The food.


Sfincione: Sicilian Pizza.





Pupo con l'uovo... (cookie with egg)








l'uovo.... (the egg inside)
looks chinese lah!!! XDDD









barbeque (tannara) sasizza e spitina (sausages and involtini)






Lasanga, radicchio and provola.








artichokes in pastella... string beans and black olives.








Bread!









Profiterol....








what's inside a profiterol? Sweet whip cream.








One CannolO
two cannolI.
yes canoli is plural only!!!

and the ones in the back...
Saint Joseph's Sfinci... ah the things you do with ricotta cheese in Sicily!



Some Marsala at the end of the meal, before coffee comes...












Not just simple marsala... but marsala all'uovo!

The weather.

Good weather... it was great!!!
So Nature was blooming with radiancy and bright colors.

Saturday, mourning....

after saturday morning comes saturday mourning...
this is the day we go to the cemetery.


My great aunt grows beautiful flowers.








of all colors....









Sicilian Ikebana master.... My great auntie Grazia
arranges the flower for the family chapel.









and this is where my loved ones rest.

Saturday morning....

Me... I had a culinary encounter... as well on saturday for lunch.
PASTA MPUSTATA...

baked pasta with caouliflower, pine nuts, raisins, in tomato sauce
and bread crumbs on top.







and nespole (medlar? Loquat?) the first of the season.

Friday night...

Downtown Ficarazzi...
We meet the procession... where the Virgin Mary cries
over the dead body of her son: Jesus.


the two start their procession at the opposite edges of the town, then they meet in the middle.... then they each go to their churches...

Pasqua in Sicilia (Easter in Sicily)

recipe for a perfect vacation

THE TRIP


Always start a day with a good coffee.


Make sure to bring Settimana Enigmistica (puzzlewords)
with you on the plane... Must defeat Bartezzaghi, the guy
who writes them (his dad was impossible to finish... Bartezzaghi jr... not so bad 2 times out of 3 can be done)





Once you get to Punta Raisi airport, take a bus to Palermo.
where someone from the family comes to pick you up.

Gnocchi bava e noci.



bava means saliva... how to make saliva?
melt in the frying pan swiss cheese (lerdammer), provolone cheese (galbanino), blue cheese (mascarpone gorgonzola) e some grated parmesan cheese, with cream (cooking cream or chef's cream) a bit of nutmet and a spoon of apple juice.





How to make the gnocchi: you buy them.
Bring the water to boiling point, add salt then toss in the ghocchi, When the come floatin on top you take them out immediately (when they float they are ready).
You scoop them out and toss them in the pan were you melted the cheese in the cream...
you sauté a bit and make the cream get nicely around the gnocchi,
break a few walnuts and toss them in.
add some on top for decoration.

It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and it's yummilicious!

Last exhile!

today kinda sad.
I do miss a pet really.
It was saturday, so even though I had work to do, I decided to go to the farm for lunch with my family to relax a bit.
So I can work on sunday and they won't blame me for working on sunday either.
It was really nice and warm, I bet there were like 20 degree celsius.... so i was always outdoor.
As soon as I open the car door I just flung myself outside Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... and disappear until I smell food cuz it's lunchtime. Like a wild cat.
Maybe I return with a dead fannel in my hand and present it to my mom "woman, make salad!"
My hunting instinct, I got a big one today a male fannel, those long and sweet ones that hide underground... but i saw it... it was huge and I went... "i'll make good use of you, thank you for looking so great"... also there were plenty of wild asparaguses.... they die so well in a frittata!
My father puts a bit of provoletta in it too.... mhhhhhhh!
So that was our lunch, asparagus frittata, fannel salad with corn and our olives, and fresh bread home delivered by the bakers... who goes around the countryside with his truck selling bread.
I didn't bring my camera but the today totally would have called for... cuz my dad, after lunch took the lamborghini for a ride... now the lamborghini is a beautiful, white... tractor.
She clean the field were we grow our veggies cuz while we were all sick here... the 3 of us, all with fever and cough.... the jungle was growing between our fava beans and the cabbages....
After he cleaned the whol thing... so neat and precise.... we got coffee and all these dogs starteg coming.
One of them is Zagor, my cousin's dog... the stupidest thing on Earth LOL, so funny... he comes and tackles me like a rugby player "miiiiine, the gal who plays with me and feed me dog foood!"
I bet he eats dried bread all the time....
anyway... these other two dogs showed up as well. One of them I call Dora, cuz she looks like a Dora... the other one is this little black, fuzzy bastard.... he is only after the gal and you can see it... while Dora is starving and is totally after food.
I want to grab her and bathe her and clean her wounds and take the tics off of her ear... but she doesn't like to be touched.
In the meantime the little black fuzzy bastard is growling...
excuse you, this is my place you get the heck outta here and don't growl at me because i am being nice to your lady friend.
Then zagor arrives... and he pees, pee-mail says "this is my territory"
he starts peeing closer and closer to the little thing, who still growls at him... and I keep calling him "zagor get away, he's gonna byte you, it's not worth it... "
but then he ends up peeing like one centimeter away from the doggie like "hullo, I want you to know that your territory is limited to your vitals space"
then i say "first of all, this is MY territory... you get it? My farm... my trees... my yard.... my territory... but I don't go peeing all over you and all over your things... second of all you are wagging your tail at him, that is really not convincing!"
Nevertheless zagor is dumb and ignores me... the little thing is still growling and so I decide to kick him off the land... takes a while it's 100 acres... dammit!! but you know... yougo growl back home don't come here were little rascals come for food and fun, not for fighting.

