Picture of Grandma and Grandpa with Louie and Angie

Family Recipes & More

With the advent of social networking sites like Facebook, this blog site has seen very little activity. We certainly hope that anyone who has a memory to share will continue to add updates here. In the meantime, Denise and I have taken up the cause under a new venture.

We started a blog to record the recipes and tricks we use in our kitchen for our boys to have as they grow up, and for the time when they want to learn how to cook in hopes that eventually they would have their own kitchens and families and traditions.

If you would like to follow our culinary adventures, visit us at We Like To Cook!

Aunt Rose's 90th Birthday

Happy New Year everyone!
We celebrated Aunt Rose's 90th birthday with 92 family members from her family, my father Vic's family and the Classic Cruisers (Joe Warino's band )on Dec 27th. It was a wonderful family celebration and reunion. There were family members that had not seen each other for years! Aunt Rose looked beautiful and she had a wonderful time. Grace and Isabella Huston ( my granddaughters) played a duet of Happy Birthday on the harp and violin for " Rosie" and we sang along as they played it a second time. We enjoyed a wonderful sit down dinner, were entertained by the Classic Cruisers and even Dana ( my sister Phyl's daughter) did her rendition of Amy Winehouse for the crowd. Aunt Rose's birthday celebration continued for a month as her actual birthday was January 20th, when she was officially NINETY YEARS OLD! You would never know if by the way she looks and ACTS. The birthday celebration has ended but I hope the memories and my mother will live for years to come.
JoAnn

Hello Family and sorry I have been missing in action lately! I have been busy since finishing my Masters getting things squared away with taking my boards to be a certified nurse practitioner and the new job! Things are finally dying down though! Just had some free time today and was updating myself on the blog! As we do every year, the family got together for Thanksgiving! Uncle Jerry, Aunt Jeanne and Jen visited and it was a wonderful time and great to catch up! Nun was thrilled to have everyone together!! I keep joking with her that I need to get her a computer to check the blog but I know she would never get off the blog site then!!! Anyways, thought I would share a picture with everyone. Hope everyone is well and wishing you a Happy and Safe Holiday Season from the good ol' C-land! -Ally

Grady won at Regionals!

What a day... in the pouring rain and cold, seven teenagers ran their hearts out. After waiting for an additional 2 hours, the winners were announced. With the top four teams winning a seed in the State Championships, the Grady team was hopeful. When their team was not named, the team was deflated. The coaches asked for a recount of the scores and low and behold, they judges had made a mistake. Grady was the 4th place winner! In a heartbreaking show of sportsmanship, the (now) 5th place team came across the field and handed over the trophy with handshakes and smiles. Better than winning was the lesson learned by all the runners today!

Next stop State Championship Meet in Carrollton on November 7th!

Question from Billy C.

I received an email from Bill Canacci: what do we know of the parents of James or Fanny?

Fanny, left Italy to my recall to get away from her mother. Thus there was little I ever heard of her mom and dad. Her brother Jim is documented in a post to the site (see the first post in December)was a sour son of a (you get the point), think sit still little boy and dont talk.

Grandma would listen attentively as he would read letters from there other sibling still in Italy . I was never filled in on the message. Note: she couldnt read and I wasnt allowed to be in the room win her brother would read to her the letter. I still remember the envelopes where trimed in red and blue stripes.

On one of our trips to Italy we ended up in Salerno kind of by accident. It was not that far from Tursi on the map and I wanted to make a side trip to see grandmas home city. Apparently the way in and out as of about 5 years ago was still not easy, read mules on the roads. So I didnt attempt it. Not sure what I might do when we got there anyway.

James was from Calabria, and I never heard of any family on his side.

So my long-winded answer is ask your grandmother over and over. She knows everything (trust me), its just getting it out of her thats a challenge.

Cross Country

Grady HS won the city of Atlanta championship for cross country. Nic ran the 5K race in 20.03. Regionals on 10/31, fingers crossed.

Letterman as a freshman. not bad given I never got one....

Warino descendent in the News!

Dominic Romeo was featured in the headline of the Sports section of the Grady High School newspaper, The Southerner. It was announced Wednesday that he will be the only freshman running Varsity for Grady in the City Cross Country Championship meet next Wednesday, October 14th.

Save The Date!

Hello all,

I hope everyone is well and that you have enjoyed the summer.

Some of you may have received a "Save the Date" announcement for Aunt Rose's 90th birthday party. Since my children and my sisters' children will be home for the holidays and won' t be able to come back in January (Aunt Rose's actual birthday is January 20th) we have planned the party during the holidays (December 27th). Because of the economy and since it is just after Christmas, we are requesting no gifts. This is to be a celebration of Aunt Rose's life with her family and it will be great to see everyone. I did not send the announcement to the out of towners but if you are going to be in town please let me know so that we can include you in the guest list. We would love to have you bring your memories and an old picture(s) of Aunt Rose with any of your family to share with everyone. Aunt Rose is very excited and I think it will be a wonderful celebration. We are just in the planning stage so more details will follow in the future. Save the Date - Sunday, December 27th!

JoAnn

Back-to-School 2009

This was the first week of school for us in Atlanta. Dominic had spent a day last week in freshmen orientation and was well prepared for his first week of High School. (Yes, we have a high schooler - Yikes!) He actually came home smiling the first day! He was recruited by the Cross Country team last Spring and has been training all Summer. The training is intense, but he is meeting lots of new friends.

Sonny entered 8th grade and is very happy with his teachers. Homework assignments have been light and easy. Looking forward to celebrating the end of the first week by going to the Paul McCartney Concert at Piedmont Park tomorrow!

Hope all the Warino families have a great first week of school as well!

Black Belt

Dominic (my son) did indeed get his black belt on July 17th. We are all very excited and proud of him. Sonny is not too far behind....

The picture was taken shortly after the test on Amelia Island.

Sorry I haven't written in a while.

Happy 4th of July!

Up early this morning to take the guys up to the starting line for the Peachtree Road Race. After a long jog through Piedmont Park, we made it to the finish line in time to see Dominic and Sonny cross the finish line! Each runner got a timing chip this year so we knew their official times within hours of the end of the race. Dominic ran the 6.1 mile race in 47:03 beating his previous year's time by 4:43! Sonny finished with a time of 53:37 - pretty remarkable for a 13-year-old in his first 10K!

We spent the afternoon at the pool and then home for grilled pulled pork sandwiches and corn! Happy Birthday America!

Paparul Crushk

I read the same article Jeanne did. It really brought back memories. I tried to order the peppers from the website the article mentioned but no luck. Sooooo, I bought the dried red Anaheim peppers and gave it a whirl with them. They where/are really to dark and thus once they hit the oil get even darker. Not bad, but not what I recall them tasting like.

I discussed the how-tos with Aunt Rose and tried again with some different peppers. Although they came out better, the frying intensified the heat of them so much my boys and I where wrecked. May be only a memory, but its a strong one.

Update:
For more information about paparul crushk, please visit http://romeocucina.blogspot.com/2010/06/fried-italian-peppers.html.

Fried Red Peppers

I just bought the May issue of Saveur magazine. The front cover caught my eye because it was titled The Real Italy. While I was paging through the magazine I noticed a section on Basilicata, Italy. The article mentions the sweet fried red peppers that many of us remember from our childhood and talks about how salty and crunchy they are. There's also a store where you can order the dried peppers by the pound.

I wanted to share this with those of us who remember eating the peppers with fried eggs or as a snack like potato chips.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Jeanne

The Shrub

Aunt Rose remembers the shrub but does not know what it was. We both loved the fruits of the garden and the trees.

Great videos Dominic.

JoAnn and Aunt Rose

The Shrub in the Back Yard

Do any of you recall the shrub/bush that was in the back yard of Truesdale? The yard had a sweet plum tree, a Bing cherry tree, a peach tree (that never produced a single peach in my memory) and a Bartlett pear tree. I ate those pears all winter long from the jars Grandma would put up. Grandpa could grow anything. I digress....

