The Grapevine: Stepping Back in Time to Remember a Unique Pasta and Some Old School Dance Steps
By Rosalyn Queen on February 06, 2025 from The Grapevine
Back In Time … Do you remember when?
This past week there have been a couple of things that I have been trying to straighten out that happened in my life a long time ago and I am going to share with you to see if you may have shared these incidents,
Pasta was a must in our house when I was growing up. Mostly because it was cheap, and my mom could stretch it a long way to feed us all. I remember my sister, Joan and me hanging around the kitchen when we were little when mom was cooking. All of a sudden, I remembered us 
picking up a few strands of pasta before mom put it into the boiling water. We would then get us a cup of water and put the pasta in it and use it as a straw. How could this be?
picking up a few strands of pasta before mom put it into the boiling water. We would then get us a cup of water and put the pasta in it and use it as a straw. How could this be?
Well, there was a hole in the pasta, and it really served as a straw. Sometimes we would sneak outside and act like we were smoking the straw. I wondered whatever happened to that type of pasta. No matter how long and hard I searched my memory I cannot remember the last time I saw or ate that pasta.
I was having lunch with my goddaughter, Cheryl Mehaulic, and she said that she had been shopping at ALDI and she found some Bucatini. I looked at her puzzled and she said that this is pasta with a hole in it.
Immediately I remembered it but had forgotten the name. A little research immediately refreshed my mind. It is referred to as a “dried straw” like our tube pasta. It gets its name from the Italian word “Buca,” which means hole.
It is generally a northern Italy pasta but is also used in the south of Italy. The most popular dish it is used for is all'Amatriciana, which has a light tomato sauce cooked with peppers and a cured type of pork and served with a lot of grated cheese.
Much to my surprise last week, Cheryl’s husband John delivered two packages of Bucatini to me and I could not resist taking one tube and then pretend I was smoking.
My second back in time memory was dancing. Over the holidays I always see the area’s popular balls and know that there is dancing. Back in the day, almost every Friday and Saturday night we went dancing. We would go to the VFW, Eagles, Moose, Friends Place, Clique Club, or the Wonder Bar and a variety of other places and dance the night away. We would slow dance, jitterbug, polka, twist, and even square dance. I was thinking the other day where I would go if I wanted to dance and then I wondered what dance the younger generation does these days. I wonder if the younger generation knows what they are missing.
Stay safe and warm and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
Editor’s Note:Photo shows bucatini and is from Wikipedia. Photo is by Popo le Chien.
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