bake, and the next week, we would trade. I remember as a teenager, if it was my week to clean, I'd come home from school on Friday's and start cleaning the upstairs bedrooms to get a head start so my Saturday was free to go to a home basketball game or whatever.

I'm in the kitchen today making pie dough for a dinner tonight when we'll be having some Hungarian friends over for pasta, and apple pie a la mode for dessert. Ela tells me it's Zoli's favorite. Spritz cookie dough is awaiting it's destiny in the fridge. In the states, I have an electric "cookie shooter" that presses the dough out at the speed of a cookie factory, as long as you keep a 1-2-3 rhythm. My mother-in-law gave it to me for Christmas years ago. I found a manual press here in the city that is doing the job just fine.

I'm hoping to make dough for a Christmas favorite. Our family just calls them "Christmas Cookies." I first tried them at a Christmas cookie exchange when we lived in Holland, MI... that's a long time ago. They were melt in your mouth little sandwich cookies that started the cookie tradition for our family.

This year I'm adding a new cookie. We'll see what the family thinks. While in Poland, I tasted some yummy cookies made by the European Union President's sister, a favorite passed down in the family. I couldn't stop eating the shortbread strips covered in a translucent white icing. They're simply called "Butter Sticks." I'm hoping mine turn out as good as hers.

I plan to freeze the cookies, hoping they stay intact in flight on Christmas day.

Though Saturdays aren't my cleaning and baking day per say, I still get a Saturday feeling... a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction of a day well done. When the house is fresh and clean and the sweet aroma of cookies, cakes, and pies permeate every room of the house. It's always a nice reward to cozy up on the couch with a good book at the end of the day or put in a favorite movie :). 

I've got that Saturday feeling today, so much so that I had to stop and post this blog :)... thinking about my mom, and Saturdays, and traditions. Now on to rolling out that pie dough.