Not a fan of Fruitcake? Then you haven’t had my mamma’s!

I don’t know why folks hate fruitcake so much. Guess they never had one made with love. My mom turned 98 in May and this year she sent me not one but two fruitcakes. I think she didn’t get around to it last year. She had a pretty hectic schedule last holiday season. This year she got out in front of it and made up for it.

Loves leopard print, never slows down

I know Samantha in Long Beach thinks they are yucky, but we all have something yucky that we love. Some of us think toasted garlic fries are yucky (those of us who cannot digest garlic, at least). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My sister also got her some fruitcakes too

Anyway, today is National Fruitcake Day. So in honor of my mom, who is going strong, here you go. Eat your heart out. I don’t share my mom’s fruitcake. But rather I savor it over a long period of time, maybe with a nice glass of Marsala, or late-harvest Primitivo that has been fermented in amphora. If I’m lucky, I might pull out a late-harvest Mantonico from Librandi to enjoy my Calabrese mamma’s fruitcake.

Nonna Giulia in Arberesh dress

I do this while waiting for her Cuccidati, fig cookies she learned how to make from her Sicilian mother-in-law, my grandmother Giulia.

Now if I could only figure out how to get her here to make her famous cannoli.

Yeah. My mom might be Calabrese, but her Sicilian pastries are every bit as good as any Sicilians.

1 cannolo, 2 cannoli...

And if you prefer savory, she can even out-Greek the Greeks. You should taste her dolmades. They give an Assyrtico or an Insolia greater reason for being.

Mom and Dad in California's Golden Age

Anyone who knows my mom has come to realize there is more to life than surviving and food. But she isn’t going to slow down to philosophize to you or me about it. She is always on the move, heading towards 100 at breakneck speed.

Thanks for the fruitcakes, mom. I love you. Happy Fruitcake Day! Centanni!

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

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