Evolving Tastes Over a Carrara Countertop

Our tastes change, it's a fact.  And I owe my tastes to my mom, who is a great cook (whose mom isn't right?).  I remember, as a teenager,  she always had this inexplicable connection to her marble countertop which I hated -- despised at that time btw.  Cos you see,  that countertop had more scratches and etches on it than one could ever dream of!  How could I know though?  The woman was so obsessed with her kitchen that she wouldn't let me or my brother come within 10 of her utensils, let alone her precious carrara countertop.  As we come from Italian descent, Atkins or anything smilar to any type of popular diet regimen was never spelled right in our home.  Atkins was spelled "fat kids" for us (me and my brother I mean).  She would knead her pasta dough, roll it into sheets, cut it into thin strips and feed us nonstop! Thank you Carrera marble because I wouldn't be who I am today if it was not for your and mom's joint efforts... 5' 5" - 158.4lbs!

As I said in the beginning, our tastes change and it's a fact (though my love for both pasta and my mom stays untouched) that while growing older, I started to realize why she was so in love with her precious marble countertop.  It was cut from a huge carrara slab to suit her needs and it was the perfect material for the professional cook --maybe I should say "wannabe cook" in this case?-- your kids are addicted to sugar & caramel?  You don't want them buying store candy? You just boil caster sugar with corn syrup and add a pint of heavy cream, then pour over the cold old carrara marble countertop, then all you have to do is scrape and pull, scrape and pull, knead and roll into shiny foils to make them look real (they were "real!" Just ask my 37.4lbs in excess and they'll tell you the "real" story).  Pasta, sugar, cake, and more pasta... then suddenly it was my turn to learn how to cook.  Actually that's the time when "my" taste started to change.  Marble was a miracle!  It turns out that marble was everything and the right key to perfection in cooking.  Mom was right and I was wrong (whose mom has ever been wrong, right?).  And that's how I... Yes, that's how I got my own countertop cut from a huge Carrara slab for my own kitchen.  I have never regretted it and I don't think I ever will.  Etches and scratches are essential if you want to master making pasta dishes or home made candies or... I guess I'll never lose that 37.4lbs extra! :)