The Mayor of New York City during HG’s elementary school days in The Bronx was the colorful Fiorello H. LaGuardia, known affectionately as “The Little Flower.” Mayor LaGuardia awarded young HG with a history book and kind words of praise when HG won second prize in the city’s “Americana Quiz Contest” broadcast on radio station WNYC. Sunday mornings, HG would sit in front of the family Philco and listen to the Mayor read and describe that day’s newspaper comics. The Mayor often mentioned that he would be dining later in the day and sharing his favorite dish: Pastafazoole.
This is a robust, thick soup of beans, pasta, vegetables, olive oil, garlic, chicken stock, parsley, etc., topped with plenty of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. (“Pasta e fagioli” means pasta and beans so “pastafazoole’ must spring from dialect). Anyway, no matter what you call it, BSK made the soup/stew last night and HG was overjoyed. HG’s glass was filled with tasty Nero d’Avola red wine and HG toasted the memory of “The Little Flower.”
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