Speak like a Macaroni
Al dente to the Wooden Spoon — the valley's vocabulary.
- Al dente
- "To the tooth" — pasta cooked firm, not soft. Also a compliment, a life philosophy, and the name of the capital.
- Boiling Springs
- Natural hot springs east of Al Dente. Bathe carefully.
- Colander Falls
- The perforated cliff where the Marinara River drops out of the hills.
- Da Rigatoni
- Little Italy's most famous trattoria, run by its formidable matriarch.
- Durum Hills
- Golden wheat country west of the capital.
- Family Table law
- The custom that no one eats alone if it can be helped.
- Feast of the Seven Sauces
- The annual street feast of Little Italy.
- First Boil
- The creation legend of the pasta people.
- First Kneaders
- The legendary founders who mixed the first dough.
- Golden Colander
- The barn-sized colander of legend; said to hang in the Great Hall.
- Great Draining
- The legendary flood survived with the Golden Colander.
- Little Italy
- Al Dente's oldest quarter — trattorias, tenements, and the best smells in Pastalia.
- Lost Recipe
- The hidden perfect recipe of the First Kneaders. Still lost. Still hunted.
- Macaronis
- The pasta people of Pastalia, of every shape.
- Marinara River
- The red-gold river running through the valley.
- Mount Parmesan
- The snowcapped northern peak, scored like a cheese grater.
- Naming-day first taste
- A child's first spoonful of sauce, applauded like a coronation.
- Pastalia
- The hidden valley home of the Macaronis.
- Sauce Sunday
- Sunday. The big pot goes on at dawn.
- Soggy Years
- The generation of bad harvests that taught the valley to share.
- Treaty of the Twin Sauces
- The cook-off that ended the red-vs-white feud.
- Wooden Spoon
- The carved spoon of kitchen authority, passed down through families.