Poker Tables and more on the Jewish vs. Italian debate
I'm very excited because, as of two minutes ago, I won an auction on EBAY and am now the proud owner of a brand spankin' new 4'x4' poker table for my new place in Sherman Oaks. Originally, I was going to be getting a longer, 10-person table but the deal fell through. Such is the nature of the beast when you try to buy wholesale. We didn't have enough orders to make it worth the seller's while to give it to us at the reduced price. So with the kibosh being put on that deal, I trekked to the holy Mecca of EBAY to see if I could find anything similar for about the same money. I did, and you see it featured here. I didn't want to just buy a table top as my kitchen table isn't big enough to support one and I didn't want to have to go out and buy another table AND a table top, plus the folding one tucks away nicely when not in use.
Someday I will have a big house with a room specifically for games, centerpiece being a nice oak, finished 10 seater table. But for now, I'm happy with my folding one with arm rests and swank green felt.
Jewish-Italian: I got a lot of emails about the whole deal where the casting director thought I was Jewish. Having grown up on the East Coast and being privvy to both Italian and Jewish families, I find them remarkably similar. Put aside for the moment that the two cultures look very similar (and I find that so weird, because the Jewish faith is the only where you really define someone by their religion... People don't ask me if I'm Catholic because "oh you look Catholic". And, I guess, I don't...because as has been demonstrated, I look Jewish. Maybe Muslim can be thought of in that category as well...but I digress...), we are very much the same.
Both Italians and Jews are a loud, family oriented people. Conversations around the dinner tables of each usually reach decibel levels only touched on during rock concerts. For the uninitiated, you'd think we hate each other by the way we're screaming across the table. That's just how we are. You yell at your family members and then you go back to your business.
Both cultures are ruled by guilt. Whether it's Judiasm or Catholicism, it's guilt all the way baby!! Didn't call your Nana? Forgot Bubbie's birthday? You better believe you're gonna hear about it...and often. There are few discrepencies between a Jewish and Italian grandmother. And both will slip you a fiver on the sly, as if they were bribing a cop out of a speeding ticket.
And finally, both cultures express love through food....
...it's just Italians have the better food.
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