Board of Directors

Officers:

President

L. V. Teofilo

Vice President

Richard Daley

Treasurer

Vicky Sobeck

Secretary

Mary Prisco

Past President

Richard Gollnick

Directors

Ron Cattelan

Susan Milewski

Marlene Feira

Janice Galt

Mark Mariucci

Darrell Sobeck

Judy Sulzmann

Lynn Thompson

Ambassador at

Large

Riccardo Paterni

Editor

Paul Marino

Il Piccolo Giornale December, 2018

Founded 1994

CENA DI NATALE - De-

cember 15, 2018

Invitations to our annual Christmas

dinner were mailed on Friday, No-

vember 23 via snail mail. The

deadline for making your reserva-

tion is Friday, December 7. If you

haven’t already done so, please

mail your reservation along with

your check to: Vicky (Piccione)

Sobeck, 1810 Oakhill Drive, Green

Bay, WI 54313. We need volun-

teers to help with the set up on

Saturday morning.

Please call Marlene at 494-9641 or

email her at canavese1701 @gmail.

com if you can help. We will meet

at 9:00 am at the Yacht Club.

NOTIZIE from the Board

Dick (Riccardo) Daley has been cho-

sen as our new Vice President.

Dick will replace Patrick Kloster

who recently moved to North Caro-

lina. Patrick’s seat on the Board

will be filled by Judy (DeFrancesco)

Sulzmann.

Judy provided us with her Bio: As a

young girl, I grew up in a large Ital-

ian family living in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Italian heritage and it's tradi-

tions were at the very core of my

family's lives.

Until my name change from Judith

DeJulius to Judith Sulzmann with

my marriage and move, 50 plus

years ago, to Green Bay, Wisconsin,

I only knew wonderful Italian gro-

cery stores like Alesi’s, Italian deli's

and Italian restaurants available

around every Cleveland street cor-

ner.

A trip to our downtown "Little Ita-

ly" and homemade lemon ice was

just minutes away,

I heard the Italian language spoken

daily by my parents Francesco and

Santa Maria. Every Sunday morn-

ing I inhaled the fragrance of a pot

of tomato sauce simmering on our

stove in preparation for our early

evening dinner often shared by rel-

atives who just “happened to be in

the neighborhood " and decided to

drop in for a visit. I was often told

Il Piccolo Giornale is the official newsletter of Club ItaloAmericano of Green Bay, Wi.

Website: http://clubitaloamericano.org/ Facebook: Club Italaloamericano of Green Bay

Send contributions/comments to: clubitaloamericano@gmail.com

by my mother there are only 2 groups of

people----Americans and Italians. It was

her belief and it was my "normal"!

Then a cultural shock!! My family, 3 chil-

dren and husband, and we now needed to

accept and adjust to a food culture we did

not know or like! GOOD GRIEF!!! -brats

boiled in beer and onions for dinner -

Unthinkable and unheard of in Cleveland,

Ohio.

Too many years later, after lamenting my

struggles to someone, I was told about the

Italian Club and the wonderful members

Pete and Marlene Feira.

After Marlene's first welcoming hug, I

knew and sensed-- I was "home" again.

It is truly my joy to be a part of the Italian

culture and traditions I now share with

this exciting club and it's members. Thank

you from the very bottom of my Italian

heart to yours.

As an aside, a few years after my Father's

passing and moving my Mother to Green

Bay, "Santa Maria" was able to enjoy

many of the club festivities and relive

some of her own Cleveland, Ohio Italian

memories.

Grazie Judy and Dick!!

ITALIAN CONVERSATION

CLUB

The December meeting of the Italian Con-

versation Club will be held on Saturday,

December 8 from 10:00 to 11:30. It will

again be held at Nardi’s Affogato Bar, 109

N. Broadway, De Pere.

The Nardi’s are Club members and offer

many delicious flavors of homemade

gelato.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

FOR 2019

We currently have 126 members in Club

ItaloAmericano plus 5 honorary members.

Fifty seven have taken advantage of pay-

ing their 2019 dues early!!

For your convenience, a Membership

Renewal Form was included in the Cena

invitation and is also attached to this

newsletter.

MEMBERSHIP

We welcome new member Luigi Tenaglia

and offer our deepest condolences on the

recent death of his wife of 60 years, Ruth.

Luigi and Ruth just joined the Club in Oc-

tober and we are sad that we will not have

the opportunity to get to know her.

Welcome Susan Kleis who writes that she

has no family ties to Italy-she’s just a huge

fan! She took her first trip to Italy this past

spring and fell even more in love and can-

not wait to go back. She has been taking

adult language courses at St. Norbert for

the past 1 1/2 years and plans to continue

her studies in the coming year. She is

planning her next trip to Italy to either

take a full immersion language course for

a week and/or do a week of Italian cook-

ing instruction. She would really like to

expand her exposure to all things Italian

and is looking forward to participating in

some of Club ItaloAmericano’s activities!

