slow down..

That day everything in  my mom's village seemed in perfect balance. The sun was shining, the birds were singing in melody, and the sent of jasmine and basil filled the air. My grandmother nervously kept herself  busy trying desperately not to leave any free time for thoughts or emotions, or for heart break. Her beloved daughter, my mother, was emigrating to Canada.. .on that day.  Nature could not have made a more perfect day. It was as if everything around her was trying to make my mom stay. It was all so simple and beautiful. My grandmother then wrapped a piece of bread in her best kitchen teatowel and said "take it with you for the road" ....I always imagined that day something like that.

So what do you take with you to lessen the weight of what you  leave behind!

My mother tells me the story of when the ship arrived in Halifax after almost a month at sea. Before boarding the train that was to take them to Montreal they stopped to buy some bread. They were all tired, nervous and confused and of course noone spoke any English. They wanted to buy bread but when they  saw the sliced bread (toast) in the store.....some of them began to cry. The simple memory of the bread at home and everything it represented was too much for most to handle. My mom says she cried like a baby.

After many years in Canada my mom still makes bread and the smell of fresh bread is something I grew up with and I still remember. Now I'm in Greece and she's in Canada strange how things turn out isn't it!!


When we travel through life we carry with us our memories and the traditions we like to make our own. Opening our homes and sharing food with friends and loved ones exists  in most cultures and is one of the traditions I choose to keep.Yet it has become extremely difficult in western societies to continue sharing a meal and a glass of wine. Our fast pace has left no room for simplicity. Everything is complicated, meals, family life, playing with our kids. Noone has time to make bread or wine for that matter. It is simply easier to buy things . We are buying  a "fast and convenient lifestyle" and at the same time we are sadly losing touch with the simplicity and beauty that is the process of life.

I have found that it's the little things that stay with us....like the smell of bread when you come home from school. Making bread takes a lot of effort but it represents a  time when people made things with their hands and their hearts.

All this to say...make bread people , wrap it in your best teatowel  and share it. Slow down..savour and experience as much as you can. Fill your house, your life with food and aromas, with people and with love.

see post Back to Basics..Bread for my bread recipe posted 21Oct2010