Back to the shrub...
It was about 2/3rds of the way to the back fence from the house on the DeCastris side of the property. The following is what I remember of that odd plant and its history.

I used to have to plow the back yard each year with a pitch fork (twice because that is what it took). Then we would rake the plot with a hard rake and plant tomatoes and peppers. We planted (for reference sake) about 40 tomatoes and 25 peppers. They (the Warino patriarchs) where very dependent on the garden for food and that carried to my childhood. The need for food production from the yard was clearly very real to them. The plantings where done from the prior year crop's seeds and raised from seedlings in the "hot box." I believe the original seeds came from Italy with one (or both of our grandparents.)

The shrub was an odd plant, as it was wild in a place where all was tame. Once while I was working the plow, (read pitchfork,) I kept running into a stray branch of said shrub. Irritated I reached out and broke off the branch. Grandma gasped, in a way she rarely did. When she could speak again, she explained the bush was very special and that I should be more careful. The bush it seemed was a combination of many varieties of flowering shrubs which Grandpa had grafted together. The bush was ALWAYS in bloom. Various blossoms of yellow, white, pink, but mostly red. Just when the blooms of one branch would being fading away, the flowers of another would be just about to pop into full view. The bush was clearly visible from the window in the pantry. I was never sure if the shrub was purely utilitarian to draw bees to the garden or designed to make Grandma happy as she washed the dishes. James had a special knack with gardening. Clearly he could grow anything (see above). What he did grow is fascinating.

This story remains perhaps the most practical and romantic I have heard of the "Gid" and "Fanny".

First Black Belt in the Family?

Last evening, after a marvelous display of talent and skill, Dominic was approved to test for his black belt! Dominic has been working toward his black belt for almost 5 years which of course, is based on far more than his physical abilities. His black belt will exemplify the qualities of discipline, perseverance, respect, leadership and humility as well. The video shows Dominic doing his black belt form during last night's test. Dominic will test for his black belt on Friday, July 17th, and we invite all the Warinos to join us in Atlanta to celebrate Dominic's accomplishment!

Have there been any other black belts in the Warino family? I couldn't think of any.

Easter and Birthdays

I know I'm late with these wishes; But Happy Birthday Nic and Sonny. May God grant You, both, many more happy, Holy years. Our grandson, Luke Gabriel turned 4, on April 13th; and our son, Gabriel, turned 30 on April 14th. God is wonderful in giving us grandchildren, children and families. Also, since Father Trimbur, at Saint Joseph's said the Easter season is till Pentecost Sunday, which falls on the feast of the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth; May 31st, this year; a very Happy Easter to our Cousins, Aunts and Uncle. Love from the Whorten Family

Grandpa Warino Anniversary

Today is the anniversary of Grandpa Warino's death...........or should I say life. Does anyone no how many years though? Happy day Grandpa Warino!

Love, Joyciexoxoxxox

Karate Tournament Highlights

In late March, Dominic and Sonny participated in a karate tournament. Some of the highlights are included in the video listed below. The video shows Dominic in a sparring match with another student. At 0:50 in the video, Dominic performs a very difficult technique. This move has come to be known as "the kick" at his karate studio. This is a good example of Dominic's ability in an action setting rather than a choreographed form or routine. Dominic won 1st place in Adult Traditional Forms, 1st place in Adult Weapons Forms, and 2nd place in Adult Sparring. Sonny came home with 2nd place medals for Junior Traditional Forms, Junior Weapons Forms and third place in Junior Creative Forms. A strong showing for both Romeos!

You can view the highlight video on YouTube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXnSzZ4FkvY

Palombaro Easter Traditions

Happy Easter everyone!

Our Easter has always been going to mass during Holy week. On Good Friday, we go out for fish dinner's at The Blvd. Tavern. On Saturday, we color eggs and I get the basket's ready to hide. I do this for the Easter Bunny.

This year, is going to be a bit different. Allyson, our oldest daughter, lives in Cleveland and is an R.N. at the Cleveland Clinic. She is getting her Masters degree and Nursing Doctorate will be a Nurse Practitioner in May, so she has to work night shift Saturday and Sunday. Dean, who is 24, is also in Cleveland working as an Activities Director at an Assisted Living facility. He is working on his Masters degree in Hospital and Nursing Home Administration. Mara, who is 20, is at Mt. Union College, and she is planning on going into Physical Therapy or Anesthesiology. She plays college softball and had a double header today. We went to her game today and brought her home. Tomorrow we are all meeting for dinner in Cleveland. This is the first year we're eating out, but at least we'll all be together. So the bunny will be in Cleveland this year having wine and more wine with my children. We'll have a great time because Dean, is like a standup comedian... so we'll have lots of laughs.

I to remember the beautiful table at Grandma's... and yes, the hard boiled eggs that where never refrigerated!! I bet our "Angel's" in heaven are all having a beautiful feast... I know my Dad, Morris is definitely coloring eggs and making the "Shadon" for all the other angels. I bet their having a ball!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Joyce, Al, Allyson, Dean, Mara and Aunt Connie Warino

Easter Greetings from Oregon

It's great to read how everyone is celebrating Easter. We'll be celebrating in our usual way... early morning Mass at the Cathedral and then home for breakfast. I also remember Grandma's Easter bread and would love recipe. My neighbor brought over hot cross buns and they were delicious but not quite the same. Jerry and I still color eggs but are skipping the egg hunt. Jennifer has moved back home while she is in graduate school so I'm sure the bunny will be stopping by. We are going to have dinner with friends at their home. Lamb and fingerling potatoes are on the menu. I'm making dessert - Baccone Dolce. I remember when Easter meant getting new clothes and Mary Janes along with a new bonnet. Things are more casual here but still fun.

I really enjoy seeing the pictures of everyone and would post some if I could figure out how. I have a picture of Grandma dancing at my wedding with my father-in-law which I would love to share.

Happy Easter everyone!
~Jeanne, Jerry and Jennifer

Easter

Happy Easter to all from Aunt Rose and JoAnn.

I remember the dining room table at Grandma's that Aunt Phyl created every Easter. I can still picture the many colored hard boiled eggs and candy on the table. We never refrigerated them or the ones that we made at home. I don't know how we never got sick. Aunt Rose still colors eggs and they are always so pretty too.

Traditionally, Aunt Rose also makes Easter bread and ricotta calzones. She makes a little lamb cake when the kids are going to be here. I sometimes make an Easter pie that my neighbor from Italy taught me how to make with eggs and ham and cheese. I have started to make lamb for Easter dinner along with pork roast and all appetizers and the sides that go with dinner. Since it was not something we were used to, I made a small boneless lamb roast with our usual dinner a couple years ago and everyone seemed to like it so now the lamb roast gets bigger and the pork roast gets smaller. My sister, Jerry and Jeremy (Dana will be in Chicago this year) and my son Vic and his wife, Gabriella, will come for dinner. My son, Bill, has made a tradition to visit my daughter Christine and her family every Easter. I wish we all could be together, but at least they have each other for the holiday. The girls, Grace (9) and Isabella (6), especially look forward to Bill hiding eggs for them to find Easter morning. Here at home we'll have our usual early dinner and then there will be ham and all the Easter treats for the rest of the day. Happy Easter!

Easter and Turkey

Back on Truesdale circa 1969.

Turkey for Thanksgiving, then for Christmas day and one year it was slated to be the main course for Easter. I am not a turkey die-hard fan like some; I don't really like chicken either.

I finally said to my mom and Grandma that "you are not supposed to have turkey for Easter!" I remember them both being stunned by my culinary commentary. I was ready for them with the goat horns that hung by the front door, showing those as proof of claim.

After lots of debate they agreed to make something else. That year was my first taste of lamb. I have made lamb every year for Easter since I have had a family.

