"Origins of Take Out Italian Food"

This is really two stories in one...circa 1942

One night there was a fire in a hot chocolate factory a few blocks away and the usual suspects went to check it out. My father, Uncle Tony and Uncle Marty..

They returned home carrying the discarded loot left after the firemen were done. They were carrying cartons of Hot Chocolate Powder.

I think it was the first time I ever actually saw hot chocolate (god, were we poor)..the booty was distributed to all the families...(it is almost like the cavemen coming home with their kill and feeding the entire tribe)

I think it may have been the first time all my cousins had the treat of a hot chocolate....it was definatley mine.

now the second part of the story...

It was grandpa's birthday and the entire family was in Nonna's apartment...I remember Nonna was going to make ( what else?)hot chocolate, only she was making it with water instead of milk, as the label instructed. Someone said Mom you can't use water and she said water is good enough...

For Grandpa's special day everyone chipped in a bought ( yes Bought) a bakery made birthday cake. I will never forget the cake had chocolate pudding filling and the sides were covered in sliced almonds...it was a wonderful treat , I thought, it does not get any better then this... I remember the bakery was on the corner of 5th St and Vernon Blvd, across the street from Montera's Funeral Parlor...(The name of the bakery began with a "G" but I can not remember it. if any of you do, let me know)

When it was time to have the cake and hot chocolate, I watched as Nonna began cutting the cardboard box the cake came in into squares and as the cake was sliced each person was handed a piece of cake on the cardboard and a cup of watered hot chocolate....but I knew it was a great and a wonderful party and I was happy to be there....

"The Bulletin Board"

I am adding a Bulletin Board to this site...

Email me any info you would like to post, questions

you may have or any comments and photos to

share etc..

This is not my blog..it is "OUR" blog

lets all participate and have fun...

1. My granddaughter Lauren, my son Michael's daughter

has been elected Class Secretary 2010

at St. Joseph College in CT..

"Way to Go Lauren"

2. This Space is reserved for you..

send me something you

would like to share...

"Nonna has Rug Rage"

This is a story I really do not enjoy telling, but there is good and bad in everything, even family blogs....

I was less than 3 years old at the time. My mother, Aunt Millie and Nonna where going to New York City by train to do food shopping. This was a routine they did once every month or so...they would go to Little Italy for meat, fish and other items...

I was being watched by Aunt Rosette, she was not married yet and still lived with her nonna and it was her job to do all the housework. As they were leaving Nonna turned to Aunt Rosette and told her to clean the house and wash the clothes and as she walked out the door she said "DO NOT CUT THE RUGS".....I remember that as clear as a bell...it is amazing how some things stay with us forever....

Aunt Rosette was doing her cleaning chores and I saw she had a pair of scissors in her, she bent down and began to trim the edges of the scatter rugs which were placed in various spots in various rooms...I realize now that the edges were frayed and she wanted to trim and clean them up...she cut no more than a 1/4 inch of unraveling yarn and they looked good.....when she was done she told me not to tell Nonna..I said okay.....

Hours later the shoppers returned carrying many shopping bags of meat and other food items....while they were unpacking the food, I said to my mother...Aunt Rosette cut the rugs...not realizing that my grandmother could hear me...all of a sudden I saw she had a heavy pot in her hand and with one wild swing she threw it and hit Aunt Rosette in the back of the head, screaming, "I told you not to do that"....My Mom and Aunt Millie tried to calm her down, poor Aunt Rosette was crying and I started to cry really not knowing what was going on....I remember Aunt Rosette went into the bedroom and sat in the corner and was rubbing her head and sobbing.....my grandmother calmed down and continued to do her thing with the food...My Mom and Aunt Millie took me into the bedroom and they told me I should not have said what I did, then they told me to tell my aunt I was sorry.....I was so upset I went over to her and started to cry. Aunt Rosette still crying hugged me and said that it was okay.....I think that was my first lesson in keeping your word and being careful of where and what you say because you never know who can hear you....many, many years later I apologized to my aunt and she laughed and said it was worth it, the rugs really looked good..we both laughed and hugged...

"The Yellow Ball"

I was about 4 at the time of this story...

It was very early on a Sunday morning in the summer, I was on the stoop with grandpa and he asked if I wanted to go for a walk....We took off and started to walk toward the East River....
( Let me give you a little background on the location of 521..as you walked out the front door, down the stoop and turned right the East River was only a block and half away....) When we reached the waters edge grandpa looked down and said, look as he pointed into the water..he held my hand and I stood on the wooden log, which was the only barrier between the street and the water.....all I saw was a big yellow ball under the water....he kept looking and looking and said, that is a taxi.
I had no idea was a taxi was and I guess I did not ask.....he took my hand and walked very quickly back toward the house....This part I am not sure about...some where he found a phone and called the police...it had to be in a store on Vernon Blvd or maybe it was in Zia Mariette's bar ( yes she owned a bar)...no one we know had a phone and come to think of it, I don't think I know what a phone was either....I remember we walked back to the river and the police asked grandpa questions..I was in awe of this entire thing.... and at some point a vehicle come..( not sure what it was ) but I do remember someone was in the water and tied a rope to the taxi...we had to stand back as they worked to raise the car. When it was on the ground they opened the door, I remember water running out and the policeman said to the crowd that had congregated..."two people"...I saw the woman as they took her out..she was all white or gray then they covered her....I heard later as grandpa related the story to everyone in the neighborhood.....The driver and a woman passenger in the back seat...were lost...as he drove down 8th street, not knowing the area and as there were no lights warning people of the drop... the taxi went over the log and into the water and both drowned...I was so excited that grandpa and me found it...I saw my first cab, my first dead person and I spent the entire morning with grandpa, who was now the celebrity of 8th street..
I guess that was my first brush with notoriety....

