Meet the family

Ciao and welcome to our Italian table! My name is Michele and together with my brother, Joe, grew up as children of wonderful first-generation Italian-Americans in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, a small town on the Delaware River that saw a large influx of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. Our love of cooking started with helping our mother prepare her homemade Italian dishes that she was forever sharing with our neighborhood and family. Homemade gnocchi, ravioli, passatelli were staples in our house and luckily she passed on her cooking skills to us.

Mom, circa 1940

Our maternal grandparents originated in Sicilia (Santo Stefano di Camastra) and our paternal grandparents in Le Marche (Senigallia). Over the years, we have developed a love for all things Italian and creating this blog has brought us great joy.  With Joey on the west coast and I on the east coast of America, our  love of cooking has only deepened, leading us to co-found  ”Our Italian Table” blog in 2008. Joey’s wonderful husband Mark is our budding sommelier and always gets to pick the wines for our holiday meals. Spending as much time as possible in Italy, cooking Italian dishes, and documenting it all for family, friends, and many others has become a passion and a joy for us both. Our simple wish is to share this passion and love for our beloved Italy with you.

So we welcome you to join us at our table. Stay for awhile, relax, unwind.  Have a bit of wine perhaps. Please check back from time to time, give us your feedback – but most importantly, take a moment to pause and enjoy the world around you.

We welcome you ‘con piacere’ – with pleasure.  A presto….

That’s me in Montalcino, 2010

That’s Joe (left) and Mark, looking very Italian in 2007