Do you remember the Easter bread grandma used to make? Some years I remember it coming from Aunt Phyll. It was yellowish, sweet and had dried fruit bits in it. I would pass on all the chocolate in the world for a piece of that bread toasted with butter on Easter morning, can't find it here. If anyone has a recipe please post it or send it along.

My mom would set the dining room table up with lots of candy from the Easter bunny for me on Easter morning. She would blow up Bunny figures and have streamers and such all over the place. It was the candy equal to Christmas.

I also remember the manufacture of Palm crosses on Palm Sunday. We made hundreds of them. I am widely known as the "palm cross king" in Atlanta as a result of those years of labor.

Best of all, I remember everyone parading in and out in their new Easter clothes. I used to think my cousins where the best looking and best dressed people in the world (still do).

Birthday Wishes

To commemorate Nic's birthday, Joe Joe sent a picture his band, The Classic Cruisers, taken in March at a Canfield fundraiser. Kelly Pavlik was kind enough to take a picture with the band (wearing one of his "Affliction" T-shirts!) An autographed pair of Kelly Pavlik's gloves went for $950.

Italian Birthdays II

Okay, my turn! I am 15 today. I awoke to a table full of gifts. All clothes and shoes - Yeah! I am particularly excited about my new "Affliction" T-shirt (of Kelly Pavlik fame!) Of course, Dad asked what I want for dinner to which I anxiously replied, "Carbonara!" I have been contemplating this question for days now! I first had Carbonara in at Ristorante la Carbonara in the Campo de' Fiori in Rome, and from then on I was hooked. The combination of eggs, parm and guanicale (kind of like Italian bacon) create a creamy pasta sauce that I dream about at night. Dad orders the guanicale special from La Quercia in Iowa. Dad, Sonny and I are off to Six Flags for the day! (Mom is still recovering from her surgery.) Aren't birthdays the greatest?

P.S. Sorry Cousin Joe Joe, copious amounts of bacon wins out over steak every time! And, you don't have to look too closely at the picture to see there is little doubt Mom & Dad brought home the right baby!

Romeo Easters

The day before Easter, we color Easter eggs to "help the Easter Bunny." On Easter morning, Nic and I always get up early (even though Mom and Dad always tell us to sleep in!) We get a poem from the "Easter Bunny" with clues about where our baskets are hidden. Some years the baskets are easy to find and sometimes REALLY hard. Last year, my basket was in the fireplace and Nic's was in the clothes dryer.

While we hunt for our baskets, Dad and Mom make breakfast. I think they make breakfast so that we eat real food instead of only having chocolate for breakfast. After breakfast, we head to Mass. We usually serve as Altar Servers on Easter morning.

If we are having dinner at home, we always have lamb. One year, Dad cooked a leg of lamb at our fireplace. He tied a string to the leg and let it "spin" in front of a blazing fire all day. It smelled SO good. It was like food TV; watching the lamb spin all day made us really hungry. We can't do that every year because the weather is usually too warm.

My Mom makes deviled eggs with the Easter eggs. Dad and Nic don't like them so unless we have invited friends to eat Easter dinner with us, I get to eat my fill. Mom makes delicious deviled eggs. She says her secret ingredient is capers. Capers are Italian too, aren't they?

I hope the "Easter Bunny" is good to everyone! Happy Easter!

Easter in Alaska

Happy Holy Easter to all. Hope all is well with you all. We are doing very well besides feeling our age set in. Ha ha ha. Sierra graduates the 8th grade in May, then off to high school. Where does the time go? When I was little I used to be excited about shopping for a dress and bonnet. Now we wear jeans and smell like fire during our service. Ha ha ha. ONLY IN ALASKA!!!

Our Easter Sunday starts at 8 a.m. We gather behind our church at the creek and wait for the sun to rise. (We are 12 year members of a non-denominational church) As our temperatures are in the upper 40's now, its still rather chilly in the morning, so we get a bon fire going also at the creek. We sing praise as the sun rises and hits the horizon, and the creek ripples in the background. Our Pastor preaches a sunrise service. Afterwards, we have a very delightful potluck breakfast/brunch, then we have our regular service with awesome worship music and a sermon to uplift the real meaning of Easter. It makes for an awesome day to celebrate our Lord and Savior's resurrection. You all are in our Prayers. Have a great summer and God Bless. Thanks Joe and Dom for this oppurtunity to share this special tradition.

~Jo, Mark and Sierra Solley

Easter Celebrations

How do you celebrate Easter?

It has been tradition in our household to gather the family together over my sister-in-laws home on Easter. A breakfast-brunch is served that is to die for. An Easter egg hunt is always planned for the young or young at heart; constant eating and fellowship are the agenda of the day. Our kids, Joe, Jenifer and Joey, and Lindsey and Dustin will be joining us this year, as will Dad (Uncle Joe)! Charlie and Stephanie are in Italy and hope to visit the Vatican during Holy Week. We are going to attempt a web cast with them while the family is together! We would love to hear from others about how Easter is celebrated. HAPPY EASTER ALL!

~Joe Warino, Jr.

Italian Birthdays

Today is my 13th birthday. In our house, we always get to pick what we want to have for dinner on our birthday. I told Dad I would like Eggplant Parmesan. He also made antipasti of beef carpaccio, tuna tartare, and caprese salad (my favorite). While I was rockin' with my new Guitar Hero game, Dad spent most of the day slicing, salting, rinsing, drying and frying eggplant for the eggplant parm. It was worth the effort. He always makes it extra "cheesy" too. It was a fabulous dinner with family and friends (Uncle Vince and Aunt Sharon Blumetti came over - they are also from Youngstown!) Nic's birthday is on Thursday. I wonder what he will choose?

Wedding Picture

I enlarged photo 14 from your photo gallery Dominic; that's a very nice picture of you and your Mom. In the background, that looks like my sister, her husband, and Barb's cousin, the late Jackie O'Day Ventresco. Does anyone think that was Carl's wedding to Barb? The person to the far left might be me.

Dom's reply: Yes the picture is from Carl's wedding to Barb, Joanne was my partner in the wedding.

Grandma and Grandpa Meet and Begin a Courtship

Hi everyone. When we saw Rosemarie (Warino Smith) last weekend she asked my Mom to write how Grandma and Grandma met. This is how she, Aunt Rose, remembers being told: Grandma was a widow staying with her cousin, Mary Cannatti, to help her with her children. Mr. Marino, a compare, died and Grandma and Mrs. Cannatti went to the wake. Grandpa, a widower with a five year old daughter (John Mashika's mother, Philomena), was living with his sister-in law, Mrs. Modarelli and they also went to Mr. Marino's wake. When Grandpa saw Grandma, he asked a friend if he knew who Grandma was. He also said (if you can imagine) "She's got a nica a_ _ " (tush.) (Somehow it just does not seem right for me to talk about Gram that way.) Anyway, he wanted to meet her and the friend took him to Mrs. Cannatti's to visit and they started their courtship. They married some time later (My Mom does not know how long the courtship lasted.) They lived on Albert Street where they raised Grandpa's daugher and where six of the seven Warino children were born. They moved to Truesdale when Uncle Joe was two years old. The neighbors, Mrs. Mills and her daughter Rachel, and the Decastris family, were a little out of sorts when they found out a family with six children was moving in. (Both were great neighbors though.) Aunt Phyl was born some years later and the Truesdale saga continued...

Betty Warino Christmas Stories

I remember a funny story from one of our Christmases. We still laugh about this. My beautiful mother had her 1st white Russian Drink at Grandma's. She took some coaxing for the 1st couple sips, and half way through the glass she had to pee. As we went up the steps (I had to help her,) she saw that ceramic duck on the stairwell. She picked it up and walked around the house quaking.!!! That was my mom, I was so proud that she was such a light weight drinker. Ha ha ha ha.

