Sicily Scene

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2012

2012-01-27T22:54:00.000+01:00

"E accaduto, quindi potrebbe accadere di nuovo - It happened. Therefore it could happen again."
- Primo Levi

Mi ricordo Anna Frank [Rai film]

WOMEN AT WORK!

2012-01-26T22:46:00.000+01:00

In November Cathy, the Director of the English International School, Modica and I were interviewed for an article in the Ragusa Province magazine Freetime and I thought you might like to see a couple of the photographs:

Cathy [right] and me at the school

Welshwoman at the chalkface in Sicily,
talking about an American festival.

Photos: Simone Aprile and reproduced here with his kind permission.

If you are in Ragusa, you can see the article, our newsletter and more pictures in the December - January edition of Freetime but if you are elsewhere and can read Italian, the text of the article is here on the school blog.

LUNCH ON A JANUARY DAY

2012-01-25T21:40:00.000+01:00

It's always nice to have lunch with a friend and this is what we had today in Bar Cicara's new extension, from where we could watch the world go by:

A plate of antipasti

Palermitana di carne
Veal cutlet in a herbed & seasoned breadcrumb mixture
[Who am I to refuse the chips?]

and prettily served fresh fruit for dessert

NOT MY IDEA OF PILLOW TALK

2012-01-24T23:35:00.000+01:00

You didn't expect me to get close enough
to take a decent photo, did you?

There I was, almost ready for bed at around 1 am this morning when I glanced at the pillow and - eeeeeek! - there was this creature making itself comfortable. All right, I know it's not big, by spider standards, but it's a tarantula to me!

At first, standing well back, I tried to persuade it to just go away and, when it took no notice, wondered if perhaps it would appreciate being spoken to in Sicilian dialect . Alas, my invocation to "Avattinni a cògghiri cardi" = "Go and pick cardoons" fell on deaf spider ears - or hairs- and by 2 am I was a desperate woman.

At that time of night in a flat in Italy, you can't use the vacuum cleaner tube, try to frighten the creature with noise or even scream for fear of disturbing the neighbours, so I'm standing there, still starkers, trying to work out what to do when I realise my pyjamas are under the pillow! This is not the only pair of pyjamas I own but I was too freaked out to remember that at the time. Having what I thought was a brainwave, I managed to pull them out from under the pillow under the spider with a walking stick but this caused the spider to move and then I didn't know if it was in the pyjamas or not. Finally I remembered the other pyjamas and decided to don them as if ever a situation required clothes, this was it!

Being thus attired seemed to make me braver and next, I fetched my oven gloves and proceeded to strip the bed because no way was I lying down on it if spiderman or woman was still there. Still with the gloves on, I lifted the mattress several times to look under it but there was no sign of signor/a ragno there either. Now only the pillow cases remained to be examined inside so I poked about in them with the walking stick and managed to slip them off using this, too - because I had to change them, didn't I? I mean, could you sleep on a pillow case where this creepiest of creepy crawlies had made itself at home?

By 3.30 am I just had to lie down but I kept the light on and did not close my eyes for a minute, knowing that our unwelcome guest was probably still in the room. Then, suddenly at 4 am there it was under the bookcase - I might have respected it had it been exploring some books - but it escaped yet again. By this time Simi the dog, who had slept through most of the drama, had begun to take an interest and, once she was on the bed too, I felt safer so nodded off uneasily. We woke up to bright sun but I'm afraid the Italian proverb, "Se il ragno fa il filato, il bel tempo è assicurato - If the spider is spinning its web, you can be sure of fine weather"was no comfort to me at all!

Doris Day - Pillow Talk

MAKING APPLE CHUTNEY IN SICILY

2012-01-23T23:20:00.001+01:00

Every autumn in Britain, I would make a batch of apple chutney. For American readers, chutney is a kind of thick salsa which is, however, a preserve. The word "chutney" comes from Hindi "chatni", meaning "strongly spiced" and it was the colonising British who began eating spiced mixtures, probably as condiments, in India. The custom spread to other colonies and tropical fruit, too, began to be incorporated into some of the recipes. Then the travelling British decided they wanted spiced mixtures of fruit and vegetables which would keep and so began adding vinegar and large quantities of sugar. Eventually they brought their recipes and the word "chutney" back to Britain.

