secrets of Italian grandmothers

 

The Washington Post had an article last week about taste-testing 12 supermarket marinara sauces.

It was a break from political news.

It got 2800 reader comments.

----------------- I was in the local Stop & Shop in Johnston, Rhode Island one day and saw Victoria Marinara on sale.  As I was reaching down to get it I sensed two people behind me watching.  I turned around to two little old Italian women, both dressed in black, nodding and smiling their approval.  They said something in Italian and laughed.

I wonder what that was?

----------- That was the ghost of my Italian grandmother from Providence making fun of jarred sauce.  She grew her own tomatoes, canned them, and made pasta from scratch every weekend.  There's nothing like it, anywhere.

--------------- My Italian grandfather (lived off Academy Ave.) bought two lots, one for the house and one for the sprawling garden.  His basement was a wonderland of jarred vegetables.

Unbelievable Sunday dinners.

----------------- Cucina Antica Tomato Basil is my favorite store bought.  They use San Marzano tomatoes.  Simple ingredients list.  No added sugar.  Also no garlic (just onion) which I prefer.  Homemade with fresh garlic can be good but I don't tend to like it in jarred sauces.

-------------- I get ripe Roma tomatoes from the farmers' market and garlic and onions.  Sausage if they have a good spicy lean sausage there.  And I simmer it for a few hours on the stove with herbs, add some red wine to finish, and put it in  marinara bottles to put in the freezer.  No extra salt or chemicals.

----------------------- If it has sausage in it, it's not marinara.  Anyway, this is about jarred sauce for when you don't have hours on end to shop, peel tomatoes, and simmer.

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Three movies that can give us perspective on the assassination of JFK and the events that followed can be watched on Amazon Prime:

JFK  (1991)

        rent or buy

Nixon  (1995)

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Parkland  (2013)

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        Okay, there's another one that's free with Prime:

JFK Revisited:  Through the Looking Glass  (2021)

(they discuss the original JFK movie and various theories and the Warren Commission, etc.)

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