HUNGRY GERALD

HG arrived at waterfront home of Gifted Daughter LR and Profesore/ Dottore MR in Riverside, R.I.. After lengthy travel from Santa Fe, HG was truly hungry….and thirsty. Awaiting HG was a bottle of Vinho Verde (the semi-sparkling, delicious “new” wine of the Minho region of Portugal) and Gifted Daughter LR’s version of a crab and avocado salad (really a nautical guacamole). This is an HG favorite. It was followed by a garlicky stew of Rhode Island clams (best in the world), shrimp and Italian sausage which was served on a bed of creamy polenta. Great bread. Two Vermont cheeses. White grapes.

Dining a La Famiglia. Beats any restaurant.

Daughter Lesley R. alerted Hungry Gerald and SJ to an error involving spaghetti with sardine sauce. In a recent post, HG commented on Sicilian sardine sauce, calling it “pasta al sardo.”

Corrected LR: “Pasta al sardo” means pasta cloaked in a sauce rendered from a gentleman of Sardinian descent. “Pasta con el sarde” is a more appetizing concoction involving sardines.

Although we have no doubt that, to a cannibal, Sardinians may be tasty, we have made the requisite correction and will always check with LR in the future regarding proper Italian spelling!

HG’s gifted daughter LR and her distinguished husband, Profesore/Dottore MR, hosted Romano Prodi at dinner in their Rhode Island home last week. Prodi, a voice of political and economic sanity in an increasingly crazy and disjointed world, is the former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission. Because of his low key manner, unusual in an Italian public figure, he has been nicknamed “Valium.” Less flattering, he has been nicknamed “The Mortadella.” That’s because he is a bit round, a bit pink and is from Bologna (birthplace of that delectable salume). This has led HG to muse on the subject of food nicknames. As noted in an earlier post, Charles De Gaulle was “La Grande Asperge”, of course. New York’s late and lamented Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was often greeted by shouts of “pastafazoole” because of his stated fondness for pasta e fagioli. Any other nicknames? Of course, many big wigs and titans of industry have been called “The Big Cheese” but given the recent, rotten actions of the Republican party, HG may well dub them, the “Overripe Gorgonzola.”