FRIDAY'S FOTO

This is the Western Wall  (or Kotel) in Jerusalem
Jewish people around the world are celebrating their Days of Awe
from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.
The Western Wall is what remains of the Second Holy Temple destroyed in 70 C.E.

"ABBONDANZA" DESCRIBES MARCELLO'S IN SUFFERN, NEW YORK

I am going to blame the camera phone
for my Santa Claus cheeks and Marcello's Rudolfesque nose.

If you live near Rockland County, New York or are traveling nearby on the New York Thruway or Route 17, you should not miss an opportunity to have dinner at Marcello’s in Suffern, New York.  Not only will you feast one some of the best Italian food prepared innovatively by Chef Marcello but also you might meet him as he makes the round of tables during quieter moments.

Chef Marcello is more than the chef and owner of an upscale restaurant; he is a success story whose talents have taken him around the world, invited him into the worlds of movies, television, and radio, inspired him to write cookbooks, and to become a premier Italian chef performing his culinary art before some of the most important people in the world including several Italian premiers.  Marcello even has his own radio program.  Visit Marcello’s website for more of this man’s biographical information.  You will be impressed!

But let’s get back to our dinner.

Marcello’s has the friendliest staff.  We are greeted almost as family, and the wait staff is unerringly knowledgeable, charming, and ready to help with your choices.  The faces look familiar, and I’d venture to guess that many have been with Marcello for a long while.  They know the menu and the specials very well.

I was torn between an Eggplant Rollatini  (filled with ricotta, mushrooms, fontina chees and parmigiano baked in a light tomato sauce served with pasta) and a Boneless Stuffed Pork Chop (filled with prosciutto & fontina cheese crusted with panco breadcrumbs served in a light wine sauce served with farrotto [spelt similar to risotto])

You just read those descriptions.  Which would you choose?

When I mentioned my dilemma to our very attentive waiter, he tilted his head, smiled a bit and said aloud as he wrote my order, “Pork Chop.” 

Later Marcello came to our table and brought me a copy of his new book, Marcello Russodivito - The Story of My 25 Years as Chef-Owner, which he autographed. 

He then explained my dinner. They do not cut the pork chop in the kitchen because they do not want the abundance of cheese to drip.  When I was served this dish moments later, it was just at the right temperature to spare me the drippy cheese thereby keeping all the melded flavors as they were meant to be.  On a side note--he is absolutely cherubically charming!

Marcello takes a great deal of care in presentation.  Each dish we ordered was artistically arranged and quite beautiful.

We four began with drinks (of course) but none of the tempting appetizers.  We were thoroughly content with the crusty roll and focaccia.  There was a lot of talking to do.

Veal Coletta

The dinner specials, however, were too tempting to pass, and Iris and Joyce headed in that direction.  Joyce ordered the Veal Coletta with eggplant, mozzarella, and pasta.  Iris selected the Stuffed Veal Chop—a nice, big breaded chop stuffed with mozzarella and mushrooms.

Veal Saltimboca

Rob debated between a tuna dish and Veal Saltimboca, and finally decided on the veal.  Excellent.  It was served with mashed potatoes and green beans.

None of us had any space left for dessert; actually, Joyce and I took half our entrées home with us!  Portions are “hearty.” Abbondanza!  I add that what I took home became two excellent sandwiches for our lunch the following day. 

We did enjoy excellent coffee.  Despite the fact that we had no room for dessert, a lovely plate of tiny and delicious treats were brought, and somehow we found room to try and to enjoy them.

Marcello’s provided us with a charming atmosphere, a table where four good friends could enjoy a leisurely, excellent meal served by a friendly, competent staff.  That’s pretty, darned good! 

FRIDAY'S FOTO

Another "peaceful" scene
Isle of Palms, South Carolina is one of the barrier islands.
It is located not far from Charleston.
Beautiful.

FRIDAY'S FOTO

We've passed this Mennonite farm so many times and viewed it only from afar from the highway.
This time we took the next exit and spent an hour or so meandering through the
beautiful farmland.
Ah, what loveliness once you get off the highway!

REWARDING READING --- THE BOOK THIEF

I may be ready to move a new book into my Top Ten list.  It’s Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, a phenomenal story full of the unexpected and written with superb skill and control.  On one hand, my response was intellectual because the story takes place in Germany during WWII beginning in January, 1939, and the characters, ordinary people living in Molching, a town just outside Munich, are not the people one usually reads about in WWII books.  In that way The Book Thief is reminiscent of All Quiet on the Western Front.  On the other hand, however, much as I fought against it, I had a visceral reaction to the book and its characters.  So much of the time I was told what the future would hold for them; yet I read hoping that somehow the story would progress differently.  It never did. It is impossible to escape the tragedy that was WWII.

Zusak does not lure his readers into The Book Thief; he grabs them by the collar and yanks them into the story through the most original first person narrator I’ve ever met.  I cannot be a spoiler here and tell you; you will find out soon enough, and perhaps you will be moved to alter your preconceptions about what he represents.  I hope I did.

You will follow this narrator through the story of a little girl, Liesel, who is given into the protective care of foster parents living on Himmel (Heaven) Street after….That you will find out as you read.  You follow her life as seen through the narrator’s eyes from the moment he first spies her on the train.  He tells her story as recorded in the book she wrote which he carries “in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell.  It is one of the small legion I carry, each extraordinary in its own right.”

By January, 1939 the people in Germany are hungry and suffering, but Adolf Hitler is still in his glory.  German soldiers still go with pride to fight in Russia.  Allegiance to his cause is everything, and those who do not follow the party line or who do not APPEAR to follow are suffering even more.  Liesel’s foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann receive a small stipend for taking her.  It helps them get by.  They are ordinary and extraordinary people at the same time, but that is something you will find out as you read.  What is constantly remarkable about The Book Thief is that our narrator, while jumping ahead in time to reveal the future, never does so in a way to ruin the present for the reader.

Through our narrator we are introduced to the rest of the Hubermann family and the people of the neighborhood including the children, particularly Rudy Steiner, with whom Liesel plays.  We get to know every one as human beings with all their idiosyncrasies and foibles.  It is our narrator who smoothes them out for us, evaluates them, and finally softens all the rough edges to show their longings and their deeper selves—sometimes appreciated and sometimes lost to those around them.  It is this microcosm of humanity that touches me most.

In his explanations, the narrator gives us many reasons for the way people act as they do, and he does it in a straightforward manner often listed as “facts about….”  We may not immediately understand, for instance, how an accordionist becomes a major player in this novel, but the FACT that it is important is introduced within the first pages. 

As the narrator begins, “It’s just a small story really, about, among other things:

*A girl

*Some words

*An accordionist

*Some fanatical Germans

*a Jewish fist fighter

*and quite a lot of thievery”

Interest is piqued, and off you go to find out about the list. 

Beautifully written, Kusak’s writing is spare and tight yet the reader can see and experience every place, action, and emotion as it happens.  Characters suffer cruelly, but they also exhibit courage, morality, perseverance, and friendship.  The book is ultimately uplifting and thoughtful.  It is a book that will stay with you.

A caveat: The Book Thief is considered Young Adult Fiction.  Frankly I’ve never known a young person to whom I would offhandedly give this book.  It needs to be discussed because it may be troubling to many young people.  Maturity will peel away the various levels and make Zusak’s message more palatable.  It’s a great book to help build a parent/child relationship.