Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

My favorite pastry: Napoleon (Mille Feuille)

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:

Every Saturday afternoon and Sunday he [ed: Dad's father] had his friends at the house in the Summer to play cards, drink wine, and provided them with cold cut sandwiches. Mother doing all the bread cutting and serving.

My birthdays were in a way celebrated. My mother's uncle, Zio Francisco who was blind, would have one of his children or nephews bring him to our house. To bake the goodies for my birthday celebration. [ed: Dad, last names would have been helpful. Is this an uncle from her father's side? from her mother's side? A blood-relative, uncle or a close friend of the family that gets adopted as an uncle? I can't find any record of him.]

My mother would put out the board and the linathula. Which was the handle of a broom sanded down to the wood.. And as it was used to roll out the dough which had eggs blended in it. It would eventually look golden.

She would lay out all of the ingredients he needed for the cake. The Italian type, the cannoli, paragini and other other pastry.

Then when he was finished with one kind, he made another. He would ask my mother to test whatever was in the pan or in the oven. She would tell him how it felt and he would say take it out, or let it cook a few more minutes.

No matter what he made the results were delicious. When he was done some member of his family would come and pick him up and take him home.

At night after our dinner. there would be some noise in the hallway. and shortly music. My mother would open the door and my father's friends would file in to celebrate my birthday on St. Patrick's Day. None of my siblings were there. So it probably was my father's way of celebrating with his friends.

[ed: March was a big birthday month in the family:

Dad's Aunt Angelina, 12. March
One of Angelina's sons, Anthony, 14. March
Dad, 17 March
19. March, Feast of St. Joseph
Dad's father, Achille, 22 March
Achille's brother, Dad's Uncle Joe, 24. March
Dad's mother's brother, Uncle Vincent, 29. March
Dad's mother's sister, Aunt Philomena, 31. March]