"Leave the gun, take the cannoli..." No, I don't speak Godfather, if that's what you're thinking.

For the uninitiated - "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" - is a line from Francis Ford Coppola's epic movie "The Godfather". Peter Clemenza said it to Rocco Lampone after killing Paulie Gatto, as they were about to leave the murder scene. 

The impact of the movie was such that over the years, this particular line has been quoted and parodied in other movies and TV shows - and not forgetting, inserted into daily conversations (hence, the term speaking Godfather). 

Confession: I don't remember the line "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" from "The Godfather". Truth is, the first time I ever became aware of the line was while watching Nora Ephron's romantic-comedy "You've Got Mail" (and now you know the types of movie I prefer...)

In You've Got Mail, Joe Fox explained to Kathleen Kelly that The Godfather is like the I-Ching, it is the sum of all wisdom - and has the answer to all our questions. If one were to ask, "What should I pack for my summer vacation?" obviously the answer would be "Leave the gun, take the cannoli..."

And so, the term "cannoli" stuck in my head since You've Got Mail. Since it was associated to a gun in the movie line and mentioned in a mobster movie, cannoli must be some kind of a firearm. 

I was in Arizona recently for work - and my colleagues took me for dinner at this Italian-American restaurant called Buca di Beppo.

​At that moment of enlightenment I learnt that cannoli is actually a tubular-shaped pastry dessert with no resemblance whatsoever to any weapons of destruction - except that if you eat too much of it at one time, you'd probably become sick...!

And, the only thing the cannoli has in common with the mafioso is that they both hailed from Sicily, Italy.

Anyway, for those of you You've Got Mail fans that might have spent years thinking that cannoli is some variation of a gun - this article is for you. 

Footnote
The "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" clip from The Godfather:

It was our last day in Arizona. Hannah decided that we had spent enough time in meetings and the outlet visits, and that it was imperative that we experience the Wild Wild West before we go back. 

And so, off we went to Apache Junction, where Goldfield is, for a dose of ghost town experience.

We had lunch at the Mining Camp Restaurant, which was a few minutes away from Goldfield. While I can't say much about the food, I thought the live band was memorable. It was enjoyable listening to the bluegrass/western music and lyrical songs from the resident artists, the McNasty Brothers.

I've watched enough western and cowboys movies and TV series to know what to be expected of a typical mining town. So, to be honest, I was kind of skeptical about visiting Goldfield at first.

But Goldfield was a pretty entertaining visit, I must say. The buildings - saloon, shops, church, post office, etc. - were replicated to the exact details, a reminder of how things were back then in the 1890s, when Goldfield was a booming gold mining town.

I can't share about the rides because we didn't do any. What I did mostly was walk up and down the Main Street, taking photos of the buildings, artifacts, and the beautiful cactus and ocotillo.

From Goldfield, Superstition Mountains looked amazing. It was a sunny day, the light was great, and the sky the clearest blue. Superstition Mountains stood out amidst the skyline and the Arizona desert. At that point, I haven't heard about the mountain and the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine legend.

Of course, just like the good tourists we were, we had our antique photo taken at Time after Time. We posed with sling guns, ponchos, parasols, hats and all - sans smiles!

Apparently, in those days, photographs were taken with somber, serious looks. Anyhow, looking at us Asians in the western lady/cow girl garbs reminded me of Shanghai Noon!

After much walking - we stopped at Miner's Grill and Ice Cream Parlour. The root beer plus vanilla ice cream were cooling and invigorating as promised. A refreshing finale to our visit back into the old West.