An Italian Lesson
Since I am still traumatized from a dreaming about a bug, and then waking up and finding a DESSICATED BUG CORPSE in my bed and ASSORTED DRIED-OUT BUG PARTS on my pillow and on my husband's pajamas, my creative juices are running a little low.
Hence, today's post will be something soothing, and I will write it alongside a BIG frickin' mug of tea.
In case anyone's been wondering, in between worrying about paying bills, tracking menstrual cycles, keeping children healthy, and dealing with family issues at Christmas, about the proper pronunciation of "Trattoria Breve," here it is, in some strange approximation of dictionary phonetics:
trah-tor-EE-uh BREH-vay*
Not being sufficiently soothed, I'll also add the pronunciation of one of my favorite things in the world, "gnocchi." If this doesn't soothe me, nothing will:
NYO-key*
If you haven't tasted gnocchi yet, and I emphasize the "yet," because YOU HAVE TO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, it is a kind of pasta dumpling made from potato flour. Italian comfort food, so to speak. It is very rich and hearty, and wonderful in winter. It's best enjoyed freshly made, as opposed to frozen or packaged. Some rainy weekend, I will spend a day making fresh pasta, like I said I would long ago, with my Ronco pasta maker. I'll also make gnocchi with the potato ricer my grandmother gave me. I'll post pictures of the food and additional pictures of my backside the following Monday.
Please feel free to teach me how to pronounce food words in any language other than English or Italian, as I love ethnic food and hate not being able to say food names properly.
Mangiare! (mon-JAR-eh)
Buon weekend! (no phonetics, or translation, necessary)
*I have performed special Saturday-morning edits to these words after C.S. informed me that I placed the emphasis on the wrong syllable and thereby allowed me to save pretentious face (thanks, C.S.). I blame the dead bug.
Hence, today's post will be something soothing, and I will write it alongside a BIG frickin' mug of tea.
In case anyone's been wondering, in between worrying about paying bills, tracking menstrual cycles, keeping children healthy, and dealing with family issues at Christmas, about the proper pronunciation of "Trattoria Breve," here it is, in some strange approximation of dictionary phonetics:
trah-tor-EE-uh BREH-vay*
Not being sufficiently soothed, I'll also add the pronunciation of one of my favorite things in the world, "gnocchi." If this doesn't soothe me, nothing will:
NYO-key*
If you haven't tasted gnocchi yet, and I emphasize the "yet," because YOU HAVE TO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, it is a kind of pasta dumpling made from potato flour. Italian comfort food, so to speak. It is very rich and hearty, and wonderful in winter. It's best enjoyed freshly made, as opposed to frozen or packaged. Some rainy weekend, I will spend a day making fresh pasta, like I said I would long ago, with my Ronco pasta maker. I'll also make gnocchi with the potato ricer my grandmother gave me. I'll post pictures of the food and additional pictures of my backside the following Monday.
Please feel free to teach me how to pronounce food words in any language other than English or Italian, as I love ethnic food and hate not being able to say food names properly.
Mangiare! (mon-JAR-eh)
Buon weekend! (no phonetics, or translation, necessary)
*I have performed special Saturday-morning edits to these words after C.S. informed me that I placed the emphasis on the wrong syllable and thereby allowed me to save pretentious face (thanks, C.S.). I blame the dead bug.
Copyright 2005-2010 by Arabella and Trattoria Breve. All rights reserved. 9:10 AM
5 Comments:
Ew! Sorry about the bug! As much as I love beer and tackle football, I hate spiders.
Ahh, but then you soothe with your fancy gnocchi talk... mmm.
Here's a word that pisses me off, but which I can do nothing about: karaoke. It's not carry-okey. It's kada-okay. But to correct everyone? Not worth it. I have a friend who was in Guatemala for the Peace Corps and he insisted on doing that phlegm-y 'g' noise every time he said it, and now, 10 years later, we still mock him for it.
Normally, I'm ok with bugs, except when they're hairy-looking millipedes, like this one was, and of course when they're SPOONING WITH MY HUSBAND AND ME IN OUR MARITAL BED.
I've long wondered about pronouncing "karaoke." Thanks!
And here I was thinking that I had been pronouncing gnocchi wrong all this time! Whew. ;)
I have never had gnocchi. Can you help out and give us like the recipe with step by step instructions? I am addicted to Food Network but find Mario Batalli arrogant and I hate his clogs.
OK, gnocchi are absolutely amazing -- but the pronounciaton is more like "nyah-kee," or so says both my Italian grandmother and my Italian dictionary. The "o" is soft, not hard. Enjoy.
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