On Top of Spaghetti

I love Saturday mornings when I can just sit in my favorite comfy chair taking my time to wake up, drinking my coffee, and thinking about the weekend ahead.  Do I want to be productive and get things done, or spend my days doing ‘nothing’ and resting up for next week?

This morning, with my little doxie, Sunny, sitting on my left side, and Alexa on my right, I let my mind wander. As is often the case, my wandering mind wonders. And as I often say to my brother, ‘you don’t need to wonder when Alexa is around.’ I decided to consult her.

“Alexa, what’s the most popular Italian food?”

Alexa replies, “From passionateaboutfood.net: the most popular Italian dishes are, of course, pizza, pasta, and lasagna.”

Hmmm.  Now I know pizza is popular with most everybody, but I gotta tell you, when my Italian family plans a big Italian dinner with all our favorites, pizza is never on the menu.

So now I’m wondering about my Italian grandfather and if pizza was served on Friday night while they… were doing whatever it is they did in Conflenti Italy on Friday night in the early 1900s. I wonder what pizza might have looked like to him, so I pose another questions to Alexa.

“Alexa, tell me about the origin of pizza.”

Alexa replies with, “Pizza originated in Italy.” 

Okay, yes.  I’ll blame myself for posing the question poorly.  Meanwhile Alexa has posted a message to me on her screen.

You may also be interested in…

1.  Hamburgers
2. Hotdogs
3. Doughnuts

Hmmm.  Maybe another day, but right now I’m interested in sticking to the topic at hand.  And now I’ve peaked MOH’s curiosity, and he decides to join in the ‘conversation.’

MOH:  “Alexa, what was on the original pizzas in Italy?”

Alexa replies, “From giordanos.com: the original recipe for pizza contained just tomato sauce, basil and cheese, representing the three colors of the Italian flag.”

For real? Can that be true? It sounds a little bit like a made-up internet answer to me; not the toppings part, but stating the ingredients were chosen to represent the colors of the flag. But I guess it’s not any different than folks dreaming up 1001 dessert recipes that include strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream on the fourth of July. And who am I to doubt Giordano’s? Their founders are brothers who were born in Turin, Italy. But back to the intent of my original question, I try to be more specific.

“Alexa, what kind of pasta do Italians prefer?”

Alexa replies, “Italians like pasta ‘al dente’ – firm but tender.  If you’d like another answer, just say next.”

Me:  Alexa, next.

Alexa replies, “From tastycraze.com; spaghetti are (sic) a preferred dish among Italians.  If you’d like another answer, just say next.”

That answer was not a surprise, but as long as she is still offering more information, I say, “Alexa, next.”

Alexa replies, “From sous-chef.co.uk: globally, the most famous Italian dried pasta shapes include spaghetti, fusilli, and penne.”

Fusilli?  I’m not familiar with it.  (I know!  My apologies to my Italian friends and family members that are aghast upon reading that.)  I know spaghetti, angel hair, orecchiette, penne, cannelloni, farfalle, linguine, shells, tortellini, ditalini, manicotti, ziti, gnocchi, vermicelli, mostaccioli, and the seriously under-rated and under-recognized rigatoni.  I pick up my phone and use it to Google and find out what fusilli looks like.  It’s similar to, but different than, rotini. Nope, not for me.  It looks like the pasta that people put in pasta salad.  That is not how I use pasta.

So now my weekend agenda includes planning a large Italian dinner with my family.  (Siblings, be prepared to discuss on our weekly Zoom call Sunday night.)  Maybe we can include a dish that my son recently prepared which includes meatballs (8 ounces) atop a beautiful bed of spaghetti.