Bleeding Espresso

Tanti auguri a te…

Tanti auguri a te…

Tanti auguri a Babbo…

Tanti auguri a te!

Ti voglio tanto bene Papà!

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As many of you know, I was back in the US from mid-November to late December. This was my first trip “home” since February 2004.

Yes I write it in quotes; as much fun as I had there, you see, I was also extremely excited and happy to get back to P, the pooches,

and the three kids (who, incidentally, we believe may all be pregnant!).

Stateside, I spent lots of time with family and friends, visited Philadelphia, New York City (where I met two online friends for the first time and met up with an old college friend–none of whom are shown in the photo below!)

and Washington DC,

helped my mom make cookies (which she sells for Christmas),

and shopped. A lot. The Christmastime prices in American malls? Worth the price of the airline ticket, quite frankly.

For instance, P was amazed that I could get him a pair of Levi’s for $30 (€21) when they cost, oh five times that here. My other spectacular purchases for myself include a new iPod Touch (to make it easier to read English language books, mainly) and a new external hard drive.

NB: Anything technological/electronic costs *way* less in America than it does in Italy.

My biggest culture shock actually came very early on in the trip when I couldn’t. stop. speaking. Italian. It was the weirdest thing! On the plane over, no matter what language the person addressing me was speaking, I would answer in Italian…and only sometimes catch that I had done it–once purely by the blank look on a fellow passenger’s face.

The two hardest things to stop saying were “Ciao!,” “Grazie!,” and “Sì!” So I imagine I just looked like a really pretentious American for at least the first few days of the trip. Oh well.

The other thing that was hard to get used to? Things being open in the afternoon. So strange to be able to go shopping or *gasp* get something to eat between one and four! Lovely.

I still have lots of photos to go through and post on Flickr (and possibly here), and probably a lot of mental processing of the whole experience. Soon I’ll be publishing my “Top 10 Realizations After Being “Home” for the First Time in Nearly Six Years” so please check back!

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Yesterday while walking the dogs, I looked up and saw this:

My mom’s friend Kitty (she of the unique tea strainer and adorable heart bracelet) once told my mom these were “mackerel clouds” because they resembled the fish’s scales. Of course we both thought this was an old wives’ tales, and maybe it is, but it also made Wikipedia, so there.

They’re actually called “altocumulus” clouds (thus the title of the post), just in case you didn’t remember from elementary school science class.

So I smiled as I photographed the sky, thinking it was rather fitting that these clouds would be over me this week. Kitty’s 87th birthday would have been on Saturday the 17th–a day before mine–but she passed away two years ago.

The mackerel clouds, however, will always live on–and always make me think of our Kitty.

Had you ever heard of mackerel clouds?

Do you have strange things that remind you someone special?

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Just wanted to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, especially mine!

And to my grandfather, Pap Pap, wherever he may be:

To my mom’s father, also wherever he may be (sadly no photo here with me).

And to all the rest of my grandfathers back into family history–especially to:

(1) My great-grandfather Aniello D’Isabella, who I never got to meet but whose lack of desire to get American citizenship after leaving his southern Italian village allowed me to reclaim his Italian citizenship many years later and live here happily ever after without bureaucratic hassle; and

(2) My great-great-grandfather Giuseppe Bressi whose village I now call home.

Auguri to all you daddies out there!

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When I was younger, I missed out on a lot of amazing food simply because my tastebuds weren’t ready; I was always a good “tryer” though, so I was sure that I’d be ready whenever my tastebuds were.

Case in point: I tried sweet potatoes *every* year at Thanksgiving until I liked them. Now I love them!

I don’t remember exactly when I started actually liking (then loving) peppers, but I’m so happy my tastebuds finally caught up to the desire for the flavor.

Indeed, peppers continue to be one of my very favorite foods in the world, especially when included in my mom’s stuffed peppers, today’s What’s Cooking Wednesday recipe.

Note: this is *very* different from how P’s mom makes peperoni ripieni, which are quite similar to her Calabrian stuffed eggplant–meatless and fried.

To give you an idea of how local Italian cooking is:

P’s mom’s recipe is from Badolato; my mom’s recipe is essentially my great-grandmother’s, who came from Isca, the very next town over. I have also eaten stuffed peppers at another Iscatani household, and they tasted really similar to my mom’s–only they had a little surprise chunk of suppressata in the center. Try it!

So when you hear that Italian cooking is regional, think even smaller…it can differ *greatly* by town, just like the dialects!

The recipe below calls for sauce over the peppers as they bake; you can, of course, use your favorite jarred sauce or make your own by frying a clove of garlic (minced) and one small onion (chopped finely) in about two tablespoons of olive oil, adding a can of tomatoes/sauce, and adjusting for salt. It only needs to simmer for about 15 minutes as it’ll also cook in the oven.

If you’re planning on serving pasta with the peppers, use two cans/jars of tomatoes/sauce.

Stuffed Peppers

• 6 small peppers (see photos for size I used)
• 1 cup cooked rice (1/3 uncooked)
• 1 pound ground meat
• Fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
• Fresh basil, chopped (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook rice and preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

2. Wash peppers, cut off tops, and remove stem and seeds. If you’re using larger peppers, you can cut them in half and make double the amount of stuffed peppers by using both halves (just be sure to make more stuffing).

*Note: The parts of the pepper I didn’t use but that were still edible, I sliced up and used for potatoes, peppers, and eggs the next day.

3. Bring pot of water to a boil and drop peppers in, parboiling them for a few minutes. Remove from water, pat dry, and set aside to cool.

4. While peppers are parboiling, prepare stuffing by mixing together rice, meat, and parsley (cheese and/or basil) in a medium bowl.

5. Put some tomato sauce in a small baking dish so the bottom is lightly covered.

6. Sprinkle each pepper shell with salt and then stuff them with mixture and set in baking dish.

7. Cover peppers with rest of sauce and cover dish with foil.

8. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the meat inside is cooked.

9. If you’ve made enough sauce you can serve pasta with the sauce and then the pepper as a second dish or simply serve the peppers by themselves with crusty Italian bread.

Buon appetito!

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