Another time Grandma made squid sauce and left a couple "tenticles" hanging over the dish. Then covered with another plate. When mom went to grab the upper plate, someone jiggled the table and she screamed!! She said (in her words) the squid's "testicles" are still alive."We all laughed until we cried. I made mom and dad that dinner again in Ohio and we still laughed about it. I also remember dad and grandma cussing in Italian playing that card game -Scobe!! I think that is the right name. Dad tried to teach it to us but I guess you had to know how to swear Italian style, because that's all he did trying to teach us. Ha ha ha. We never did get it.

~Jo Solley

Pictures

I also, love seeing pictures on the blog. I don't know yet how to put some on but when I find out I'll post them. That's a wonderful family picture, Joe & Linda and all the pics so far are great; I even think we all resemble each other a little, don't you? Hee, Hee!

Sunday TV

I remember watching the original Batman series in a full living room and wondering what you all where laughing about.

Further, I remember lining up chairs in the living room for the adults to watch "All In the Family." Pretty different show from Lawrence Welk with Jimmy and Sissie!

Sunday and TV

I remember those Sundays also. Patty you always wore such pretty waisted dresses, with your ruffled socks. I would always trip over the ceramic dog of aunt Phyl's (mentioned earlier.) It was so much fun going to the grandparent's house on Sundays!! Wish we could go back in time.

More memories

I do remember watching Wonderful World of Disney; what a treat. Do you cousins remember us sitting in the living room while the adults sat in the kitchen? We had our own conversations in our own young world. It seems that age groups hung out together; as I remember sitting and talking to you, Jeanie and recognizing that you, Jimmy and I, were all the same age. I also remember walking in the kitchen and Uncle Vic pinching me, in a loving way, but at the time I was a little scared it would hurt. I also remember Uncle Blackie lecturing us about the importance of brushing our teeth and surprisingly he was a major force in my dental hygiene habits. I also remember growing to love and pop lupines; never thought my cousins did too. I remember Uncle Morris in his Coke uniform and how kind, generous and loving our aunts and uncles were to us kids. And lastly, I remember playing hide and seek, outside as well as inside.

TV Time

I, too, remember watching Bonanza on the color TV at Grandma's. I also remember watching "Hopalong Cassidy" although I think that was in black and white. Grandma used to love to watch Milton Berle and the fights too.

Sunday Nights

Who amongst you family bloggers out there remember Sunday nights at grandma’s watching the first (Warino family) color TV?? Sunday nights were reserved for watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” and the Ponderosa (Bonanza) man those were the good old days…

Joseph V. Warino

P.S. I also remember watching a lot of Lawrence Welk on Sundays - DR

Catch-Up Blog

Sorry, I just viewed the blogs since I posted mine in February; guess it shows how often I get on the computer. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences, Dominic and Joe about my old house and my dear Mom. I had forgotten about those bologna salad sandwiches my mom used to make and about that wonderful metal glider. We used to love to sit on and that big porch. I think the friend that you spent time hiking with might have been Michael or Raymond.

One night I kept thinking of how we used to play hide and seek at Grandma's upstairs in that scary closet or someplace in the bathroom. Does anyone else remember playing hide & seek with me? I also remember hoping Grandpa would give us a dime or 15 cents to go to Isaly's for a "sky scraper." I was too shy to ask; maybe Carl asked for us.

I often tell my family about having saltine crackers and (real) butter on Christmas. Butter tasted so much better than the oleo I normally got at home. At home, I remember creeping downstairs peeking through the stair rails and noticing Uncle Blackie's "Santa" beard was off and that he wasn't truly Santa. I think he was having a shot of whiskey with my Dad. I also remember Easter Sunday at Grandma's with Gary and Joey looking so nice in their topcoats. Do you guys remember those coats? I remember when I celebrated my 8th birthday at Grandma's because Mom was in the hospital having my baby brother, Ronnie. Aunt Rose, Aunt Phyl and Grandma lit a candle and put it on a cupcake and then they sang Happy Birthday to me.

Warino Gathering

That is an excellent photo! It was nice to see everyone. I would like to see more photos like this on the blog.

Warino Gathering

Charlie & Stephanie’s wedding in January 2008:

From the left: Dustin, Lindsey, Uncle Joe, JoAnn, Carl, Linda, Aunt Doris, Shellie, Gary, Charlie, Stephanie, Rachel, Steve, Stacie, Gina, Sue, Aunt Rose, Joe, Jenifer, Linda, Joe Warino.

Richmond Street

I remember Aunt Mary's house well.

I spent a lot of time there in the summers. There was a huge open field behind the house, and beyond that field was Lincoln Park. There was a boy who lived next door whose name escapes me. He was like Huck Finn when it came to the park, he knew it like the back of his hand.

I used to go to Aunt Mary's and go off with that boy into the park. It was supposed to be a scary place, but we never saw a soul in our travels. Upon entering the park we where in the wilderness. we would roam for what seemed like hours and then come to a familiar place, the entry point right in time for lunch. There was always something waiting to eat when I came in sweaty and starving. I was welcomed in by a sandwich and a cool drink. Aunt Mary would often have a chopped up Bologna sandwich mixed with relish and mayonnaise that hit the spot for the formerly marauding adventurer across the wilderness that was the park.

The time there was among the best times I remember in "little boy" growing up terms. Aunt Mary and Grandma always seemed to me more like sisters than mother and daughter.

Miscellaneous

Pig's Feet
Domini, tell your son he is a better man than his cousin Joe in Ohio. I never would even try pig's feet, and I shall go to my grave having never tasted pig's foot!

Warino count!
With reference to Patty’s inquiry the family of Joe Warino (Uncle Joe) has 18 immediate family members. Joe (Uncle Joe) 2 sons, 2 daughter-in laws, 12 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren. Gary (Shellie), Gregory (Jenifer) & Josephina, Johanna, Stacie (Steve), Emily & Rache. Joe (Linda), Joe (Jenifer) & Joey, Charles (Stephanie), Lindsey (Dustin)

Gianoglio’s House
With regard to Patty’s reference to the house on Richmond Ave. I have one very distinct memory of sitting on the front porch and you could see forever. I would get so excited when there was an electrical storm as we would sit on the porch (metal glider, we weren’t too bright then) and watch and count the number of times lightning would strike the tall radio and television station towers. Now that was cool!!!

Joe Warino

Rulli's and Uncle Blackie!!!

Sorry I have been missing in action, school and work have gotten the best of me! However, tonight I took a break to catch up on the blog, and I just love it. I love hearing/reading the stories and all I do is laugh hysterically when I read them! I actually remember my mom crying in Rulli Brothers. It used to happen to me a lot with Uncle Blackie, I would see him and he would remind me so much of Poppie that I would forget it was Uncle Blackie! I thought maybe I would post a picture of Mara, Dean, Nunnie and my cousin Jennifer to share! It is from 2 Thanksgivings ago...

Fifth Quarter

Eating "lungs and tongues," pig's feet, or even "goiters" is not as strange as it sounds. Italians are known for their love of organ meats, also known as offal (or awful to those who are not fans.) For the last two hundred years or so, Rome's offal cuisine has been known as “Quinto Quarto,” or fifth quarter. Roman butchers, called "vaccinari" (cow workers,) were very skilled and famous for their ability to refine any cut of meat. At first, the cows were split in half, and then in four quarters. What was left (inner organs, hooves, heads, tails, glands, brains, sweetbreads, even testi­cles) was called the fifth quarter; hence the "fifth," meaning useless or worthless, as in "the economy's fifth wheel." Coincidently, the offal weighs about one-quarter of a slaughtered animal's total weight.

In the days before refrigeration, organ meats were difficult to keep. Because they were the first things to spoil, slaugh­terhouse workers received them to round up their meager pay. This gave rise to scores of recipes, mostly for beef parts. Over a fifty year period, the “inferior” cooking of the vaccinari became renowned citywide and evolved into dishes for connoisseurs. Once considered meat of poor quality, the offal are now considered delicacies that Italian restaurants and their patrons eagerly pay for.

