Feast of the Seven Fishes Blog | Italian Christmas, Italian Food, Cooking, Recipes and Traditions

Robert Tinnell To Speak In December At John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

Hey folks. We wrote about this a couple of weeks ago, but figured we'd re-post as it's happening today..

Robert Tinnell To Speak In December At John D. Calandra Italian American Institute In New York City As Part Of Writers Read Series

According to the Institute’s website:

“Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Robert Tinnell presents Feast of the Seven Fishes (Allegheny Image Factory, 2005)

A 2006 Eisner Award-nominee for “Best Graphic Album: Reprint,” Feast of the Seven Fishes is hardcover collection of the online strip serialized in 2004-2005 by writer Robert Tinnell and artists Ed Piskor and Alex Saviuk. A romantic comedy, the Feast storyline revolves around an Italian-American family’s celebration of the traditional Christmas Eve dinner. The time is 1983 and one of the younger members of the family, who reside in a north-central West Virginia mining and mill town, brings home a blonde, blue-eyed Protestant girl to share in both the cooking and eating. Their path to romance, however, is not an easy one. This collection incorporates recipes from the families of Tinnell and his wife, Shannon.”

“I am very honored to have my work acknowledged by an institution as deeply-committed to the legacy of Italian-Americans as the Calandra Institute is,” said Tinnell.

The Institute’s website (http://qcpages.qc.edu/calandra/index.html) describes itself thusly: “The overall purpose of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is basic to the central mission of The City University of New York. Italian-Americans represent the largest European ancestral group in New York State, New York City and at CUNY. Thus, the primary purpose of the Institute is to foster higher education among Italian-Americans. This mission is carried out by:

• Conducting and sponsoring empirical, theoretical and analytical research which will expand, deepen and strengthen critical understanding of the Italian American experience.
• Serving as a central clearing house for the dissemination of research to academia, government, industry and the civic community.
• Organizing conferences, lectures, seminars and symposia on the Italian American experience.
• Operating specialized counseling programs in areas of outreach, articulation and student retention at CUNY.
• Administering an Exchange Program between CUNY and Italian public universities.
• Maintaining a resource library of printed material as well as videos pertaining to the Italian American experience.
• Maintaining up-dated listings of Italian-American students and faculty at CUNY as well as faculty, academic scholars and professionals at other universities.
• Providing a Speakers Bureau for students, faculty and community groups on topics relevant to the Italian American experience.
• Producing and distributing a television program, informational in nature, geared to the Italian-American community.
• The Calandra Institute seeks to accomplish its mission through its research unit, Career Counseling Center, Academic and Cultural Programs, outreach programs, resource library, Columbus CUNY/ITALY Exchange Program and various community projects. “

Commemorating the Monongah Mine Disaster

Recently, Shannon and I had the very good fortune to attend a lecture by Dr. Joan Saverino, who spoke about the terrible 1907 mine disaster in Monongah, WV.  I went to high school in Monongah and every day passed the historical marker commemorating this tragedy.  Many of the miners who died in the explosion were of Italian origin. Dr. Saverino did a compelling job of illustrating the deep impact the event had not only in the U.S. but in Italy as well.  I'm going to paste in the press release that West Virginia University ran on her presentation, and if ever you get the chance to hear her speak on the subject, please do not hesitate (and for the record I am furious with myself for not running this prior to the event).

-Bob   

Author to discuss Monongah mine disaster, Italian identity March 16 at WVU

MONONGAH MINE DISASTER — The worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred on Dec. 6, 1907, when an underground explosion at Monongah in Marion County killed hundreds of miners.
Photo by: West Virginia Division of Culture and History

A discussion of the worst mine disaster in U.S. history and Italian-American identity will take place at West Virginia University Sunday, March 16.   

Joan Saverino will give the 3:30 p.m. presentation, “’Il Fuoco di Minonga’: The 1907 Mine Disaster, the Landscape of Coal, and the Making of Transnational Italian Identity in West Virginia.”   

The talk – sponsored by WVU’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the Committee for the Preservation of Italian-American Heritage and Culture – will be in Durrett Hall of the Erickson Alumni Center on WVU’s Evansdale Campus. It is free and open to the public.   

Saverino will discuss the recent 100th anniversary of the Monongah mine disaster and the relationship between the people of Marion County and the mine victims, many of whom were Italians who had migrated from San Giovanni in Fiore, San Nicola dell’Alto, Falerna, Gizzeria, Civitella Roveto, Duronia, Civita d’Antino, Canistro, Torella del Sannio and other villages in Calabria, Abruzzo and Molise.   

The mine disaster occurred Dec. 6, 1907. Hundreds of men and boys lost their lives, leaving 250 widows and more than 1,000 children without support.   

Saverino will examine the relationships surrounding the disaster and ask a series of questions: What are the many associations of the immigrants who came and those they left behind? How are these relationships embodied in their adopted landscape in West Virginia and in that of their home country? What meaning does the historic mine disaster have for Italian-Americans in West Virginia, and what are its implications for a changing Italian-American identity in the 21st century?   

Saverino is the assistant director for education at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She attended WVU and earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology in 1975, along with a master’s from The George Washington University in anthropology and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in folklore and folklife.   

She is the author of many scholarly articles, including “An Appalachian Vignette,” published in Italian Americana; “Domani Ci Zappa: Italian Immigration and Ethnicity in Pennsylvania” in Pennsylvania Folklife; and “Memories in Artifact and Stone: Italians Build a Neighborhood” in Germantown Crier.   