And now I am carrying on the tradition of chutney making in Sicily! Sadly, it is wasted on most of my Sicilian friends who abhor the British habit of mixing sweet and savoury ingredients and when I point out that they do it themselves in several dishes such as coniglio in agrodolce [sweet and sour rabbit] they just shrug their shoulders and say that is different. Anyway, I brought my preserving pan and extremely long-handled wooden chutney-mixing spoon from Britain and I haven't given up yet!

On Saturday - better late than never - I made my first batch of apple chutney here in three years: Once again Rosa was the willing "gofer" and once again I used a mixture of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples in the absence of cooking apples. The recipe I use, from a Jennifer Paterson book called Feast Days [published long before her incarnation as one of the famous Two Fat Ladies] calls for white malt vinegar, but as I like apple chutney to be quite dark and you can't get malt vinegar here, I used a mixture of red and white wine vinegars. I don't leave the chutney to cool before potting it but pour it straight into sterilised jars and then I leave it covered with a clean tea towel for twelve hours before putting on the lids, which I line with greaseproof paper, just as my mother taught me.

This time it took ages to cut out the "hats" as my pinking shears has seen better days and is getting hard to manoeuvre but all will be worth it when the flavours have mellowed after a month and I can use the chutney!

Oh, and this is a 2002 photo of me making chutney in Carson City, Nevada, USA., where a friend had cajoled me into giving a demonstration!

SABATO MUSICALE

2012-01-21T18:14:00.000+01:00

Enjoy:

Antonello Venditti - Unica

DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL

2012-01-20T23:57:00.000+01:00

I always get depressed when it's time to take the Christmas decorations down but one advantage of living in Italy is that in February we have the Carnival season to cheer us all up again.

In Termini Imerese [Palermo Province] where the townsfolk claim to have the oldest carnival tradition in Sicily - it dates back to 1876 - this year's promises to be so much fun that it will be "the end of the world": As usual, eight floats will be in the processions, six of them in competition with each other and two which will be non-competing. These last are the children's float and the float carrying u nannu e a nanna [grandfather and grandmother], the grandfather being a hale and hearty fellow while the grandmother is a rather gaunt figure in a frilly dress with lots of lace. This float traditionally leads the procession and on Shrove Tuesday the grandparents are burned in the town square - but don't worry, as they are made of papier-mâché! This burning is believed to ward off evil spirits and symbolises the renewal that is spring.

The floats in the competition will contain allegorical figures and in one there will be a model of Mr Monti, who will be portrayed drinking wine, perhaps in an effort to forget the economy for the duration of the processions.

One thing is certain: nothing - not even the current economic crisis - is going to stop the Carnival at Termini Imerese!

The Termini Imerese Carnival runs from 12th - 21st February 2012. There will be music and entertainment throughout the event and the processions will take place on Saturday 18th February, Sunday 19th February and on Shrove Tuesday, 21st February.

SURVIVING A NIGHTMARE

2012-01-19T23:55:00.001+01:00

The video shows part of a performance, in happier times, by Antonello Tonna, the talented catanese pianist who survived the Costa Concordia disaster. Signor Tonna told BlogSicilia that he had been working as an entertainer on cruise ships for many years but that, although he had previously survived a force 10 storm at sea, he had never witnessed anything like what happened off the Isola del Giglio last Friday night. Clearly, he thought his last moment had come and he said he thought he was actually living scenes from Titanic.

I am sure that you will join me in sending good wishes to signor Tonna and all the survivors and that your hearts, like mine, go out to those who were lost or injured and their loved ones.

