by Colin Preseley

Created on: November 09, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

It is no wonder why, for so long, Rome ruled the world. Italian culture spawned great food and the common understanding that you ate not until you were satisfied, but until your mother told you that you had enough. I have an Italian mother. She is by any stretch of the imagination the sweetest woman in the world...unless...you insult Frank Sinatra, criticize the New York Yankees, or fail to have seven helpings of her pasta. Then, there is hell to pay.

My mother has made a habit of cooking sauce for hours-the smell moving throughout the house encapsulating your sense of smell and tantalizing your taste buds. The sauce contained fresh meatballs, a mixture of pork, beef, veal, eggs, parsley, oregano, and of course, plenty of garlic. The real secret to these delicious "balls" however, was the addition of stale bread. This ingredient gave both substance and adhesion to the balls, and made them the perfect target of pre-meal theft.

The pasta itself was always aldente and the Italian bread fresh from the bakery ready for the most anxious of sauce dippers. However, the real pasta connection I recall the most was the fabulous gnnochis my mama and aunt made on a Sunday morning. They are made from fresh dough and potatoes rolled in flower and are as solid as a brick. You simply couldn't move after eating ten of them. Combine them with the balls and you were ready to explode. Except, you couldn't leave the table. My mother, like a Roman Centurion, would command you to have sausage and peppers as a finishing course. The alternative: a smack on the cheek and a few "inappropriate" words of wisdom.

At the time these "reflections" were actually taking place, I had a girlfriend named Denise. She, too, was Italiano. She craved my mother's sausage and peppers. Understandably, she would side with my mother and carefully remind me that if I wanted to remain in her favor, I would have to give her my sausage, and of course, peppers. Accordingly, I gladly took a few smacks to the cheek in order to keep Denise happy.

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