The Grapevine: Holidays Officially have Started as the Tradition of Making Pita Piata Kicks off the Season
By Rosalyn Queen on December 03, 2020 from The Grapevine
Officially the holidays have begun for my family.
Traditionally the first Saturday after Thanksgiving has been set aside for the making of the Italian Pita Piata. This desert comes straight from San Giovanni in Fiore. The recipe was brought to America from Calabria by the immigrants.
The contents have changed very little from the original recipe. The crust contains flour, yeast, wine butter, eggs, olive oil, salt, and water. The filling is made of raisins, nuts, cinnamon, orange peel, brown sugar and when the pie is done baking it is soaked in generous amounts of 
honey. If you use about 10 pounds of flour, the end result will be 30 medium sized pies.
honey. If you use about 10 pounds of flour, the end result will be 30 medium sized pies.
These pies are gems to our family and although we will share a serving with you, we do not too often give away a full pie. They are costly to make, but most of all they are a labor of love to prepare. Hence the reasoning for teaching each new generation the secret to rolling and preparing the pie.
I did mix the dough at 5:30 a.m. to let it raise, then my sister Cathy, my daughter. Leslie, my cousin Ruby and my niece MacKenna came to prepare the pies and bake them. Now I can say let the “good times roll.”
During a break I did share some of my mushrooms saliata and my green tomatoes saliata. I had it with some provolone and salami we had a special Italian day.
Feeling fulfilled and looking forward to the holidays somewhere I picked up this verse and want to share it with you. I started loving myself and I live each day as though it were my last. It might be doing what makes me happy. Happiness is a chore, and we must learn that we are responsible for our happiness. We must never try to rely on someone else to make us happy. This might happen short term but in the long run our happiness lies in our own hands. We all want to be happy, especially during this time of year and remember when we are happy it rubs off on those around us.
Get happy, get those decorations up, turn on some good Christmas music, bake your favorite holiday desert and be thankful for all our blessings. Plan small family gatherings and send notes to those friends you will not be able to see. You know you can make this the happiest time of the year.
Stay safe, stay healthy and stay happy, and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
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