The Big Night

You say it's your birthday.
You're going to have a good time.

In 1996, the low budget movie, "Big Night" was released. It was about two brothers, Primo and Secondo (yes, that was their names) were getting ready for the big night when they were sure their restaurant was going to be known by all due to a famous person coming to dine at their humble resturant. It stared Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Marc Anthony, Isabella Rosselini and Mini Driver.

I personally found the movie to be about the magic of Italian food. The dish made famous by this movie is Timpano or Timballo which translates to kettle drum. The recipe I followed can be found at Ciao Italia

Timballo fresh from the oven

February 5, was Ernie's "Big Night". Monday,I started grocery shopping at Mona Lisa's on India St. On Wednesday I made the sauce, browned the bread crumbs, cubed the fresh mozzarella and formed the marble sized veal meatballs. Kari came early from work on Thursday to learn and help to prepare and build the drum. She is a great one to "brown" things, since she is more meticulous than her mother and is willing to go slower and cook over a lower heat. . . Later that evening Erik and Shannon came for dinner and to help celebrate Ernie's 66th birthday.

"Oh, no" - Kari in the kitchen

Originally I saw this recipe on a Saturday morning PBS cooking show that a little short, plump Italian woman was hosting. It looked very intricate and I took notes on pages of little butterfly shaped note pad. I then made this for our Mah Jongg group consisting of Carole, Patty, Julie and Alice. It was amazing that it came out alright at all, since when I went to bake it before the girls arrived, I found my oven no longer worked. This was during the time I was going through a divorce from Michael and lived for two weeks each month in an apartment near our home. (The other two weeks I lived at home and Michael lived with his parents). TMI?

"I know a dark secluded place,
where no one will know your face. . ."

This is a photo from that day with Carole dressed up as some sort of Italian sneaking into my apartment. (No one but theses 4 friends and my two children knew where my apartment was).

Salute!