Lifestyles - 24 Dicembre 2020 For Christmas Let Baby Jesus Kindle Love in the Heart of a Sleepy Humanity A basket of words, A fresh flame that sparkles like snow to burnish our thoughts Christmas is not playing with dolls, It’s counting your wounds after your newly opened eyes Have furrowed into your mound of flesh. These verses by an anonymous poet can help us to celebrate a truly more authentic Christmas. Christmas needs […]
Food & Wine - 23 Dicembre 2020 Christmas at La Voce’s Home, a Campanian Starter and a Dessert to Surprise Guests Emmelina De Feo’s special dish: Zeppole with anchovies in oil One of my most treasured memories as a child of cooking and baking during the Christmas holidays, was when my mother would make her zeppole with anchovies in oil. In the area of the Cilento, in the province of Salerno, where my parents come from, […]
News - 10 Dicembre 2020 Covid-19: Your Kiddies Won’t Be Making Cookies with Grandma This Christmas All age groups are dealing with specific challenges, but grandma and grandpa are in a group by themselves. As parents you still have many decades ahead of you to make new memories with your children, but sad as it is to state the obvious, grandparents are on a reverse countdown. No hugs, no kisses, no human warmth. Their remaining time is limited and the isolation imposed by Covid-19 is robbing them of these precious moments.
Food & Wine - 8 Dicembre 2020 Merry Christmas from the Vatican: A Cookbook to Bring Joy in a Sad Year Two weeks ago, I received a press release from Sarah Lemieux, the Publicity Coordinator of Sophia Institute Press, about its hot-off-the-press publication, The Vatican Christmas Cookbook. It’s the sequel to the Institute’s best seller The Vatican Cookbook, which I reviewed on June 21, 2018. Since home-prepared food may be the only solace of the 2020 […]
People - 22 Dicembre 2018 The Season of Return to the South: A Christmas Trip We Southern migrants to Italy’s industrial north all share the same ritual. We take any opportunity we can to break away from grey polluted skies, the heaviness of the air and the stark furrowed fields populated by crows. Year in year out, we all race to the station on the appointed day to become the queue of grizzled short and stocky men, breath heaving from the fog and wearing the distant smell of caffè-latte and cigarettes
Lifestyles - 17 Dicembre 2018 What Does Christmas Look Like in an Italian American Family? Usually an Italian American family Christmas involves at least 20 people, and that is just counting the immediate family. So, it’s very important that everything is studied to detail for the special day. For starters it’s important to count the chairs, because not only will you have to have the right amount of chairs, you also need some extra ones. "Why?" you may ask.
Lifestyles - 21 Dicembre 2017 We Are the World, We Are the Children… Lo avete forse dimenticato? Stiamo vivendo in un'epoca di violenza e di ostilità senza precedenti, ma è facile sostenere che ogni generazione ha avuto la sua parte di problemi. Non abbiamo, forse, il potere di fare politica governativa o di fermare il riscaldamento globale o di alleviare la povertà su scala mondiale, ma è in nostro potere aiutare i nostri vicini, alla nostra destra e alla nostra sinistra
Lifestyles - 21 Dicembre 2017 We Are the World, We Are the Children… Did You Forget? We’re living in an age of unprecedented violence and hostility, yet it’s easy to argue that every generation has had its share of problems. We may not have the power to make government policy or to stop global warming or to alleviate poverty on a global scale, but it is in our power to help our neighbors to the right and left of us.
News - 18 Dicembre 2017 Trump and “Fake News” on the War on Christmas Meanwhile, a respected Jesuit priest, Head of the Theology Department at the University of Santa Clara in California, Father Kevin O’Brien replies to Trump, “I don’t think that Jesus cares much if we say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. He wasn’t interested in promoting himself”.
Lifestyles - 23 Ottobre 2017 “American” Fall Festivities in Italy Like Halloween, Thanksgiving originated to celebrate the end of a plentiful harvest, but America’s most heartfelt festivity isn’t commonly celebrated in Italy. Italy’s non-adoption is probably because the event was originally a Protestant affair. Today, however, whether you’re an expat living permanently in Rome or a tourist, there are several places to celebrate it.