got some things done

[ritaxis]

I finished transcribing chapter sixteen of The Donor-- it will go up tomorrow.
I finished the story "Seven Little Men." I'll polish it down below 4.5K probably. I need to do an orgy of sending stories out.
I wrote today's, yesterday's, and tomorrow's bits for Bella and Chain. Besides the fact that it's almost midnight, the reason I'm not doing

Comments

[sciamanna]

Ammogliu sounds like the local (dialect) spelling of the word, and ammoglio a half-italianized version. I suspect that the wholly italianized version would be "ammollo", which normally means soaking (of clothes). In a culinary context, I would guess something like marinade. Beyond this I don't know, because it's the first time I hear the word -- I don't know southern dialects much.

You don't get waiters putting pepper or cheese in your food at the table in Italy: I think it would be greeted with some bogglement... You get salt and pepper on the table, and if you're eating pasta you also get a bowl of grated cheese with a spoon in it. The pepper is sometimes in a peppermill, but it's a normal-sized one. The gigantic peppermill wielded by the waiter is not US speciality though: it's universal here in Ireland too (and I'm pretty sure in Britain). I've never seen the giant cheese grater: that may indeed be a US invention

[heleninwales]

The waiter did the giant pepper mill thing in an Italian restaurant in Swansea recently, so it seems to be current in Wales. On the other hand, I don't remember them doing it in the Italian restaurant in Copenhagen. That one seemed to be staffed by real Italian speaking Italians, so I presume was more authentically Italian.

P.S. I've seen you commenting on other people's LJs, but I have only belatedly realised who you are. Sorry. I have now added you to my friend's. I hope that's OK?

[ritaxis]

All the local Italian restaurants are owned or at least cheffed and headwaitered by Italian immigrants, mostly as Anna FDD explained to me a while back, from Northern Italy. But they have entered into a California restaurant scene, and I'm sure they do things which are current here but not at home, besides the cheese thing and the pepper thing. They didn't offer to put cheese on the nice fellow's sandwich, at least: just his salad.

One thing they all do that I know isn't Italian is Cesar salad: that's from Tijuana originally (and Tijuana is almost California).