When I'm not teaching high school English and coaching baseball in Durham, NC, I like to write about the stuff I eat.
My love for food began in Sicily, where my great grandmother, Maria Brancato, learned to cook in a Sicilian orphanage before she came to America in 1906. She married Dominic Giancristoforo, settled in Philadelphia, worked in hospital kitchen and raised a small army of boys on a chicken and vegetable farm.
One of her boys, Dominic, married Jean McIlvaine. Jean moved in with her in-laws, learned their family recipes and raised four sons and a daughter of her own. Somewhere along the way, Dom changed their last name from "Giancristoforo" to "Christopher."
One of her sons, Billy, taught me the family recipes. In an effort to further preserve our family's heritage and food, I'm writing them down here. Some are my great-grandmother's original recipes, but others are meals my constantly-growing family discovers and enjoys together, at home and abroad.
Thanks for visiting!
