The Godfather Tradition

I never watched The Godfather until Levi and I got together. After watching the first movie, I was hooked. All of a sudden so many references people made connected in my head and I felt as though I was indoctrinated into a club I should have always been a part of.

Each year, Levi and I would go back and rewatch the movies. Sometimes we would have the subtitles on, and a new reference would come to light that we had never noticed before. A few years back, Levi had an idea to modify our annual tradition to include food. After we moved into our house, he began to make pasta sauce once or twice in the winter. It quickly became one of my favorite things and is a nice break for me in the kitchen. It is also the perfect cold weather food because it cooks for hours on the stove and makes the house feel warm and cozy.

Levi’s sauce now kicks off ‘Godfather Week’ at the Champion house. Over the weekend, Levi will make sauce, (you start out with a little bit of oil..) and Sunday nights we will eat pasta and begin the first movie.

The whole event takes 4 nights (5-6 if you watch the 3rd part) because we usually can only last about 90 minutes at a time and the 1st movie has such a perfect stopping point after (SPOILER) Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey.

We might not do the four nights in a row, but break it up over the course of a week, but it’s a great way to incorporate some quiet festivities into the Illinois winter.