Saverino’s presentation is supported by the Endowment for the Preservation of Italian-American History and Culture. The endowment – housed in WVU Foundation Inc. and administered through the Office of the Dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences – supports a series of programs and activities which preserve and share the experience of early Italian immigrants to the United States.

World Nutella Day!

Our new friend Joe, over at the Italyville Blog, has clued us in on a special holiday. Today is the second annual World Nutella Day, a celebration of the chocolaty hazelnut spread that has tickled our taste buds since we were tykes! I can still remember my mom making me Nutella sandwiches before I walked to school; they complimented my early-morning cartoon lineup well (the formula for the perfect morning for a 5-year-old-boy:  "G.I. Joes," Nutella sandwich, "Carebears," and the first five minutes of "Fraggle Rock," followed by a juice box). While I haven't had the stuff for nearly two decades now, others have been whipping up some delicious recipes. Via the World Nutella Day site, I came across a blog called Ms. Adventures in Italy, which shares some grown-up recipes that include Nutella and don't require you to cut the crust off first. Here's one that looks pretty amazing:

Drunken Devil’s Food Espresso Cupcakes with Nutella Filling

9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup Borghetti espresso liquor, or other coffee liquor
½ cup whole or low-fat milk
Nutella
Powdered sugar
Hazelnuts or chocolate espresso beans

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Mix all dry ingredients well with a spoon in a bowl. In a measuring cup (I used my 1-cupper) mix the milk and liquor together, set aside.
2. In a (separate) mixing bowl, beat the sugar and the (softened) butter together. If it’s too hard, put the butter in the microwave (first) for 10 seconds to soften it. Mix in an egg at a time until well-blended.
3. Add half of the dry ingredients, mix well and then add the milk/liquor mixture and mix. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. If you were hand-mixing before (me), I recommend using the electric one (or lots of caffeine) to do the final mix as it gets really fluffy.
4. Pour into (lined) cupcake pans, about 3/4 of the way full, or a little more. Bake for 20 minutes, and pull out to test with a toothpick. Because of the alcohol, they take less time to bake as the alcohol evaporates pretty quickly. Make sure not to overcook!
5. When the cupcakes have cooled enough to handle, cut the top off of the cupcake. On a flat surface, use a tiny cookie cutter (such as a heart or star) to cut out a shape in the very middle of the cupcake top. Alternatively, you could use a sharp knife to cut a small circle in the top or core the cupcake entirely and fill and with Nutella! Sprinkle powdered sugar on the cupcake top.
6. On the cupcake, slather a thick layer of Nutella, piling more in the center where the cutout shape will be.
7. Place the cupcake top back on. If necessary, use a Ziploc bag and pipe some more Nutella into the middle. Garnish with a whole hazelnut or chocolate coffee bean.

-Mike

Dean Martin Festival

I recently had the good fortune to be invited to speak and sign books over in Steubenville, Ohio.  It was a really good time—the people over there are very friendly and crazy about the Feast of the Seven Fishes (though not so much cooked eel—once again, I'm a lone wolf).  Anyway, Steubenville is the hometown of the late, great Dean Martin.  As readers of the book know, Dino is beloved by the characters therein, and art is definitely imitating life on that particular subject.  Dean Martin was a superstar in the eyes of my grandparents.  My mom even recently bought the box set of his TV series.  When I was writing both the book and screenplay I often put his Christmas album on for inspiration. Given all that, it was a wonderful surprise to learn that Steubenville has an annual Dean Martin Festival, and I'm going to move heaven and earth next summer to go.  It looks like a blast, but don't take my word for it—visit their Web page , starting with the short bio on Dean at DeanMartinSteubenville.com.

One more thing, I found this on YouTube—Dino doing a Christmas classic...

For Women Only Expo recap!

Here are some pictures of Bob and Shannon Tinnell during their cooking demonstration at the For Women Only Expo in Erie, Penn. Here's a quote from  Bob himself:

"Shannon and I had a great time in Erie.  We hosted two different presentations, wherein we demonstrated how to make Shannon's basic tomato sauce, stuffed calamari in a red sauce, linguine in a red clam sauce, and a tuna sauce.  It was a lot of fun and there wasn't a scrap of food left after.  We also enjoyed spending time with Kim and Linda, from the Erie Borders.  They are always so supportive and are fun to hang around with."

Seventh Annual For Women Only Expo

Robert and Shannon Tinnell will be available in the Borders Books booth during The 7th Annual For Women Only Expo in Erie, Penn. on Saturday, October 13 and Sunday, October 14, to meet and greet, as well as autograph copies of "The Feast of the Seven Fishes. " Each day they will be doing a 30-40 minute cooking demo.  So, if you're in Northeast Pennsylvania on those days, stop by the expo around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, or 10:30 a.m. on Sunday for a taste of some delicious Italian food and and your own autographed copy of the book.

Ci vediamo!

A Rob Tinnell Sighting!

We've gotten a few emails regarding our beloved author Robert Tinnell, and what he's been up to.  With the Feast of the Seven Fishes festival winding down, he's been busy working on his craft, writing.  He was approached to write a piece in an anthology, with an aura of war, terror, salvation, or action inspired by a used postcard. 

Robert's pieces is titled The Midnight Caller: Holiday in Hades and can be found in the book Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, which will be available June 26th.  He was also interviewed by collaborator and editor of the book Jason Rodriguez at Comic Book Resources News.