Aloha is Hawaiian for hello, goodbye, and love
Yinz is what Pittsburghers call "you"
Mangia is Italian for eat
I'm Angela. I called Hawaii home for almost 6 years. Pittsburgh, PA is my hometown. My family is from Italy.
Now I live in Seattle, Washington. My blog's name was already too confusing to add another word or idea! Here is where you'll find my cooking, eating, and other food related adventures.
Some photos are recent, some are not. Both me!
I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where pierogies, sandwiches with french fries, salads with french fries, and American-Italian food reign supreme.
My Mom is 100% Italian but avoids "red sauce" at all costs, since she ate so much of growing up. Being an Italian Mother she's always provided more than enough food for me and for all of my friends! No road trip was complete without an array of homemade sandwiches. Mom's specialty is baking - 8 layer cookies, biscotti, pizelles, and chocolate covered pretzels - just to name a few!
My Dad, on the other hand, did the majority of the cooking while I was growing up. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and loves to grill. I had my first cooking lessons with him - scrambled eggs and grilled cheese being the most memorable. He's completely bossy and annoying in the kitchen, which I've come to realize I've inherited, too!
I've always associated good memories with food. Every trip to the mall, when I was a child, included a snack break for a corn dog. My elementary school projects included an instructional on how to make my Dad's "grill fries" and which brand of kernels produced the most popcorn. Sleepovers at my Grandma's house included her "special" oatmeal, which I've since discovered is just Quaker Oats with far too much sugar.
My Pap Pap (Grandfather) was surely the biggest influence on my food obsession. He had a garden in his yard and would eat tomatoes like apples and let me eat the green beans, both fresh from the ground. He had a fig tree in his yard and a stash of cookies in a tin in the living room which was never off limits! We'd often share Klondike bars together. He'd let me eat the chocolate then he'd eat the half melted ice cream cube! Really, he'd take leftovers from anyone's plate so that we didn't waste food. His favorite sayings included "I'll eat another one for my bother in jail!" and "Do you know why I like chocolate? Because you can't see the dirt!" He's since passed away and I feel the most connected to Pap when I'm cooking some good Italian food, eating a cannoli, or wrist deep in butter while feasting on seafood, his favorite!
I started taking pictures of my food years ago because I hate when you get a cook book and there just aren't enough pictures of the what the finished recipes look like! People love pictures of food - in cook books and restaurant menus. So I thought, if I took photos of the creations I make, that I'll be able to look back at them and remember exactly what it was and determine if I wanted to make it again.
Why do I blog? To capture good memories and the food that goes along with them, and to share my discoveries and recipes with anyone who cares to follow along. Learning to cook wasn't easy for me and I'm continuously learning new things along the way.
