The Prince of Brooklyn Writes

Joseph has a new nickname this year. He was always Uncle Joe to me and my mother's favorite and doted on only brother. He is someone who I know and love and yet, due to circumstances of real life, I have not spent tremendous amounts of time with. We live and have lived hundreds and hundreds of miles apart for almost all of my life. That has never mattered. He is a part of me and my siblings and cousins as if he lived next door. He is a presence and a delight and a friend. Joe has lived in Louisville, KY for decades and speaks a peculiar combination of Brooklyneeze with a drawl!! He is a joker, a storyteller, a welcoming host and a writer. Boy, is he a writer!!

Every Christmas our family now gets a Christmas letter written by Uncle Joe. The envelope is thick and heavy. It is one of those mailings that you reach for and then read before you take your coat off. It is one that always brings smiles as well as tears. I cherish the letters because they are a narrative of our family, our history, our legacy. Uncle Joe's memories are wonderful in highlighting life in Brooklyn and the traditions of this family.

Best of all is his book. His gem of a book is called "A Family's Memories--A Culinary Guide to Our Traditional Family Cooking...Bon Appetit". It is self published and spiral bound and a true labor of love. I refer to it many times in a year and besides the recipes it is a collection of wisdom and misspellings (Joe has dyslexia, of course no one knew what it was called 60 or 70 years ago.)It oozes with the love he had for his lovely Barbara and his life with her and is a combination of Italian and Southern recipes.

The tidbits I like the very best are the little asides scattered throughout the book. "If you like the recipe you got it here, if not, you got it from my sisters!" or "My mother's recipes never list all the ingredients" or how do you know if something is done "When it's time to eat" or, and this is classic Carole, from the recipe on Couscous Carole's Way "Sprinkle your forehead with some water...You have to look like you have been slaving over a pot for at least a day.) His editorial comments include thank yous to people who translated from English to Italian (Angela) to advice on keeping the house safe from the smell of fish cooking by putting it in the dishwasher wrapped in foil--when the cycle is done, so is the fish! You don't get this stuff from Martha Stewart, do you?

So, you see you get good stories, good food and a history in pictures because instead of using pictures of the wonderful dishes within the cookbook are pictures of our family, from just off the boat till more recently. Each picture is referenced in the back with the correct historical info. It is a treasure. HE is a treasure.

FYI--His new nickname was pronounced this spring after he had a bit of a medical emergency (!!) and scared us all at the thought of what this may mean. He is doing better now, thank God.