Remembering the Aprons!

Do you still remember the famous and fabulous Aprons of our Grandmothers? Well yesterday my Mother forward me an e-mail about the short history and explanation of what the Aprons was used for, and I found it  really interesting and it helped me go back in time and remember my childhood memories, so this is way I will like to share it with all of you. 

Remember making an apron in Home?

The  History of  'APRONS' 

I don't think our kids know what an apron is. 
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for    removing hot pans from the oven. 
  
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. 

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. 
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.. 

And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms. 
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.  

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that  apron. 
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. 
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. 

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. 
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. 

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. 
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes. 
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. 

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. 

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but  love ...

Furthermore, Aprons being so practical and vital they were necessary, but also socially regulated. As a matter of fact, for example in the old times widows had to wear a black as a way of respect, if this was not done it was seen as a form of lack of decorum. This explains that the Aprons were seen as more than ties with cooking and cleaning but as well with the society and culture. A women not only wore an apron for practical reason but also as a way to express her role. And the image of an appropriate Apron was a way to show the conformity to the community standards. 

Unfortunally, I could not find the author of this nice and loving e-mail, but I thought it would be lovely to share the memories of this simple garment that any grandmother of mostly every part of the world has used

I also will share with you a link were it gives a deeper and greater explanation of the history of Aprons.

Hope this article has made you travel as well back in your childhood memories: it is always nice to do this.

Have a nice day! 

Regards,

Anna 

Two different recipes of the Thanksgiving Dinner!

Dear Friends, 

I apologize if I haven´t posted an article for a long time...but there are moments when life becomes hectic and has the power to let you forget of the important things...Anyway I am back! Hopefully with something that you like, definatly something you are preparing for. 

We all know that we are getting closer to Thanksgiving (the last Thursday of November) which is a holiday that I really like, because is still not commercialized as Christmas and it keeps its origin.

However, I have decided to share with you 2 different recipes of the Thanksgiving dinner: 

1. Thanksgiving Dinner with Italian touch: this is the typical Thanksgiving dinner that my Grandmother used to make. As most of you already know my Grandparents are Italians but they have immigrated to the United States, when they were young. They have incorporated in their family traditions the local American holidays but in their culinary dishes they have always kept the Italian traditional touch. 

So in my mother´s house the typical thanksgiving meal was:

• Antipasto di montagna: prosciutto ham, salamini, cheeses, mozzarella, sott'aceti (vegetables in vinegar and oil), especially the stuffed peppers that my grandmother used to make (delicious!). The filling usually was breadcrumbs, anchovies, capers, garlic, and oregano;
• Scarola con polpettini: Turkey soup with escarole and meatballs;
• Pasta: pasta with homemade tomato sauce, lasagna or cannelloni with; 
• Il Tacchino: Turkey and the filling usually was (eggs, breadcrumbs, cheese, salami, and parsely) served with crandberry sauce;
• Salsiccia: Homemade sausage in the oven;
• Baked Ham: with brown sugar and pineapple;
• Side dishes:

1) Baked smash potatoes pie with mozzarella and ham;  

2) Sweet potatoes (an American touch)  

3) Green beans with onions and almonds 

4) Broccoli di rape in the pan (this is a typical Italian vegetable)  

5) Mix Salad

• Fruit:  mandarins, oranges and other seasonal fruits, walnuts & chestnuts.
• Dessert: Cheesecake, or homemade almond cookies, or lemon meringue pie, or homemade apple pie with ice cream;
• CAFFE' :  American coffee or espresso
• DIGESTIVO:  alka seltzer, limoncello, amaretto, Champagne...

After this meal for more or less 20 people the least you could is take a "siesta"…Italians like their long and Big meals…J

2. Typical Thanksgiving Dinner: this is a typical Thanksgiving dinner of a traditional American Family.  

•  Scalloped oysters: 1/2 pound saltine crackers, 1 quart fresh oysters with liquid, 1 cup butter cut into pats, 1 cup half and half, Salt and Pepper. Preheat the oven to 350.  Generously grease a 2 qt. baking dish. Coarsely break 1/4 of the crackers and place in the dish. Lay 1/2 of the oysters on the crackers. Lightly salt and heavily pepper. Place butter pats on top (about 1/3 tp 1/2) Then do a layer with half the crackers and the remaining oysters with liquid, top with the remaining crackers, butter and more pepper, slowly pour the half and half around the edge of the dish until level with the second oyster layer.  Bake 1 hour or until puffed and brown on top. Serve immediately.
• Turkey: with the following stuffing Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix, but then I add Celery, onion, mushroom and almonds which have all been sauté in butter and then I sometime add dried cranberries and wild rice
•  Mashed potatoes with gravy
• Sweet potatoes with marshmallows in the oven
• Green beans or peas and some type of cranberries,
• Cooking fresh cranberries with a bit of sugar and water until they pop.
•  Pumpkin pie

This is a typical meal that my Host family in Missouri usually has. However, I imagine that each family adds its “traditional touch” and typical dishes.

By sharing with you these two different Thanksgiving meal, I wanted not only give you ideas on what to cook for the Thanksgiving dinner, but also concentrate on how important it is to keep our culture tradition alive.

I believe it is important to adjust to a country tradition and habits, but is extremely precious to always remember where we come from and to keep our own tradition alive and pass them on to the next generation.

Thank you for reading me.


Special Thanks to: Madaline Malgieri (my Aunt); Julie Thomas (My AFS host mother)

Culture

During a rainy day, looking out from the window with a cup of Tea in your hand, did you ever questioned yourself on things you do everyday that become ordinary? Well I did, and I asked myself: ”What is culture? Where do my Tradition come from?”

So I started of thinking about the definition of culture and this is what came in my mind: "Culture is the combination of values, and traditions that any social group in the world shares and pass on to the next generations." On the other side Wikipedia defines culture as: "The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group…” Any definition can be debatable but the concept is the same, culture includes as well most of our everyday actions that become ordinary and any holiday we celebrate.

Although today between the phenomenon of Globalization and the opening of social barriers, we are forgetting where we come from, I think and believe that culture is an important symbol of identification for each of us and we do not have to forget about it.

In Italian there is a dictum, which my Mother use to say, that states: ”Il mondo e’ bello perche’ e’ vario” which means: “The world is nice because is different”. We are all different and each culture needs to be respected and accepted because there is a reason why we are like this, and it all goes back to our history and our background. There is a story behind every person.

Each Tradition in any Culture has its history and meaning, and they play an important part in everyone’s life. Wouldn’t be interesting to know the different ways that Christmas is celebrated around the world?and why? Or why Americans celebrate Thanksgiving? And Halloween? Why English celebrate bank holidays? Why in Argentina they celebrate the day of the friendship? Or in Italy & Spain in August everything closes?....etc….

I would love to be able to share with you the Tradition of every Culture, Country, and Religion in the world, but I need your help. I would love to know more about your traditions, if you wish to do so write to me at the following e-mail address: anna.apostolo@gmail.com.

I will leave you with a video about the history of Thanksgiving, which is mainly celebrated in the United States the last Thursday of November, enjoy!

The History of Thanksgiving!

What is Thanksgiving