JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THE FEASTING WAS OVER...

Just when I thought the feasting was over my friends Marco and Giovanna invited me to join them and their family of "little gentlemen" for pizza at a rather special restaurant in Frigintini [a village near Modica which is famous for its olive oil]. So off we all went on Saturday night to Il Valentino, which is in a converted masseria [farmhouse]:

Original features have been carefully preserved outside







and used to clever effect inside:









Now to the food. I had this pizza with fried pumpkin, sausage and ricotta



while Marco's sons each enjoyed a capricciosa



and Marco had a pizza with prawns and tomatoes:



For dessert there was semifreddo of almonds, which was to die for



or of ricotta, which the boys had:

At one point Marco looked around and remarked that, at 9pm, the room was full of families with their children and his own eight-year-old was enjoying a half-glass of beer, whereas in Britain the children would probably be in the care of a babysitter. He was right, of course, and I much prefer the Italian way of eating out.

I must also share with you a funny tale that Marco told me of an old, Sicilian countryside New Year's Eve tradition: he said that, at midnight, people celebrated by throwing all the old objects they didn't want out of the windows and if you happened to be in the street and got hit by one, well, that was your fault for being there!

Both food and service were excellent so we all had a lovely evening in a very pleasant atmosphere.