Traditions

Here in Transylvania we use to prepare the traditional menu for Christmas.
We will have meat-soup with lots of vegetables, stuffed cabbage prepared using pickled cabbage and smoked pork-ribs. For dessert we will have sweet bread with sultanas.
How I am waiting for that calm evening...
But until then preparations are going on. This morning I made the pasta for the soup. This is something I did for the last many years.

But for the first time in my life I had help. My daughter is at the age when she is very curious, so she had to try every stage. And it was much more difficult than I thought because of the frequent stops.
And I thought about my Grandmother. She was the chef of the family (my mother was not a great cook). She used to prepare all these with my sister and I around, both having ideas and important things Mama should do for us....
I am so happy I learned. Now, as Mama is gone I have her traditions in my hands.
I have a long way to go, because her pasta was much thinner and she could cut it in even pieces, which I cannot, but from now on there is only practice...
She always prepared everything with no recipe and all the time she had the same results, both in taste and texture.
I miss her. But she is here, in the way I make certain things, and this is good.