Father Thomas Lombardi comments continued...
"Mangia," "mangia" Nonna would continuously say to us kids. She was always ready to serve up seconds and even thirds to those who wanted more. (And even though we all ate more than we should have, it seemed that there was always some left over). Then came the meat course - the meat from the sauce - along with some vegetables lightly seasoned with olive oil. Next came a salad of lettuce simply dressed with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and a bit of oregano. Then some fruit, nuts, and cheese. Accompanying all of this were copious amounts of crispy Italian bread and Nonno’s home made wine. Even us kids got to drink wine (although for the youngest among us it was about one quarter wine to three quarters water). The meal would end with coffee and sometimes Nonna's cheesecake or some other kind of cake made by one of my aunts. About this time Nonno would also set out the bottles of grappa and anisette. On special occasions we would have Italian cookies. Oh those wondrous anisette cookies and almond biscotti!!!! It was always a leisurely meal. No one rushed off (except my younger uncles who wanted to go visit their girlfriends - something which always aggravated Nonna). A course was served and enjoyed. Then everyone just sat around and visited until the next course was served. We kids would be allowed to get up from the table between courses to run around and play until the next course was served. But they had no problem calling us back because we knew that something wonderful tasting was coming next! I spent those summers playing with my cousins. But I also spent a lot of that time at my Nonna’s side watching her cook (probably because I loved to eat). She was truly a wonder worker in the kitchen. It seemed she could make a delicious meal out of nothing. It was there that I learned how to cook Italian. Like your grandmother, there never were any recipes. She just did it. She cooked by taste and from experience. She learned how to cook by watching her mother and she passed it on to her sons and daughters-in-law - and to me! And I am so grateful that she did. Over the years I have expanded my repertoire of Italian recipes beyond what she taught me. But whenever I cook Italian I always think of her. But Nonna was not the only cook in the family. Nonno could cook as well. His pastafagiol (pasta and bean soup) was to die for! I remember many times he would make us a snack on Saturday afternoons while Nonna was busy making pasta. He would pull out his pen knife (I still have it) and he would cut up several Italian tomatoes, add a bit of garlic, and pour olive oil over it with a bit of salt, pepper and oregano. He called it his "zuppa" (soup) for the kids. I can still remember how wonderful it tasted. I have never been able to replicate it exactly and could never understand why until one day I realized that it is because Nonno used a secret ingredient: his love for us grand kids. After Nonno and Nonna died and much of the family moved away, these meals ceased, much to my chagrin. So I decided a few years ago to start those Sunday meals up again. Only this time I do it once a month for my brother priests. They love it - and boy can they eat! We have so much fun together. Last New Years I invited several priests and the bishop to a traditional seven fish Christmas eve feast (I know it wasn’t really Christmas eve, but all of us priests are busy on Christmas eve!) The main attraction was Nonno’s recipe for fish stew. It was a hit! Well this email has turned out to be way too long. Sorry about that. But as I said your web site brought back this flood of memories that I guess I needed to share. Thank you so very much. May the good Lord bless you, Anthony, and your family!

Fr. Thom Lombardi

ps: my Dad’s name was Antonio.

pps: Clearly, God must be Italian!

Farther Lombardi,
Such a wonderful email! Not too long at all. Your letter was a joy to read! :-) I can totally understand all the memories Italian cooking evokes from childhood if you grew up in an Italian home. I miss my grandma Salerno greatly and it is one of the reasons I have worked hard to recreate her recipes and my moms. My goal is to get them nailed down to exactly the way she made them. When I spend a whole day cooking these recipes and the house fills up with the glorious smells, so many great memories come flooding back! I remember meals like you mentioned. 4 - 5 hours at the table with multiple courses and great conversation. It's almost unexplainable to one who has not experienced such a thing. The fellowship that happens, the good times, it's what the good Lord planned for us to do. To love one another. Well Italian food helps us do that :-) I also remember my grandma saying magie, mangia, when I was a kid as well. I learned something that was very valuable! I learned to "always" have at least two plate of my grandma's food (or any Italian grandma's food for that matter) or more and that would make her extremely happy. If I ate only one plate I would get the "what... you no like-a my food, you gotta eat, have some more!!", So I learned to take smaller portion on my plate so I could have two to three plates of food. Oh I loved her cooking so much!!! I have a LOT more recipe to make for sure. Oh and those anisette cookies, wonderful! You know I have a recipe for those on my site. You can find them here. master recipe list is here. I am still trying to perfect those Terrell cookies though. Did your parents/grandparents ever make those? These here I mean. Anyway, I could go on and on but I'm busy with work at the moment. Thanks again for your email, it brought back memories for me to. I forwarded your email to my mom and it appears she already forwarded it to my uncle Johnny.. Ha Ha! It;'s bringing back memories for them to. Well have a blessed day, I might write back more when I get a free moment.:

.....and here is an email from my Uncle Johnny to Father Lombardi

"Fr. Lombardi,
Your letter made a hit with Anthony's family (I'm his uncle who received your letter from his mother, my sister). Our childhood in an Italian district in Worcester, MA was very similar to yours, although I dare not try to match your superior literary bent. Sunday was the best day of the week. I'd rush home after serving Mass for Msgr. Carpinella (who wanted to send me to the seminary), or Frs. DiLorenzo, Donega, Santonoceto, or Bafaro to smell the meatballs cooking in salt pork. A day of great food was usually followed by my father's insistence that I play the accordion, especially if friends or relatives were visiting. My high school and college friends (who were not Italians) still, to this day, comment on the fantastic feasts my mother would prepare for them when visiting, which were actually the normal fare served at home everyday. One college English professor went on and on at his retirement party at the wonderful meal he had on the third floor of our six decker tenement. I'm thrilled my nephew has inherited his love of Italian cooking from his grandmother and is sharing it on the web. I will ask him to add somewhere on his site your feeling that "God must be Italian." ... Buona Fortuna and God bless you.

