My little Italian obsession

I was perusing my favorite websites this morning and I can’t go a week without a dose of this guy. He’s a chef, he’s really cute and I am obsessed with his adorable accent. He does a recipe every monday for yahoo! Shine, and I look forward to Monday a titch more because of …..fans myself  Fabio <3…chow ciao!!!!

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/easy-secrets-cooking-eggs-fabios-eggs-benedict-153800472.html

smiling yet? RIGHT?  listen to that little part when he tries to say…SO LID I FY, he kills me with his accent Obsessed!..Ok so.. I’m crushing on him (so what)  and watch when he breaks the yolk,….exhales & listen to his soft moan….SLAPS MYSELF, no really, he just makes me smile and giggle! Bello!  Enjoy this beautiful, blessed day  xxxx ~leelee

I feel a titch of SPRING in the air

Happy Sunny Spring (ish) Mornin’ to All!  We made it through another week, and isn’t it funny how Easter and April creep up so fast! My new full time job takes up a good portion of my days, I fall alseep earlier, I get up earlier, I adhere to a schedule and I must admit, its nice to have the house to myself! I don’t need to rush and share the bathroom, heaven, I can do my chores early and come home to a nice neat kitchen! As of Monday,I am officially finished with my free taxi service for The Husband.  I schlepped this man to and fro for almost a year. Up at the crackage, and scooping him up each evening while trying to prepare dinner and a daily challenge to NOT run over a commuter darting in front of my moving car. So…I’m so done with all that. Drive yourself dude, you’re a big boy (sometimes).  I don’t recall a Thank you..I do recall the backstreet driver rants and critiques on a daily basis. HEY! FYI, Potholes happen alot in the winter months due to heavy snow plowing. I find it hysterical that you truly expect me to avoid them ALL at all costs, CHILL OUT. Lastly, as I recall, your driving record over the past few years well….it sucks. I practice safe driving and offensive driving. I am laid back and curteous, patient and I don’t hit cars or let them hit me (smirks).  I got my old car back now, my daughter used it for almost a year steady. It looks tired and neglected, I can so relate. On a lighter note…The sun has risen, and I am reflecting on our Holy holiday tommorrow. Jesus rises, I’m a catholic, so I’m glad he did. Easter bunnies and addicting reeses mini peanut butter eggs.(overdosed ty!) I am  Reflecting on holidays in the past, all the celebration and joy and laughter, beautiful memories. My oldest brother hosts most of the big holidays now, he has a blended family and a new Granddaughter, a reason to celebrate and count our blessings. I enjoy being with my sibs for a good meal and alot of laughs. I often drift back and miss my mom deeply. My mind plays out the weekend preparations, the extensive menu and shopping and prepping. We did it alone, me & my mom, for many many years, religiously. It is what she lived for, cooking and serving her family. Many traditions change, your entire life changes and readjusts to life without them here with us. I miss having them in my home and serving them <3. I will make some desserts and a Easter basket for my great niece and enjoy the moments we are so blessed to have. Happy Easter and Passover to all my blog lovin friends, I am thankful you are here. Peace*

The verdict is in!

I was compelled to pen this tonight. I was perusing top stories and headlines this evening after dinner and I stumbled upon this quick verdict. I had been following this case of the “drunk” 16 year old child that was raped by 2 local boys, while others witnessed, watched and filmed the disgusting details of this FELONY. Yes, by the way, RAPE is a felony, punishable up to life in prison in some cases.

Steubenville High School football players found guilty of raping 16-year-old girl

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/highschool–steubenville-high-school-football-players-found-guilty-of-raping-16-year-old-girl-164129528.html

I am still in shock and my insides are churning, my head is spinning, I want to scream and blame social media, facebook, twitter and Youtube for being ONE of the culprits of exposing our children to all kinds of hate, bullying, torturing, porn, via free forums for sociopaths to brag about their actions, their crimes and act and pretend to be “gangsta’. Again, this new social media obsession supports anyone with an IPhone or camera. They can post a video in 60 seconds, of anything, anywhere, anytime, in this case it became a “hit” via texting and facebook as the crime took place. The crime is RAPE. My mind can’t wrap around how these events unfolded. Maybe in one aspect it was a God send to the victims parents. Within days, they were able to gather all evidence via socialnetworking sites, and present the police with a ton of information and evidence and confession.  I think my rage comes from the confession part, the part where the attackers speak about it..about her… about another human being.

“quotes” Yes, this was extreme arrogance. The arrogance to not just joke and brag like the teenage boys they were, but to commit those jokes to text messages, to snap a photo of the girl being carried out like she was a casualty coming off a battle field. Even guys who weren’t there sat around a basement laughing about how “the dead girl” was “so raped.”

The sad fact is I hae been following and studying the effects that social media has on children from a young age that are regularly exposed to violent, graphic material, footage and information. It is proven they become desensitized, unaffected, unemotional and unmoved. Their minds learn to turn it off emotionally. In this case, it is so evident that no one even thought to call or help this girl.  Here is a statement from one bystander and filmer…

A culture of arrogance created a group mindset of debauchery and disrespect, of misplaced manhood and lost morality.

