Growing up Italian

A "family" member had me read this after he returned from a trip to Flordia where he spent seven weeks in a town with his mother and a bunch of other Italian heratige people everywhere. He siad it was like being "at home". I read this and smiled, cried, and was once again remided of where I came from and it brought back so many wonderful memories in my family.I plan to print it on special paper and hang it in my hallway entrance at the new home.

Growing up Italian - "No one covers the fig tree"

I was well into adulthood before I realized that I was an American. Of course, I had been born in America and had lived here all my life, but somehow it never occurred to me that just being a citizen of America meant that I was as American. Americans were people who ate peanut butter and jelly on mushy white bread that came out of plastic bags. Me? I was Italian.

For me, as I am sure for most second generation Italian-American cildren who grew up in the 40's and 50's, there was a definite distinction to draw between Us and Them. We were Italians. Everybody else, the English, the French, the Irish, Germans, Poles, they were the "inglesi". There was no animosity involved in that distinction, no prejudice, no hard feelings, just... well... we were sure that ours was a better way. For instance, we had a bread man, a fruit and vegetable man, a chicken man; we even had a man who sharpened knives and scissors right outside our homes. They were part of the many peddlers who plied the Italian neighborhoods. We would wait for their call, their yell, their individual distinctive sounds. We knew them all and they knew us. The Americans... they went to the A&P for most of their foods... what a waste.

Truly, I pitied their loss. They never knew the pleasure of waking up every morning to find a hot, crisp loaf of Italian bread waiting behind the screen door. And instead of being able to climb up on the back of the peddler's truck a couple of times a week just to hitch a ride, most of my "inglesi" friends had to be satisfied by walking with their Mamas to the store.

When it came to food, it always amazed me that my friends and classmates only ate turkey on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas. Or rather, that they only ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Now, we Italians, we also had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, but only after we had finished the antipasto, soup, lasagna, meatballs, salad and whatever else Mama thought might be appropriate for that particular holiday.

The turkey was usually accompanied by a roast of some kind (this was just in case somebody walked in who didn't like turkey) and it was followed by an assortment of fruits, nuts, pastries, cakes, and, of course, the homemade cookies sprinkled with little colored things. No holiday was complete without some home baking; non of that store-bought stuff for us. This was where you learned to eat a seven course meal between noon and 4 P.M; how to handle hot chestnuts and put peach wedges in red wine. My friends ate cornmeal mush. We did too, but only after Mama covered it with sauce, sausages and meatballs... we called it polenta... now it's a gourmet food...
Mama must have known it all the time.

I truly believe Italians live a romance with food. Sunday was the big day of the week. That was the day you'd wake up to the smell of garlic and onions frying in olive oil, as it dropped into the pan. Sunday we always had sauce and macaroni. Sunday would not be Sunday without going to Mass. Of course, you couldn't eat before Mass because you had to fast before receiving communion. But, the good part was that we knew when we got home we'd find hot meatballs frying, and nothing tasted better that newly fried meatballs and crisp bread dipped into a pot of hot sauce.

There was another difference between us and them. We had gardens, not just flower gardens, but huge gardens where we grew tomatoes, tomatoes, and more tomatoes. We ate them, cooked them, and jarred them. Of course, we also grew peppers, basil, lettuce and squash. Everybody had a grapevine and a fig tree, and in the fall everybody made homemade wine. Then, when the kegs were opened everyone argued over whose wine tasted the best. Those gardens thrived because we also had something that our Canadian friends didn't seem to have... we had grandparents. Of course, it's not that they didn't have grandparents; it's just that they didn't live in the same house or on the same block. Their presence wasn't that noticeable. We ate with our
grandparents, and God forbid if we didn't visit them at least 5 times a week. I can still remember my grandfather telling us about how he came to America as a young man, on the "boat". How the family lived in a tenement and took in boarders in order to make ends meet. How he decided that he didn't want his children, five sons and two daughters, to grow up in that environment. All of this, of course, in his own version of Italian/English which I learned to understand quite well.

So, when they saved enough money, and I never still can figure out how, they bought a house. That house served as the family headquarters for the next 40 years. I remember how they hated to leave the house for any reason. They would rather sit on the back porch and watch their garden grow. When they did leave for some special occasion, they had to return as quickly as possible... after all, "nobody is watching the house".

I also remember, the holidays when all the relatives would gather at my grandparents' house and there would be tables full of food and homemade wine. The women in the kitchen, the men in the living room, and the kids... kids everywhere. I must have a thousand cousins, first cousins and second and some friends who just became cousins, but it didn't matter. Then my grandfather, sitting in the middle of it all, his pipe in his mouth, his fine mustache trimmed, would smile and his dark eyes would twinkle as he surveyed his domain, proud of his family and how well his children had done. One was a cop, one was a fireman, the others had their trades, and of course there was always the rogue about whom nothing was said. The girls? They had all married well and had fine husbands, although my grandfather secretly seemed to suspect the one son-in-law who wasn't Italian. But out of all of this one thing that we all had for each other was respect.

He had achieved his goal in coming to America and to Brooklyn and now his children and their children were achieving the same goals that were available to them in this great country, because they were Americans.

This is incredable

I thought this was amazing, shows me how much I could do if I spent the time with training. The youngs ones are not yet two so there is still time and I hope to try. I may never get my dog to be a star in public, but it would be great bonding time.

The moving saga

Well it has been some since I have been able to post but I have made an effort to keep up with everyone’s blogs whenever possible.

We sold our “old” home and are set to move into the new one in two weeks! I am very excited and yet sad to be leaving a home that has been full of love and nurture for six years.

I have spent these last few, four maybe, picking out counter tops, paint colors, curio bathroom unit, kitchen cabinets, kitchen faucets, lighting fixtures (still have not found that foyer chandelier), new toilet seats, new towels for the now three bathrooms we have, and buying items such as a Shark floor cleaner and a Dyson vacuum to keep the new house clean.

The dogs have not had much of my time I must confess, the new fence at the new house does not go up until next week therefore they have had to stay at home during the day while I work, and then for a few extra hours in the evenings when I go to the new house and most of the day on the weekends. I miss spending down time and play time with them as much as they miss being with me. But in two weeks we will be all done with the renovations on our only eight year old home (LOL I had to change it to make it mine) and we will all be living and spending more time together.

One goal is to walk each night with the dogs, I most certainly need the exercise and they just love to walk with me and enjoy the new scents and surroundings of the outside. The other goal is to be sure as I finish, who am I kidding, to be sure when I pack I give much to Goodwill! Heaven knows I have not looked, nor missed, many items that are still in boxes from when we moved down here from RI in 2000.

Well, I must run to the new house and I promise to be back “full-time” in just a few shorts weeks.

As a side note, the picture on top is how I feel about all the packing I still have left to do!