~ John Salerno (Anthony's Uncle) ~ www.johnsalernomusic.com

.....ok - stay with me now, there is more.... :-)

Hi Anthony!
Thanks for the prompt reply. Actually I really wasn't expecting a reply, especially your very kind one, considering how many emails/comments are posted on your site. I figured I might get something in a week or two when you got around to it. So mille grazie Anthony! After I wrote the email last night, I said my evening prayers and got ready for bed. But when I got into bed I couldn't fall asleep right away. A rush of memories almost (but I guess not really ) forgotten were flooding through my mind. I do know that when I fell asleep and when I woke up this morning I had a very warm feeling about my heritage and about who I am (an Italian-American that is!!!) Something that might bring you some humor: I was just transferred to a new parish. It is one of the older parishes in the diocese and it was founded by Germans and still has a strong German heritage. In my introductory homily the first Sunday I was here I told the people I didn't know what the bishop was thinking in putting an Italian amongst all these Germans!!! I told them they were going to have to get used to my Italian ways (like walking around as I preach and waving my hands) and I was going to have to get used to eating bratwurst and sauerkraut!!!! I have a lot more memories I could share with you sometime if you are interested (or with your Mom and uncle Johnny). ...Note: I just got an email from your uncle Johnny!!! I'll get to it as soon as I finish this.... Anyway I thought I would share with you Nonna's recipe for anisette cookies. They are my absolute favorites. I make mounds of them at Christmas. In my other parish I would take plates full of them into the grade school to share with the kids (200 kids x 2 cookies each.....well you do the math!)

Here is my recipe for Italian Anisette Cookies

4 cups flour (all purpose works best)

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup whole milk (like you say on your web site, if you want to eat low fat don't eat Italian)

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons baking powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon anise extract

2 tablespoons anise flavored liquor (anisette is a natural here, but you could use any anise flavored liquor like Sambuco, etc.)

1 teaspoon anise extract

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons hot water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and white sugar. Make a well in the center and add oil, milk, 1 tablespoon anise extract, and eggs. Mix thoroughly. The dough will be very sticky so it is best to use a wooden spoon dipped in water. Place the bowl with the dough in the refrigerator for a few minutes to cool the dough - it will be easier to work with. Now comes the fun part: lightly oil your hands with vegetable oil to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Pinch off the dough in about one inch pieces (about a teaspoon) and roll it into a ball. Place the ball on a lightly greased cookies sheet. Give them room because they will spread a bit (about an inch or so). Flatten the ball out just a bit - but don't flatten it out too thin, the cookie should be on the thick side. I will sometimes top each cookie with a whole almond if I remember to buy them. When the cookie sheet(s) are full place them in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes (depending on your oven). The bottoms of the cookies should just barely be getting lightly brown. If the bottoms get too brown, the cookies aren't as good. You want a soft, chewy cookie. I let them bake for about four minutes and then quickly open the oven (you don't want to loose too much oven heat), turn the cookie sheets back to front, and rotate the sheets from bottom to top so that they bake evenly. When done use a spatula to transfer them from the cookie sheets to a cooling rack (otherwise if you leave them on the cookie sheets they will continue to bake). Besides they need to set a bit before you ice them.

To Make Icing:

Blend in 1 teaspoon anise extract, the anisette liquor, and enough hot water to 1 cup confectioner's sugar to form a smooth icing. You can color the icing if you wish, but I seldom do. Now pop one or two of the cookies into your mouth - you desreve it for getting this far. Then dip each cookie in the icing and let cool completely (of course tasting one or two to make sure that the icing is just right!!!) Now sit down with a cup of coffee, enjoy your handiwork, and whisper a prayer of thanks to God for revealing this wondrous recipe to some old Italian nonna in some little Italian village so many centuries ago!!! Well Anthony I must rush off. I have a meeting this evening I must get ready for. I will try to write more later...and answer your uncle Johnny's email. God bless!

Fr, Thom

Father Thom,
Hi! Ok, so this email was not so prompt as my first... Been swamped with work. Once again it is nice to hear from you. Your anisette cookies are very similar to my grandma Salerno's. That is such a yummy cookie and the fact that when I was a kid, they only showed up during Christmas time, makes them all that much more special! There are so many wonderful memories that are tied together with the cookie, with the taste, the feel, the look, everything about it takes you back. Just wonderful!!! Nice to hear you have a fresh feeling of Italian American price. A very rich heritage :-) I am very grateful I had the opertunity to grow up with all that great Italian food and traditions and family and so much love!! It stays with you, especially those long dinners with the family, spending so much time around the table. You know that is such a lost art these days. Everybody is so busy, no one seems to make the time anymore to make the big dinners and have the long dinners, well I try my hardest to keep that going with my family and friends. I mean, you know it's an important thing, Jesus' ministry was shared most around the dinner table :-) Much breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine in the Gospels ;-) Please feel free to share more memories and more recipes. They are great fun to read and I will add them to the site for others to enjoy as well. It's so hard to share the experience, I tired to achieve some of this on my recipe site. It's so much more than just cooking a recipe as I'm sure you know. Sharing some of the stories and recipes really helps one who did not grow up in the atmosphere to better understand the whole thing.

Thanks again for the recipe and sharing. Have a blessed day!!!

~8-) Anthony