Antonello Tonna - Baia Taormina Hotel

A SORT OF COTTAGE PIE - WITH A MYSTERY INGREDIENT

2012-01-18T23:22:00.002+01:00

This recipe, a sort of Italian cottage pie, is from a book called Cucina Low Cost. Only garlic and onion are cooked in olive oil prior to adding the meat but, in addition to the mince - in this case, a mixture of beef and pork but it could be mince of your choice - there is an ingredient I had never heard of before, pasta di salame. I was rather irritated with myself about this but was comforted by the fact that none of the Sicilians I asked knew what it was either. I did an internet search and, although I found some recipes requiring this ingredient, none of them told me what it was. "From the best supermarkets", said a note in one of these recipes but no one had heard of it in the local supermarket. By this time, I had begun to suspect that we were probably talking about a sausage mix and at my next stop, the butcher's, this was confirmed. My butcher seasons his sausage meat with fennel seeds, sage and red wine so some of this to put in the dish seemed a great idea to me!

One thing I don't miss about Britain is most British cheese and I cannot stand cooked Cheddar cheese, so I was happy to sprinkle a mixture of ragusano and grana cheese over the top of the dish. Oh, and some 'strattu was stirred in with the meat, onion and garlic, too.

I was pleased with the result and will definitely be making this again.

IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

2012-01-17T23:57:00.002+01:00

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "If you could turn back time...".

We've all done it, haven't we? At certain moments, we've all thought, about trivial events or life-changing ones, "If only I had...", "If only I hadn't..." or "If only I had said / could say...". Here are some of the the things I might change if I could turn back time:

I wish I could have come of age in an era when women wore hats - it would have spared me so many stressful moments on bad hair days

and I often wish I'd become a housewife and a mother instead of a career woman:

The garden shed my grandad made into a "little house"
for me to play in

I'd like to be able to say that if I could turn back time I wouldn't have broken a flowerpot over my friend "Wrecker's" head when I was four - she got the nickname because she broke all my toys - but I'd be lying, even 58 years later.

"Wrecker" sitting on my car [which she didn't break!]

Being blessed with curves was not an advantage in the late 1960s so I'd change the fashions of the Mary Quant era.

And I wish I'd spent more time studying and less living it up at university, but to have done so would have been to have denied being young.

If I could turn back time I would have spoken out more often about some situations and kept a wise silence about others. The advice in this early twentieth century postcard is not a bad maxim:

"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."

I also wish that I had learned to live within my means long ago and had not, in Mr Micawber's words, "blighted the blossom".

If I could turn back time, I would have come to live in lovely, Baroque Sicily sooner but we tend to forget how "life" can get in the way of our plans and dreams.

Duomo di San Giorgio, Modica

We can, of course, never know how things would have turned out on "the road not taken" and perhaps it is better thus so I would like to end this post by telling you about a happy moment that I would change only by prolonging it:

Christmas Steps (Rosalind Mitchell) / CC BY-SA 2.0

I do not know how old I was but probably not more than two or three. I was standing with my mother at the top of Christmas Steps in Bristol, UK and we were waiting for my father.

Christmas Steps: such a wonderful, Dickensian-sounding name for a little street full of secondhand bookshops, as it was then, and in my mind, it snowed every time we went there.

And suddenly there was my father, walking up the steps towards us and beaming at me, holding his arms out. I loved him so much at that moment and as his arms and warmth envelopped me I felt so safe.

If I could turn back the clock, I would make that moment last forever - as, indeed, it has, in my heart.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

The roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken

Below is the full list of bloggers participating in this week's theme:

THE DAY SICILY STOPPED

2012-01-16T23:53:00.002+01:00

A transport strike of goods vehicles has more or less brought Sicily to a standstill today, with intercity roads and ports being blocked all over the island. This, in turn, has caused the closure of some petrol stations and long queues outside those remaining open, while some pupils were unable to get to school and supermarkets quickly ran out of milk, bread and other fresh products.

