Making Memories :)

My Mom made all our bread and buns when I was a child.. at least that's how I remember it :) I remember she had this HUGE bowl and she'd put in on a chair in the kitchen and put sugar, warm water, and yeast in it. Then she'd leave it until it bubbled!! Then a lucky someone got to stir while she added oil, salt, eggs, and flour.. A LOT of flour!! My sister Maria recently made Moms recipe and she informed me it makes 8 doz buns, and a loaf!! That's a LOT of great eating. I remember that us stirrers would get bigger the more flour my Mom added. First us smaller crew, Maria and I, then our older (and stronger) sisters Ang and Susan, and finally the tough guys Danny and Tom, if they were around.. if not Mom would take up the spoon and beat that dough into while dough!! Then she'd get her her hands in there and pretty soon there would be a very well mannered bowl full of dough that she'd run oil on top of, cover with a plastic sheet and then a towel and leave to rise. I say well mannered because several years later, after Papa and I were married, I tried making dough just like that.. it's not a easy thing to get it the right consistency. Not too sticky and not to hard or lumpy!! After a while one of us kids would be sent to 'look in on the dough' if it was over flowing the bowl we rushed back to tell Mom and she'd come beat it into the bowl, cover it with oil again, then the plastic sheet and finally the towel. She normally let it rise twice. Then we'd get busy!! It was a production I assure you. Mom would slick the counter down with oil, plop the dough down in the middle, grab a knife and start cutting off bun sized chunks. Before you could say bun dough there was little pieces of dough everywhere!! Us girls would slick up our hands from the counter top and start rolling!! Pans moved I tell you. We were awesome!! What I remember most though is the days when it was raining or snowed in or just a good day to stay inside Mom would tell us all to sit at the counter and hand us each a plop of dough. Or days when she had too much dough. She'd put a tray in front of us and tell us to 'go to' and we did!! We made cinnamon buns, hot dogs buns fulled with chocolate chips and all sorts of creations.We had some little rolling pins and some butter knifes and we created!! In fact one of my very favorite snacks came from these creations. A fresh bun with a handful of chocolate chips melted into the center!! YUM!!! These memories warm my heart and I want my kids to have the same memories with me. They had a absolute blast!!  The only difference being that I don't ever remember 'creating' in my Pj's :)