Thursday, April 20, 2017

Throwback Thursdays - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

My father also took me with him on weekends when he went to visit his sister or his relations in the Boston area. He did not do this with my brothers or sisters.

At the time, they may have been too young and things would change as time moved on into the Depression. Those were halcyon days for me. On my birthdays, my mother's uncle Zio Francisco, who was blind, was brought by a member of his family, my cousin, to our home, early and came back in the afternoon to take him home. They came by streetcar [ed: can't make out the rest of the sentence]. He was an Italian pastry chef baker and he came to make pastry for my birthday. I cannot recall how many time he came. It was a number of times.

My mother would put the board on the table, set the flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and other things on the table and then she would help him up and he would be at the center of the table. She would take his hand and at his direction place it as he directed on the flour, sugar, eggs, etc. He would then start with what would be called the piece de resistance. The birthday cake. He would mix the ingredients he would need to make the different filling for the cake.

My mother would then put these on the stove, turn the gas on, and her uncle would then mix whatever was needed to make the filling for the different layers of the cake which would become the chocolate, the cream, etc.

While doing these things, he would have my mother stirring the chocolate cream etc. until it reached the right consistency. He would ask my mother if she felt that the right thickness had arrived. And if she said yes she helped him to the stove he would make his test. Had her set the filling aside to cool, check the sponge cake layers and continue with the Paragini, Cannoli, Biscotti.

The birthday cake was a 3 layer cake with different layers, lemon layer, chocolate layer, etc. It was the same size as the board. Paragini, cannoli, biscotti and other sweets some made to go with wine. When he was through, his nephew would come and take him home.They would not stay. The affair would start after our dinner. And at a certain hour, there would be some noise in the hallway followed by instruments playing. My father would open the door and in would march five men playing trumpet, violin, guitar, etc. Playing Happy Birthday followed by the guests. In retrospect, the guests were all adults none of my friends or playmates were present.

Now my birthday falls on St. Patrick's Day. And when I was old enough to read, I learned of the parade in South Boston and who marched. Being a child I thought it was being held for me. And wondered why I didn't attend. At one event I stated that the parade was for me and that's where I found out it was and like all kids who are not grown up, I objected and hought it was unfair I should have been asked to be the honoree. As time passed my thought were that the [ed: birthday] celebration was for my father, which I later associated with a statement he made when I was somewhere in my thirties or early forties.

[ed: The statement had to have been made when Dad was in his 30s. His father died in 1954 and Dad would have been 35 years old. March was a big birthday month for Dad's family. It would have made sense to have a big birthday bash to celebrate all the March birthdays: Zia Angelina, 3/12, Dad, 3/17, Dad's father, Achille, 3/22, Uncle Joe, 3/24, Uncle Vincent 3/29, and Auntie Filomena 3/31.

Dad mentions the fact that his father never took his other children with him on visiting rounds. Dad had told me the reason he was always with his father was as the first born, he was the heir apparent, If anything happened to his father, he would have been expected to leave school, get a job and support the family. Being with his father was an education in familial obligations. My Uncle Bob, Dad's youngest brother, used to joke even though the family was too poor to afford a crown, the siblings all knew who was the Crown Prince.]

16 comments:

  1. What fabulous memories your father has left you. Gosh, I wish I got such a fabulous birthday cake. I can't begin to imagine making such an elaborate cake, much less one when I was blind.

    Yesterday I was at a genealogy lecture. Verifiable stories, passed down from generation to generation was one of the things she discussed.

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    1. We always had a big celebration for Dad's birthday. My mother's sister would bring the Italian rum cake and cookies from Mike's Pastry in the North End of Boston.

      His stories have helped me in my genealogy research. I have not been able to verify his Uncle Francisco in any records. Dad doesn't mention last names or where people lived. I don't know whether this is his mother's paternal or maternal uncle. So it just makes putting the puzzle together a little bit slower.

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  2. This 'chapter' made me smile! I love how he thought the St. Patrick's Day parade was for him! ;)

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    1. :-D No surprise there. Dad always had to be the center of attention.

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  3. Fascinating!
    I really want one of those birthday cakes!!!!

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    1. Rum cakes are delicious. chocolate filling, rum filling, custard sandwiched between layers of spongecake. Heaven!

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  4. CJ; how awesome is this post; I truly enjoyed the story of Zio and how dad's mom helped him; I am guessing he lost his eyesight later in life in that he could still make a "recipe" ...and I smiled at your dad thinking the parade was for him; that's cute ☺☺♥♥

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    1. You are most likely correct that Zio Francisco lost his eyesight later in life. Dad never mentioned how his uncle lost his sight. Since Dad was little when the uncle baked for the birthday celebration, Dad probably never knew. It wouldn't surprise me to learn the loss of sight due to diabetes.

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  5. pea....ezz...ink, can we say ya look mitee handsum on yur sofa//chair ~~~ ♥♥

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    1. =^..^= does, doesn't he? The chair was Himself birthday present a couple of years ago, and Ink was the first to give it a test ride though I'm guessing Ink thought the chair was his. :-D

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  6. Wow-what wonderful birthday parties those must have been. That's a lot of food. :) Reminds me of walking through the North End of Boston and going into one of those delicious bakeries. :) Now I want a cannoli. YUM. Hugs-Erika

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    1. The food for the party was just a little snack! (-; There would have been a ton of food. And the female guests would have brought food, too. We're Italian we celebrate grreat events with mass quantities of food, console our sorrows with mass quantities of food, and go through a daily routine with mass quantities of food. :-D

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  7. I love Rum cakes. They were always the choice for a special occasion birthday! I will always think of your dad on St. Particks day now.😁🎂🐱☘️

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    1. Dad used to see because his birthday was on St. Patrick's Day, he was more Irish than the Irish
      :-D

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  8. I want a birthday cake like that! That was a lot of birthday's for March!

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    1. The rum cakes are too die for. Very rich and decadent. I can understand why one cake to celebrate them all.

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