Welcome Tony (Spigarelli) and Laura

Broullire. Tony is half Italian on his moth-

er’s side. Laura writes that that they are

both Catholic and have always wanted to

visit Rome and the Vatican. But other fun

trips keep getting in the way! Someday,

though. They are also very interested in

Italian wine and both love to cook. One of

their favorite family traditions is making

homemade ravioli with Tony’s mother’s

side of the family. One year they made

more than 300 dozen!! The Broullires’

have 3 children: Zachary, Bell and Alayna

and they live in De Pere.

Welcome Massimo D’Alessandro and

Alessandra (Cudicio) D’Alessandro. They

are from Italy. The name of their city is

Udine and the region is Fruili Venezia Giu-

li. Udine is a small city close to Venice.

They moved from Udine to Green Bay six

years ago because of a job change for

Massimo. They have 2 sons (12 and 14).

Benvenuti a tutti! We look forward to

meeting you!

FYI

Chris and Elaine (Abata) Wagner, long

time members of Club ItaloAmericano,

have recently relocated to Raleigh, North

Carolina.

Buona fortuna and keep in touch!

DECEMBER OPERA

The Magic Flute Encore— December 1,

12:55pm

Now a holiday tradition, Julie Taymor’s

beloved production of Mozart’s en-

chanting fairy tale returns in its abridged,

English-language version for families. So-

prano Erin Morley, last seen at the Met as

a brilliant Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoff-

mann, is the empowered Pamina, and

tenor Ben Bliss is the valiant Tamino. Bari-

tone Nathan Gunn is the comic birdcatch-

er Papageno, and soprano Kathryn Lewek

reprises her hair-raising rendition of the

malevolent Queen of the Night. Harry

Bicket conducts.

La Traviata December 15, 11:55AM

La traviata (Italian: [la tra'vja?ta; travi'a?ta], The Fallen Woman) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice.

PASTA SHAPES 101 KNOW

YOUR NOODLE

Spaghetti, penne, ravioli plenty of Italy’s

more than 350 styles of pasta are proba-

bly familiar, but there’s a world of shapes,

sizes and styles out there to discover.

Here are 4 special noodles you’ll find

across “il bel paese”.

* Tagliatelle Da long, flat ribbony pasta

hailing from Emilia-Romagna, made fresh

with eggs & flour and served with thick

sauces like Bolognese or ragu

* Pici a hand-rolled pasta from Siena made

with only water & flour and paired up with

olive oil, cheese & breadcrumbs

* Orecchiette “little ears” are a petite, cup

-shaped pasta from the Apulia region and

served with turnip greens (cimi di rapa)

pancetta & olive oil

* Calamarata wide, flat rings of pasta from

the coasts of Naples & Sorrento and best

served with light sauces or fresh vegeta-

bles

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

It’s a wildly popular item to be served at

Italian-American wedding receptions, es-

pecially in the North Eastern United

States, and most specifically the Pennsyl-

vania/New Jersey areas. It is most popular

in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania where it is al-

most always fed to a new bride and groom

and said to be “energy fortification” to

help them through their first night togeth-

er. How romantic. So that’s why it is

called Italian wedding soup, right? Well,

no. It is sort of the other way around and

became a wedding tradition seemingly

because of its name. The name is a mis-

translation of “minestra mari-

tata”(married soup). The Italians use this

term to describe how well vegetables and

grains go together in a soup. It’s a good

“marriage” of ingredients. In some parts

of Italy the traditional soup contains meat

and in others it does not. There are no

hard rules as to what greens are used and

the grains can take the form of a small

pasta, long noodles or even beans. The

meat in the soup also varies, sometimes

being pork, chicken, beef, or more re-

cently meatballs.

Italian wedding soup can take on many

different forms, and people from different

traditions or who have lived in different

parts of the country have different con-

cepts of what Italian wedding soup should

be.

This recipe will be dealing with the North

Eastern United States concept of the

soup.

Using a few premade ingredients this soup

can be prepared in about 20 minutes. This

recipe makes approximately 2 liters

( around 6 servings) worth of soup.

Ingredients:

2 liters Chicken Broth

4 packed cups Baby Spinach

1 cup uncooked Pastina

1lb Ground Beef

1/2 cup Bread Crumbs

1/2 cup Romano Cheese (or Parmesan

Cheese)

1 Egg

1 teaspoon Minced Garlic

1 tablespoon Parsley

2 tablespoons Milk (or Cream)

Salt to taste

Black Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Add 2 liters of Chicken Broth into a

large sauce pot and set the heat to medi-

Dinner and an Italian Movie

Our November club activity was a huge “success.”