Have a Happy Weekend All

I decided to space my stories a few days apart....remember, anticipation is half the desire......
Spoke to cousin Jay yesterday, she is coming along fine...she had Georgie print out the blogs so she could read them....If anyone wants to say hi to Jay just enter it in the comment section...she will see them...
So all you guys have a great weekend and get ready for another chapter in the 521 Saga, coming to a PC near you...

It's Working

I am so happy....Kelly Conlon's daughter, Kasey, asked what a STOOP was....

Now, after explaining it, I know it is one word that this generation will pass on or else it would have been forgotten and with it part of our growing up.....

Thanks Kasey

Thoughts for Today September 20th

71 years ago today Liz and Mike were married in St Mary's Church in Long Island City...

Following the ceremony a lavish reception was held attended by the elite of L.I.C.

Later that night, counting the gifts a total of $299.00 was received which was immediately impounded by my grandmother to cover the cost of the furniture purchased for their apartment located at ...well where else...521

"The Flour Drum Song"

The morning silence was shattered by a scream coming from Aunt Nettie's and Uncle Tony's apartment. They lived in the apartment next to ours on the 3rd floor....(you can see we moved up one flight) and we shared a bathroom located between the two apartments.


My father just came home. He worked nights at I.Wohl Dry Cleaners located around the corner. He ran next door and opened the door finding Jimmy about the age of 2 1/2 sitting on the floor among every pot he could find, banging on them and smiling, looking a lot like a skinny version ofthe Pillsbury Dough Boy.. Jimmy was able to reach two ingredients for his breakfast gourmet meal...the flour bag and the sugar bag.....I guess he could not reach a mixing bowl because he proceeded to mix the flour and sugar from one end of the kitchen floor to the other...


My father was trying to calm his sister down and keeping Uncle Tony a few feet from the budding chef. I think it was Uncle Tony's intension to coin the expression "BAM" for the first time on Jimmy.......I remember standing in the hallway with my mother watching this...I think some of them laughed and others did not...but they all pitched in and clean up Jim's first attempt at cooking..


Although Jim is a great cook today, he still prefers eating out and maybe this first venture into the world of Emeril explains why.

"Get the scale Pop"

My adventure on 8th Street began on January 6th, 1939.....
On that friday afternoon at exactly 3:00 PM I entered the world... I was delivered in the same bed I was conceived in. In the 4 rail road room, cold water flat on the second floor that my parents called home.

My parents could not afford the use of a hospital so Dr Granneri, the family doctor, was summoned and yes in those days doctors came to you not the other way round. So on that cold afternoon I received my welcome to the world with a slap on the ass and was wrapped in a clean but well used blanket.

My grandfather was told to get a scale so my weight could be checked...so grandpa brought the only scale they owned, a bread scale...I weighted in at 5 pounds even...which I realized later was 8 pounds lighter then the St Anthony Bread my great aunt Marie ( Zia Mariette)...would dispense each June 13th to 13 devoted and bread hungry friends. But I digress.....

So now you know how my passion for 521 began....with a slap, a wrap and a nap......
(more tales to follow)

The Rumbleseat

I am sure this will give my Costanza Cousins a smile ..

I was about 5 and I was on the stoop with various cousins and my Aunt Millie. My father had recently painted his car, it was an amazing car..it had a "Rumble Seat". I am not sure of the make but I thought it was a great .
Actually when I said my father painted it, he did...using a can of old dark green paint and a paint brush.... anyway,

I had a small piece of orange chalk and I decided, as it was Halloween to draw a LARGE pumpkin on the passenger side door...my Aunt Millie saw what I was about to do and said that I should not do it....I remember telling her, this is my fathers car and I can do it....and proceeded to express myself.
Needless to say when my father and mother saw my artwork I did not have a very happy Halloween...Luckily for me, my father still had some paid left and he painted over my pumpkin...ah my first art work destroyed by a disgruntled critic....
I remember my aunt telling me as I was being dragged into the house...
"I told you"

Stoop Views

The Stoop in question was at 521 8 th Street....

It was the Cianciaruso Family Compound.

We had a compound before the Kennedy's did, Wow...We were trend setters.

I was thinking all the good and not so good times we had experienced there will be lost and forgotten once we go.

The chances are no one will really be interested in these tales of our youth but hey, maybe some people will.

So I dedicate this site to all of us..

If you have any stories to tell please share them with all of us....

Enjoy !