Where the Heart Is

I love my mother and her cooking, just as she loved her mother, my grandma, and her cooking. The bonds of our family are manifold, one of which is in the traditions of our kitchen. As a little girl, I'd help my grandma prepare dolma (stuffed grape leaves) by rolling each leaf with the delicious blend of rice, onions, ground beef, and seasonings she’d made. I could never get my grape leaves to come out as nice as hers, but she never noticed and she never tried to fix them, even when they’d fall apart. For her, it wasn’t about what we were making, but that we were making them together.

My grandma loved to cook for her friends and family. Of course, she enjoyed it so much because of love, but I also think the enjoyment came from knowing she was instilling a bit of herself into the family's legacy. She was not only feeding us food, but her spirit. Cooking was her way of reminding her children and grandchildren of where our roots lay and that we're only a recipe away from her home on the Mediterranean. I could see the Mediterranean Sea in her eyes as I smelled the rose water and pistachio nut in her cookies. This same smell, inspired in our cookie, is the smell of my grandmother. And for me, it will always be the smell of home.

As I watch and help my mother prepare foods, I see so much of my grandmother in her. My mother carries the same serenity and contentment my grandmother had in knowing that she is preparing a dish that her mother and her mother's mother have made for years and lifetimes. While we pride ourselves in a healthy cookie recipe that is good for your heart, health, and overall being, we are even prouder of the source; my grandma and our immense love for her.

Mom and I dedicate everything we do at Sano Villa to the memory of my grandma, Mary Hajjar. Without her, we wouldn't have known love to exist in recipes.

Calling all Goodness Seekers

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