These events were just before we left for Italy (eataly?!)
I’m unsure if it’s just me, but I get a nostalgic melancholy whenever I leave somewhere, even when I’m returning to people that I love. Thus was the feeling upon leaving our southern home for our friggin cold northern abode.
Return to the “North” Country”
We typically don’t return north until later May, but since we were going to Italy, we returned in mid-April. I had forgotten how cold Rochester could be in April. I’ve truly become a thin blooded Floridian…ouch! Other than suffering the cold weather, I spent much of my first outdoor ride thinking about baking (is that normal for a man my age?).
2nd Easter
Returning to family made the cold disappear! So, we had “Second Easter.” It was great to be back with the kids (and one little dough ball in the oven) and to be able to share some of their Grandma Joanne’s recipes with them.
It’s too bad, tragic actually, that our kids never had a chance to meet Grandma Joanne. She spend a tremendous amount energy talking about how she would enjoy (and spoil!) her yet to exist grandchildren (I CAN RELATE!). So, the best that I could do is feed them with the same love and care as she would.
On tap was more Piz, but both the sweet and savory kinds (the savory version is reviewed here) AND the first use of our new Ooni pizza oven. (I will cover the Ooni in a separate post).
Quick Aside – while in Italy, my cousin and I had a text discussion about Piz (the savory kind). He insisted it was called meat pie. While my insistence is Piz. So, I asked the Italian waitress, her answer was “Pizza Rustica” (pronounced roos-teek-a).
And of Course, Another Piz
Grandma Joanne’s actual rice pie recipe which, for some reason, she also called Piz! I’ll call it “Sweet Piz.” My ma never called it “Sweet Piz”, it’s a term that I just coined while writing this…I’m not sure if I like the moniker, but it does remind me of this…
Below is her actual recipe for “Rice Pie”. Her penmanship was outstanding! I substituted Stevia for all the sugar and Bob’s Red Mill 10 grain hot cereal/porridge in place of the white rice.
Also, get the use of the concentrated orange juice. Truly a 60’s and 70’s replacement for orange zest which I’m sure is used in Sud Italia.
We really didn’t do fruit when I was young with our preference being what we could get from Grandpa Tony’s garden (and likely fruit was considered a luxury item to my parents). Just like our ancestors she made do with what she had available to her.
I also used the Orange Juice concentrate. I didn’t even know that you could still buy it!
My Piz wasn’t as tall as ma’s, but she also had a high sided metal baking pan versus our old Pyrex.. Chip do you know what happened to that metal pan? Could be in our basement for that matter?!
The kids insisted on calling it rice pudding. I’m sure they did that just to piss me off! It hasn’t taken Mel very long to follow in with the other two in that regard! The results must’ve been pretty good because the “rice pudding” eaters wanted more of Grandma Joanne’s Piz (the sweet one)!.
Now for the Ooni…post to follow in a few days…
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