Lauretta Barsi-Avina lived in Italy until she was 8 years old,
when her family moved to the United States and settled in Gilroy.
She now lives in Hollister, but through every move she has taken
with her memories of the cuisine she ate in her native Marlia,
Tuscany.
Lauretta Barsi-Avina lived in Italy until she was 8 years old, when her family moved to the United States and settled in Gilroy. She now lives in Hollister, but through every move she has taken with her memories of the cuisine she ate in her native Marlia, Tuscany.
In recent months, she collected some of her favorite recipes and the stories behind them into a cook book called “Ricette Del Mio Paese,” which translates to “My Country’s Recipes” that she is selling at Dona Esther’s Restaurant, in San Juan Bautista, and at Garlic World and Fortino’s Winery, in Gilroy.
The book that she printed at a print shop, and collated and bound herself at home, sells for $15. The money she makes from the profits will be split between a scholarship fund in memory of her sister Franca Barsi, who died in 2006, a victim of domestic violence, and Barsi-Avina’s own studies. She is taking online classes toward a degree in criminal justice to be a victim and witness advocate, inspired by her family’s own experience with the justice system.
“When something like this happens, no one really understands it,” Barsi-Avina said. “It is so tragic. No one understands how you wake up one day and life is changed.”
She said she and her family spent a year going in and out of court while the suspect in her sister’s case, David Vincent Reyes, was on trial. Reyes was eventually sentenced to 32 years in prison for pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, two counts of felony robbery, and failure to register as a sex offender.
“We’d never been to court,” Barsi-Avina said. “Stuff like that didn’t happen in our family…As a victim it is so stressful to see the amount of effort it takes to convict someone. He already confessed…But the whole experience made me feel inspired to go back to school to be a victim advocate.”
Shortly after her sister’s death, Barsi-Avina said she and her mother both thought of starting a scholarship in Franca’s memory. Since both daughters had been crowned Gilroy Garlic Queen, the two contacted the Garlic Festival office to see if they could coordinate with them.
“They send a copy of the applications along with transcripts and we read all of them and go over them,” she said. “We are looking for someone who wants to make something of themselves and is willing to work for it.”
Each year, the family selects one student to receive the scholarship. Last year’s recipient, a student at Gavilan College, received $900.
Though the cook book dredged up some bad memories of losing her sister, it also brought up plenty of good memories of dinner with family and friends, in Italy and locally.
“We literally sit down for three or four hours for multiple courses,” she said.
The meals include antipasto, different pasta sauces, homemade gnocchi, meat dishes and they always end with biscotti dipped in a white or dessert wine.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
