Sunday pancakes

Sundays in my house in Texas were always the only day where my family would eat breakfast all together. Before church we would have a classic eggs and bacon with donuts feast.

Italy, despite all of its delicious coffee and coffee drinks, isn't too big on the breakfast. Most mornings, for most people, it's cookies and caffè latte or a pastry and a cappuccino at a bar. I have never gotten in to that myself. I like the protein.

My son who was born in Italy and is being raised in Italy has a few Texan, or I guess I should rather say American, habits and tastes that go against the Italian grain.

1. American breakfasts. If it was for William, we would be eating eggs, bacon, pancakes AND waffles, breakfast tacos, sausage, etc. etc., every morning. I usually do the big breakfast for him and me on Saturdays or Sundays. My husband sticks to boring milk and cookies.

2. William loves Mexican food. Over the years I have learned the tricks of creating passable Mexican food in Italy. By substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream, piadine Mulino Bianco for flour tortillas, and knowing where to buy cheap avocados and adding the few ingredients that I bring back from Texas (chili powder, ancho peppers, corn tortillas), one can create a very tasty and convincing Mexican meal. William makes me proud by downing as much guacamole as he can.

3. Peanut butter- peanut butter is as foreign to Italians as eating brains is to us Americans. I know that I was raised on a peanut butter-heavy diet and many of my US friends were, too. I never realized that it, especially combined with jam on bread, is just kind of weird. when my son is in American he is fed at least a couple of pb&j s a week and over the years he has acquired the taste. My husband, no.

4. ROOT BEER- Now this is probably the most random. A lot of Americans don't like root beer, William loves it. A good friend of ours brings us cases from the US Army base for William and he will hoard the cans for months, drinking one a week on special occasions.

5.American pizza. My son is probably the only kid not to go bananas for pizza. Italian pizza is quite different from American pizza, having a very thin crust and not too much stuff on top. American pizza is, well, American pizza- a food group all to itself. William loves the American stuff but could take or leave the puny Italian kind.

His favorite American culinary tradition though is breakfast. I think that not only he loves it because its good, but also because it reminds him of good times around the breakfast table in Texas with his aunts and uncles and cousins. Geez, what's not to like about breakfast!