Aunty BeBe was my grandmother Rose Bowies' sister. I remember riding my bike over to her house at 100 Purchase Street on many summer afternoons during my childhood. She would always offer a Ginger Ale or 'Moxie' soda, and tell me stories while we made toll house cookies. Once she told me the story of how my great-grandmother Celeste came to this country. Celeste was a teenager who travelled with a friend by boat to visit her brother in New York for the summer. On the trip over, her friend became sick and ultimately she died. It was such a traumatic journey, Celeste refused to get back on the boat when the summer was over.
Another favorite story was of my great-grandfather, Julius Ramelli, who as a young man worked on a farm near Framingham, Mass for room and board. As a practicing Catholic, he would not eat meat on Fridays. The woman of the house at which he was boarding, knowing he fasted on Fridays, would serve steak for dinner every Friday night. When he told this to his priest, the priest told him that he was allowed to eat meat the next Friday it was offered to him. As usual, steak was served the next Friday, and the woman of the house was surprised to find him accept her offer. It was the last Friday she ever served steak.
Aunt Be was also a wonderful Italian cook, and still kept in touch with some of our distant relatives in Parma. Mom believes that part of the secret to BeBe's longevity was regularly eating lots of garlic and olive oil in her daily lunch salad. I regret never learning to cook her Italian food, but she did teach me how to make the flakiest pie crust which still doesn't come out nearly as good as when made by her experienced hands.
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup Crisco oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
4+ Tbsp. Cold milk
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the middlle. Add oil and milk into the well. Mix with a fork. The less the dough is mixed, the more flakey. Roll out the dough between wax paper.