BOOKED!

Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.

- Blaise Pascal

At around lunchtime yesterday, probably thinking that there was no one at home as it is still the holiday period, a burglar entered an apartment in Rome from its balcony but stopped to read a book about Greek mythology which he saw on a bedside table. The elderly owner of the apartment found him either sitting on the bed with the book, according to some reports, or on the balcony according to others. Either way, the owner raised the alarm with neighbours, who managed to stop the burglar from escaping and the police arrived quickly to arrest him.

It seems that our 38-year-old burglar, as well as being cultured, has refined tastes, as a bag full of designer clothes, possibly stolen from another apartment nearby, was found in his possession.

The title of the book?  Gli dèi alle sei - L'Iliade all'ora dell'aperitivo - The Gods at Six O'Clock - The Iliad at Apéritif Time by Giovanni Nucci.  Apparently it is a book about the Iliad from the point of view of the gods and how this ancient story might help us understand our own era.

Had our burglar read Pascal, he might have reflected before picking up the book! Let us hope that there is a library wherever he is imprisoned and that he will mend his ways for, as the French author Daniel Pennac says,

A well-chosen book can save you from anything, even yourself.

DROUGHT, DROWSINESS AND DUNKING

 It is Ferragosto, the Feast of the Assumption and the time of year when all of Italy seems to stop. If you are not at the beach in the daytime you are likely to be surrounded by silence which, even after all these years, seems strange in a country normally so animated and nicely noisy. 

This year there are two other factors, however, and the first word in my title leads to the effect of the second. The relentless heat of this summer has made everybody feel lethargic and every conversation begins with the words, "When will it end?"

We did have about an hour's rain on Saturday and it was bliss but, alas, not enough. Of course, only a Brit would stand out in it!

 

You may have read about the drought (siccità) and water rationing is in place in some areas. By mid-July damage to the agricultural sector was already estimated at 2 billion euros while 60% less wheat than normal was produced in the Catania area and 80% less fodder in Catania and Enna provinces. Farmers, as you can imagine, are in despair.

Here in Modica houses in the Old Town were recently without water for four days but this was due to a broken pipe in difficut terrain in the country rather than the drought. Anyone who has followed this blog from its beginning may remember that in my early days here, we always seemed to have water problems around Ferragosto so if I could type with my fingers crossed right now, I would! It is impossible to realise how much we depend on water until we have had to go without it, even for a few hours and especially in extreme heat.

There are, however, compensations for being in Sicily at this time and below are three culinary ones:

A fourth, traditional in the summer, is eating granita or ice cream with a brioche and it's OK to dunk! In Britain it is not acceptable in polite society, although Queen Victoria might have dunked her biscuits in tea privately, but here no one bats an eyelid and granita con brioche or brioscia is a traditional Sicilian breakfast. 

My granita all'anguria

But how did this tradition begin? Well, first of all the brioche used should be the Sicilian brioscia cu' tuppu (that is, it has a knob on the top) and it is not related to the French brioche. It is thought that a chef working for a rich family in Messina - no one knows exactly when but probably in the 19th century - wanted to create a bread for the ladies of the house to spread jam upon and the brioscia was the result. The tuppu was inspired either by the low chignon of the ladies' hairstyles or by the shape of a woman's breast.  Another story is that this happened in Catania. I suppose that, once the brioscia was invented, the ice cream or granita followed it one hot summer. No matter where or how it happened, it is a very good idea indeed!

So Buon Ferragosto and happy dunking!