La Famiglia

My mom has assembled quite the collection of photo albums over the years. They sit in her hall closet, organized by such categories as family member and year. Last time I was home, we looked through some of the older albums of her family. Here are a few shots.

My grandmother's parents

My grandfather's parents

The family in the North End

My grandmother (right) with her nieces and nephews in the North End

With my grandmothers and brother at Sunday brunch

On cooking

I hate jarred pasta sauce. They all seem to taste the same. The tomato basil is just like the wild mushroom, the bolognese like that other company's bolognese. Maybe I'm spoiled. After all, my mother refused to feed us anything out of a jar growing up. Her signature sauce (I'm not allowed to print the recipe here, for fear of legal action), along with her famous ground turkey meatballs, is to die for. The meat sauce she whips up with some paste, sauce, and diced whole tomatoes is just as good with the right combination of spices. Even her primavera and improvised dishes seem to always come out delicious.

There's definately an art to cooking, and my mother mastered it years ago. As for me, I never considered myself a chef but recently entered that realm of culinary experimentation upon moving into my first apartment this past August. Even with the world's tiniest kitchen, it's been fun to try new recipes, some of which friends and family have raved about.

Benvenuto

Italians in Boston. They've been here for more than a century and their mark is all over town. Pastry shops, politicians, churches, restaurants. They helped diversify the city and brought character to the famous North End, which turned into Boston's own version of Little Italy. Now, the North End is a destination for tourists, Italian-Americans, and those just looking for a hearty pasta dish and good glass of wine.

My family came to America in the early 1900s and settled in the North End. Some of my most vivid memories are of my time there as a child. This blog is a way of keeping in touch with my heritage and sharing experiences with fellow Italian-Americans.