A Jonny Meatsauce Story-

Growing up in a large Italian family, journeys to my grandma nori’s house in seattle for Sunday sauce was a way of life. My great grandma Teresa had voyaged her way from Calabria In the early 1900’s, bringing with her delicious Italian recipes that have been passed down through my family for generations.  My pa brought me into the kitchens while still a youngster showing me the craft of mastering a great meat sauce.

During my college years I took great pleasure in putting that craft into practice while cooking batches of pasta and meat sauce for my baseball teammates each weekend.  What I didn’t know at the time was the nickname that would follow.

Up to bat one evening my rowdy teammates were hootn’ and hollern’ showing support as ballplayers typically do during a game. In the midst of trying to concentrate on the ball (considering hitting a baseball isn’t always the easiest thing to do) a teammate of mine hollers ‘hey jonny meatsauce quit messn’ around and get a hit!’  laughter ensued, my concentration sabotaged and lets just say the rest of the at bat didn’t end well.  However, the name stuck and I was forever dubbed jonny "meatsauce" anderson.

My Grandma Nori used to chase us grandkids around trying to force any & all leftover food from Sunday dinner into our bellies. Us kids always responded with groans of fullness. Her fool proof test? Squeezing our fingers to determine our level of fullness & according to Grandma, in 18 years I was never full! Her response every time: “ohh…you’ve got room in there…eat, eat!”

A secret sauce of ours that my Grandma & folks used to make for me growing up before my sporting events. They called it, ‘carbing up’…I just called it ‘pure deliciousness.’ The real name is aglio e olio (garlic & oil) but as a youngster I couldn’t pronounce it so I called it ‘Olly Olio.’