November 21st, 2022

Good Morning Folks,

The first Thanksgivings that I recall as a young child were at my grandmother’s large home on Scio Street in the center city. It was where we always gathered for every holiday. My mother and father, my uncles and aunts  and our many cousins. We would fill up the dining room which was outfitted with a long table. There were always at least 30 people there with many others just stopping by to give a holiday greeting (my grandmother was from a family of 13!). We were a people in transition….immigrants becoming Americans. We tried to straddle the border of the two cultures. It was a feast for eating and we were all about it. We would start off with celery stalks stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese, olives, lupini beans and assorted breads. Then came the soup made with turkey parts and fresh vegetables and noodles. After that they brought out a large salad and either lasagna, raviolis, or manicotti and meatballs or braciole. It was a tried and true Italian feast which we all dug in and enjoyed. Then, after the women cleared away the dishes, they brought out the turkey… as large a turkey as they could fit in the oven. It was dressed with stuffing and included mashed potatoes, squash, green beans, cranberry sauce and bread. We were AMERICANS!!! I remember just staring at the turkey and thinking how can we eat this? We pushed on…..it was an entire day of eating. There was even room for traditional desserts (pumpkin pie and cannoli) because we were there to eat all day!

    Now the time came when the families had expanded and my grandmother eventually sold the big house in the city and moved to a small house in the suburbs. Then the individual families started having their own Thanksgiving. My mother had totally Americanized. She skipped the Italian part of the feast and went right to the turkey. Yes, we were secure in our new heritage and we were going to partake in it fully…..a HUGE turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce and of course stuffing. Now the stuffing was very special because it was made with the bread from my father’s bakery. My mother would stuffed the turkey in the morning with the seasoned bread, diced vegetables, fruit, herbs and chestnuts. There was always too much dressing so she would put the remainder in the oven in a casserole dish or flat pan. Now I distinctly remember us all sitting down at the big Thanksgiving table, there were six kids in our family plus always a few friends and our parents. Halfway through the dinner my mother let out a shout. "oh no….I forgot the dressing in the oven!" She pulled out a pan of crisped, brown and hardened dressing. I remember her being very tearful about forgetting it, but we calmed her down and said we like it better this way. It had the consistency of a cracker and we would just sop it up with gravy and gobble it down. Thus a family with tradition was born…the dry dressing…and every year I still make that dry, crispy dressing in memory of that fateful day. Still today my kids look for it and as we celebrate Thanksgiving this year at my daughter Kara‘s house, I’m sure there will be a big plate of "dry dressing" along with all of the traditional dishes!

Sincerely,

John Bernunzio 

PS While Buffalo, NY received 7 feet of snow this past week, Rochester, just 90 miles away was left with only a couple of inches. We were spared this time…but Winter has not even begun!!

JB

Saturday, December 3rd is STARSHINE, a local festival here in Penn Yan. It is held on Main St. from four until seven at night. The local shops will be having specials and there will be Christmas carols and all kinds of holiday fare. We are having a little open house so if you’re in the village of Penn Yan please stop by.

Baby it’s cold out there!