Saturday, September 22, 2007

AUTUMN DAYS




I am wearing a sundress as I sit here typing, yet the surest sign that autumn has arrived is the abundance of fichi d'India [prickly pears] in the shops. I think this is my favourite Sicilian fruit as it was the first I was offered here, back in 1992. They taste nothing like the ones available from time to time in Britain, as these lose their delicate flavour after travelling, being selected for supermarket sale and undergoing whatever the stores' processes are. You never find pickled prickly pear here, as you do in the USA, though. To Italians a food is either "sweet" or "savoury" and rarely are the two mixed.




In my basket you may behold what €6 bought me this morning. [There are about 4lbs of large potatoes underneath the fruit.]

14 comments:

lady macleod said...

You do such an excellent job with your photographs! Out fruit de jour now is pomegranates and sweet apples, yummy.

Siciliamo said...

Hello,

Thank you for passing by our blog.
It is always a great pleasure to share the love for this amasing island with someone else.

May I please add your blog on our blogroll?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Thanks, Lady M. I'm sure everyone around here thinks I am mad! I saw the first pomegranates of the season yesterday. Hello, Siciliamo. You have a lovely blog. I'd be delighted to be on your blogroll and will add you to mine. Thank you.

Gledwood said...

I don't mind things like sweetcorn or tomatoes with meat... but I loathe sweet and sour mixed together. Especially the Chinese takeaway version that tastes like Chicken blobs with boiled sweets juice. I think I'm with the Italians on that one.

ps do you GET many Chinese takeaways in Sicily?

jmb said...

New to me Welshcakes but they sound tasty.
This post put me in mind of a piece when my favourite author's renaissance hero came upon the rare treat of apricots which of course also do not transport well, especially in those days.
regards
jmb

Anonymous said...

A very pretty basket of fruit and veg, WL, more so for being a wicker basket rather than a polythene carrier bag!

Lee said...

Here I am again, catching up with everyone's blogs! Sorry I've been behind in commenting, Welsh.

I'm so glad you found your pendant. There's nothing worse than losing something like that, that means so much to you. :)

See...there you go again...you've made me hungry! I've been stuck here at my computer, intending to start preparing a potato and corn soup but I got carried away here and I've still not eaten and, even started to prepare anything...and what do you do? You put up food pics! ;)

Gracchi said...

Sounds great Welshcakes- sorry I havent' been commenting as regularly- pressures of life but this sounds really tasty.

Incidentally I've just memed you as well- so double apologies!

Ellee Seymour said...

Our summer continues here, I am wearing a vesty t-shirt and jeans. And I am eating some very scrummy pears. an old fashioned variety grown as a hedge, which I picked from a centuries old cottage on a National Trust property. Naughty, naughty - but nice.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Gleds. No Chinese takeaways in Modica , though there are Chinese restaurants. Hi, jmb. You must try them! Ciao, Shirl. I don't use the basket to shop - just for the photos! It was given to me the day I arrived here in 2005, by a friend who had filled it with food provisions - and plonked a bottle og gin and a bottle of tonic on the top! It was a lovely gesture. Hi, Lee. That's OK> I had a bot of a slow blog-visiting week myself last week. Yes, it's upsetting when you lose something so personal. Potato and corn soup sounds good! Ciao, Gracchi. That's OK. Coming over to look at the meme in a minute! Those pears sound lovely, Ellee.

sally in norfolk said...

I picked some great apples while out walking today.... from a tree out in the middle of no where to.... apples were sweet but sharp just how i like them too

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Sally. Those apples sound lovely.

Crushed said...

They are quite brightly coloured, those fruit.

I'm sure you just don't get fruit that bright over here.

The Italians not fans of Sweet And Sour then?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Ciao, Crushed. Yes, I love the colour of this fruit. You do occasionally get a dish cooked in "agrodolce" here but it is not "sweet-sour" as we understand it. It usually just means that some vinegar has been added to the sauce but I have to say I find these dishes very good!

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