In the end I think Zagor is the funniest thing on Earth... I wish I could touch Dora and make her my farm's dog.. to keep weird animals away... but she is a girl... bound to get tons of puppies.... and I don't think my dad is up to a trip to a vet for a dog we are not sure is going to stick around....
still..... I wish I had a doggie... I see these beasts (XDD) only once a week and i truly become one of them... running around like crazy and jumping through the fields yelling at them LOL....
I want a doggie.
I really want a doggie.... After Ernst and Woofie... it's really hard to live in a house with no yard... no pets... surrounded by houses....

wish i could move to my farm house....

How to plant a tree.

buy the tree and put it in the trunk.












find a nice place for it.














with nice, pretty flowers....













and no weird looking mushrooms!!!














wear mickey mouse/michael jackson's looking glowes....











have your father dig the hole... XD

















while you look for rocks... to put in the hole
your father dug for you... with your pretty white gloves...











and after placing (always the father of course) the tree in the hole and put the dirt back....


















and ta-daaan! Here's your olive tree! (we planted 5 of them, plus a chestnut tree and a shiro plum tree... the almond tree is on its way)

Okay you gonna get a good laugh out of this.
Usually when I am stressed up with work I do not dream of space
invaders, humanflesh eating worms or stuff like that (no, I deam that
when I am on vacation and relaxed LOL) I usually either dream some
crazy adventure with Jack Sparrow (deda are you 13? Nay, I always
dream pirates adventures, jack Sparrow just joined my crew in latest
few years) or Gachan.

Well but last night beat them all, because I dreamt I was Gackt's mom.

Indeed, what the heck.
So I was in a crazy adventure Chronicles of Narnia style, trying to
save the world from en evil Elephant (yes I know U___U" but it's my
dream!)... and as I was trying to avoid a witch who was trying to sell
me muffins, and I don't like muffins so she must have been evil too, a
giant Kimutaku approaches us and I am trying to convince him to join
forces with us.
"With a beam of your smile you'll blind the elephant!" Make sense, right?
So then he replies "I cannot join you because he is having a bad hair day"
and he points at gachan, all sitting in a corner and moping about the
fact he was having a bad hair day.
That is so mean! - I thought - he is already so frustrated about it!
So then I told kimtaku.
"Hold on a second you don't talk like that about my gachan!"
So I went to gachan and pushed his hair back and I started fixing it
like a mom would... all telling him stuff like "here, put this back,
so that everyone can see your eyes, don't cover your face like that,
how can you see with such a long fringe in front of you eyes" and bla
bla... and he was not nagging like "mom, I am 30, I am professional
singer and leave me alone" Nooooo, he was smiling, gave me a pat on
the head and said "you are a good mama".
And in my dream I am all thinking "that didn't quite please me... why?"
in the end the giant kimutaku wants to know what's gachan's special
ability... so I say: sing.
He goes Oooooooooh!
the witche's house collapse ... ergo she was evil after all.
But then I realized that the rumble of the house collapsing was
actually my niece falling off the bed so I woke up and I thought
Damn! A giant Kimutaku and Gachan in one dream?
Why was I his Moooooom! T____T I was touching his hair and all, why
was I his moooom!! T_T

Mah, I don't feel that upset after all... i still had lingering
feelings of his soft hair and his smile and that was pleasant... I
wonder if his mama always bothers him like that and go like "here you
got rice stuck on your face, don't eat like a pig" and all. hahahahaha

oh well back to work now,