A Time to Recall Thanksgiving Traditions Italian Style.

     It's amazing what you don't forget when it comes to the Holidays. After so many years of enjoying the Thanksgiving Day with family and friends, I find it is not the immediate joys surfacing at the present family dinner, but the ones form the past...those backed by tradition, by family members long gone, by stories told and retold until we could speak them from memory.
     Everyone who has ever participated in a Thanksgiving dinner would be surpised to see what is prepared at an Italian Thanksgiving meal. Now, if the aroma of turkey roasting and pies cooling aren't enough to get your saliva glands oozing, try this:
                                                 Thanksgiving Italian Style.
Start/antipasto--salamis, cheese, olives, roasted peppers pepperoni, artichoke hearts shining in
                          100% virgin  Italian olive oil. Crusty bread and individual dishes of 100% Italian
                           olive oil for dunking. And plenty of cross conversation.
Soup/zuppa--the traditional Italian Wedding soup. Not too much conversation. hard to slurp and talk
                          at the same time.
Pasta-- usually la sagna or stuffed manicotti, attended by a phalanx of meatballs, sausage and                           brochiole ( a stuffed, rolled beef cutlet cooked in the Italian gravy, sliced and
                          drizzled with 100% Italian olive oil).
Salad/ensalata--a plain green salad dressed with red vinegar and  100% Italian olive oil, ( served mid-
                          way through the meal as a digestive).
Turkey--Traditional stuffed turkey, rubbed with 100%  Italian olive oil before roasting.
Vegetables--sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, creamed string beans, and cauliflower
                        dripping with a rich cheese sauce.
Dessert--Italian pastries whose name I can pronounce but can not spell. Apple and pumpkin pies,
              and Italian cookies called "Knots."
Coffee--Espresso served with twists of lemon rind and sugar cubes and regular served with (no, I'm  
              not going to say 100% Italian olive oil). Regular coffee was served with cream and sugar
              or black.
 After coffeee--assorted nuts, fresh fruit, figs and dates (sugared and plain).
Last--Conversation, stories new and repeats...especially liked the war stroies told by my
              uncles.
Wines:
A dry, white, pinot g rigio first with antipasto.
A hearty chianti served with pasta and gravy meats.
Either served with the turkey according to individual tastes.
Dessert wines, sauterns or ports.

Now, if you are wondering how long it took us to consume this feast. No less than 6 or 7 hours. We'd start at 1pm and finish around 8pm. Slow and easy. Every course digesting making room for the next.

All this food was served on several dinner sets And the least amount of guests you'd invite was 16; anything less was considered a paltry affair.And just think, we had no dishwashers.

The following day none of your clothes fit around your waist.And you didn't want to see an antipasto or a turkey rubbed in 100% Italian olive oil until Easter.



















either

In case you are wondering. . . this meal took hours to eat. We'd usually start about 1pm and finish
             well afater 8pm.

OCCUPY! LYNCHBURG

           The civil protests of the past few weeks, OCCUPY! WALL STREET, has given me pause to reflect on what my contribution should be regarding this national event.
           As a senior citizen, whose town has not initiated an "OCCUPY!" event, I decided to become an activist in my old age and speak out. And, who better to speak to the issue but one of the minorities that not only Wall Street and Corporate America has thrown under the bus, but our own representatives in Congress.
           I decided it was time to put support behind the people who are standing for justice, for equality, for the American dream--which for many citizens has become a nightmare.
           If your community isn't involved  in "OCCUPY!" then it is time to act individually.
           Choose to do the right thing--albeit a small thing--collectively we will be heard.
            Email, phone, write your senators and representatives in Washington and let them know that America is saying, "enough is enough."           
           Their email addresses can be accessed on-line. Phone and office addresses are in the phone book.
           Let's act as bravely as the men who risked treason in framing our Declaration of Independence and honor them and our current heroes "OCCUPYING" small towns and cities across America. LET'S SPEAK OUT!
          

A TIME FOR CARTWHEELS ???

     I just had a conversation with a writer in my critique group regarding our reactions when we received contracts for our debut novels. Apparently, we had under-reacted.

     Culled from her conversations with yet other published writers, we were supposed to do cartwheels, jump up and down or scream--all de rigueur for the newly initiated.

     While cartwheels may be suitable for writers under the age of 30, for us "seniors," even jumping up and down may be a bit too much on the physical side. That leaves screaming as our last option.

     My initial reaction, a scream, was more the type you see in cartoons, "EEEK!" Then I lapsed into the surreal realization  this had really happened to me.--sans cartwheels.