Family Traditions written by Yvonne Dagger Ever since I was a young girl, St. Patrick's Day was a super special holiday in our house. My mom would make us green apple sauce (apple sauce tinted with green food coloring) with our dinner. She would purchase Motts bottled apple sauce (she never made the apple sauce from scratch. I think this had to do with the fact that she had 6 kids to deal with all day long. My guess is that it was just a lot easier 😁). That tradition continued into my years as a young mother and now my kids continue this "Green Apple Sauce" Tradition on St. Patrick's Day. AND I might add we still use the bottled apple sauce. I saw recently that Motts is making green applesauce now. That's even easier for busy mom's. How great is that!?! Family traditions are interesting. Very often I've contemplated on how they get started. Perhaps it's just a creative idea that makes a holiday more festive like our "green" apple sauce family tradition. Or maybe, it's a tradition that dates back to a country of origin. Whatever it happens to be, family traditions define who we are as individuals. I'm Italian by heritage (Scilian and Calabrase to be more specific). The Southern Italian's have many traditions. Many, many traditions!! 🥰 For instance, just to name one, on St. Joseph's Day (March 19th) we indulge in a pastry called Sfinge or Zeppola di San Giuseppe ~(Pastry of St. Joseph in Italian). St. Joseph was the stepfather of Jesus, husband to Mary, member of the holy family. Sfinge and zeppoli are eaten in southern Italy and in Italian American communities all year long, but it feels very special to eat them around this time of year. Basically the pastry consists of a cream puff filled with either custard or cannoli cream. Many sources indicate that sfinge and zeppoli are one in the same, but in my family they seem to be treated differently. The zeppola tends to be more or less round with powered sugar sprinkled on top and sometimes with custard sandwiched inside, whereas the sfinge is more open and has the cannoli or pastry cream placed atop the pastry itself and topped with candied fruit like cherries, citrus and even mini chocolate chips. My grandfather, Joseph Dominianni, we called him Poppy, would travel to the best Italian Bakery on St. Joseph's Day to get a few Sfinge for us. It was a real treat! You'd never even mention making them from scratch at home...it just wasn't the same as visiting a real authentic Southern Italian Bakery to purchase a few Sfinge on St. Joseph's Day. And he traveled!!! Boy, did he travel...He'd travel sometimes an hour to bring home some of those delectable treats. It ended up feeling like a journey that was sacred and special. I loved that family tradition. Poppy has since passed away, but the tradition lives on! Do you have any Family Traditions? Let me know in the comments below. Whatever they are and whatever you do... Have a Happy March filled with good health, joy and as the Old Irish saying goes, ☘️ "May Love and Laughter Light Your Days" ☘️. Happy Tales to you,
xoxo Yvonne (An Italian-American married to an Irish-American)
0 Comments
Art "This is Art.", says Art"... "Art" is a clever rhyming children's book written and illustrated by the Mutts Comic Strip creator Patrick McDonnell. It's about a budding young artist who uses his creativity to express himself. I love this children's book because it's endearing and tells the story about learning, creating and the love between a mother and a child. It's also interesting to me to witness the great talent that McDonnell has and is willing to share with his young and old readers. According to McDonnell's website, "In 2005, McDonnell embarked on a children’s book career. His first children’s book The Gift of Nothing quickly became a New York Times Best Seller. Art (2006), his second release, told the story of a boy named Art who makes art. His next release, Just Like Heaven (2006), heralding the joys of simple blessings, was hailed in a starred review by Kirkus as “a meditation on the true nature of miracles.” In 2007 McDonnell again returned to the New York Times Best Seller list with Hug Time, featuring a kitten named Jules who goes around the world hugging endangered species. Since then, he has produced two additional childrens books (South and Wag!) along with the 2012 Caldecott Honor winner Me…Jane, a biography about the young Jane Goodall, and The Monsters’ Monster." *🎨1 Reading, learning and creating have always been so vital to me and my family. In fact, my son, Denis, would read so often that as a Christmas gift one year we gave him his very own reading lamp which he used every night. His son and my grandson, William, loves to read just like his dad. As you can see from the photo below he even falls asleep reading with a book as a pillow. My granddaughters, Maddie and Annabel, love to create and learn. Maddie is a concert cellist and loves to paint and draw. Annabel draws, paints and loves to dance. My Step-Grandson, Karl, loves to create by styling hair. Creating and learning are so important to our development...no matter how old or young we are. I find it very rewarding when I create something whether it's creating my own art work, crocheting, learning a new recipe, working with Dagger or learning how to play the Ukulele (Yes, I'm trying to teach myself how to play the Ukulele by utilizing the YouTube tutorials...believe it or not!! I purchased an inexpensive Ukulele on Amazon...recommended to me by my dear friend Ann). All of these things make me feel successful. I've also found that the older I get the more I don't know. It can be kind of exciting when I think of how much I can still to learn and explore. During the difficult times of the pandemic, when we are pretty much at home... doing something creative or reading and learning something new takes us away from the stress of living in our isolated "bubble." It gives us purpose and keeps us positive. It also adds meaning to our lives. Throughout the month of February, maybe we can take sometime to learn something new or create our very own masterpiece. Whatever you do, do it knowing that however good or bad your creation is...you'll be spending your time wisely knowing that as you create, you're enhancing your life. What an exciting journey that can be!! Happy Creating!! Happy learning!! Happy exploring!! Happy Valentine's Day ❤️ Stay well. Stay warm & Stay safe ❤️ xoxo Yvonne Bibliography *🎨1 https://mutts.com/about-patrick/# Be Gone...2020!! |
A Place where I can Bark, Blog and Woof a Littlewritten by Yvonne Dagger Archives
May 2024
Categories |