Key West Lou / MAC AND CHEESE…..ORIGIN ITALIAN

Live and learn. Mac and cheese is a dish I have come to enjoy as an adult. I cannot recall my mother ever preparing it, though she was a fantastic cook.

Even more surprising, my mother was born in Italy and raised in an Italian household.

Why a live and learn observation today? I just read the history of mac and cheese. While it feels like a quintessentially American recipe, it is not. No way. Its origin ancient Italy in the 13th century. It was called “de lesanis.”

De lesanis was prepared sort of like lasagna. Lasagna sheets were cut into 2 inch squares and assembled in many layers with cheese and seasonings. The pasta and cheese were tossed. Then baked in an oven.

Velveeta not the cheese utilized, of course.

A woman who is an excellent Italian cook is Buffalo’s Fran Dixon. Her cooking prowess is magical. She is of Sicilian extraction. I just called her. She never heard of mac and cheese’s Italian ancestry either. She recalls her mother having prepared it only one time. As a dish for a meatless friday.

Ho ho, Donald! Kamala has had a “record breaking” week fundraising. Imagine! One week! Many donors first timers.

An Irish saying: “One whiff and you’re stiff!” Impact on local men.

Men who live in Ringaskiddy, Ireland, home of the Pfizer Pharmaceuticals plant that makes Viagra, reportedly experience constant erections. Residents and medical professionals claim it has to do with fumes from the factory. Pfizer insists however that it is merely the men experiencing a mass-placebo effect.

Men, it might be worth taking a trip to Ringaskiddy. For the fun of it, of course.

The U.S. lucked out and bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon dirt cheap.

I was taught in grammar school that Thomas Jefferson’s bargaining abilities were responsible. Not the case as the following clearly shows.

It was 1802. France had huge land holdings in North America.

Napoleon sent an army to New Orleans to open the port for additional shipping and French colonization. New Orleans and Louisiana were part of France’s holdings at the time. The army was under the command of Napoleon’s brother in law, General Leclerc.

Napoleon told his brother in law to stop first in Haiti, which France also owned. A slave rebellion was proving bothersome to Napoleon. He instructed General Leclerc to put down the Haitian rebellion and then proceed onto New Orleans.

The French Army was powerful. Too powerful for the Haitians. The rebellion was put down in quick order.

However, the French lost 70,000 troops. They died. Including his brother in law, General Leclerc.

The cause yellow fever. Brought on by the mosquitoes in Haiti.

Napoleon’s orders were swift. Get out of Haiti! Forget about New Orleans! Return home immediately!

Napoleon decided he wanted nothing me to do with the new world. He entered into negotiations with the U.S. to sell to the new country the Louisiana Territory.

The price was a clear indication of how desperate Napoleon was to remove France from the new world. Three cents an acre! Eight hundred twenty eight thousand acres for $15 million!

A bargain!

All because of those pesky mosquitoes!

Enjoy your day!

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