While I am not of Italian descent, going to Catholic boys school (insert joke here) (insert "insert" joke here) I did have a good amount of Italian-American friends. Around the Christmas, this meant two things...."Dominick The Donkey" and The Feast of the Seven Fishes.
"Dominick the Donkey" is a little Christmas ditty sung by none other than the locally famous Lou Monte. Clarence will recall that Mr. Monte is also the Campari tongued crooner who sings "Lazy Mary", which the New York Mets Baseball Club plays after "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to distract fans from the fact that their team is nine outs away from losing another game.
Essentially, "Dominick the Donkey" explains how Santa deals with the very complex problem of his reindeer's inability to travel the hills of Italy. Here is a music video put together by a few of Brooklyn's finest to accompany Mr. Monte's opus.
The other Italian Christmas tradition that I was exposed to growing up was the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Wikipedia describes it as such:
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American Christmas celebration. Today, it is a feast that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. However, some Italian-American families have been known to celebrate with nine, eleven or thirteen different seafood dishes. This celebration commemorates the wait, the Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.What I remember is my friend's families getting together to eat an obscene amount of food, drink lots of cruddy red wine made by one of their uncles, and yell at each other. Needless to say it was always a fantastic event. One year, when I was lucky enough to attend one of these all day events before going off to celebrate with my family, the matriarch of the family was almost in tears when she realized she had only prepared six "fishes" for the feast. Thankfully, someone saved the day by printing out this picture and putting it on the table...
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53 comments:
happy birthday, fish!
Rob's subtle reference is one if the great stupid brilliant stories of our college juvenilia and wit.
yes, joke for two
My Italian in laws don't do the feast of the seven fishes. Instead it's an obscene amount of lobster and eggplant. Still fantastic.
Abe Vigoda!!!!
My Irish-Italian family follows the seven fishes tradition. So delicious!
i always enjoy mark's stories of holiday gluttony. in a really jealous sorta way.
Much like Tim Salmon and Mike Trout, Marls' ancestors were from Atlantis.
Don't forget Kevin Bass and Mike Carp. And Catfish Hunter. And Gar Heard.
clint dempsey returning to fulham. and unto us a savior was returned.
Lefty ass wiping is no fun. I'm surprised because TR says he likes to use his left hand since it feels like someone else is taking care of him.
ESPN created the top 50 "this is SportsCenter" commercials. The one of Gheorghe dancing with Karl Ravech & Kenny Mayne is #21. It's still really funny.
You'll enjoy this, Rob. The wife ordered pork belly a few days ago. I went to pick it up. 12 lbs worth. Approximately 10 lbs too much. The Puerto Rican guy in the meat department was a little confused.
Betty Wang by Hospitality. Kind of a catchy tune.
On tues, I had a pork belly and oyster sandwich. First ever. It was out of sight.
Jon Kitna y'all!
So relieved we've got another day of Xmas shopping left.
That sounds like a hell of a sandwich, Daniela.
After a FedEx fail, my wife is trying to come up with a witty note to our kids to explain why a giant box with a gift will arrive on 12/26. She and I are both drunk, and she is trying to make a poem. There is a lot of failing going on.
Owen Wilson was a co-writer and co-executive producer of Rushmore. Luke is such a deadbeat.
Happy Christmas, Gheorghies!!
TR, just explain to them that the 26th is Boxing Day (it's also the actual second day of gheorghemas) the traditional day when servants and tradesman were given gifts. Then send them outside to paint the house before they get the gift.
Merry Christmas/Gheorghemas to all.
merry christmas, you magnificent bastards
Merry Christmas, Gheorghies!
Santa left his and her monogrammed Moscow Mule tankards in my stocking.
Merry Christmas! Have completed toy construction and garbage clean up. Just poured Bloody #1.
Got some leopard skin speedos for the pool. Just kidding. Just wish I did. Santa sucks.
merry xmas, gheorghemas, etc.
on the ninth day of gheorghemas, god let there be ping-pong!
By far my favorite toy, or rather my son's is the remote controlled helicopter! I love it. I mean, he loves it!
Feliz Navidid, Los Gheorghies
Merry Christmas all! My seven year old was making an offering to his porcelain overlord before even checking to see if Santa showed up. Kid rarely gets sick - not since last Halloween, in fact. HIs timing really sucks!
zmother got zfamily matching sweaters. zChristmas is in full swing.
daughter got me a fulham jersey. gonna suck when they get relegated.
Did anyone else get BDP and De La tshirts?
Updated version of Operation...a mentally challenged Helen Keller could get through each surgery with nary a buzz. Way too easy. America further weakened today.
Merry Gheoghemas! I guess everyone needs a break from the family..,the movie theatre is PACKED
do NOT fly the remote control helicopter outside. we've donated many of those things to the local flora.
i am going to naples, florida tomorrow morning. any recommendations? is there some kind of beer indigenous to florida that is better than heady topper?
Dave....they might have Intuition down there....locally made here in JAX.
Lite Brite...more weakening. My lord.
Cigar City Brewery is based in Tampa and is quite good. Get you some of that, Dave.
My wife bought me bourbon (Bulleit-10 year), two pairs of retro Air Maxes, a tattoo gift certificate (every year…not complaining) and a smoker. The lady gets me.
Damn, Mark. She's a keeper. What's first in the smoker? Boston Butt? Shoulder? Some racks of ribs?
I second what Clare said. Nice goinz. I fully expect that you reciprocated in full.
We basically exchange tattoo gift certificates each year. Easiest present that the other is guaranteed to love. I think I took care of her pretty well.
Not sure about the first run on the smoker. I'll keep you posted.
Merry Xmas, Gheorhies. I'm sure Santa treated you all well.
We got the same operation game. Totally shamockery.
Time for some gin.
And Hospitality is coming out with a new album next year. Their first one with Betty Wang is pretty strong on the first side.
Which air maxes?
Hey (Betty) Wang. Don't tell them you're Jewish.
Ha ha ha Knicks. Losing by 29 on Xmas. Mike Woodson about to get a pink slip. And with no big draft picks anytime soon, they will be bad for a long time. The only thing going for them is that they're not the Nets.
Sorry for the delayed response, Z.
Air MAx 95 London http://6.kicksonfire.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/b_13.jpg
Air Max 1 prm tape camo http://www.eukicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/nike-air-max-1-prm-tape-camo.jpg
The wife cooked up 2 lbs of pork belly but it wasn't ready until we were done with most of dinner. So, I had pork belly for dessert. Lots of pork belly.
I almost bought both of those at different times but I'm trying to minimize my sneaker dependency. I saw the tape joints in Copenhagen and they were crazy pricey. Your lady truly loves you.
Greetings from Rome. Where the fuck is Day 9?
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