“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.” ~ Orson Welles
A few excerpts from my diary, circa mid-to-late seventies:
MONDAY: “Dear Diary, Pancakes for breakfast (tasted really good). Lunch: pasta fagioli. Played records with Patti Ann , then mom made spaghetti & meatballs for dinner – was really yummy . Ice cream sandwiches for dessert.
SPLOTCH!!! Ooops! There goes some sauce on the page. Guess I shouldn’t eat and write.
FRIDAY: Nan’s anisette cookies for a snack, sausage & peppers for lunch and chicken cacciatore for dinner – loved dipping the Italian bread in mom’s sauce. Watched The Monkees on TV. I love Peter Tork as much as that sauce!
SPLOOOTCH! Damn, more saucey droppings!
SATURDAY: Walked to the candy store with Pat, Tracy and John for some BottleCaps, Pop Rocks and Wacky Packs - got the UGH LEE card – hahaha! Dad trekked all of us to McDonald’s for lunch - I really like those tasty little onions on the burgers. Played outside in the yard all afternoon, making mud pies. Then made Tracy eat an ant – told her it was chocolate covered. Mmmm.. mom made lasagna for dinner. It-was really delicious, and Dad ate all the garlic – eeeew! (Funny, these days I am the one picking out that garlic –to ENJOY!)
I’m sure you get the message by now. All I seemed to have on my mind was food, food and more food (until boys came around anyway, then I had a new crush each month, more about my bizarre crushes in the next post). I get my love of the next meal from my Sicilian/Napoledon father – hey, it’s an Italian thing – eating could actually be an Olympic sport (remember my “Abbondanza” post?). I think we are born with sauce in our veins.
The fig doesn’t fall far from the tree, either, because while Dad and I were enjoying our breakfast, we’d be chatting about a savory lunch to come a few hours later. While chowing down on lunch, we were discussing what mom would be cooking up for dinner. Yup, my main loves in those days were breakfast, lunch and dinner – they were so HOT!
It’s actually amazing I am not a fatty-patatty! When I look back through my diaries (which I wrote in from about seven until I was twenty two) my main focus (in my younger days) was stuffing my face! I often wonder why I didn’t become a food writer or restaurant reviewer – or the 600 lb woman currently in her bed filling her fat pie-hole with dozens of eggs, cheeses, meats and crusty Italian loaves, hoping to reach her current goal of 1000 lbs (true, and freaking disgusting by the way)!
I still have my love affair with good meals, but I don’t plan on looking like the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka any time soon (guess that’s why they invented exercise).
Funny Note: To this day, my first roommate Cheryl and I still crack up about what we call the “Romano Food Diaries”. When we needed a laugh we’d dig out those old diary pages, and just simply read them aloud. I think I’ll give Cheryl a ring and recite some of my “food porn” to her this weekend. It’ll bring back some silly and sweet memories … for both of us.
Dear Diary, I hope the readers go back to the home page: www.madnessmomandme.com ~ and ~ they sign up for the MADNESS FEED: http://madnessmomandme.com/feed/
