This was a time and place when we attended a liturgical church, much tradition and a beautiful place indeed.
That was then, this is now. : ) Voila!
Today we have four daughters ages 27 to 16. We have homeschooled now going into our 21st year. God is good.
Thumbprints of our four precious daughters...
Did I ever tell you about the day my Aunt Margaret called my Grandma? My mother relays that the beige phone rings there in my Grandma's simple house...ring-a-ding-a-ding-a...ring-a-ding-a-ding-a....
My Grandma: Hello (New Orleans accent mixed with Southern Bellishness)
Aunt Margaret: Oh Josie, my heart is black...my heart is black...
Grandma: What's-a-matter Margaret?
Aunt Margaret: It's Michael...He's leaving the priesthood....My heart is black...
You all can imagine how the conversation went...Like something from a movie. Poor, poor Aunt Margaret. Michael was one of she and Uncle Johnny's sons. He was leaving the priesthood to marry a nun he had met realizing God's plan. Before you get any ideas and start imagining things, ; ) please know he left with honor and the marriage was with honor. He is a wonderful and warm speaker these days and professional counselor...Neat man.
My Aunt Margaret was my Grandpa's sister, and she was a sweetheart. She and Uncle Johnny had a great little grocery store, now a yuppie grocery and delicatessen in a museum district. My Grandpa was a sweetie as well, a quiet soul, once an opera singer in New York as a young man. Do you know how my grandpa was discovered? As a very young man, he was hanging his clothes to dry on the clothes line outside of the building window there in New York, singing up a storm and a lady from the opera house heard him singing! That started his career singing in opera houses in New York as a young man. His mother later came here from Italy and called him to her new resident in another state and bless his heart, his singing career was put on hold indefinitely. He later did what he also loved...he became a professional fisherman and shrimper on the waterfront... Every now and then my precious shy grandpa would belt a song out, and it was glorious indeed. The Great Caruso on the Bay! (He and Mario Lanzo really did resemble each other as younger men) Yes indeed, just ask my mom.
When I think of my Italian heritage I sometimes think of the elaborate wedding showers the Italian women would give. One of the offerings they would delicately and artfully make with their loving hands were Italian Wedding Ring Cookies. I remember these type of cookies for the first time as a very, very little girl standing around a table adorned with a lovely lace tablecloth in the night hour at a most elegant but homey shower, these little cookies were the most beautiful pastel colors imaginable...I remember looking up at the young ladies standing around the table in their 60s dresses, high heel pumps and flip hair dos. What a classic memory. It is something that should be in a book or magazine.
You know what I keep on my formal table? My grandma's lace tablecloth she never used, poor Grandma, she saved everything for one day when she would have what she called a pretty house. I use that tablecloth now, and it is a sweet and precious daily reminder of my grandma.
I bring to you today a wedding cookie recipe from my mother in law's files:
Italian Wedding Ring Cookies
1 cup shortening
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
7 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Beat eggs and vanilla together. Cut flour, shortening and sugar together as you do pie crust, then add to egg mixture. Let rest 1 hour. Roll dough to shape of pencil, shape into small wedding rings by twisting around your little finger and cut. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. When done, drop into icing to coat and then put on wax paper to dry.
Icing:
1 box powdered sugar
1/4 milk
1 to 2 drops food coloring
lemon juice, if desired
Mix sugar with milk to form a medium consistency to coat cookies. Add small amount of food coloring. We always use assorted colors -blue, pink, yellow and green.
These cookies are "little pretties" for the table...It's not a real Italian Wedding Shower without them! : )
I hope you all are having a sweet week in Christ. It's all about Christ and Christ alone. It's a personal relationship with Christ that counts, not head knowledge. May we be Jesus with skin on to others. : ) Please feel free to visit my Vision For a Godly Home.blogspot for recent must-hear messages such as "What Love is This?" by Dave Hunt
8 comments:
Ahhh, happy anniversary Amelia! I have seen these pictures before and never tire of them. What a beautiful wedding and what an amazing heritage you share. Thanks so much for sharing those memories here. I LOVE reading them!
The cookies sound yummy & beautiful.
Blessings to you, dear friend!
(((Hugs)))
I've been to many an Italian shower and wedding, coming from the N.Y.C. area and being part Italian myself. There was NOTHING like those weddings!!!
You and your husband look just as lovely now! Congratulations.
My folks too always saved their nice things for "someday." It hurt to know that much of it went in the dumpster when my brother inherited the house. It had sat around so long that it was no longer useable. Made me go home after dad's funeral and use all my nice stuff.
How nice that you can use that tablecloth.
I love your stories. :) And have always enjoyed seeing your wedding pics over the years. ;)
I have my grams milkglass, lace table cloth and silver....I really admire them and use the items for special occasions so that I feel like Gram still has a part in our celebrations. :)
I would like to try the recipe you've shared...we're still in the middle of making pickles around here- so cookies would be a lovely change of pace! :)
Hugs and Love to you.
Cass
This warms the heart--in more ways than one. What blessed memories of your family. I am so glad you're using your grandmom's tablecloth. How special and sweet.
Your wedding photos are priceless! You two were and are two very good looking folks. From what I've heard so far, I think the beauty goes further than the skin.
I love the idea of those cookies!! I just told my daughter about them and she asked me to forward the recipe to her. Thanks for sharing it, Amelia!
Hope you are all well. Nice seeing those lovely girls again!
WARNING - MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THE RECIPE ! ! !
I made this recipe twice, thinking that I made a mistake after the first failure. A quick comparison between the ingredient list and the recipe shows items are excluded from the directions. Further, you never wind up with dough that it workable. I have about 15 cups of something that would make a passable top for an apple crisp, but certainly nothing that could be rolled. Either their is a problem with the quantities listed above, or thier is a missing "wet" ingredient. Either way, a major error.
Dear alxrain, Thank you for visiting my blog.
Perhaps add some milk to make it the consistency you are looking for. For cookies such as these, we usually form them with our hands which warms dough up a bit, you may even want to roll them with your hand like you would play dough to achieve that thin ring.
This recipe is directly from my mother in law's recipe, it could very well be that a wet ingredient was left out. I'm so sorry about that, I hope you can salvage your recipe somehow. : )
These cookies are more of a hard type cookie, just like a fat little ring, just for your information so you will know what the texture when finished should be.
Love your blog! Stumbled on it looking for the italian cookie recipe. We have made these cookies for years and somehow I lost the recipe. My husband and I are renewing our vows and it wouldn't be a celebration without them! God Bless you and your family.
Michele from Taylor, Michigan
Thank you Michele for taking the time to stop by! That is incredibly sweet of you!
Happy Anniversary and I hope the cookie recipe is a blessing! : )
Please come by again, it's so nice to hear from you.
Blessings! : ) ~Amelia
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