makitmama (Friday 14th of November 2008 01:38:35 PM)

Your book changed my life. I am now journaling and writing recipes for my daughters, describing all the dishes made by my scottish immigrant grandmother in the deep south. Things like corn pone,pound cake,poke salad, fried chicken, etc. Your book didn't make me want to cook italian, it articulated a feeling I didn't even realize I had about disappearing family traditions. My daughters demand the holiday family dishes, but these are not 'daily' food. anyway, you wrote a book that touched me.

homemademom1 (Sunday 9th of November 2008 08:46:30 PM)

Oh My God!! I am a Spanish girl who grew up making Gravy with my sister and her mother in law in a basement cranking the OLD PLUM tomatoes & Jarring them ..whew its been years. Now with today's economy I decided to go back to making pasta from scratch. Well I watch your video and not only enjoyed it " But I had this guy from the hardware store cut me a rolling pin like that and WOW! WOW! I caught on very quickly tonight ..My Ravioli's were perfect! Thank you! I give you a 10 star rating...

chubbadeen (Tuesday 21st of October 2008 07:52:56 PM)

you were wonderful to watch an listen to, I only wish you made some type of sauce as well, which is why im on you tube today, Im trying to attempt to make it. I see you have written a book, Im going to go look for it somewhere, an buy it. When you were talking about traditions, I had the same notion, so I started looking for recipes, that i could work on an make it my own little thing. however ravioli tonight for my family!

tmpnash (Thursday 9th of October 2008 09:42:19 AM)

Ciao Laura! Thank you so much for your wonderful book & video. I appreciate the fact that I was able to take your journey with you through your words. As someone who got in touch with her Italian heritage later in life, I can truly appreciate your story. My father was born in Italy but I was raised by my American mom. It wasn't until I spent more time with my Aunt & went to Italy that I desired the same thing - to keep my family's culinary traditions going! Grazie! Off to make ravioli!

Valandil1979 (Thursday 9th of October 2008 02:10:49 AM)

Hey, that was beautiful! Thans a lot :)

AstridCC (Tuesday 23rd of September 2008 12:44:38 PM)

PS (feel free to delete as this does not relate directly to your video): this Ligurian friend gave me pesto made in a mortar by his mom, telling me a food processor overheats the basil; he said pasta machines are called "Nonna Paperas" in Italy, in reference to a character in Donald Duck comic strips? Finally he said rolling by hand, if you know what you're doing, is much faster than using a Nonna Papera, which surprised me. I guess the size of the sheets of dough makes the difference.

JuggaloNarutard (Wednesday 24th of September 2008 06:05:54 AM)

this is laura again. obviously writing from my son's youtube account. yes many genoese say that a mortar is best for pesto. I'd say that quality of ingredients and the skill of the cook. I have a friend there who tells me he'd rather have pesto made in a blender by a good cook than pesto made by hand by a bad one. As to pasta machines--i agree that a really skilled person i way more productive on a rolling pin than someone with a machine. best wishes and thanks for the comments. Laura

AstridCC (Tuesday 23rd of September 2008 12:41:06 PM)

This is my 2nd comment: I just wanted to share with you the kind of interest your book elicits: I showed it to a friend who lives in Liguria, and whose ancestors all come from Liguria as well. He was very interested in your book (he is passionate about traditional Ligurian cuisine, and talks about opening a small trattoria). He doesn't read English very well but took a photo of the cover of your book to see if he can find it in Italian...

JuggaloNarutard (Tuesday 23rd of September 2008 03:54:45 PM)

thank you so much Astrid. I appreciate this. The book is not translated into Italian. I really wonder if the italians would really understand this story of a Italian-American searching for her roots.

dougules (Monday 22nd of September 2008 08:41:16 PM)

I actually think the recipe with the Americanized ingredients is interesting. I mean America is part of our history as much as Italy.