I told you I’d be writing every week. I will do my best to keep it going.
The day after a holiday weekend is like the “back to reality” blahs…, especially after eating and drinking so much. I used to feel that way a lot when I was in the corporate world. Had to be present every day Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 and then some. At the beginning I worked until 7 or 8 every night and lots of times on Saturday. Don’t have to think about that part of it anymore since I retired. I should say forced to retire since my company went “kerplunck.”
It was my eldest son’s birthday this past weekend. It usually falls on the Memorial Day Weekend. This year conveniently on the Saturday. My children usually request their favorite meals for their birthdays and I prepare them according to their liking. My youngest son’s birthday is coming up this weekend. My children are all pretty much two years apart, as I had planned. I wanted four children originally two boys and two girls, but only had three; one girl and two boys.
Sometimes I wonder how my grandmother did it with 14 children (on my mother’s side). Not sure about my father’s side, since my parents got divorced when I was three, but I think he was one of 10 children. Boy that must have been crazy when they were little. It was chaos when they were adults at Sunday dinners at Grandma and Grandpa’s apartment in East Harlem. 
When my Uncle Chick (Anthony – he’s the second from the left) was engaged to my Aunt Margie (Immaculata – right next to him), she had him come over for dinner. He didn’t know what to expect. There were two long tables extending into the living room. Those tenement apartments were usually railroad style, but some had different layouts. This one had a small kitchen, with a bathroom right next to it, a larger dining room next to a decent sized living room. The bedrooms were off to the right separate and apart. All those kids in one bathroom! Yikes!
Getting back to Sunday dinner…After the macaroni and the gravy meat, we usually had an entree with meat like roasted chicken with potatoes, and side dishes such as stuffed artichokes, mushrooms, salad, and my grandfather Vito’s favorite, chicken livers and onions. I remember when Aunt Margie brought Uncle Chick (don’t know whey they called him Chick), he was patiently waiting for dinner to be served. When it came to the table my uncles would take the platters of food and pass it around grabbing what they wanted and Uncle Chick was left with slim pickings. We referred to people like this as “gavones.” There are multiple meanings for this slang word, but our interpretation was someone who ate more than his share. Uncle Chick learned pretty fast and was prepared the next time holding his fork in the upright position waiting. Everyone laughed when they saw this.
I often wonder how all my aunts fit in that small kitchen cooking our Sunday meals. Usually started out with an appetizer of some kind, then “macaroni and meatballs;” although there was a lot more than meatballs in the “gravy.” There were one or more of the following: bracciole, sausage, neck bones, spare ribs, piece of pork and agodina (which is a pork skin bracciole). I used to eat it, but haven’t put it in the sauce for quite sometime. My sister Rose used to stuff it and when sliced it looked similar to a log cake. My kids would probably say “eww” if I added it to the sauce now. We called it macaroni and gravy when we were growing up. There is a ongoing battle, particularly on Facebook in the Italian groups, “Is it Gravy or Sauce?” I myself am tired of the debate. Some people now call it Sunday Sauce. We grew up calling it gravy and macaroni, but in this new generation we call it sauce and pasta. Doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s delicious if made correctly.
Check out my YouTube Channel on how to make Sunday Sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynUmIwSqK74&t=15s Don’t forget to subscribe.
Until next time, buon appetit!
Hedy