Smells like grandma's kitchen

 I don't have too many memories with my grandma, but those that I have, are memorable indeed. She used to bake us the most delicious pies, her soups were unforgettable and her jams and pickles were the best ever. My mom is still very jealous when I remind her that nobody could cook sarmale (a traditional dish) like grandma used to. She used to pickle her own cabbage in huge wooden barrels and flavor it with cherry leaves and beetroot.

 When we were home alone, we used to sneak down in the cellar, open the barrel and drink the pickled juice with a ladle, and we wouldn't stop til our bellies started an uproar. Everybody is crazy about this traditional dish called sarmale. It's basically the same recipe for stuffed peppers, only the stuffing is rolled in sour/pickled cabbage leaves or/and vine leaves. It's a heavy dish because the stuffing contains ground red meat and rice (besides onions, tomatoes, dill and parsley and finely chopped sour cabbage), so people cook it in very large pots, only on special occasions.

Another thing that reminds me of grandma's kitchen, this time of year, is the quince preserves. She'd have us finely chop the halves of quince, she'd let it sit covered in sugar all night long, then the next day she'd boil the mixture for almost half a day.We could eat grandma's quince preserves all day long and we'd never have enough of it, so of course we used to steal a jar or two, and eat it quietly in the dark, then blame it on our cousins :).