Good Press

I guess I just gave it away. Let me explain ... . I had a wish come true this holiday season, two actually, sort of. I grew up occasionally wondering where my family came from but I could never get a satisfactory answer, or really much of an answer at all, about our origins, our heritage. My maiden name is Molisee. I thought maybe we were German but I settled on us being regular ol' American mutt. And I was sad. Though not sad or curious enough to dig into genealogy. My Aunt Mary was spurred by her desire to join the Daughters of the American Revolution to unearth the roots of our family tree. She ascertained that the Molisees are from the Molise region of Italy, beneath Abruzzo (kinda the Achilles heel of the boot) on the Adriatic Sea. So my first wish -- to know my heritage -- came true. And my second wish, which I am almost too shy to publish, was to be Italian. I was romanced mainly by the food, by travel stories and movies to a lesser degree, and by the rich traditions -- of w...

A couple just moved from Sedona, Arizona, to Terra Alta to join my church's ministry team. One of my contributions to the luncheon reception to welcome them is pepperoni rolls, a West Virginia invention. Someone in Marion County got the notion to bake pepperoni in bread dough for Italian American coal miners to carry in their lunchboxes. Here's how I make mine: Two loaves Rhodes frozen bread dough, thawed 3/4 pound thin sliced deli sandwich pepperoni 1/4 pound thin sliced salami Mozzarella or provolone cheese (optional, I didn't use it this time) sliced is more manageable than shredded Cut the bread dough loaves each into 12 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll out the dough till it's about the size of a deck of cards. Stack together about 3 slices pepperoni and one slice salami (and a slice of cheese if you're using). Roll up. Roughly chop it with your knife on your workspace (this releases oils from the meat to make a good orange "grease spot...