The stoppage, called by Forza D'Urto, a new movement made up of members of Autotrasportatori Aias, the Movimento dei Forconi [an agricultural workers' movement] fishermen, businesspeople from the agricultural sector, indignati and others, is intended to be a peaceful protest that will not hurt Sicilians but will make people all over Italy realise that something must be done about the current economic crisis. The banners of trade unions or political parties will not be displayed during the protest. The organisers say that the movement is for all Sicilians who are tired of bureaucracy and corruption of all kinds and who wish to reclaim their rights. Italy's main trade unions have, however, distanced themselves from the movement in statements issued today.

Members of the movement are particularly calling for a reduction in the excise duty on fuel, which has hit their industry and, consequently, Sicilian producers and exporters, hard and the strike is scheduled to last for five days, ending at midnight on Friday-Saturday night.

SABATO MUSICALE

2012-01-14T18:31:00.000+01:00

Thinking of all those affected by the tragedy off the Isola del Giglio today:

Al Bano Carrisi - Va, pensiero

THERE'S NO ESCAPE

2012-01-13T23:41:00.001+01:00

On the day that Italy has had its credit rating downgraded by one of the absurd ratings agencies, I thought I would share with you the cheerful news that, if you happen to live in the town of Ragusa, there is no escape from the eurozone crisis, not even when you reach that great financial market in the sky.

The Corriere di Ragusa reports that, on New Year's Eve, while everyone else was preparing to celebrate, the city councillors of Ragusa held a jolly meeting at which it was decided to increase the cost of burials in the city's cemetery from €20 to €50, that of entombment from €31 to €100 and that of exhumations - necessary because after a certain period your remains are removed to a slot in the wall - from €23 to €100.

As Dorothy Parker famously said, "You might as well live."

Update: Clarification in view of comments
Perhaps I should clarify that the costs mentioned above are for the physical acts of entombment, burial and, eventually, exhumation. They do not take into account the additional costs of the cemetery plot or the funeral.

CHICKEN WITH LEMON & GARLIC

2012-01-12T22:46:00.000+01:00

This excellent recipe is in one of my favourite cookbooks, La Cucina del Sole by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. I altered it in only one detail by adding a little cut-up lardo [white bacon] with the potatoes. The result was better than ever!

TAKE THESE CHAINS

2012-01-11T23:01:00.000+01:00

A few hours ago, ANAS S.p.A. [the organisation which manages Italy's roads] and the Province of Ragusa made motorists in the area very happy by announcing that the requirement for them to have snow tyres or to carry snow chains in their vehicles when travelling between the cities of Modica and Ragusa from 15th December - 15th March has been dropped.

In an area where winters are generally mild and snow is a rarity, the ruling has been regarded as absurd and anyway, soon after it came into force there were no snow chains to be had anywhere in Ragusa Province!

From now on motorists will only be required to travel with chains when the meteorological conditions necessitate it - that is, in....er.... snow.

You do not need to understand Italian to appreciate this satirical video about the situation. Needless to say, the footage in the first part was not shot in Ragusa! I also thought you might like to see some of the local scenery.

Il Clandestino, Modica - Bufera di neve sulla Modica - Ragusa

20 [NON-MAFIA RELATED] REASONS TO VISIT SICILY

2012-01-10T22:25:00.005+01:00

I was sad and disappointed to learn, over the Christmas holidays, of tour operators who are again setting up "Mafia tours" of Sicily. I am not going to pretend that the Mafia is dead and I have expressed my thoughts about its continued existence in this post. However, there is so much that is lovely to see here, such a varied and fascinating culture to explore and there are so many fantastic taste sensations to be enjoyed that I cannot understand why anyone would want to persist in promoting the stereotypes. Sicily and the Sicilian people deserve better so here is a very personal and eclectic list of good reasons to visit my island in the sun:

