The Truth about Italians.....- Page 3

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 9:29pm

Undi of course you've always been Italian..just didn't know it...your love of Barilla and cooking should've been the clue.


Papa...you certainly do know an Italian household. There was a place to play bacce down the street from me..behind the tavern...the men got to kill 2 birds with one stone....drinking and bacce all in one place.


And Rath doesn't need to know how to cook..that's what she has me for.

[shira467]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 9:31pm

I should cook. I just cater.

[bdwaygirl]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 9:31pm

CM2, that's the only combo that makes me gag. I have no prob with baked ziti, manicotti, stuffed shells, etc. Just don't put a plate of spaghetti with sauce in front of me.

[HeartinNYC]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 9:36pm

Mamma mia, you've just described every Sunday of my life growing up. My mom was full-blooded Italian (Naples), and honest to God, the amount of food you were expected to shove into yourself on a Sunday afternoon was OBSCENE!

The conversation always included:

- Who died that week
- Who would be expected to die within the next week
- New symptoms of any given disease and what that could mean for us all
- Saving four cents on bread when you need to spend $12 in gas to get to the store with the big bread sale
- The Old Neighborhood and How Bad Things Are Now
- The Pope (well, this was going back to Italian Popedom)
- Sinatra and how he was THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

and last but not least:

- WHEN ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED?

How could I tell them I was a lesbian? Some of them STILL haven't figured it out!

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 9:46pm

Girly I'm shocked !!!! Spaghetti and meatballs is my all time favorite !!!! Although Rigatoni in Vodka sauce has become the most requested dish I make now. My sister-in-law won't come to my house unless I make it.

Heart..you're lucky you didn't have to go through the whole seating chart for a wedding......you can't sit Aunt Mary next to cousin Anthony because they're still NOT talking because he didn't go to her husband's, sister's,brother-in-law's wake.

[HeartinNYC]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 9:51pm

Boobs, you're not kidding, I really did luck out there!

I had an Italian landlord once who told me NOT to answer the door for ANYONE. Even the UPS man. SURE, he has a UPS uniform...and drives a UPS truck...but:

"YOU NEVER KNOW!!!! IT COULD BE AN AXE MURDERER!"

That goes for the guys who read the electric and gas meters, too!

How did we all survive this!?

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 10:00pm

My Grandmother even brought her silly superstitions with her from Italy. After a funeral...if you go to the cemetery you MUST go to the re-pass (lunch after the funeral) with the family or they believe you bring the dead home with you. One time after a great Uncle's funeral I had to get back to work so I stopped home 1st to pick up something....I walked in and said "Grandma,guess who I brought home to visit you"..she made me go out on the porch and turn around 3 times before I could enter again...I asked her if I should click my heels together too...she never got my jokes.

[bdwaygirl]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 10:09pm

Sorry, Boobs. My cousin makes a delicioso Penne w/vodka sauce. Better than some I've had at authentic Italian restaurants!

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 10:13pm

Well Girly maybe one day you'll try mine...after I get my 40,000 kitchen.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 11:03pm

Boobs, I would like to apply to be an honorary Italian. This Jewish woman makes a mean Pasta Puttanesca from scratch! I also found out what Puttanesca meant a few monthes ago but that is another thread. Also, I dip fresh crusty bread in olive oil and minced fresh garlic.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 11:16pm

Puttanesca was thought to be the food of prostitutes. There's a certain sort of symbolism with the pitted olives and their profession.

Also, it could be prepared quickly--between johns.

[KelRel]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 11:17pm

Thank God I married an Italian. They are great in the kitchen and else where

[Mamie]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 11:18pm

We had a wonderful Italian family who lived two doors down from us in Virginia. We had a house full of girls and they had a house full of boys. For that reason (if nothing else) we all spent a lot of time at each others houses and we've considered each other to be true family for the last 40 years.

Each Christmas we go to their house for Christmas dinner. There are so many people there (from their 6 sons and our 4 daughters and all of their spouses and now about a thousand of their kids) that every piece of furniture that can hold a flat board serves duty as a table in order to seat everyone. Trays and trays of hot and cold appetizers are set out when you arrive. The beer, wine, and cocktails flow. Then, after everyone is more or less seated, out comes the pasta. The 'macaroni' is always Grandma Pic's (their name is Piccariello) homemade ravioli and Italian sausage. There's a roast turkey AND Chateau Briand with Bearnaise sauce. (Papa Pic learned to make this a few years ago so now it's a Christmas regular.) Then the salad with shrimp. Each course has a different wine to go with it. There are a variety of cakes for desert and then all those appetizer trays are filled with Christmas cookies. It takes a year to work off all that food!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 11:22pm

At oour house it's Christmas Eve where all the eating takes place. We celebrate the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes.

[Mamie]

Posted: 8/16/05 at 11:30pm

Actually I think they started having dinner on Christmas evening because we had dinner on Christmas eve. They would come over to our house (just the parents and the kids who were still at home) for ham and sweet potatoes and popping Christmas crackers. That always seemed like a big meal to us and you swore you weren't going to be able to eat a thing the next day at their house... HA! AS IF!

[HeartinNYC]

Posted: 8/17/05 at 9:34am

GroversCorner, hi! We can make you an honorary Italian if you can make me an honorary Jew! My Italian grandma grew up in an all Italian and Jewish neighborhood in Hartford, and all of her friends were Jewish. She spoke fluent Yiddish with them, fluent Italian with her countrymen, and English with me. :) Anyway, I was the beneficiary of at least 12 Jewish "aunts" (close friends of hers) and all of their wonderful cooking - matzo ball soup, brisket of beef, potato pancakes, etc.! I especially loved going over to my Aunt Fanny's house, where she would make homemade chopped chicken liver that would knock your socks off! *sigh* The good old days!

How sad that nowadays we're all eating with strangers at Subway.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 8/17/05 at 12:22pm

Ok HeartinNYC..it is a deal! You can be a honorary Jew and I am now an honorary Italian. To celebrate, I will not shave my legs today. What will you do to celebrate?

[HeartinNYC]

Posted: 8/17/05 at 12:42pm

GroversCorners, you're off to a good start!

And to celebrate my becoming an honorary Jew - I will, all day today, complain about how my kids never call or visit!

(Okay, I have no kids, but it's a start!)

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 8/17/05 at 12:53pm

Mazel Tov Heart! And do find some kids to inflict guilt on!

Updated On: 8/17/05 at 12:53 PM