Dreaming of Hoboken's Lost Raviolis

Don't know about you, but last week's Italian Festival put us in the mood for fall, which reminds us of hearty, savory foods to come, which brings us back to the Italian Festival—and Laura Schenone.

There was a time when Laura—winner of the James Beard award for her book, "A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes and Remembrances"—wasn't even sure she was Italian. But then she began to wonder about a grid-shaped implement hanging on her wall that she'd inherited from her grandma. It turned out to be a ravioli press, and before long she was investigating her grandmother's recipes in the hills of Genoa, Italy. All of which lead her to writing her latest book, "The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken."

She explains how she got started on his video, including tips on making the ravioli and a demonstration of her grandmother's rolling pin. And no, we learn, Philadelphia cream cheese should not have been an ingredient.

About Town is a quick look at the not-quite-news but still-neat happenings that occur in Hoboken all the time. Seen something wacky, wild, cute, cuddly, funny or fun? Got an incidental observation or a minor celebration? Shoot it to our editor, at clairem@patch.com. We want pictures too.

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that Monday's item about H's claim to being the Happy Hour capitol of the U.S. appeared to contain a discrepancy. A CNBC survey reported that Hoboken has an average of 63 Happy Hour specials every day, or "37.5 per square mile." But if we're truly the Mile Square city, then our math says that should be 63 Happy Hours per square mile, no? Well, yes, it should; but no, we aren't. The Mile Square City is actually more like two miles square. Nope, don't get your hopes up for some new-found cheapo real estate unless you like swimming with the fishies. While the land area is truly about a mile square, the city's boundaries extend well out into the Hudson River, which almost doubles the size.

So what are we missing? Openings, closings, winners, losers or just plain strange, drop us a note, clairem@patch.com. And check back often.