They were allowed the freedoms of young adults, yet lacked the maturity to handle that freedom.

“The entitlement we heard during testimony, it didn’t seem like any empathy or support for the victim,” said Katie Hanna, statewide director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. “To see these things happen and to say, ‘I don’t recall; I didn’t think it was a bad thing; I just thought this was OK.’ It suggests that this was commonplace behavior.”

Commonplace behavior? I cringe and fear creeps in. The next generation, the future leaders of our country? Are we really going to dig in his past and say, he was a troubled teen, that suffered and was denied a father figure in his life? C’mon! I have read thousands of times about the breakdown of the nuclear family. Gone are the June Cleaver’s homemakers, the 2 parent households. Welcome to our new world, full of single parent homes, unattended young children and absentee fathers. It’s not just a breakdown of the nuclear family in America, its a breakdown of the mere fiber of humanness and right from wrong. Our technology and social media is so advanced, we watch war on TV live, we witness police brutality and crimes happening live on media sites.  Our children are exposed to ALL of this 24/7. I see my own grown children absorbed and sucked into the new way of communicating. Hell, I am even guilty of it, IM BLOGGING about it all right now, furious and frustrated and afraid, yes I am scared for our children and the world they are part of. Today, for some, I suppose is a day of Justice, at least for the 16 year old victim and her family and for that I can say Thank you and thank God for the 12 jurors who reached this verdict.

A wee bit Irish….

Happy St. Patricks Day! I predict a few of you may read this with a slight hangover. It’s ok, this holiday gives the world the “OK” to drink some green beer and get crazy. The parade has been a New York tradition for years, all kinds of characters participate and totally go “green”, and act alil crazy. I had a dinner party last weekend and I was informed that my eldest brother, with the bluest eyes, didn’t really think he was Irish. His wife told us. I had to laugh for several reasons. My beloved Mother Mitzi, with the sparkly blue eyes…she also denied part of our heritage. The story goes like this. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She was raised primarly by her grandparents who are indeed 100% italian. They came over from Naples. The ancestory is deep, Molinaro was the name of my great grandfather. His daughter, my “nanny”,  Millie, who swears her given name was Camille Molinaro,  married Peter James Shannon. I ask my peeps…can you get any more IRISH in a name! They had my mother and lived in Brooklyn too. My mom and my nanny told me many stories as a child growing up about Peter Shannon’s (poppy) family. He was one of Eleven children. Two boys, and 9 girls. They were kind and gentle souls. My grandfather was a “gentleman” in every sense of the word. His family were immigrants and struggled to survive in America. He was a loyal son & brother to all his siblings. My mother would tell me she would visit his side of the family and she remembers his mother with one leg sitting on the windowsill as they pulled up to have lunch and visit. They would have potato salad, and fresh bologna and my mom thought it was super cool and fabulous. She talked about my Poppy’s sisters, Aunt May was my poppy’s favorite and my mom’s too. I remember seeing them a few times at family functions, she was the cutest, sweetest little lady.  I recall my mom telling me why she didn’t acknowledge the “irish” part of her. Living in her old neighborhood, everyone was Italian. Back in the day, each neighborhood had clusters of ethnicticity; Irish, Italian, Orthodox, etc. The kids used to tease her and taunt her about this! My mom had freckles, tons of them and the bluest eyes…so did my Grandfather. So, instead of being bullied, she sometimes used her mother’s name, just to avoid conflict! I thought that was strange honestly, denying ones heritage. She never really made corned beef& cabbage, she never even did an Irish Jig! Our grandparent’s came out to Long Island each month and stayed a few days with us, they spoiled us rotten and showered us with love and food and surprises, the memories are warm and sweet. I started to take dance lessons, ballet & tap and my grandfather had heard about them. One day he said, I can teach you how to tap dance! I said you CAN??? How cool, so we spent the day, he tapped for hours, he was so talented! He was in his element, he soft shoe’d all day for me, he taught me little tricks and how to be light on the toes! It is my fondest memory of my poppy.  I remember he LOVED corned beef on a nice fresh piece of rye bread with a side of potato salad! He was as my mother lovingly told me, a simple man, with little or no education, with the biggest heart. He over protected my mother growing up, but he also was her biggest confidant and fan. My grandparents rarely drank liquor. I remember asking why they didn’t. My grandfather told me about his brother James. He died young of alcoholism. My poppy spent most of his young life, searching for James, rescuing James, and dragging him home. He hated what the drink did to his only brother. Once in a blue moon, my poppy would take one shot of blackberry brandy. I can still remember watching him sip it, and those blue blue eyes smiling down at me. I thought it was cool. I love corned beef and cabbage and fresh rye bread, and I still love a good tap dancer!  Have a Happy St. Patricks Day  ~ leelee