Nineteen club members and one guest enjoyed dining at Sammy's. Fifteen of us continued on to the Rhyner's house to watch an

excellent movie based on a true story, "The Sicilian Girl".

Grazie mille Chuck and Lenora for being such gracious hosts!!

um to medium low so that it can gently

come to a low simmer while you prepare

the meatballs.

2. To prepare the meatballs mix together

the 1lb Ground Beef, 1/2cup Bread

Crumbs, 1/2cup Romano Cheese, 1 Egg, 1

teaspoon Minced Garlic, 1 tablespoon

Parsley, 2 tablespoons Milk, Salt to taste,

and Black Pepper to taste.

3. Roll the meat mixture into tiny meat-

balls using about one heaping teaspoon

per meatball.

4. Bring the broth up to a gentle boil and

add the meatballs to the broth. They will

take 10 to 15 minutes to cook through.

5. While the meatballs cook, bring a seper-

ate pot of water to a rolling boil and add

in the 1 cup uncooked Pastina. Cook until

done and drain.

6. Add cooked and drained Pastina to the

broth.

7. Add the 4 Cups of Baby Spinach to the

broth and push down into the lightly boil-

ing soup, until it wilts. It should only take a

few seconds.

8. Serve in bowls with Romano Cheese

sprinkled on top and Garlic bread.

MANGIARE

The Legend of la Befana

Like children everywhere, Italian kids look

forward to the arrival of the red-suited

Babbo Natale on Christmas Eve. However,

this relatively modern tradition pales in

comparison to the anticipation generated

by the arrival of an old witch in early Janu-

ary. On Epiphany Eve, the old, tattered

and soot-covered Befana flies around the

world on a broomstick and comes down

chimneys to deliver candy and presents to

children who have been good during the

year. For those who have fallen a bit short

of model behavior, la Befana will leave

lumps of coal. (Realizing that no one can

be perfect for a whole year, these days la

Befana often leaves a sweet “lump of

coal” made from black sugar.)

La Befana has been an Italian tradition

since the XIII century and comes from

Christian legend rather than popular cul-

ture. The story is that la Befana was ap-

proached by the Three Wise Men who

asked her to lead them to the stable

where the baby Jesus lay in a manger. La

Befana was too busy cleaning her house at

the time, so she declined the offer to go

with them. Very soon she realized that she

had made a huge mistake, so she gathered

up a bag full of gifts and set off alone in

search of the baby Jesus. Though she fol-

lowed the same star as the Magi, she was

unable to find the stable. Undaunted, la

Befana continues to travel the world over

to this day searching every house for the

Christ child. On January 6, the first day of

Epiphany, Italian children hold their

breaths as they search their stockings for a

sign that they have been good that year.

The arrival of la Befana is celebrated with

traditional Italian foods such as panettone

(a Christmas cake) and marks the end of

the long and festive holiday season in Ita-

ly.

Article from: http: monteverditusca-

ny.com

OPEN FORUM Calling all

Members

We extend an invitation for all club mem-

bers to attend our monthly Board of Direc-

tors meetings. Our plan is to create on

open forum at the beginning of each

meeting where members can share their

ideas, suggestions and/or concerns.

If you have an item or topic that you feel

needs extra time, please contact Presi-

dent Teofilo (LVTeofilo@aol.com or 432-

6513) by the Monday before the board

meeting so it can be added to the agen-

da.

The meetings are held on the third Thurs-

day of every month. They begin at 5:30

and are held at Luigi’s Italian Bistro on

Manitowoc Road.

The next Board meeting will be on Thurs-

day 20 December.

ARTICLES FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Please feel free to submit articles or pic-

tures for our newsletter. Information for

each upcoming month needs to be sub-

mitted to me by the 25th. (think Christ-

mas) of the month. You should email

articles as an attachment in Microsoft

Word and pictures in a jpeg format.

My email address is:

paolomarino1@gmail.com

Questions— call me at 612-360-8246

CLUB MEMBERS IN BUSINESS

We have several club members that are

in the restaurant business:

Luigi’s Italian Bistro in Green Bay, Sam-

my’s Pizza in Green Bay, Titletown Brew-

ery in Green Bay, Thumb Knuckle Brew-

ing Co. brewery and taproom, just west

of Luxemburg and east of the Brown

County line on Hwy 54, Nardi’s Affogate-

Barb109 N. Broadway, DePere.

Whenever you visit these businesses,

please mention that you are a member of

Club ItaloAmericano as a support of their

business and membership.