Western Bluebird,

Can I see your knives?

I know there are "good" neighborhoods in Da Bronx, but we never seemed to drive through them.

We're italian by marriage!! I can't get my sauce or shall I call it gravy? to be anything close to his mother's!!! She always sends us home with sauce & her meatballs!!!

Bluebird, you are Scicilian? Yes, that counts. My family is too! Ciao! Ah Salute!

No jokes about the Mafia. I really, truly have some uncles.....

Those who grew up in the Bronx and Queens, did you ever visit the Poconos? Settled by non other than Italians. I think there was a time when Scicilians did not associate with Italians, but in current generations it's not considered such a distinction. Sauce is tomato sauce. Gravy is what you make from the drippings of a meat.

One of the best movies for Italian scenery is Under the Tuscan Sun.

Spaghettios. Yuk. My grandmother is in a Who's Who because she is responsible for bringing pizza to the Poconos. No kidding. She had a restaurant called The White House in New Jersey. It was very popular. She brought her recipes from The White House and opened up a lodge in the Poconos, which turned into a honeymoon resort. I have her hand written pizza dough recipe. You would not believe her pizza. The best. Another interesting story is that when she and my grandfather were building the lodge, the local lumber vendors would not sell to them because they were Italians. They had to go back to NJ to buy the lumber and haul it to PA. In the 1940s that must have been a long ride. Oh, I know those bad Italian words too.

In our house, we always called it gravy because there were meatballs and sausage in it. Now marinara sauce is a different story.
Lynn329, Ciao!

Most elder Italians in Sicily call the spaghetti sauce, gravy as didmy grandparents, aunts etc. I called it sauce. Hey whats the difference what its called when it is delicioso...

BTW, did anyone's family call ricotta "pot cheese"? That's what we always called it.

[ October 18, 2005, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: Western Bluebird ]

My mother and grandmother would take hours making sauce. I think I have heard of pot cheese. I never heard them call it gravy. Then there is au jous, which is the juice of the flank steak, or whatever. It was awful hard for me to assert my vegetarian desires in a family full of meatheads, I mean meatballs and sausage. My grandmother's pizza: she had a restaurant with old pizza ovens. Friday night was busy for pizza. I used to love to be in the kitchen and eat handfulls of sweet shredded mozzarella cheese. The ovens are still on her property and they are at least 50 years old. What kind of music did Italians listen to? I remember one uncle who listened to some kind of music with accordian in it. Any memories on this?