I love to cook.

I've always loved to cook. When I was little, I was unable or not allowed to participate in many activities with the other kids. I would watch my Mother work in the kitchen, creating all sorts of amazing morsels for us. I learned so much.

On television, I always watched Julia Child or Graham Kerr. I loved watching cooking programs. I am happy to look through magazines for recipes or simply cooking ideas.

The other benefit I get from cooking is relaxation. For me, there is something relaxing about planning a good meal, taking fresh ingredients and creating something yummy for family and friends. I love everything about the whole process.

I taught my children to cook, just as my Mother taught me. My oldest daughter is a very fearless cook. She will try anything and does a good job at it too. My youngest daughter started learning to cook when she was around 5 or 6. We started with how to scramble eggs and now, at 24, she can prepare nearly any meal you would like.

Tonight, we will have Chicken Parmesan. I've made the sauce from scratch and the house smells wonderful. I love how the smells of cooking bring memories right up.

I'll be happy because my son-in-law is bringing my granddaughter over tonight and we are all going to have dinner while the game is on. Football, family and food sounds like a wonderful evening to me.

I have a medical procedure on my vocal cord today so I will be unable to speak for 3 days. Hopefully, the food will speak for me and they will all know that I just love all of my family to pieces.

In the mean time, the house smells just like my mother's home when I was growing up. If I close my eyes, I can picture her, at the stove, humming as she stirs the sauce or cooks the chicken.

This all worked out well today because all this preparation was for my oldest Daughter's family. Yes. She, her husband and my Granddaughter are coming over for dinner and a football game. As I write this, the game is over. Our favorite team lost (sad face) but none of that mattered. What was important was the look on the faces of our guests as they had home made sauce and Dad's Chicken Parmesan. They call it Dad's chicken. I, of course think of my mom.

My little granddaughter devoured her chicken and she was a very good girl and ate her broccoli too. It was so great to have her here, running around the living room. Chattering away. Most of her words are unintelligible, but some how, we communicate. She even climbed up to be by me once or twice. Of course, since her Daddy was right there, she hung on to him most of her couch time. Although I would have been happy to hold her, she prefers her Daddy. As it should be.

The "kids" are wonderful parents. They allow the little one to run around and learn things but, they don't let her cross that thin line into the land of unruly behavior. You can just see the love on their faces as they supervise their daughter. They want more children, they've said. I'm sure I don't blame them for that. For me, I'm happy as they are. Trust me, my granddaughter makes me happy. I was feeling pretty low yesterday. I had had a medical procedure done on my vocal cord and was just feeling wrung out. After spending some time with my family, especially the littlest one I was rejuvenated.

So, we started talking about cooking and wound up talking about family. It's not so much of a stretch. We don't cook to simply nourish our bodies. Eating is what you might call a "Primary Social Activity".

Most people don't eat alone, if it can be avoided. We are social animals. We use food for all sorts of occasions. Births, sickness, deaths, accomplishments like graduations, promotions at work and the like. You never really need an excuse to have people get together and socialize. There's always food.

We have an abundance of food in this country. It comes in all forms. Fresh, prepackaged, frozen. The list goes on.When we socialize, everyone notices the food. But, listen to the comments. The highest praise comes when the food was prepared from scratch, using fresh ingredients.

Many people do not know how to cook the simplest things. For one reason or another, that skill eluded some folks. So, many will envy that person who can make something out of seemingly nothing. But, in the end, it's all for sharing with someone we care about.

So, I say, bring back the "Sunday Dinner". Share the events of your week with family or friends or both. Be social over a good bowl of home made soup. Don't just go to that nasty salad bar at the grocery store. Grab up the ingredients and make it yourself. It will taste better and be better for you. When you share it, you will feed not just your body but your soul also.