Easter & Polish Food

Christmas,  Easter, and the Fourth of July were the three big holidays in our family. These days we celebrate Greek Easter with our friends Charles and Kathleen. Greek Easter is on May 5th this year which also coincides or conflicts with Cinco de Mayo.

X Mas eve everyone came to our home, and it was a very Italian event. The food was Italian. My mother made lasagna, and we had cannoli and Italian cookies for dessert.

Fourth of July we went to my mother's brother's house, Uncle Ray and Aunt Liz. The food was American, dogs, steaks, burgers and beers.

Easter we went to my uncle Whitey's house or my cousin Gene's home to celebrate, and it was a very Polish event. Gene made kalbasi sausage, and his mother Aunt Sue made galumpki, also known as stuffed cabbage rolls. My mother made padogi which is basically a ravioli stuffed with potato, several different cheeses, nutmeg, and mint. Mom would always make a prune cake, and bought a nut roll dessert from the Russian Orthodox Church, that I haven't had since I left Connecticut. The memory of that nut roll haunts me to this day.

My uncle Whitey was a real character. He was stationed on a transport ship in WWII, and went around the world 13 times, taking soldiers to war and brining them home. He ran a floating crap game, and would send home gobs of money to my grandmother. My father Rocco's brother Tony said Whitey took his money going over to Italy, and took his money again coming back home after the war. Each time he told Unlce Tony, "You won't need any money where you're going."

Uncle Whitey was hit was shrapnel in the Pacific, and received a partial disability pension for life after the war. He ran a bookie operation for 40 years. He and my Aunt May never had children, so they spoiled all their nephews and nieces, one of them being myself. They spent every winter in Florida and Whitey bought a new car every year on Jan. 2nd. Uncle Whitey was a smart gambler, a winner. They would take me and my cousin Donna to the Saratoga race track on weekend, and buy us Rob Roy's and Shirley Temple drinks.We'd stay in a fancy hotel.  We thought it was the greatest thing in the world. The horses, the stables, the smell of horseshit, the little jockey's and their colorful outfits. It was all magical and exciting to a little kid. Aunt May was a real Yankee, and her family were old New Englanders. We would go down to the stables, and aunt May could pick out a winner by just looking at the horses.

There was always an Easter egg hunt, and when we got older my cousin Donna and her sister Debbie and I would go for walks and smoke pot, while all the old folks sat around, and watched Jack Nicholas play golf on TV. Uncle Whitey would slip you a fin and say, "Put that in your pocket."

I miss those family gatherings. No one keeps in touch any more with the exception of my oldest sister Helene. Aunt May and Uncle Whitey are gone now.

Our tradition of late has been to go out for brunch on Easter, especially when Geri's grandma Elsie was alive, and that's what we'll do this Sunday. When Elsie was with us we would go to Alta Mira in Sausalito and drink bloody Mary's, mimosas, sit in the sun, and look out over the San Francisco bay.

Things change. That's the one thing we can rely on, change. Time never stops. It just keeps on keeping on. Of course I miss the people most of all, but I miss the Polish food at Easter too.

It will be brunch this year for me, Geraldine, her sister Victoria and our friend Micheal. We'll take photos with us, and put them at the table. That way our family will still be with us. I could use a couple of Aunt Sue's galumpkies right about now, and a big slice of that Russian nut roll to wash it down.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War

What I ate Today:

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast w/butter, 2 eggs, 1/2 potato hash browns, black tea 1 sugar

Lunch: Chicken and Asian noodles

Snacks: Nuts/raisins

Dinner: Big salad w/blue cheese and herb bread

Exercise: 6.5 miles walking