[applesoffh]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Thanks for sharing the "vision" of that village. Small world.
No sardines for me either.

I do remember my grandmother having baby octopus in jars !!!!!
Unless it was squid for calamari?? We lived in N.J. so I didn't get to see her daily as my other cousins* did.........(hose who lived nearby, in N.Y.C.)

I discovered doing my own Italian genealogy , after making wonderful cousin connections from the same lines dating back 8, 9, 10 generations, that we also had Greek ethnicity in both my grandfather and grandmother's family........the Greeks had come to Laurenzana originally and settled.
Back then it was called Lucania...........

My dad always made codfish....... I never saw him "bread and deep fry any fish" such as is done in New England.

He topped his cod with some crushed tomatoes, garlic cloves and oregano, basil and put it briefly under the broiler.

He made his steak the same way. Steak Piazzola?
Not sure of the spelling......did that in a saute pan.

I found out most recently that all Italian mothers taught their sons how to cook. I always wondered why my dad was the only one in the neighborhood that cooked. We lived in a German / Irish neighborhood in N.J. with only a handful of Italian friends.

Fennel seed was used in cooking....or making sausage, but yes, fennel was for salads or appetizers.

You must remember the easter braided breads with eggs on top, under the braided dough? The honey balls (dough balls drizzled with honey and sprinkles on top)??????

Thanks for the blast from the past.

We still make fish the way your dad did!

My mom still makes "strufoli" the honey balls, every Christmas, as does my sister. My grandmother made the Easter Bread, braided with the colored eggs in between the braids...mom made it and I do, too. I also made the Easter Pie (Pizza Rustica) - with ricotta, hard cooked eggs, salami, etc. It was more like a heart attack on a plate, and I stopped making it a long time ago. It must have weighed close to 8 or 9 pounds when finished!

We also bake the fig cookies at Christmas - better than a Fig Newton, and my mom still makes the honey/almond candy. Really, she's amazing!