What’s better than keeping TRADITION alive and prepping food for 3 days to share with 25 of your closest friends? Nuttin’
Major Mangia! Memoir: 2011 Italian Easter Celebration with 25+ friends at our apartment in Miami.
Over the years, I think Easter has really started to make it’s way to the top of my list of favorite holidays. The preparation leading up to Easter (in the Catholic church) is filled with a lot of drama, sacrifice and I think the stories are some of my favorite. I also think that Easter is the start of something new for a lot of people–a rebirth, the start of spring and nice weather, and of course, Easter bonnets!
For me, I think it was all of those things! I wanted to gather all of our “transplant” Miami friends/co-workers to celebrate together, Italian-style!
Miami Crew - minus Vince(taking photo) & Iggy
Just like last year, Weber and I stayed in Miami for Easter. We’ve had a LOT of traveling already this year between the wedding and family stuff. Hopefully next year, we can get the family to come down here for Easter?!
“Family” is such an interesting word because it connotes different things fordifferent people. For me, “family” is something pretty indescribable. It’s more of a feeling than anything else–a mixture of love, loyalty, laughter and a billion memories all combined into this one big FEELING. Our families are what make us who we are and they can never ever be replaced, but sometimes (and not very often), you meet someone or you have an experience or moment when you just breathe in and say “man, it almost feels like….family”.
Making ravioli
As we toasted with Prosecco at the beginning of the party, I looked around at all of these friends, co-workers, neighbors (most of which do not have any family here in Miami) and felt happy. Happy to be together—Happy to have created a feeling of “family”, even when ours were thousands of miles away.
The great thing about technology is that even though our families are in fact thousands of miles away, phone calls, Skype and even iPhone FaceTime can let us celebrate together.
To all who came to the fiesta, thank you. To Weber & Tony, thank you for all the help making ravioli, rolling meatballs and everything else you did. Vince, thanks for taking all the photos! And to my Pitocco crew back home–thanks for the all the help answering food questions and supporting me as I tried to pull off feeding 25 people! :) Weber thought we’d never use all of those plates we got for the wedding! I guess I had to prove that wrong early on!
What was on the menu, you ask? Buon Appetito!
The Menu:
- Prosecco toast in celebration of Easter
- Homemade Limoncello alla Tony & Alisa
- Homemade Ricotta Cheese Ravioli in homemade marinara sauce (Pitocco family secret recipes). Half-moon shaped ravioli.
- Homemade Spinach and 4 cheese ravioli in gorgonzola cream sauce. Square shaped ravioli.
- Baked Rotini with seasoned ground beef, ricotta and mozzarella. Half with egg.
- Homemade Pesto Farfalle (pesto made with spinach, arugula and walnut)
- Homemade meatballs
- Mild Italian sausage
- Hot Italian sausage
- Rosemary Chicken
- Charred Broccoli
- Cucumber Tomato Salad with fresh mozzarella
- Mixed greens salad with homemade vinaigrette
- Gavazoon (Pitocco family recipe)
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