How Many Cousins?

Hi family, I'm glad to be part of this blog. Thank you cousin, Dominic for setting it up. I would like to know how many (#) family members are related to the Warinos; if you have counted (i.e. first and second cousins, Aunts and Uncles, etc.) I would also like to hear from you, members, as to your first, earliest recollections of family get togethers.

Trotter Experiment

Two days after all the posts about pig’s feet, Sonny and I made a quick trip to the grocery store, and on our way through the aisles, we saw packages of pig’s feet in the meat case. Sonny stopped and said, “Hey Mom, are those what everyone is writing about?” I thought it was an astonishing coincidence. Believing in providence, I grabbed the smallest pack ($1.74 for 2 lbs.) and threw it in the cart.

The next day was Saturday, and everyone was out of the house, so I thought it a perfect time to try cooking up the trotters. I found a recipe on the internet that resembled the instructions that JoAnn had described and added the ingredients to a pot. I brought the mixture to a boil, then reduced the heat, covered the pot, and left the mixture to simmer for several hours as the recipe called for.

About a half-hour later, Dom and Nic walked in. Dom started gasping for air and opening windows. Nic said, “Oh my Stars! That smells worse than my sneakers after the Peachtree Road Race!” Thus I was banished to finish cooking the concoction outside on the grill. Once they finished cooking, I removed the feet and placed them in a jar. I added the vinegar to the boiling liquid and brought it back to a rolling boil, then poured the liquid over the feet, placed the lid on the jar and set it aside to cool.

After a day in the refrigerator, the jar contained a solid mass of congealed feet and jelly (no black dots floating in the jelly as the allspice was strained before pouring the liquid.) Sonny was the only one of the Romeo men brave enough to taste the finished product. He said that they tasted like pork ribs with way too much vinegar. The jelly was not a big hit. I could really taste the pork, but the vinegar taste was strong, and nobody mentioned all the little bones in previous posts. I’m glad I tried it, but I think it was a one-time effort.

Demarinis Family

Dom, your post about Louie Demarinis was so funny! I loved both him and Ange. He had such big, beautiful eyes and Ange was the sweetest person in the world!!

Wonderful In-Laws

This evening as I sat with my mom (Connie) reading the post's. She was laughing and laughing. She is really enjoying this blog. When I was done reading she sat there with this big smile on her face. I said, "Mom what are you thinking about?" She said how Grandma and Grandpa where the most wonderful in-laws in the world. She said some evenings she and my Dad (Morris) would be over Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Grandpa would just be waking up at about 9:00p.m., to get ready to go work another night shift. She said Grandpa would be so tired and Grandma, would pat him on the back and say, "Don't worry Gid, you only hava seven more nights!" And then Grandma would start with her contagious giggle and everyone would start laughing including Grandpa. She said Grandpa would put on his coat and hat, have a lunch in his hand, and some of his fellow employee's would pick him up and drive him to work. Grandma would stand at the front door and wave. Mom said people just loved them...

I asked her if Grandpa had viscots in his lunch, but she couldn't remember. (Ha Ha)

Joyce & Connie Warino

Pavlik Fight

I really like watching Kelly Pavlik fight. I boxed some as a kid (much to Mom and Grandma's chagrin), and not well mind you but some.

Last night, I bought the Pay-per-View fight with Kelly fighting Rubio (should have just been "Rube"). I wasn't aware until the shift from Madison Square Garden that the fight was being broadcast from Youngstown. Ray Mancini was one of the announcers. I was sooo excited, then it struck me how long I have been gone, I didn't even know there was such a place as the Chevrolet Centre.

It was not much of a fight, but I enjoyed scanning the crowd between rounds to see if I recognized any of the people in the stands. Good to know the "mob look" is still in style.

Related to the fight, Ray Mancini was announcing and was on camera at the end. When Jimmy Warino was getting married (I was a groomsman). He and I went out for a few drinks to chat and catch up. The bar was the Boatyard on Belmont Ave. It was crowed and there was someone behind me who tapped on my shoulder, I turned and saw nothing and continued talking to Jimmy. Then there was a real commotion and Jimmy prompted me to see what was going in behind me. Ray Mancini was standing there and was was pretty upset as he had apparently tapped me asking to squeeze by and I hadn't noticed or seen him (bit of a height difference). He was hiking up his pants and about to hit me when one of his sidekicks settled him down. I remember thinking, "Go ahead, hit me Ray, I'll be rich."

Bugs Bunny, Air Conditioning & Broken Bottles

Jeannette Demarinis Garbarz told me a story about her grandfather, who was one of the funniest men I have ever met. Ange made dinner and a very young Jeanette really liked it. Louie said "Yeah, you like that "chicken" and Jett said she really did. Then Louie, stuck his teeth out and said "You justa ate Bugs Bunny"

Further on him, I was riding in his car once in the summer with he and Grandma and it was hot in the car. I said, "Uncle Louie I'm hot, can you turn on the air-conditioning?" He said, "air-conditioning? You want air-conditioning?" He rolled down the window a bit, and said, "there Domini, that's air-conditioning."

Another time he was in the kitchen with coffee and a bottle of whisky. He said "Domini, look at this bottle, its a broke." I looked over the bottle and told him it was not broke, that it looked OK to me. He unscrewed the cap and turned it upside down showing me it was empty and said, "See its a broke".

There is as a "broke" wine bottle sitting next to me as I write this.

More Delicacies

Didn't Grandma also make a dish called tongues and lungs? I think they were boiled and put into some type of sauce. You pay a lot of money in a French restaurant for something like that now.

Warino delicacies

My Mom says that when she was growing up, Grandpa would bring home calf kidneys and Grandma would have to boil them over and over to make make sure that the urine was out (lovely, huh?) before she would fry the kidneys with peppers. Anyway my mother said the house would stink so bad never realizing that the smell was pee!! She didn't like the kidneys when they were fried either! She doesn't remember if the boys liked them but she remembers that Aunt Mary did. Speaking of Aunt Mary, growing up she ate a dish that Grandma made and encouraged her to try but didn't tell her what it was. After eating and liking it, she asked what it was and Grandpa told her it was the goiter of a cow. Needless to say Aunt Mary wasn't happy! Grandma and Grandpa laughed and laughed. Meanwhile Aunt Mary got mad at my mother for not telling her what it was.

More Food Memories

Since the past several posts have been about food, my favorite subject, I just wanted to share something that I remembered after Dom wrote about cavatelli. One day when I was little, my mom and I went to Grandma's so she could teach us how to make cavatelli. I remember walking into the front of the house and calling "Grandma" and from the back of the house where the kitchen was would come "Hallo". She made making the cavatelli look so easy. She would make the dough with flour that was in the sugar canister, Dad said she couldn't read, but she knew how to find what she needed. The flour was turned into this smooth dough that we would roll into small balls and make an imprint with our thumbs. After they were fininshed, Grandma would drop them into boiling water and they would be delicious when they were finished. I have tried this on my own and the dough dissolves in the water and I end up buying some sort of pasta at the store. I can't find cavatelli in Portland so I always buy the dried ones at Rulli's when I'm in Youngstown.

I, too, remember the dried red peppers that my Dad would fry and serve with eggs and Italian bread on Sunday mornings. I wish I knew how to make those peppers, I really love them.

Have a good weekend everyone. Cook something delicious!!

Being Sick

I remember being sick at about 15 years old and coming home from school. Grandma was always very maternal toward me. She asked what was wrong, and I replied "I just don't feel very well."

As always she said, "take your clothes off." Well at 15ish I had become shy toward my nudity around her and my mom. and I said something like "Grandma, I am 15" .

Cooly, she stared at me through her 84-year-old eyes and said "What, you grew something else since the last time I saw you?

