Neweagle Loc: Wales UK

Good morning HOGS, just getting ready to head off to Italy on a 10 day vacation. Need some sunshine, and will get quality time to get some good shots (without a Tamron) Not got that lens yet. Happy shooting.

madcapmagishion

Have fun!

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Show us Italy

Sarge

MsJ Loc: Northern Indiana

Can't wait to see what you bring back...I want to go to Italy to learn how they cook! I'm envious!!!!

Raider Fan Loc: Lake County, IL.

I too wanted to learn how to cook Italian. I could not afford the trip to Italy so I did the next best thing, I married an Italian lady 37 years ago and it has been the best years of my life!!

Nickey Loc: Arizona

I want to go to Italy too... but can't afford right now, so I go to my garden... Olive Garden, that is. Have fun and take a lot of Italian pics.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I married an Italian lady 22 years ago and it's been the best 100lbs of my life. I've also been to Italy. My wife cooks better.

Lancer W/A Canon Loc: atlanta

[quote=Neweagle]Good morning HOGS, just getting ready to head off to Italy on a 10 day vacation. Need some sunshine, and will get quality time to get some good shots (without a Tamron) Not got that lens yet. Happy shooting.[

See Calitri , about 1000 years in the making

Bartulius Loc: Bristol, Ct

I grew up in a neighborhood seasoned (like that play on words?)with first & second generation Italians.
The thing I came to discover is there is NO Italian cooking--just great Italian cooks.
Every family had its own secret receipe for sauce, lasagna, meatballs and everything else. Each was great in its own way.
How many of you out there have tried Ragu sauce? Ragu means sauce in Italian. Just read that in Uncle John's Bathroom reader;The other seat of knowledge in my house.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

Many Italians don't call it sauce. It's gravy.

Croce Loc: Earth

Bartulius, Uncle John apparently forgot to leave all his Merda in the toilet. LOL

I am a 3rd generation American of Italian heritage who speaks several dialects of Italian fluently, here is the real scoop on a couple of mundane, inconsequential but nontheless inaccurate points made in this thread: Trivia Truth Time Boys and Girls:

A. Indi, the only Italians who call it gravy, live in Bronx or Jersey City.

B. After 11 trips to all parts of Italy and Sicily I have discovered that notwithstanding the occassional Italian eatery, the best Italian food can be found in Boston, Brooklynn, Chicago and San Francisco.

C. Bartulius, hate to pick on Uncle John again but Ragu means Ragu, whatever Ragu means, although it could mean Ragout, which is not a sauce but rather a fish or meat stew, French, not Italian.

A tu salute! Mangia, amico, mangia!

PS: I find California and Oregon wines far superior to most Italian wines. Italians love them too.

Bartulius Loc: Bristol, Ct

Croce--The only time I've ever heard it called gravy instead of sauce was on TV or in movies; not in my old neighborhood.
I grew up on the south side of Hamden, Ct in the Whitneyville section; named after Eli Whitney. Many of our neighbors moved up from New Haven.
I was actually referring to home cooking not restaurant cooking, which in my mind is a whole other category.
New Haven county and Hartford county do have some fine restaurants, though.

I'll check out the Ragu. If I can point out a mistake in Uncle John's book--Oh Boy!! I may get a free lifetime suscription !!!
I'm never coming outta there !!!
I know very little about wine.
Thanks for the info, Croce.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I just checked with my wife about gravy. She says it's Brooklyn, too, and New Yawkers in general. She reminded me of a Food Network show last week, Guy Fieri's, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. He was at some kind of Italian joint and the owner, obviously Italian from the old country pointed out that he called it gravy.
Don't know about Jersey City because we only go there for some pancake diner in the South End near Liberty Park. My Stepson lives there.

As for Italian food, I think you should include Queens, although we have some really great Italian food restauraunts here on Long Island. Remember, many of the ethnic groups who started doing well in Brooklyn and Queens, & the other boroughs moved out to L.I. when times were better, so some Italians opened restauraunts out here. Staten Island Italians seemed to stay on Staten Island.
There are a few Italian eateries I know of in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, but the best thing about Brooklyn is Fortunata's for pastries.
I agree with you about Ragu vs Ragout. I think it's French.
On our visit to Italy, we stayed in Castiglioncello. We had dinner at a fine restaurant in town, and my sister in law ordered spaghetti in marinara sauce. Here, marinara is plain sauce. There, marinara came with shrimp, clams, etc. And, the clams in shells were embedded in the pasta. So, the "mar" in marinara is truly from the sea.

Croce Loc: Earth

Hey Indy,

Yeah, your Italian grandad from Italy, but he learned it in Brooklynn, not Italy. The pancakes in JC ... from the Brownstone? That's one of my favorite breakfast places when I am there.

You rightfully point out there are places other than Brooklynn, Boston, Chicago and SF (Cacio e Pepe at 2nd Ave and 12th St. and Sal and Judy's on the N end of Lake Ponchetrain in Lacombe, LA are wonderful too, but I could not stay up all night naming American cities with great Italian food.

Italy has a very regionalized society and their vino, pasta, sugo and saints all differ. But it's all good and it's all fun. Last September and October I went to German Italy in the Dolomites. Gorgeous, cool and the people were great and that would be my exception to my remark that great Italian food comes from the US. Theirs is very different and it is very good. Their red wines were also very palatable, which surprised me.

But enough of Italy. If we re elect Obama non of us will be able to afford to take pleasure trips again. Ever.

Bartulius Loc: Bristol, Ct

Croce--I guess I should mention that some of the Italian families migrated from the New York boroughs or were "right off the boat."
I have asked a few of my neighbors here in Bristol (the migration continues) about the sauce/gravy name. So far all have grown up with the sauce, never gravy.
Many of the finer Italian restaurants in Ct. have family ties to NY.
Paul Newman was one of the famous diners at Pepe's Pizzaria in New Haven.
OK, here's another one. As a kid in the 50's, all pizza was called APIZZA. It was pronounced AH-beets.
I can go to any Italian deli or grocery and order correctly. I may not get the dialect right but they won't laugh or sneer.