Okay, in case this comes up....Contento seemed to me to be the best name. A few reasons really: I'm pretty sure that Contento is the same as content. I think that I would like to feel "contented" after eating. Thus....Contento Cuisine.
Salamida and Ciavarella had their drawbacks. For instance, when I was in junior high, my girlfriend's father thought the name "Salamida" sounded like "We...sellabreada...notsellameata." This is funny when said with a really bad Italian accident, but looks stupid on the written page. As for Ciavarella...let's face it...I was called Cinderella for much of my childhood.
Who are the Contentos?
Contento was my mother's mother's maiden name. My Grandmi was Elwyn Contento Salamida. Angela (or was Angelina) Contento was my great grandmother. She was a blast! She didn't speak much English and was the typical Italian grandma. Her gray hair was pulled back in a bun, the pointy facial features, her stockings rolled down just above the knee. She sat in the livingroom at her house in Endicott watching TV. It was a large pink and white stucko house (did I spell that right?). Grandma loved to watch Lawrence Welk, football, boxing, and wrestling. She was convinced the wrestling was real and you did not want to tell her otherwise. I heard from my older cousins that the language that came from her little Italian mouth while watching boxing was not only hair-raising, but amusing.
My cousin Luann and I use to sit on the floor on either side of Grandma Contento when we were younger. We would smile, look at each other, and at the same time roll her stockings down to her ankles. I don't remember what she said to us, but it didn't sound like birds tweeting. The two of us ran away....giggling. (nasty brats!)
Like any other Italian grandmother, she laid out a table to die for. Pastas and salads galore.
This next salad was something that we all loved. My mother and father both said that I should include it in my blog. I told them I had no idea how to spell it. Between the three of us, we came up with this spelling: L'aqua Salle.
This is a salad that has truly survived the generations of Contentos and Salamidas. Today, my children will go out into our garden and pick tomatoes and make this juicy, garlicy salad. Just as the roasted pepper and tomato salad, you must have a good hunk of crusty bread to dunk into the bowl while eating it. When I was younger, I believe we ate from and dunked our bread into a common salad bowl as a family. It was fun, but not quite sanitary. These days, being more aware of germs, we pour it into individual bowls and have at it!
Although we call it a salad, L'aqau Salle is almost like a cold soup. I hope you enjoy!
L'aqua Salle
6-8 medium to large very ripe (not rotten) tomatoes
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup cool water
2-4 cloves of garlic-sliced or minced
basil, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste.
Rinse your tomatoes. Then cut (quartered or cubed, whatever size you like)them into a bowl. Cut out the core, but leave the seeds and juice with the tomatoes. Take your potato masher and smash your tomatoes to get all that juice out. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss. I like to let it sit awhile and soak in all the flavors of the herbs and garlic. Serve at room temperature.
**Tips learned through Carla's Cooking School of Hard Knocks**
(in other words, I screwed up and found out the hard way)
If you are making any salad with olive oil in the dressing, you really don't want to refrigerate it. The olive oil tends to solidify and turns into a sort of gross, slimey gel. If you are making a salad that you anticipate will produce leftovers that need refrigerated and it calls for oil, use canola oil or an oil other than olive oil. I have found that canolia oil refrigerates nicely.
Salamida and Ciavarella had their drawbacks. For instance, when I was in junior high, my girlfriend's father thought the name "Salamida" sounded like "We...sellabreada...notsellameata." This is funny when said with a really bad Italian accident, but looks stupid on the written page. As for Ciavarella...let's face it...I was called Cinderella for much of my childhood.
Who are the Contentos?
Contento was my mother's mother's maiden name. My Grandmi was Elwyn Contento Salamida. Angela (or was Angelina) Contento was my great grandmother. She was a blast! She didn't speak much English and was the typical Italian grandma. Her gray hair was pulled back in a bun, the pointy facial features, her stockings rolled down just above the knee. She sat in the livingroom at her house in Endicott watching TV. It was a large pink and white stucko house (did I spell that right?). Grandma loved to watch Lawrence Welk, football, boxing, and wrestling. She was convinced the wrestling was real and you did not want to tell her otherwise. I heard from my older cousins that the language that came from her little Italian mouth while watching boxing was not only hair-raising, but amusing.
My cousin Luann and I use to sit on the floor on either side of Grandma Contento when we were younger. We would smile, look at each other, and at the same time roll her stockings down to her ankles. I don't remember what she said to us, but it didn't sound like birds tweeting. The two of us ran away....giggling. (nasty brats!)
Like any other Italian grandmother, she laid out a table to die for. Pastas and salads galore.
This next salad was something that we all loved. My mother and father both said that I should include it in my blog. I told them I had no idea how to spell it. Between the three of us, we came up with this spelling: L'aqua Salle.
This is a salad that has truly survived the generations of Contentos and Salamidas. Today, my children will go out into our garden and pick tomatoes and make this juicy, garlicy salad. Just as the roasted pepper and tomato salad, you must have a good hunk of crusty bread to dunk into the bowl while eating it. When I was younger, I believe we ate from and dunked our bread into a common salad bowl as a family. It was fun, but not quite sanitary. These days, being more aware of germs, we pour it into individual bowls and have at it!
Although we call it a salad, L'aqau Salle is almost like a cold soup. I hope you enjoy!
L'aqua Salle
6-8 medium to large very ripe (not rotten) tomatoes
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup cool water
2-4 cloves of garlic-sliced or minced
basil, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste.
Rinse your tomatoes. Then cut (quartered or cubed, whatever size you like)them into a bowl. Cut out the core, but leave the seeds and juice with the tomatoes. Take your potato masher and smash your tomatoes to get all that juice out. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss. I like to let it sit awhile and soak in all the flavors of the herbs and garlic. Serve at room temperature.
**Tips learned through Carla's Cooking School of Hard Knocks**
(in other words, I screwed up and found out the hard way)
If you are making any salad with olive oil in the dressing, you really don't want to refrigerate it. The olive oil tends to solidify and turns into a sort of gross, slimey gel. If you are making a salad that you anticipate will produce leftovers that need refrigerated and it calls for oil, use canola oil or an oil other than olive oil. I have found that canolia oil refrigerates nicely.
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