Cappelletti

On my Mothers side of the family we have a Christmas tradition of making these things called "cappelletti" or "caplets." That means "little hat" in Italian.  We make them a week before Christmas, freeze them, then serve them in broth.  This is pretty much all we eat on Christmas day.   Some add a splash of wine and others add  parmesan reggiano cheese.  Everyone in my family looks forward to it the entire year and there are normally no leftovers.

I inquired a bit more this year at - as we call it "Caplet Day," and learned from my Grandfather, Great Uncle, and Great Aunt, that my Great Grandmother, Irma, (who I remember because she lived to the age of 98) and Great Grandfather, Guleardo, were both born in Reggio Emillia, Italy.  There, both of their families made cappelletti.  My Great Aunt also said my Great Grandmother told her she remembered making them for the first time when she was 6 years old in 1915.  This had been a tradition in my family for well over 100 years and as you can tell we intend to keep it that way. 

The night before "Caplet Day" my Mother makes 9 batches of dough (thats 60 eggs!)  And eventually, the dough making will be passed along as my responsibility.  My Uncle makes the meat we use which is called "pist."  (Naturally when we were little we used that word often during "Caplet Day" because it sounded like we were saying you know what.)  When we begin, the dough is flattened by my mother.  Usually the younger kids who don't make caplets yet will turn the crank in between taking plates of made caplets off the table to be counted into 10x10 lines.  Then my Uncle cuts the dough  and passes it along to caplet makers.  The board we use to knead and cut the dough was my Great Grandmothers.  She got it in 1931 when she married my Great Grandfather Guleardo.  I wont get too technical but the dough is only passed to certain people.  There are those that strictly make pist balls, and those that make caplets, hah.  Once we are finished and the top side of the laid out caplets are dry, we flip them, let the other side try and bag them up.  This year our final caplet count was 4051, a record high. 

On a side note, my Grandfather told me my Great Grandmothers maiden name was Neri.  This was Michelangelo's mothers maiden name.  So I'll go with that and hope I'm related to Michelangelo!  Hah.  Something interesting I could dig further into.

Have a safe and happy holidays everyone.  I hope it's filled with food as delicious as this!

Feeling Grateful

Last night, my girlfriends and I had a cookie making party for the holidays!  We had chocolate chocolate, peanut butter, pumpkin, and sugar cookies with an array of decorating supplies. Along with puppy chow and red velvet mini cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  Oh, and we must not forget the "jug" of wine.  This was a fantastic evening that turned into a dance party.  (Great way to burn off some of those sweets we devoured. Hah.)  We all felt like we were 12 years old again dancing in the living room to Spice Girls, Hanson, NSYNC, and we cant forget the classics, Madonna, Hall & Oats, and Bruce Springsteen that we blasted.  (The neighbors probably thought we were insane!)  This was a perfect time to remember what the holidays are about though.  Being with loved ones and enjoying the company of great friends.  I feel incredibly grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.  They are each talented, inspiring individuals and I cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for them!

Mackenzie Farone, one of my best friends (above bottom right) is a blogger as well.  Here is a link to check out some of her posts! Enjoy :) FitnessNAt

Gingerbread House

I spent this afternoon with my 4 year old cousin, Natalee.  After playing legos and babies, we decided it was time to make a gingerbread house.  (Mind you she told me this was her third, so she's a skilled gingerbread house maker as you will be able to tell.)  Im not sure where most of the candy went, onto the house or into her stomach.  "I just can't stop eating it," she giggled the whole time.  Now that she's into a sugar coma napping, I'm going to wrap some Christmas gifts.  Happy Holidays :)