So, if it’s Christmas Eve, for me, gotta steam a stuffed artichoke, Sicilian-style. You can cram a lot into a large artichoke, but Sicilians have a simplistic approach: garlic, parsley, perhaps a few pignoli (pine) nuts. And, dripping with glorious olive oil. This is my Grandpa Joe’s recipe. I know, because I was gifted with his recipe book. He logged all his recipes.
My maternal Grandpa, Giuseppe Fusci, took a circuitous route to the United States from Sicily, to the Port of New Orleans, not New York, circa 1890. Why? New Orleans had a port, jobs available and the climate in New Orleans inviting, like Sicily. That, however, was a long-ass boat ride. It took a few weeks.
Eventually, he made his way to New York, then Bridgeport, CT where Sicilians thrived among the needed jobs: masonry, tailoring, railroad construction. Grandpa Joe did anything to support his family. He even raised homing pigeons to deliver messages before telephones were universally communicative.
My earliest memories as a boy in the early 1960s was him carting me in a wheelbarrow to the coops. The scent of pigeons.
But, for me, his legacy lasts because we carry on his recipes. And, we had marvelous times growing up with his food though he was gone: The Fusci’s, Grimaldi’s, D’Ambrosio’s, Castorina’s, Falconieri’s, Arcidiaconno’s. And, those families, in return, were just as giving.
Yes, a lot of vowels to swallow.? You bet, and a lot of amazing food to swallow.
An artichoke heart is the best part.
Happy Christmas. Buon Natale.
Oh, by the way, OIB celebrates 20 years in 2026.
Without you, doesn’t happen.
I am grateful.
