My protege - a little "Mammarella"

If your nonna was anything like my Nonnina Lucia, she never left the house without a hankerchief on her head! Well, it must be in the blood because my youngest bambina is following right in her footsteps.

You know that smile babies give when they just know they're cute? It's kinda mischevious.....

Well if you can't quite picture what I'm talking about, here's a prime example -

My litte Mammarella! I'm not sure my Nonnina looked quite as cute in a diaper, though....

Just for laughs

Any Italian Knows that the movie Life is Beautiful was legendary in more than just Italy. In this clip from the David Letterman show, Roberto Benigni makes himself equally as legendary! What a riot he is! I just had to post this for the laughs....I LOVE when the other guy says he's trying to "translate" for him.....listen carefully (2:31)!

L'Italiano vero - a real Italian

I guess Italy had their share of 80's hits! I stumbled across this song and found it to be sort of relative. Those who know me know I never stop talking about the demoralization of society...yep, that's me, Miss positive attitude:)

Actually I find the meaning behind these lyrics to be fairly meaningful. Obviously, the artist had strong sentiments about the changes taking place in Italy. I can relate! And I live in an entirely different country!

So to get the real meaning of this catchy 80"s Italian hit, click here, where the lyrics are broken down for us med-e-gones!

The song is called "Lasciatemi cantare" by Toto Cutugno.

Please comment - we could use some (dare I say *controversial*) conversation on this blog :)

Withdrawals

"Ho fame" - or in English, I'm hungry!!!! Actually, starving........

for an authentic Italian local restaurant. One advantage to living in Vegas was the fancy restaurants on the Strip. Those were okay, I guess.

But the greatest advantage was the fact that I lived there for over 14 years, so we really got to know the owners of the restaurants we frequented.

Oh how I wish I had some of those places to eat around the corner from our new home in Washington state.

I know I will find my way around here. I just haven't had time yet. All I want, really, is a good Italian restaurant.

So I am calling all readers to a challenge - it's a small world, right? So, please, ask your family, your friends, your coworkers -

"Do you know of any good Italian restaurants in Spokane, Washington????"

That's the million dollar question. I'm just putting it out there. Please help me satisfy my cravings!

P.S. - I DID come across a local vendor of Italian Sausage at the Arts, Crafts, and Food Fair this February. Cosenza Sausage was pretty darn good, and it had NO FENNEL! I personally do not like fennel in my sausage - that's just me. So I was thrilled to say the least. The best news in - the super nice JOHN ships this fabulous sausage so give him a call (509) 217 - 5266.

I really hope you guys can come through for me on this one! Please comment with the million dollar answer.............SUBITO!

Taking One for the Team

So I'm pretty sure this goes for ALL mothers, but the Italian Mamma might have it a little bit harder than any other mother. I say this because of the RICH heritage they have to live up to.

I'm talking about our role in the family. I've written on this a few times before, but I was reminded of it YET AGAIN this Easter. We have to live up to the precedents that our mothers and grandmothers before us have set. We have to stay loving in times of anger and compassionate in times of serious frustration - you know, times like EASTER was for me this year.

This year, I took one for the team.

After taking four little ones to Easter Midnight Mass, my husband and I were tired to say the least. The LAST thing we wanted to do was cook up an entire Easter meal.

Yet what did I do?

• I gave up on sleeping.
• I cooked, cooked, and cooked some more.
• I slaved over a sauce that ended up being too thin (Note to self: A special occasion is NOT a good time to try a new brand of canned tomatoes)
• I burned one whole batch of braciole. (...had to make another one WITHOUT ham, as I had used it all on the first *burned* batch)
• I slaved over two homemade Easter pies (pizza gaina) only to serve them to guests and find that the dough was severely undercooked. aaaaaahhhhh

Sound pretty much like a disaster, huh? For our first Easter away from family, (we moved out of state last August) it was kind of a nightmare! Good thing my family missed it!

So after all my efforts, I pretty much finished at a miserable loss. But I can look at this one of two ways:

1.) I failed miserably, Easter was a disaster, I ruined any chance of Family Tradition, and no one ate good (bad food=bad moods).

OR

2.) I learned valuable lessons (like sticking to brands I know, and NOT using store bought pie crust for the legendary family recipe of Easter Pie. That is like blasphemy to our family traditions. Wow, am I really posting it here? This is surely for the benefit of the readers, right?)

Also, my kids are young enough (and my husband is patient enough) that this won't really affect their memory of Easter dinner at this point. I.e., I still have time to make up for it in future years.

It's all about how you look at it. I've got to stay positive, right? It takes a real woman to admit such shortcomings...I just keep telling myself that.

So really the disaster of a meal that was Easter means nothing in the grand scheme of things. After all, we are all happy and healthy, and rejoicing in the true spirit of the season.

And hey - Lent is over so who can really complain? Time for a Buona Festa!!!!!

A Modern Italian Father

My July article for La Voce is now available under the "Mamma Mia!" tab of their website (www.lasvegaslavoce.com) Also, double click on this picture to enlarge the text.

A tribute to my husband, I had the article framed and then kept the July issue of the paper away from him for as long as possible and gave it to him for Father's Day. It now hangs in his new office, at his new job, in a new state, because - you guessed it - we moved! About 8 weeks after our newest addition, I was busy packing and moving la tutta famiglia to Washington State! What a change from the desert (a welcome one). So thats my excuse for the lack of posts. But I still write for La Voce so please, continue checking for my articles there until I get back into the swing of posting here. Ciao, and Buon Natale!

Una Mamma's article on "mammas"

If you ask me, every day could reasonably be mother's day and we would still be under-appreciated!!!! So although a bit late, here is one mother's tribute to all the mammas out there -Italian or not. This appeared in May's issue of La Voce Newspaper. ENJOY!