Rulli's and the Warino Doubles

Denise, I really enjoyed your post about Rulli Brother's. That is one of my favorite stores. I am really excited because they are opening a new Rulli's on South Ave. in Boardman that is just huge. It's suppose to open sometime this month. My father and I would always go to Rulli Brother's after his dialysis treatments. He would buy all the foods that he wasn't allowed to eat and just come home and make a feast. He also had a friend that would pick him up and take him in his wheel chair and they would stroll around Rulli's. One day while I was in Rulli's shortly after my father passed away, I thought Oh I can do this, I have all three of my children with me. When I walked into Rulli's with my three small children (at the time,) and had a major melt down. My poor kids where like "why are you crying? Is it because this store stinks?" I just said "No, I just get so excited to come here!" I then said, "this is probably what Poppie is doing in heaven, just walking through all the "Angels' grocery stores" in heaven. We all laughed and all of a sudden, Dean who was about 5 years old then, said "Hey mom, there's Poppie!" My heart sunk to my stomach, and I said "Dean, Poppie wouldn't be here, he's in heaven." Allyson who was about 9 at the time, shout's out, "Well then this must be heaven on earth, Look!!" I go flying down the aisle chasing this man who looked so much like my father. When I pushed my shopping cart up next to this man, we all just stopped and peeked over, and to our surprise it was
Uncle Blackie!!! The kid's where so excited and I explained what happen, and we all left and went out to lunch with Uncle Blackie. He made our day....

Coke Man

Whenever I have dreams of my father he looks like he did in this photo. I love this uniform. I can remember him delivering the 24 count, yellow and red wooden cases of 6 ounce glass Coke bottles to Grandma’s house. His hands were so large he could wrap one hand around a Coke bottle, stick his thumb in the opening of the case (to place your hands) and lift two full cases at a time (one in each hand). I thought he was the strongest man in the world.

This is a photo of him at the Canfield Speedway during the Canfield Fair. I remember one night during the Canfield Fair when Dad was close to retiring, the phone rang at 1:00 a.m. I could hear him yelling through the wall “Oh no, you didn’t wake me. I wait up all night for you people to call”.

Lung Balloons

One winter night, my father and I brought a half of lamb (literally) to Grandma’s house. The organs were in a cardboard box individually wrapped in brown paper. I remember Grandma giggling as she unwrapped each part. Suddenly, she pulled out a lung, pinched off one of the openings and blew it up like a balloon. She had a hard time blowing it up because she was laughing so hard. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Rulli Brothers

My first trip to Youngstown was a cultural experience. At first, nothing seemed dramatically different from Atlanta. After visiting with relatives, Dom and took me on a tour of Youngstown. We drove by the Sparkle Market where he used to work, then took a scenic tour of Mill Creek Park. We sat on the hood on Dom’s car while we ate chocolate pecan ice cream from Handel’s. Then we headed to Rulli Brother’s Italian Market to pick up a few things to take back to Atlanta.

As I stepped through the doors, I realized this was no ordinary store. Meats and cheeses hung from the ceiling. The deli case was loaded with capicolla, mortadella and soppressatta. Shelves were stocked with cans and jars of exotic sounding delicacies like giardiniera, caponata, and cipollini onions alongside a huge selection of olives. The bakery section had all sorts of fascinating goodies like foccacia, panettone and pandoro, mustaccioli, and biscotti. They had the boxes of torrone candy that Dom received each year at Christmas from a friend's Mom. Then there was the produce area with escarole, endive and cardoons. This was a veritable wonderland of food! They even had the equipment to make pasta, pizzelles, and cannollis at home, and the espresso pots did not have an electrical cord. My head was spinning!

Dom ordered mortadella, capicolla, prosciutto, as well as a ball of the butter provolone hanging from the ceiling. We bought one of the stove-top espresso pots and a few biscotti to nibble on the drive back to Dom’s Aunt’s house. I reluctantly left the store, frequently glancing back to permanently imprint the vision on my brain. Even years later, there is nothing in Atlanta that compares to that Italian paradise known as Rulli Brothers!

From Alaska

Hi,

Thanks for all your hard work, Dom. Thanks mostly for our children, so that they can learn about the family.

Luv, Jo Solley

Pig's Feet

I was never able to join in the pig's feet decadence. I remember my Mom loved them. Just the sight and smell used to make me queasy. I recall seeing them featured in a couple of bistros in Paris and thinking maybe I had missed something. I still didn't try them.

The "Warino Seven" really had a bond that I have come to understand is impossible for any of their children to fully comprehend. It's easy enough to glean bits and pieces (or even feet apparently) of what it must have been like to grow up on Truesdale/Albert Street. But, I am afraid we will never really know.

I write this because I hope Aunt Rose and Uncle Joe will share more of the growing up stories. I wrote one story that Rose told me about when Grandpa hunting his shoes while late for work one morning, but in so doing really wondered about what a typical day might have been like back then (when all were home on a Tuesday evening for dinner, for instance).

Thus far the focus of this blog has been on when the grandkids were around, I doubt the evenings as a young family for the Warinos involved much dressing up or sport coats. I bet they were "real meals" though and when I think of that famous question, "if you could have dinner with anyone in history...?" Instead, of Leonardo DaVinci, I think I would choose to eat dinner with the "Warino Seven" when they were kids.

Cousins

I might be prejudiced, but isn't that a great picture of Vic and Nic. Vic must be special because that is now 2 pictures of him on the blog; (the other with Alfie.) You can tell Vic and Nic are from the same family, can't you? We teased Dom and said that Nic looked more like Vic than Dom! That picture was taken at my daughter, Christine's, in SC when Dom and Nic came to visit us when we were down there last May. My daughter and her husband had never met Dom, but you never would have known it. We were all so comfortable and we had a great time.

Joyce, I do remember lupini beans and loved them too!

And the memory of food goes on......

Joann, your blog was so funny. I remember when Grandma and Grandpa would put the big jar of pig's feet on the table, I would run. I was afraid of them. The black round circles floating in the jel (which must, of course, been the allspice) just freaked me out, especially when they would say they were pig's feet! Do you remember, I think they were called lupin's? The boy's would again sit around the food feast and hold the yellow round bean in between their thumb and point finger, squeeze the beans, and try to shoot it out of the skin and into their mouths. Aunt Rose will remember what they are called. I just saw a jar in a little Italian Deli this weekend, and started to laugh at this jar. The guy next to me said, "Are you OK?" to which I replied "Oh, I'm sorry.... my Uncles use to shoot these into their mouths." He picked up the jar and said "Oh really?" I just walked away.

Denise, Your post was so cute. It really is hard to keep everyone straight. I am the "Viscot" queen. So far both recipes are great. The store bought one's just don't get it......

Big Italian Families

I did not come from a big family. I had a few Aunts, Uncles and cousins, and we were never very close (either in proximity or bond.) I saw my grandparents once or twice a year on a big holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or summer vacation,) and cousins even less frequently. The term cousin in our family referred to first cousins all of whom were born in the same generation between 1958 and 1968. Our boys have no first cousins.

That must be why the Warino family and its member’s connections to one another is so fascinating to me. Dom’s excitement about the new family blog is contagious and I feel that I have come to know all of you through the stories (both posted and unposted!) I must say, however, that I stay confused about who is related to whom and how. I actually wrote down a scorecard of sorts just so I would not have to keep asking “Whose daughter is she again?” or “Whose brother is that?” The scorecard only goes through the first cousins (two generations from Fanny and James.) Then I started getting lost in the “first cousins once removed,” and “second cousins;” and you can just forget about my ever figuring out a “second cousin twice removed.” Apparently there are none of those yet.

So when Nic and Sonny look at the blog and the pictures, and ask how they are related I patiently try to figure out the Math and explain the relationship. Dom on the other hand just simply says, “Oh, that’s your cousin.” To which they reply, “Cool! Which viscot recipe do they use?”

