John,
If your a good boy I'll send you the recipe for the "Sauce" [ Sunday sauce that is ]. It dates back over 150 years to my great Grandmother from Sicily. Simple and delicous.
rollo
Glad to see the Sicilians are represented on the forum. "Sauce" was also known as "
Gravy" when I was growing up. Anyway, went to Sicily a couple years ago for two weeks, and would go back in a heartbeat. They definitely prefer a much firmer al dente than Americans. And the wine from Etna seems akin to the stuff that Odysseus used to put the Cyclops to sleep - highly recommended. Great places to visit, wonderful ruins and museums, colorful persons everywhere, seafood to die for (the sardines are out of this world, add some cuttlefish, squid, shrimp, other fish, etc. - Manga, Eat!)
Funny to be reminded of cooking and relatives, although the closeness to Thanksgiving makes it seem less remarkable and all the more reasonable. I remember my Sicilian grandmother making pasta all over the dining room table - pappardelle type ribbons of eggy freshness, ricotta-stuffed ravioli, her homemade sauce/gravy with tons of meatballs / sausage (hot & sweet) / braciole, the fresh bread and sweet butter, grandpa's [he started the Garibaldi Club in my mom's hometown] homemade vino (we kids would get a small shot of the stuff topped off with lots of 7Up), killer salad with veggies right out of grandma's garden, homemade cannoli, etc., etc. One of the funny things is that grandma used to make snails, some of which escaped the cooking and took to crawling around where often times they would end up on the curtains. I remember we used to delight when visiting to see if we could find where the snails had gotten to. And the audio in the background was provided by a multitubed old time wood stand radio, with it's wonderful glow and warmed-dusty smell. Don't even get me started about the scratchy old Victrola! Good times, good food, good people (many now gone), good memories. More things to be thankful for as Thursday draws near, and more memories to make.