1. Marvel at the Greek sites of Agrigento, Segesta and Selinunte.

Tempio della Concordia, Agrigento

2. In the summer, attend a performance of a Greek play at the Greek Amphitheatre in Siracusa.

Performance of Medea at Siracusa in 2009

3. Visit the Infiorata [carpet of flowers] in Noto in May.

4. See the breathtaking beauty of the Val di Noto towns, which collectively form a World Heritage Site.

Duomo di San Giorgio, Modica

5. See the Venere di Aidone, over two thousand years old and home after so many years of enforced wandering.

6. Relax on clean, unpolluted beaches.

7. See the settings of the Montalbano films.

8. And, talking of that gourmet detective, try the local arancini!

9. Breathe in the heady scent of orange blossom and buy some zagara cologne.

10. Eat a Sicilian vanilla orange!

11. Take a bus ride along the edge of the Stretto at Messina. It is stunningly beautiful. While you're there, gaze over at the Calabrian coast - you could even take the ferry across if you have time - and remember all who passed along this route as they emigrated to Northern Italy and far, far beyond. Like migrating peoples today, they wanted only a better life.

12. Go to a street market, such as the ones in Modica and Catania. You'll be amazed by what you find there!

13. Visit Bellini's house in Catania.

Image of Vincenzo Bellini: Wikipedia

14. Admire Norman and Arabic architecture in Palermo and visit the seat of one of the world's oldest parliaments.

15. See Modican chocolate being made to the Aztec method at Bonajuto in the town's Corso Umberto.

16. Don't miss out on the best gelato in the world!

17. Take a trip up grumpy old Etna.

18. Eat plentiful prickly pears in autumn and sip prickly pear liqueur.

19. See traditionally painted Sicilian carts at Donnafugata in Ragusa or at the Mostra Permanente del Carretto Siciliano housed in the Museum at Terrasini [Palermo Province].

20. Go to a Sagra, such as the Strawberry Festival at Casssibile in spring, the Prickly Pear Festival at Militello in Val di Catania or any number of chestnut festivals in the Etna area in autumn. Relearn the art of living in tune with the seasons.

Finally, if you are genuinely interested in Mafia history but not in sensationalising tragedy, please pay homage to those brave Sicilians who lost their lives campaigning against the criminal organisation: Giuseppe Impastato, Paolo Borsellino, Giovanni Falcone and others like them deserve wider world recognition, as do the thousands of Sicilians who work daily to preserve their best traditions and make their region a better place.

For all of them, please come and see the Sicily I love.

FAVOURITE RECIPE FROM 2011

2012-01-09T23:11:00.000+01:00

This recipe, which I found late in 2011 in an Italian magazine - sorry, I forget which - definitely gets my vote for culinary discovery of the past year! Having made it several times now, I have altered it a little and so give it here:

Ask your butcher for 1 kg pork loin in one piece [Italian cut] and also ask him to wrap it in butcher's netting. If, like my butcher, he offers to season it for you with fresh sage, garlic, seasalt and black pepper, let him, for the finished result will be all the more delicious! When you get the meat home, make incisions all over the top - I used a skewer to do this - and jam some rosemary needles into the holes. Put the meat in a Pyrex dish in which it will just fit and pour 2 large glasses of white wine over it. Sprinkle a little more rosemary over the top and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours. Cook in an oven heated to 180 C for 25 mins, then turn the meat over and cook for 20 mins more. While this is happening, stir 4 teasp brown sugar with the juice of 4 large lemons over a low heat. When the mixture gets syrupy, add 2 tablesp Calvados and stir to amalgamate. Pour the sauce over the meat and cook it for another 10 mins.

Slice the meat as thinly as you can to serve and pour the sauce over.

SABATO MUSICALE - SOMEWHAT CONTROVERSIAL

2012-01-07T22:03:00.001+01:00

One of my favourite Italian singers, Irene Grandi, is in a bit of trouble, having sung the song below wearing a real fur cape during Rai Uno's New Year's Eve show. There have been demonstrations and furious rebukes by animal rights groups. Miss Grandi made no statment until Wednesday, when she apologised for offending the sensibilities of animal lovers but tried to justify her choice of clothing by saying that it was an alpaca fur, so the animal had not been bred solely to be turned into clothing. Not good enough, Irene!