A Valentine Treat

Happy Valentine's Day from Aunt Rose and JoAnn!
Here's a treat for the day - Pickled Pig's Feet and Ears! According to my mother, Aunt Rose, Grandpa would bring them home from the grocery store and Grandma would boil them in water reserving some of the water and adding equal amts of vinegar and some allspice to create this "lovely" gel when refrigerated. The boys, as Dominic refers to them, and the girls loved them and believe it or not I loved them too!

More Food

Dom, your post is so true. I would hide my lunch at school if I had pizza that my Dad made packed in my lunch for fear someone would laugh at me. I wish I had that pizza now! In the summer months, there's a commercial on the radio about Youngstown and it always reminds me of Gram and Grampa. They said in it something like, "Who ever heard of church festivals, cavatelli, meatball, sausage and pepper sandwiches." "Did you ever see a cookie table at a wedding like you see in Youngstown?".... tables loaded with cookies. "Wedding soup, almost every restaurant in town has wedding soup." Brier Hill pizza... Fried dough and fried wands with powdered sugar. Pasta Fagiole, pepper and egg sandwiches. I can remember sitting at my parents house and saying "Gosh, Dad that's all you talk about is FOOD! Well, the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree! We are Blessed!

Food

What do you eat now?

I think more and more of what we ate on Truesdale. It's really quite funny of you think of it.

When I moved to Georgia, I remember new friends jeering of what I ate and referring to things like calamari as bait, etc. Jimmy Warino once said to me at Ursuline when I was being teased about what I wanted to eat or ate, he said "what do they know, they don't know nothing." I remember that moment. He sounded just like his dad.

We ate well, didn't we? I remember things now that I can never have again more than anything. Grandma used to make me sandwiches for school from the bread she made. Hand slices of lunch meat, a slice of the oil marinated eggplant she used to can, all wrapped in a piece of wax paper. By the time I got to lunch the whole sandwhich was a big oily mess, according to my class mates. What did they know, they didn't know nothing.

Pubacha Cruscht, not how you spell it, but she would dry long red sweet peppers. Then (this was a rare treat) she would fry up the peppers. They were like a homing device. Her kids would drop in just in time for some of the fried dried peppers. They were, in my memories, Italian potato chips. They were crispy, salty and about the best thing I ever remember eating.

The cavatelli she made were amazing. Just flour and water. She would roll out the dough and pinch a piece, roll it then take a small piece, roll that with some flour and then roll it into a small shell and easily toss it to the side. She made these by the 100s. I've tried to make these several times over the years with very little luck. It looked so easy, but in fact it's impossible for me to make. She had cold hands, you see. I think that is key. The dough remains subtle, even with the rolling action.

Rabbits, they were everywhere. See my old post about finding rabbits frozen in mid-leap when I looked for a Mr. Freezie stick in the freezer (these were cheaper than Popsicles.) Rabbit was always cooked in tomato sauce and presented as chicken. I eat rabbit frequently now.

Baby salad greens from the garden, we used to grow leaf lettuce and scallions (green onions) in the back yard with wonderful tomatoes. Now I pay some ungodly sum for the weeds we used to pull out and bathe them in good olive oil and red wine vinegar. Then we used Mazola oil and a splash of Regina red wine vinegar. Those salads were much better. I was told not to use a fork to eat salad. It's meant to be eaten with your fingers.

Pizza. The Warino's were way ahead of the curve on this one. I remember having pizza in grade school on special occasions. It was foreign to the Slovaks at St.s Cyril and Methodius. Like Thai food was here a couple of years ago, just eating it was and adventure. It was nothing like the current variety, more like bread with some green peppers, a light glaze of sauce and a sprinkling (and I do mean sprinkling) of cheese.

Biscotti. It almost makes me angry to hear Biscotti advertised to me in fine restaurants dipped in chocolate, and served with the American version of gelato (which is nothing like the real thing.) These were substitute for Viscots, but much better at sucking up any dunking target.

WINE, such a big deal now. Should we have Merlot, Pinot Noir, Valpolicella, or Beaujolais with rabbit cacciatore? We just had big gallon jugs of generic red around back then. Very little debate about vintage or varietal. It went with everything.

Birthday

Here is a photograph I found of Grandma on her 84th birthday.

3rd Honeymoon

Attached is a photo of Morris and Connie Warino dated July 14, 1947. The photo was taken at the Hotel Astor in Times Square. The note on the photo in my mother’s hand reads “3rd Honeymoon”.

You guys are getting old...

Congratulations to Gary and Shelley on their new granddaughter. She is so pretty. Man, I can't believe how old Gary and Jo Jo are getting... they're both Grandpas!

Grandpas

Sooner or later you become a Grandpa: Josephina Johanna Warino daughter of Greg Warino.

Gary Warino

Happy Birthday Uncle Joe!

Here’s a picture of Dad (Uncle Joe) with his "younger sister" (Aunt Rose) celebrating at his birthday party, Sunday, February 8th. His actual birthday was on February 7th.

Joe Warino, Jr.

Warino Dogs

I remember there being a brown dachshund (wiener dog)… I can’t remember the dogs name however I spent many a Sunday walking it around the block! Was this Aunt Phyllis' dog, and does anyone else remember it, and what was the dogs name???

Joe Warino, Jr.

Alfie

Grandma used to say Alfie understood more Italian than me!

Rose and Morris

Aunt Rose and Uncle Morris in 1937. Rose says she was about 17 in the picture. After trying to learn how to ride a bike with 2 wheels with no success, Uncle Morris got her a neighbor's tricycle, and they posed for the picture.

Submitted by Vic Canacci

You didn't mention....Domini!!!!!

The "Viscots" on Sundays too, let's not forget about the viscots!! LOL
It's so funny when you mentioned the big window in the kitchen. Grandma and Grandpa would hear the car's come up the drive way and would know who was pulling up the driveway. Boy, those where the day's!!! I love being Italian!!!!!!

Shy Italians

So it seems with the exception of a few members, we are the shyest Italian family in the world.

Put on your memory hats and send me posts. I will publish them for you.

Sundays on Truesdale II

I can also remember being at Grandma's on Sundays. There would be so many people crammed into the small kitchen with everyone talking at once. I also remember when there was no more room in the kitchen to sit and eat, the kids would use the basement steps as trays and put their legs through the space under the tray. I also remember when we would get bored with the adult talk we would walk around the block, such an adventure! Those we happy times.

Sundays on Truesdale

It strikes me that on any given Sunday up to 50 people ate "dinner" on Truesdale. There weren't that many plates, there was no dishwasher, the fare was simple, and there was seating for about 8 (because God forbid we would have ever used the "dining room".) But, everyone seemed to get what they came for.

We have had big pasta dinners here in my home in Atlanta and had 30 or more "eat pasta", but the ensuing logistics always overshadow any real enjoyment of the event, at least on my and Denise's part. Just managing the dishes and the "who's kids don't eat what" is daunting enough a memory to prevent us from doing it very frequently. It's a once-a-year effort and we end up swearing not to do it again.

This is what makes me think back to the days on Truesdale. We had the manner of a meal I wrote of above most Sundays. I wish I could say how it really occurred, I am sure it was not as seamless as I recall, but it did seem so routine, and remains a the best of my memories. The "boys" always sat at the table, on the side by the window. It was like a well rehearsed play, with all the "actors" knowing exactly what has to occur, and who should be where, when. What is remarkable is that the meal occurred several times, not at once. Some families intersecting others, some eating, some just having coffee. The flow of people was notable if you think of it.

Often the "fare" was cavatelli that Grandma and Aunt Mary would make for hours on Saturday. Grandma would stand and make them using the ironing board with a board on it. They made mounds of them. Sometimes we had soup as well, the wedding soup with escarole and those little veal meatballs. That soup was awesome. It was hot and just a little oily and always made me feel good.

