"Ricky, we gotta bad-a neighbor! Genti tinti, tinti, tinti! (bad, bad, bad people!) You canna no trust-a nobody!" Rick and I had just arrived at my parents' house for a visit. They were obviously traumatized by some tinti tinti tinti neighbors, but we had no idea what had happened, so [...]
in my dream i was in a car with john, nora, toni, mom, dad, and one other person i could not identify... a road trip and my brother-in-law john was driving... mom and dad were so happy and so were we all.... she was cracking jokes and he was laughing... [...]
Lu maccu, also lovingly known as Maccu Maccu, is a kind of Gruttisi soul food. It is a specialty bean soup from Grotte, Sicily. My uncle makes the best Maccu Maccu in the village of Grotte. Below is the recipe for Maccu Maccu. Since it is time consuming to soak [...]
Below are some conversations that took place with my 85 year old Uncle Charlie (aka 'ziu Lillu, Calogero, Mr. Lee-who-lived-in-England-for-40-years running a fish and chip shop with his wife and family, dog lover, cook extraordinaire, raiser of chickens, collector of hats, fast driver, self proclaimed black sheep of the family, [...]
(slide show of Grotte at the end..) I grew up listening to my mom and dad tell stories about their hometown, Grotte, Sicily. When I was 10 years old, I went to Grotte for the first time ever. Their stories came to life. I saw firsthand what my dad had [...]