5 things my Italian grandfather taught me

my gift to you on World Pasta Day

Happy World Pasta Day! It’s also my grandfather’s birthday today. Arturo Cece was the OG pasta eater. Here’s my little tribute to him and the funny things I was lucky enough to learn from him growing up.

---

an old photo of my grandfather and his hot dog truck

The intro - written while sipping coffee from the moka and eating too many cookies, again:

iPhone photos seemingly allow you to travel back in time to precise moments, moments that - sans technology - would have stayed stored on the back burner of your mind until a trigger returns one of the memories to you - maybe it’s the smell of a dish at a restaurant or lukewarm air of the metro rushing past your face.

I don’t know if I am happy about the access to all these ‘memories,’ the ability to visually embrace a moment so clearly. Some of my photos from 4 to 5 years ago look clearer than my current photos. Maybe it’s my still raw connection to those memories, or maybe it’s just Apple’s camera manipulations revealing themselves after the lower quality convinced you to splurge on yet another iPhone. 

Nonetheless, this newsletter is usually bedazzled in bits of humor, fun facts, and memes. Today it’s more sacred, but that doesn’t mean the humor will relent. It’s World Pasta Day people! But, more importantly, it’s my grandfather’s birthday. He would have been 99 years old.

me and my grandfather, I believe I was about 9

Looking back on photos of him on my phone is tear-jerking and surreal - it reminds me how time is passing a little too fast. Though I am pleased at this point in time in my life, there’s not a moment that goes by where I wish I could travel back and sit with him at the table again.

In my August newsletter, I dove into the details of my Jersey Italian background. Today is a continuation, by sharing things I learned from my grandfather that you may relate to or find handy, no matter if you’re Italian, Italian-American, or any culture.

Don’t touch someone else’s wine

Just don’t.