According to the Cambridge Dictionary the definition of Tradition is a way of acting that people in a particular society or group have continued to follow for a longtime.
This past year I struggled with finding my path. As you have noticed I really slacked off with keeping up with my blog and my recipes. I am not sure what has happened. I think with the marriage of my last child maybe I lost myself. I lost who I was and started thinking that I needed to slow down. But I found I am not comfortable with this new me. In my quest to find myself again I realized that maybe I need to go back and reflect on how things used to be.
I found a picture of my great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was a fisherman along with his brothers on the island of Ischia in Italy. The Amalfitano men made a living as fishermen. Unlike most other Ischitanos living on the island the Amalfitano brothers stood out by their tall muscular stature. They had a good life until World War 1 and the Spanish Flu of 1918. The soldiers coming home from the war brought with them the Spanish Flu and it spread to so many Ischitanos! It was a deadly flu. It is said that by the spring of 1919, the influenza pandemic had sickened an estimated one-third of the world’s population and may have killed as many as 50 million people. And Ischitanos were part of that statistic. The townspeople couldn’t keep up with individual grave plots and ended up having to have mass burials. My great grandmother became one of those casualties leaving behind a husband and four children. Soon things leveled off and my great grandfather remarried. He continued his fishing business with his family and life went on. My grandmother became of age and she married starting her own family. Soon afterwards WW2 hit, and my grandfather went off to serve as a medic leaving his family behind to struggle. The island of Ischia entered another sad time as they dealt with food and water shortage. Families struggled as the heads of household were off to fight in the war. After World War 2 ended Ischia struggled economically. My grandfather looked to move to another country for a better life for his family. He tried out Argentina for 3 years hoping to bring his family there, but Argentina’s economy crashed, and my grandfather soon came back to Ischia. Instead of feeling defeated he continued his dream of making his family’s life better and made plans to move to the United States. In 1955 he moved half of his family to Marlboro, New York. My grandfather along with my mom and two of her sisters worked to make enough money so that they could bring my grandmother and the rest of the siblings to join them in the US.
Even though the family moved to the US, they continued to follow their Italian traditions. One of the traditions they never forgot was fishing. Even though my grandmother and grandfather settled inland away from the ocean they couldn’t let go of the love for the sea. I don’t how they found this place in Norwalk, Connecticut but they did! With the little bit of English that they knew they found a place to rent a motorized rowboat and go fishing in the Long Island Sound. Many of my summer memories included going to Norwalk, CT to go fishing with my grandparents. My dad grew up on the mainland of Italy, but his town was a small mountain surrounded by water on three sides so he too enjoyed fishing. It was a huge family excursion with 3-4 boats getting rented. We brought steak sandwiches and we always included spaghetti pizza. Once I got married and had children my dad also introduced my children to fishing on the Long Island Sound in Norwalk, CT.
Life got busier and we no longer went on fishing excursions. But just a few years ago a restaurant was recommended in Norwalk, Ct and my husband and I and our children went to try it out. When I arrived, I immediately recognized the spot even though the dock, bait shop, and boat rentals were no longer there. But now a beautiful seafood restaurant took over the spot.
So, as the old year is left behind and a new year is started, I rethink my purpose in life. Maybe I need to go back to my roots. To go forward, one must go back first and ponder.
This past week my husband and I took the family out to dinner to the seafood restaurant in Norwalk. I handed them all pieces of paper from the oldest to the youngest (who happens to be my granddaughter Emma) to write down their dreams for the new year. I thought what a perfect place to ponder our dreams. As I looked out to sea, I thought of my grandfather who never gave up his dream to make a better life for his family. He didn’t succeed at first but that didn’t stop him. I sat and looked around the table and I realized that I really am living my best life surrounded by my family. The least I can do is to not give up my dreams! And you know what? In order to fulfill our dreams, we must never forget where we came from and who we are. I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! May all your dreams come true! Tradition! It’s the fuel to follow your dreams!
Spaghetti Pizza
My mom always made spaghetti pizza for our picnic when we went fishing in Norwalk, Connecticut. Here’s our recipe. There are quite a few versions of it. My grandmother would make a sweet variety. While my Zia in Monte di Procida would make a savory one and sprinkle it with a bit of sugar on top. But I thought I would share my mom’s version which my kids also love! One time when my son was three he got all excited when he saw my mom making it and got all excited thinking we were going fishing!
Ingredients:
1 pound of cooked spaghetti al dente
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup of cubed prosciutto
1/2 cup of cubed fresh mozzarella
1 1/2 cups of shredded dry mozzarella
1/2 pound of cubed Auricchio Provolone
3 eggs
1/4 cup of Grape seed oil or corn oil. I like to use grape seed oil.
Procedure:
1. Mix all the cheeses and the proscuitto
2. Beat eggs and add to pasta to mix.
3. Add the cheese and prosciutto mixture to the pasta
4. Heat 1/4 cup of grape seed oil in a skillet
5. Add pasta mixture to pan and spread out tucking the cheese inside the pasta.
6. Let fry about 10 minutes or more until you can easily slide spatula underneath the spaghetti feeling that it’s crispy.
7. Flip the pizza over and cook 10-15 minutes long until the other side is crispy.
8. Take out of pan and let sit on paper towel to drain some of the oil and then serve!