Are you looking for an Italian surname? Do you need more information about your family heritage?
This is the right place to start your genealogy search.
I was doing the laundry yesterday and realized we forgot to mention one of the most common Italian obession...A "medichina" or bleach! How many times did you go to put something on and there is was...the dreaded bleach spot!!!! Of course, when you tried to say something they would deny it. Said they only used it on the whites because or else they would be dark...you know, like the lady next door. Her clothes were never as white (according to Mom or Nonna) as mine!
My cousins would buy jeans and then bring them over to have my mom fade them. She didn't believe in cold water wash, ever! and everything had to be rinsed twice!
Emmy's post reminded me of something my Grandmother used to do with us when we were little: She'd take us to the park and we would all pull up the dandelion leaves before they would flower. We would go home with a bag full and she would soak them, rinse them, then scramble them with eggs to make what she called an "om-u-let." Friday night supper - how delicious! It's a wonder we didn't all die from pesticide poisening! How about scrambled eggs with tomato sauce, that you would dip your bread into for supper! That was so good! Evidently, we were poorer than I remembered!
Mmm - this is making me hungry! My uncle used to take us out to gather mushrooms in the Scottish hills under the guise of going out for a walk. It always seemed to be raining - but it was great fun. Considering how strange some of the mushrooms looked, we never got poisoned either - which is a plus! Talking of free food - I also remember the aforementioned uncle's father licking his lips everytime he saw a sparrow in the garden!!!! I was never sure if he was just kidding or not.....
Nuccia - a have just finished a mammoth bleach-a-thon of my husbands shirts and I now have a nice, calm and satisfied feeling knowing they are all clean and white. Do I need help?
Marisa6 wrote:Mmm - this is making me hungry! My uncle used to take us out to gather mushrooms in the Scottish hills under the guise of going out for a walk. It always seemed to be raining - but it was great fun. Considering how strange some of the mushrooms looked, we never got poisoned either - which is a plus! Talking of free food - I also remember the aforementioned uncle's father licking his lips everytime he saw a sparrow in the garden!!!! I was never sure if he was just kidding or not.....
Nuccia - a have just finished a mammoth bleach-a-thon of my husbands shirts and I now have a nice, calm and satisfied feeling knowing they are all clean and white. Do I need help?
Marisa xx
My Dad still goes picking mushrooms and he has made friends with my Spanish and Portugese neighbours and takes them along now!!!! Then he make mom clean them all (because he's too tired from picking them). She cleans one , throws out 3 when he's not looking!
As for help Marisa....we all need help! The only reason I remeber the bleach because I was scrubbing the kids socks with that God awful lye soap. Lets face it we are our parents!
We certainly are our parents - despite trying really hard not to be. No point in fighting it - it is inevitable! What is even scarier is watching our parents turn into our grandparents - and then realising exactly what we seem like to our kids - if you see what I mean.
Talking of scrubbing - my grandmother resisted getting an automatic washing machine for years because she said that it couldn't possibly wash as efficiently as she could. Thinking back - she was right! Boiling water and bleach - nothing like it!
My grandfather used to go mushroom hunting too. My mother talks about that. It must have been a lot of fun.
And my mother still eats young dandelion greens. I keep trying them every now and then but to me they taste just awful. What am I missing? Poverty?
My mother likes to say that nothing went to waste on their farm in West Virginia. Nothing. Every scrap was used for something. The feedsacks were sewn into dresses. The fat from the pigs was made into soap. The feathers from the chickens went into pillows. The manure from the horses and cows fertilized the fields. Extra fruit and vegetables were canned and eaten during the winter. It was a wonderful system. It got them through the depression.
My all time favorite family tradition is making Easter bread with Easter eggs baked in it. My kids love this and beg me to make it throughout the year. The bread is gone less than an hour after it comes out of the oven. Mmmm. Mmmm. Might have to have a little Easter in June this year.
DonnaPellegrin wrote:My grandfather used to go mushroom hunting too. My mother talks about that. It must have been a lot of fun.
And my mother still eats young dandelion greens. I keep trying them every now and then but to me they taste just awful. What am I missing? Poverty?
My mother likes to say that nothing went to waste on their farm in West Virginia. Nothing. Every scrap was used for something. The feedsacks were sewn into dresses. The fat from the pigs was made into soap. The feathers from the chickens went into pillows. The manure from the horses and cows fertilized the fields. Extra fruit and vegetables were canned and eaten during the winter. It was a wonderful system. It got them through the depression.
My all time favorite family tradition is making Easter bread with Easter eggs baked in it. My kids love this and beg me to make it throughout the year. The bread is gone less than an hour after it comes out of the oven. Mmmm. Mmmm. Might have to have a little Easter in June this year.
My mom makes those...coocooli (what is the spelling)......
Here in the midwest, mushroom hunting is a big event.......every spring thousands hit the forest searching for sponge mushrooms, and again in the fall for another type of mushroom..........my grandpa used to come all the way from Florida just to hunt mushrooms with me in the spring.........it was great fun......a tradition I have passed on to my children.
Hi everyone
My father-in-law, my late husband and now my sons all loved to go and pick mushrooms-Chanterelles, (not sure about the spelling) They made it a special day out and looked for them in beech woods, silver birch and where pine trees grew. Just like the 'turnip tops' you began with a huge panful and when they were cooked there was only about a quarter of what you started with. They take ages to clean with all the wee creepy crawlies and bits of moss but a soaking in salt water finishes the job. My sons still go and pick them but keep it secret where they find them ! Selfish aren't they!!! They make very good 'sugo' too.
Emmy
My cousin sent me this. If your grandparents were Calabrese and you've forgotten what those conversations sounded like when the old folks got together, this will bring back some memories.
Biff83 wrote:My cousin sent me this. If your grandparents were Calabrese and you've forgotten what those conversations sounded like when the old folks got together, this will bring back some memories.
I have a few of their CD's and I tell you, sometimes I feel like I'm listening to some of my relatives! I swear I have a aunt who must be related to Rosina
I had to bring this back to the top. Found out Dad went mushroom picking. My brother got a call from my mother saying that he was lost in the bushes and that he should go find him or at least call the police for help..he was gone for hours. My brother was laughing so hard that when he tried to explain to the police what happened he couldn't get the words out properly. The police couldn't understand why he thought it was funny..wanted to know why he wasn't "worried" about his father.
Needless to say, we bought Dad a GPS for Christmas...
Of course, being Italian, he argues with it constantly (as if the thing actually understands him)
Loved the "You Know You're Italian" post. At my nana's house there was always a blue glass bottle of something I think was called Brioski on the kitchen table. You'd take a spoonful of the crystals and mix them in a glass of water and get this lemony, fizzy concoction to take for indigestion. Kind of the Italian version of Prilosec.
I remember the brioschi! We always had some in the fridge. Dad was always "sick" Monday morning (think it was from drinking the wine the Sunday night during the hockey games) so he would drink a glass. We would always get into it and eat the crystals for fun! Thanks for reminding me of that..
Biff..I agree. A great skit for Rosina and Pasquale. Should I write to them???
Of course, when you tried to say something they would deny it. Said they only used it on the whites because or else they would be dark...you know, like the lady next door. Her clothes were never as white (according to Mom or Nonna) as mine! 
! Selfish aren't they!!! They make very good 'sugo' too.
