A return to normalcy and family traditions – Maybe the Europeans have it right?

Are we changing the way we live, eat, and spend our free time due to the “new world order”?  What do you think?

I spent the decade of the 1990’s in Eastern Europe at a time when these economies and cultures were faced with the opportunity to shed 50 years of dominant Communist rule and the freedom to absorb “Western” cultural lifestyles.  Even at a time with inflation running 20%+, my Eastern European friends seemed to enjoy life more than we do in the States – as they were making only $300 to $500 a month.  In America, we are overworked, overwhelmed, overstressed, overweight, over-everything!  In Europe, I learned that material things:  a large car, name-brand clothing, my name-brand neighborhood were much less important to be truly happy.  I quickly learned to take advantage of life’s simple pleasures – like breaking bread and raising a glass of wine with family and friends.  It is one of our most cherished, shared experiences and probably the most important investment of our free time.  What other part of the day except during mealtime do we slow down (even sit down!) to share one of the most common questions, “how was your day?” and truly have the time to focus on the answer?

I also found out that our European friends laughed at our American infatuation with “organic” foods because everything they ate was already organic.  The franken- processed foods had not yet entered their economy.  This year alone, in America we have had a recall on spinach, and then peanuts, now pistachios.  What is next?  If you have ever eaten a freshly picked truly vine-ripened tomato, you know what I am talking about.

I find it funny that as European cultures become more “American,” we Americans are becoming more European.  As our interconnected world becomes smaller and smaller, this homogenization process is quite expected …. .and (I think) good for us!  Do we really need the massive homes and cars or do we actually enjoy and value quality time with our friends and loved ones more?  My European friends live in small condos and drive tiny autos (if they even own an auto at all) but, they seemed to enjoy life and travel more than we did even during our “go-go” decades.

So, with an economy finally finding a bottom and starting to recover, we begin to ask our selves, “What is REALLY important in life?”  Do we need an overly salted, high caloric fast food dinner half consumed in the car on the way home?   Or, do we owe it to ourselves and to our friends and family to seek out something better, more real and more wholesome?  It is encouraging to hear our guests tell me how important Harmoni has become in their lives.  Few of us have the time to shop for all of the fruits, vegetables and fish needed to put a wholesome dinner on the table day in and day out.  Let us take care of that chore . . . . . You simply focus on gathering your family and friends around the table.  As we like to say, Viva Bene!

What do you think?  Are we changing the way we live, eat, and spend our free time due to the “new world order”?  Or, is this just a minor blip in our quest for all things convenient?  Is the added economic pressure to keep our jobs making it even easier to justify our go-go lives?  I’d love to hear your thoughts?

Family Traditions

Some of you may know that the pictures that don the walls at Harmoni are of my extended Italian and Slovenian ancestors.  Most of the photos are of my Italian and Slovenian grandparents who made it to American via Ellis Island bringing their own family and food traditions.  I am grateful to still have wonderful memories of traditional holiday dinners at grandma’s house.

Tomorrow night, we celebrate my parent’s 45th wedding anniversary – at Harmoni, of course!  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my parents for teaching me about the importance of family and the value of dining together as a family unit.

Do you have any family food traditions that you would like to share?  The best story enjoys a free bottle of wine at Harmoni during your next visit!

Family Food Traditions . . . Where have they gone?

Last week, my family lost is matriarch; Erma Novello, my grandmother, died after living 91 phenomenal years.  You will find a picture of her with her strong, confident and friendly face in the photos on our Harmoni Market bistro walls.

On the Friday before the funeral, our family gathered at my cousin’s house in the bucolic suburbs of Philadelphia to make Grandma’s most famous dish – potato gnocchi.  It’s an amazingly simple dish to make and no manufactured / processed gnocchi comes close to the hand-made version.  The dinner prep started with my brother and I peeling the potatoes.  Well, wait a minute.  The dinner actually started when I popped the cork on a delicious Italian white . . . then, we set out to peel the potatoes.  (We always cook with wine!)  While we waited for the potatoes to boil, we departed to an outdoor patio to sit outside under a gracious blue ski and a perfect 72-degree / low-humidity afternoon – it was ideal.  My brother and I watched Grandma’s 10 great-grandchildren running around the back yard while the family adults continued to migrate to our table with more open bottles of Italian wine.  We all recalled our kitchen stories where Grandma taught us all how to make potato gnocchi. Sadly, we all agreed how silly it is that we  Americans have lost so many of our home-kitchen food traditions and pondered what will happen when each family’s “grandma” passes on and takes her famous dish with her.

After a glass of wine, we all returned inside and huddled around the kitchen table to make our Grandmother’s famous potato gnocchi.  My brother Mark (the family chef) kept us all in line.  After ricing potatoes and allowing them to cool, we added two eggs to about two pounds of potatoes and an equal volume of flour.  After kneading the dough about three minutes, we simply rolled out “logs” of dough about the width of our index finger.  We rolled out about 12 pounds of gnocchi dough in total – we had a lot of Italians to feed that night!  Then, we cut the logs in one-inch widths and, with the tip of our index finger we rolled the dough toward us, which adds more surface area to the potato dumpling and helps the gnocchi boil properly.  We had family members ages 6 to 76 around the table cutting and rolling the tender gnocchi and recalling stories of how our grandmother always made us laugh.  It was almost a bit uncomfortable that a tragic event like a death was resulting in on of our most memorable family get-togethers.  But, I don’t think my grandmother would mind – she was the glue that brought us all together anyway.

The Novello family normally serves its gnocchi with traditional spaghetti sauce, but this time, my brother created an amazing brown-butter sage sauce this time, too.  The family could not get enough of it.  After it was all over, there wasn’t one gnocchi left in the kitchen.

It’s truly a shame that family food traditions are being lost and forgotten due to our continuous quest for speed and productivity.  I’m not sure when we’ll make hand-made gnocchi again, but I know that my Grandma, Erma Novello, was smiling down upon her entire family that Friday evening.  And in true Italian fashion, she was probably most proud that all of the plates were clean as they came back to the kitchen.  Mangia! Mangia!

Viva Bene!

While living in Europe during the 1990’s, I was fortunate to travel throughout much of the Mediterranean – the south of France, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece.  I was amazed (and yes, a bit jealous) of the lifestyle the people of the Mediterranean enjoyed - sun, water, street cafes and fresh markets, delicious fresh food, and smiling family and friends breaking bread and raising a glass at every dining occasion.  After selling almost all of our restaurants in Europe and returning to the US, I found that our hectic American lifestyle left little time for the most important treasure - delicious, wholesome food, wonderful wine, great friends, and plenty of conversation and laughs around the table.

That is why I started Harmoni Market.  We want to become your living room and dining room, kitchen and pantry.  You work too hard to have to worry about shopping and cooking.  Let us create that comfortable European atmosphere for food shopping and dining, and you focus on enjoying a laugh or two with your friends and family.

As we like to say, “Viva Bene!”