The red sauce was very different than we make now. Not chock full of meat, but thin and tart. Any real meat that was in it was not typically bought expressly for that purpose. Some of the rabbits, I mentioned in an earlier post would find their way into the sauce and usually some pieces of meat (sirloin, etc.) from meals past. We didn't have loads of Parmesan cheese to put on it, or even real Parmesan cheese at all for that matter. It was really just eating pasta and time with family.

It's funny how in retrospect the "routine" is often what we end up cherishing the most. I learned a lot from those days. How the "kids" relate to each other, their spouses and their mother, the changes that occur as my cousins passed from teens to adulthood and had families of their own. Even the way my mom related to some of my cousins as friends and others as if they were her children. Those days where the best of times for me, and real highlights of growing up.

Isaly's....

I do remember Grandma and Grandpa referring to the refrigerator as "ice a box" ha ha! Does anyone remembering when Grandpa would gives us a dollar to go to the Isaly's and all of us would get ice cream in our Sunday "Best" clothes??? Those were the days...

Names

Thanks for the congratulations on baby Angie. We love the name too!

About names- this time with regard to objects. My mother tells me that once I asked Grandma how to say refrigerator in Italian and Grandpa responded: "ice a box". Now that's Italian.

Angie

I remember "vacationing" with Angie and Donny in Toledo when I was little. Luke was an infant and I remember getting in trouble for waking him once by going in to see him.

I have the same birthday as Angie and always think about her on Dec. 22nd and I always call Aunt Rose to visit on that day.

What a beautiful little girl, congratulations to all. Love the name....

Beautiful Baby

What a beautiful little girl! I love her name and the red hair too.
She's worth the 75 year wait. Congratulations to everyone.

Angie's grandchild

I meant to add on my last post that Angie (Anglyn) and Don's second son, Luke, and his wife Amber had a baby girl on January 8th and named her Anglyn Rose (Angie). Everyone is doing very well and very happy to have a girl in the Greco family- the first in 75 years!

Anglyn Rose.........

Congratulations on a new baby girl. I think of your sister, Angie often. She was such a sweet person and always so good to my parents. That little girl has a special angel watching over her!!! (and so lucky to have an Aunt Joann.) Donnie must be thrilled! Tell your Mom we said, congrats and we love her name...

The Blog and Tadelles

Love your new blog. The Youngstown stories are great and makes me truly appreciate having grown up there. I have been trying various Tadelle (you called them Viscots) recipes so was very excited to see the Warino version-- I will definitely try it. I wish I had my Grandma Angie's recipe, but they never did write down many recipes then; they had made them over and over and knew it by heart. They say the sense of smell is most closely tied to memory, and nothing brings me back to walking into the back door of Grandpa (Lou) and Grandma (Ang)'s house then the wonderful smell of a large pot of sauce simmering on the stove and the floury, earthy homemade pasta (cavatelli, of course) drying on the cutting board.

Deb DeMarinis Lodico

First grandchild

Don't know who asked the question about the first grandchild. The first grandchild was my sister, Angie.

The first grandchild?

Was Nicky was the first grandchild?

I remember Nicky was big buddies with the guy who lived across the street from Grandma. His name was Lou Marinelli. I remember being over playing with Lou's son Joey, and becoming aware by via Joey that the man talking to his dad was my cousin. It was really unsettling. He would stop by to see Grandma now and then.

What's it all about? ALFIE

I do remember Alfie having coffee every morning with Grandma. (probably "viscots" also!) Remember how long grandma's hair was when she would take it out of the bun to wash it? Was Angeline the first grandchild?

The Great Chase

Occasionally I was less than the best behaved little boy. No really, I was bad from time to time :-).

Given Grandma's age, sometimes she would call in reinforcements to discipline me. Mostly, that job fell to Uncle Blackie (although I think every one of my Aunts and Uncles had a crack at it).

Once he came over already in a bad mood that was further aggravated at having had to be called into disciplinary service for his mom. He was so mad I ran from him. I ran out the back door into the yard with him in hot pursuit. I shot between the bushes and into the neighbors yard (aka the "American") and he followed through the bushes, but he came out scratched up shirt torn and even madder.

I ran into the house and as he was about to grab me when I scooted under the dining room table (the table in the room we never used). The table had a trundle that I got over and out the other side.

He followed me under the table but got stuck on said trundle. Well, now he was REALLY mad. Just picture the scene for a moment.

Then he freed himself and came out spitting fire. I was kind of frozen by the situation and stood to face the inevitable. Grandma stepped between us realizing my pending doom and said, "No Blackie, leave him (me) alone."

Well, he was possibly as surprised as I was, but still breathing hard and mad. He sat down in the kitchen and I was sent to my room. After a bit I was summoned and got a mean talking to and he asked that I never do anything to make her call him again.

I did my best from that day forward, and really believe that was the final time he was called in. I still have that table downstairs in storage just because of this memory.

The Apartment

Not the movie....

Remember Uncle Nick had the big house down on Wick Oval that was split into many apartments for YSU students. I spent many Saturdays with him down there working around that house with him, largely to get me out from Grandma while Mom was at work. I leaned alot about how to fix things with him and did my best to help, although, most of what I did seemed to do just the opposite.

I remember once trying to haul out a nasty old rug getting the dry heaves from the smell and ulitmately creating another mess to clean up. We would come home and he would tell grandma and my mom about the day and there was a good bit of laughter about it. It could have been a sit-com. That poor guy.

The Pets

Chip was a dog my mom always talked about that was from long before me. We got that damn ceramic dog that was in the dining room as some sort of a monument to Chip. When I emptied out the house on Truesdale, Uncle Nick was furious with me for having thrown away the ceramic dog. He actually crawled into the dumpster after it, swearing at me the whole time. "Chip" was surely an appropraite name for that piece of bric-a-brac by then, as I and most of you had left our marks on it. Years later at a wedding he seemed to have forgiven me for the "Chip incident."

I am told we had a weiner dog when I was born, purchased (or stolen from somewhere by my father). The dog was reputedly so dumb it was hit by a car as it didn't realize part of it was in the street as its front was on the devil-strip.

Alfie was our long-owned dog. She was a standard poodle, that was incredibly smart and even tempered. It would eat anything Grandma gave it, and worshiped her and my mom. My mom used to sing the song "Whats it all about, Alfieeee", and the dog would hooowl away.

The cat was named Pepe, and was fast as a bullet, and a great hunter. I saw that cat take a bird out of the air, leaping from the garage roof. Not sure she ever did it a second time.

I Remember Two Dogs

I remember Grandma having two dogs. The first one was reddish brown and I think his name was Chip. I maybe wrong on that one. The second dog was Alfie. The black poodle who liked to smoke a pipe and drink coffee with Grandma. So my guess is that there were two.

Pizzelles

Here is my Mom’s recipe for pizzelles that was requested. Nic and I asked her to make more because we didn’t get very many at Christmas. All Dad’s friends from Youngstown like Vince Blumetti , Joe Cregan, and my godfather, Tony Grohovsky, ate them all before we got enough. Maybe it will become our new Super Bowl tradition. Way better than Chex Mix!

Classic Pizzelles
3 eggs
¾ cups sugar
½ cup margarine, melted
4 Tablespoons anise extract
1 ¾ cups of flour2 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons anise or fennel seeds, optional

Preheat pizzelle iron. Cream together eggs and sugar, then add melted margarine that has been cooled and anise extract. Add flour and baking powder and mix until smooth. Add anise seeds and mix well. If batter is too thick add water a tablespoon at a time until it is the desired consistency. Using a teaspoon, drop one spoonful of batter on iron for each cookie. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Hint: My mom says to put the batter in a Ziploc bag and snip off one small corner (like a pastry bag) and squeeze out a teaspoon-sized dollop on the iron for each cookie. It gives you better control and is MUCH less sticky.