“My happy boy, it’s always so good to see you.”
Aunt Svetta wrapped her tiny arms around my waist and then led me inside the apartment she shared with my mother. I loved being back in New York City, but I hated the cramped rooms they lived in. It was on the sixth floor, and the elevator only worked sporadically. I hoped to talk them into moving to Philadelphia while I was here.
“Give me your coat, and then go to the kitchen. I’ve made your favorite dessert, chocolate salami.” She took my coat and draped it over the back of a chair.
“Aunt Svetta, when I told my boyfriend Grant about chocolate salami he thought it was really a salami, that we crazy Russians were mixing meat with chocolate. He didn’t want to try the log you sent home with me last time.” It was my favorite dessert, made wit
