Years ago when I was first married I enjoyed our weekend trips into Brooklyn and having Sunday dinner with the family. I was born and raised on Long Island where you drove to stores and really enjoyed the contrast of the tight knit community’s of the City. I loved all the little Grocery stores, Butchers and Bakeries and watching the interaction between the owners and their customers was really nice! Most of the owners knew their customers by first names as you had to walk home with your grocery’s, so you frequented the local stores for convenience. One such place was Georges Meat Market in my Husbands neighborhood. It was a Butcher shop that also carried some Italian grocery’s although not too many, as there was Tonys Grocery store across the street and both had their own territory so to speak! One day my mother in law asked me to go get some Black Coffee. She always would say after a big Sunday afternoon meal shall I make Demitasse? She always referred to black coffee or espresso as Demitasse. Another word lost in the shuffle remember when Pasta was referred to as macaroni! Well anyway she asked me to tell them to give me my darling daughters coffee as she thought I wouldn’t remember the brand Medaglia d’Oro Coffee. She was so cute. I walked over and asked for it like she said and they all burst out laughing. I actually thought it was funny too but decided it was better to remember the name for the next time. Several weeks later I went over to the market for a few items for Mama and while on line (it was really busy) I decided to have some fun with the owners son Frankie. I leaned over the counter and in front of a big line yelled out”‘hey Frankie did you say the Italian bread was 4 for a Dollar?” I had seen the sign for 2 for a Dollar but wanted to have some fun teasing him. Well at that minute all the people dove off line to get the Bread. It was so funny to see the look on his face from smiling to shock (OK you know what I mean) and then back to laughing out loud and he said OK we’re even now for all of us laughing at you for the coffee! It was really a great moment that I will always remember that made me feel connected to the store and with Frankie and now considered a regular. Oh and by the way I did offer to pay for the bread that “I” had put on sale, but his reply was absolutely not and I could still hear him laughing as I walked out the Door. After that day whenever I walked into the Shop he would look at me and give me a wink and then wave his finger and said Be Good today! Although George’s shop closed and has since reopened with new owners, on a recent visit as we passed I think I could still hear the laughter coming from behind the counter! Such Happy Memories!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Welcome to Britalia Way! Thanks for stopping by. Please join me as I share with you a series about food, people and experiences that are special to me. English and Italian traditions are so enticing and were the inspiration for creating Britalia Way!
Regards, Denise [email protected]and follow me on...
Categories
All
Archives
October 2020
|