Born on the Fourth of July (Not)

Happy 4th of July! I realize it's actually the 5th, but we have a tradition of celebrating this particular holiday late in our family.

It started the year my sister was born. She was supposed to be born on July 4. My grandparents were very excited by the prospect of a "firecracker" grandbaby. They were immigrants so for them, this was the ultimate sign that they had arrived in America. My mother, trying to accommodate, followed all their Old Country advice to bring on labor.

They told her to walk. So she walked. And walked. And walked. At the time, we lived right behind the then brand new Edgewater Mall in Biloxi. The indoor mall was the first of its kind in Mississippi. More importantly, it was air-conditioned. She did a lot of her walking there. She brought home a lot of cool things for the nursery. But no baby.

"Eat spicy food" was the next piece of advice from the Point. So on the 3rd, we all went to Angelo's Italian restaurant in Gulfport. My mom ate two helpings of their famous spaghetti and left with the staff's good wishes ringing in her ears and a first-class case of heart burn. But no labor pains.

Ironically, her cousin's wife, also due on the 4th ate Uncle Vitisie's spaghetti daube that same night and welcomed her firecracker baby the very next day. The family joke was my mom ate the wrong spaghetti.

It took my sister several days to make her entrance into the world. But that never stopped us from celebrating her birthday like it was the 4th. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. We waved marked-down sparklers (my mother loved a bargain, something my sister has inherited) and ate off red, white and blue paper plates (again marked down). And usually the day before we'd have a ceremonial dinner of homemade spaghetti daube.

Photo: My sister Kim on her birthday, early 1970s. Almost a firecracker baby.

Spaghetti Daube

In spaghetti daube, the meat sauce is made from an inexpensive roast, usually chuck, slow cooked in spicy tomato sauce until it falls apart. It's also good made with chicken or shrimp. The sugar in the recipe helps cut the acidity of the canned tomatoes. The traditional seasonings are nutmeg and cinnamon, but you can sub out oregano and basil.

2-3 large onions, chopped

2-3 stalks of celery chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 large cans of whole tomatoes

2 cans of tomato sauce

1 T of sugar

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cinnamon

Dash of ground cloves or allspice

1 t of Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Boneless chuck or rump roast (3-4 lbs)

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

Water as needed

Saute onions, celery, green pepper and garlic in oil until tender. Add tomatoes and cook down. Add tomato sauce, sugar, seasonings and water as needed. Cook about an hour.Cut meat into large chunks and add. Cover and cook about 2 hours over low flame, stirring and adding water as needed to keep from sticking. Serve over spaghetti, big macaroni or rigatoni.