Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

'Tutti a tavola a mangiare (Everyone at the table to eat!)

When my parents were alive, I'd try to visit them a few times a month.  Given they lived an hour and a half away, it was usually on the weekends.  I'd head up late morning and usually arrive just after lunch.  More often than not, my mother was drinking her after-lunch cup of tea in front the television.  My mother loved television and wasn't one of those people who turned it off when someone arrived.  She was more likely to shhhh you than to press the mute button.

Although my parents were not that far from me, they were in a different city, and had a different cable provider.  Where I live, your PBS channel might be from New York, it might be Boston, I've even had them from Maine and New Hampshire.  My parents PBS was different than mine, but it was usually PBS my mom had on Saturday afternoons.  She watched for the cooking shows, her favorite, Lidia's Kitchen hosted by Lidia Bastianich.

I didn't get the show at my home, so the only time I heard Lidia say 'Tutti a tavola a mangiare!' it was in my parents living room.   Lidia is the mother of Joe Bastianich, one of the judges on Masterchef.  Masterchef I get, and enjoy, and Joe, although a little snarky, did have a bit of a arrogant sexiness that exuded from those tight suits he wore.

Some of you may have read about my recent move.  Although I'm only about fifteen minutes from my old town, I'm closer to where my parents live and now... have the same cable provider they did.  I was surprised to flick on the television the other day and find Lidia in the kitchen making a pot of Beef Guazzetto.

I had an intense feeling of Déjà vu seeing, and hearing Lidia in the kitchen.   There was one difference in this viewing from the last time I watched at my parents home a few years ago.  This time, Lidia spent time each episode teaching a new recipe to one of her grandchildren.  All were beautiful kids, but Joe's son Miles was especially enchanting in the episode that I saw.

In the episode, Miles was in college, and living on campus.  His Zoom call with Grandma seemed on par with attending one of his Economics classes.  He smiled, was polite and clearly is on board with any compensation the few minutes on Zoom might bring him.  But... he's also a a young student and athlete, so Zooming with your Grandmother, even when getting paid is still a duty more than a choice.  Regardless, he was charming and cute and I now want to buy the ingredients and try making Beef Guazzetto.