Lando 
Posted on 01/01/2004 8:15:33 PM PST by Mannaggia l'America
Lando
Thanks so much for posting this recipe! I love it and always assumed it would be difficult to make, but that's an easy recipe.
I'm thinking of getting one also, just to bring back some old memories. They are supposed to be a little tough to grow here in PA (actually, probably anywhere north of Florida). But my grandfather's always was large and produced lots of figs.
I've been trying (without a lot of success) to reproduce a little of my grandfather's garden. He was amazing - he grew tomatoes (of course), a few varieties of peppers, eggplant, escarole, cabbage, basil, and squash.
What was amazing to me was that he grew all his tomatoes and peppers from seeds he saved from the previous year's crop. And did it all while working at a steel mill during the day and owning a corner store that he ran at night and on weekends.
I catch it every so often...
My favorite!
When I was a kid and my grandmother made mashed potatoes, I purposefully wouldn't eat any because I knew that if there were any left, we would be making gnocchi the next day.
You have many relatives named either Joe or Mary, and you have at least one brother named Joe
Two uncle Joe's and my mother is Mary.
When you were growing up, you thought that all wine was red and that it only came in gallon jugs
And...I always thought ginger ale was pink.
If someone in your family grows beyond 6’ 2”, it’s presumed that the mother had an affair
Never happened.
Your grandfather had a fig tree
...and grapevines and tomato plants.
When you were growing up, you ate Sunday dinner at 2:00 p.m., and on Thanksgiving, your family’s first course was Ravioli
Ziti
You feel strangely comfortable when you sit on plastic-covered furniture
For us it was plaid throws.
You’ve been to the Vatican at least once
Twice
For a short time while you were growing up, you wanted to be a priest or a nun
Never
When you were growing up, you thought Jesus was an Italian who lived in Israel
No, but I thought he came from Rome.
You fight over whether it's called "sauce" or "gravy"
It was always sauce.
Your mom's meatballs are the best!
Her braccioli were the best!
I've had it often...
There was another soup that a lot of the Italians in the area made at Christmas and Easter (and maybe once or twice in between). I don't have a name for it, except we all called it "minest", which is short for "minestrone" or "big soup". But it is nothing like the minestrone you would buy in a can or restaurant.
It involves endives, cabbage, sausage, pepperoni, ham, etc. - and no pasta. I make it every Christmas for our family party, and my aunts still make it also at Easter.
It's not easy to make, but if anyone is interested, I can post the recipie - but someone has to promise to try to make it if I do.
I didn't know "hens & chicks" were an Italian thing ... I just assumed all sane people planted them ... everybody in my family does, including the military families. We've left them all over the country. Plant them when moving into a new house, dig up a few (they propagate like nothing else) for the new house when Dad gets a PCS.
I love trippa, my mom made the best. When I go out to lunch sometimes I order trippa ("tripe" for the non-Italians) and my co-workers look at it with terror in their eyes. They don't know what they're missing.
This thread brings laughter and tears to my eyes as my mother passed away 4 months ago at the young age of 61. Sundays will never be the same. All of our family (brothers/sisters/neices/nephews/cousins) would eat a huge, fun lunch at my parents house and my mom would make a feast.
Me = 100% Italian - and I've got a story for ya. At one time (late 60s) we lived with my grandparents in Valhalla, NY prior to my dad being transferred to Texas). My grandmother's sister lived next door. Whenever I got hungry (which was all the time because everything cooked was awesome), I would scamper accross to aunt Phill and uncle Pat's house and seek the blood of the tomato... Aunt Phill would keep a pot of sauce in the diswasher! When I arrived she pulled the pot out and placed it on the counter - then she'd pick me up, hand me a loaf of bread and I would commence to dipping the bread in the sauce... yummy.
Why did Aunt Phill keep the sauce in the dishwasher? She was a diabetic and was not allowed to have pasta/sauce. When my great uncle Pat caught on to her ways - there was a shouting match that would rival any weapon of mass destruction. But you know, they loved each other very much.
Ciao from the "wilds" of North Texas!
Trajan88
p.s. Always looking for a bowl of grandma's escarole soup and my great grandma's stroufla cookies.
p.p.s. Mom always threatened my "bad" ways with the wooden spoon. I was never hit, but the thought of a direct hit on the my back side scared (and still scares me) more than the plot of the movie "The Exorcist."
WOW! That must have been some fuzzy slippers party New Year's Eve!! :)
You’re wife or husband wears a tee shirt that says “Pray for me, I married an Italian.”
By the way, can I get one of these shirts?
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