Cucina Siciliana

     On Tuesday, I had the special opportunity to learn how to prepare a traditional Sicilian Easter meal at a cooking class. I thought it would be exciting to use the recipes I learned for our family's Easter meal as a special treat for Matt and Christopher. In the span of three hours, we learned how to make eight typical Sicilian dishes using fresh, local ingredients and techniques and tools that are standard in a Sicilian kitchen. One of my favorite side stories that our instructor, Flavia, shared was how her family members argued over who would inherit the tool she used to rice the potatoes. I really liked the multipurpose knife we used for everything from cutting pastry to dicing pears, and I learned some tips for using a pastry tube for both side dishes and desserts. 

     At the end of class, we were able to sample all of the recipes that we prepared which was a nice way to celebrate our work. The menu included:

 Sausage-stuffed plums

Uova ripiene (Sicilian filled eggs)

Spinach and ricotta mini pies

Pasta in a box

Scallopine with limone

Duchesse potatoes

Chocolate eggs with caramelized pears and cream

Cassata mousse with Grand Marnier

Learning how use a pastry tube to make duchesse potatoes.
 

 

Our instructor, Flavia (right), works with her assistant to dip the filled eggs in bread crumbs.

Sausage-stuffed plums, spinach-ricotta pies, Sicilian filled eggs

Scallopini and duchesse potatoes

The Fantastic Fiat 500!

      When we woke up on Saturday, we could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. The sun was warm and shining, the breeze was cool and it was starting to feel like spring. It was a perfect day to spend outside, so Christopher and I decided to visit the auto show sponsored by the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. The show featured rows and rows of colorful Fiat 500s - the tiny, but iconic car that is ubiquitous in Italy. We were there early enough to watch a stream of 500s cruise in, honking their horns and parking so as to best display their shiny paint and body work.
       Fiat 500s were manufactured in Italy from 1957-1975 to meet the need for an economic city-driving car in the post-war European market. They were immensely popular in Italy and across Europe during their production, and are now a prized collector's car for enthusiasts and restoration projects. Many of the Fiats exhibited at the show are owned by members of the Belpasso-Catania Fiat 500 Club and several were owned by service members from the Sigonella community.
    

How does your garden grow?

Sprouts!

    

      Last summer,  Christopher became fascinated with the bees traveling around the abundance of clover in his grandma's backyard. We talked about how they were collecting nectar to take back to their hive and make honey. Coincidentally when we took him to a children's nature program at the Canaan Valley Nature Center, the theme of the day was pollination and he learned more about bees and other pollinators and their role in the plant life cycle. 

     His interest in how things grow has been further peaked by the orange tree in our backyard and the fields of crops stretched in every direction of our Sicilian horizon. We've watched the fields plowed and prepared for planting, green sprouts raising from the soil and flourishing into leafy giants, and workers harvesting the crops to take to market. Every car ride has been a discussion on the progress of the agriculture around us. 

        When I was younger, I remember following my Grandpa out into his large garden and orchard (and treat of treats watching him tend to his beehive from a safe distance). He took time to show us the seeds and how tended with care they became plants and finally the food my grandmother prepared for our dinner. I loved to help in the garden, wearing playclothes and digging, planting and watering the crops. That's why when I saw this: Root Vue Farm, I thought Christopher might enjoy growing his own plants and it would let him have some hands on experience to go with his observations. 

          The farm was easy to assemble and has a viewing window in the front that can be revealed so that we can monitor the progress of the roots as well as the leaves growing through the top of the soil. After I the farm was set up, I let an eager Christopher take charge. We read the instructions together and then I read them again as he completed each step. Once our carrot, onion and radish seeds were planted, we labeled them with their Italian names on small stakes and put the garden in our kitchen window. 
     At first, Christopher wanted to check the viewing window every few minutes to see if there were roots. Eventually he caught on that the progress wouldn't be that quick, and now we check each morning and each night before we go upstairs for bed. On the fourth day, we were treated to tiny green radish sprouts. Now, all three types of vegetables are sprouting and it is Christopher's daily task to make sure the water reservoir does not get dry. 

     

Counting out the soil discs

  Measuring the water so the discs can soak and expand.

 

 Transferring the prepared soil to his viewing garden.
 

 Time for a little clean-up before the next step.

Planting radishes, carrots and onions in a neat row.

 Some books we have been reading about plants.

Seeing Sicily: Caltagirone

 The famous tiled stairs in Caltagirone - I'll save climbing them for another day :)

   A few Saturdays ago, my friends Allison and Anna picked me up for a fun morning of shopping in Caltagirone. World famous for its majolica and terra cotta pottery, Caltagirone actually means "hill of vases" in Arabic. The town center is filled with ceramic workshops and boutiques selling tableware as well as decorative items painted with bright, beautiful patterns. Anna and I were in luck because Caltagirone is one of Allison's favorite towns and she was very knowledgeable about which shops offered the finest quality for the best price. I found a gorgeous and unique serving set as well as a few gifts, and can't wait to return to with Matt to show him some of the intricate landscapes of Sicily and Mt. Etna painted on tiles in several shops. After filling our bags and lugging them back to Allison's prime parking spot (another advantage of having an in-the-know guide), we headed to one of Anna's island finds - an agriturismo in a cave near the mountain top town of Vizzini for a delicious and relaxing lunch.

Rosy di Natale of Le Ceramiche di Rosy. She is the ceramicist of the shop where I bought my first piece of Caltagirone pottery. She wanted a picture of the piece before it left the shop and I asked if I could snap one of her, too.
 

Upstairs workshop at Silva Ceramica. Most of the shop proprietors were eager to show us examples of the ceramics process or photo albums of their best work. At Silva, a lady showed us a photo album of her project tiling the Dolce and Gabbana showroom in Manhattan (Dolce is a native of Sicily).

 

At Silva Ceramica, they even let us pose for a photo opportunity in the workshop. Here, Allison paints under the watchful eye of one of their ceramicists.

 

My favorite experience of the day was sorting through the stacks of hand-painted tiles at Silva Ceramica. What started as lifting a piece here and there quickly turned into a team project of methodically looking through each stack of tiles to find treasures that coordinated with each other. "Artistes!" exclaimed the amused proprietor.

 

When it comes to driving in Sicily, there is NEVER` a dull moment. This is a view through the back window of a dried mudslide obstructing 2/3 of the road. Faced with any obstacle, our fearless driver Allison would proclaim "Don't worry. I've got this." Showing her true Sicilian driving skill, she also informed us midway through a series of downhill S-turns that the car was in neutral.

 

It really isn't a drive through the Sicilian countryside unless you encounter animals in the road. This fine billy had some impressive horns.

 

Our delicious and artistic semifreddo dessert at an agriturismo near Vizzini - the perfect way to celebrate a successful afternoon adventure!