Fur has, to my disappointment, come back into fashion recently in Italy and I was not happy to see some real fur garments on sale in a certain hairdressing salon today!

Here is the song - one that it is hard not to dance to - that Irene Grandi sang but I will not publicise the video of her singing it dressed in fur:

Irene Grandi - Bruci la città

BUON' EPIFANIA

2012-01-05T22:49:00.001+01:00

Tonight is the Eve of Epiphany so children all over Italy will be expecting a visit from that good witch, the Befana who, it is believed, will leave sweets and chocolates for good children but only pieces of coal for those who have been bad.

The Befana, whose name is probably a corruption of Epifania, sometimes even sweeps the floor before she leaves so she will be very welcome in my house! I am, of course, expecting lots of candy - how about you?

Gianni Morandi - La Befana Trullallà

CRANBERRY SAUCE ALLA SICILIANA

2012-01-04T22:18:00.001+01:00

Some fresh cranberries arrived, via a kind friend in the UK, yesterday and, as I love and miss cranberry sauce, I had no doubts as to what I would make with them. I have found, over the years, that if I add half a nice, fat cinnamon stick while the sauce is cooking and the rind of one and juice of two Sicilian oranges when I take the pan off the heat, the result is sublime:

Cranberry Sauce alla Siciliana

8 oz / 250 gr fresh cranberries
4 oz / 125 gr sugar
8 tablesp fresh orange juice
Grated rind of 1 orange
Half a large cinnamon stick or a few twists of cinnamon ground from a mill

Put the orange juice and sugar in a medium pan and stir to dissolve the sugar over low heat. Add the cranberries and cinnamon, turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Cook for about 5 mins, stirring occasionally. When the cranberries have begun to "pop" and are soft, take the pan off the heat. Stir in the orange juice and rind. Pot as for jam and keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

HOPES FOR THE NEW YEAR - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

2012-01-03T22:51:00.005+01:00

Ever since I first came to Sicily in 1992, I've been fascinated by the way in which elderly people here, when asked how they are or even sometimes just for the sake of saying something, will sigh and utter, "Siamo qua" - "We are here". It took me a while to figure out that they were not referring to their physical surroundings, but were really thanking God for the fact that they were still alive. And that is pretty much how I am feeling this New Year.

Image: http://www.italymag.co.uk/

I know that some of my readers imagine that I live the "life of Riley" and it is true that I am happy in Sicily and would not turn back, even if I could. But it may surprise you to learn that there is a situation in my life - partly of my own making and partly not - which has rendered me suicidal several times in the past year and it is my earnest wish never to feel like that again.

Some of my long-term readers will also know that, just over a year ago, someone who I thought had left my life forever suddenly came back into it - in the sense that we are in touch, that is - and I would love this to be the year of a reunion. Sadly, that seems a forlorn hope right now.

I've also been hurt by another man recently but, whatever I might write facetiously on facebook, I have no wish for revenge for I am old enough to know that, in the phrase my mother was fond of quoting, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" and that what goes round tends to come round - eventually.

On a more positive note, I'd like to think that this is the year in which I'll achieve my ambition and write that book and for that you'll have to watch this space!

With regard to my adopted country, I hope it has a better year: it was a brave step to appoint an unelected government of "experts" and I wish Mr Monti and his ministers every success. However, the trouble with "experts" is that few of them, in my experience, are experts on how ordinary people have to live.

I also find myself with some contradictory feelings this New Year: I hate sport and consider the Olympics a spectacular waste of money but I can't help hoping that my country of origin puts on a good show [given that we have to have it] and I of course pray that no terrorist threat or act will mar the occasion. Staying with Britain for the moment, I am no monarchist or supporter of unearned wealth but I do think it's a bit sad that Her Majesty the Queen is expected to celebrate the death of her father this year and I wonder why her Diamond Jubilee could not have been celebrated next year upon the anniversary of the Coronation.

Official emblem of Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth 11
by 10-year-old Katherine Dewar from Chester, UK

One event I am looking forward to is the Peace One Day Global Truce on 21st September 2012: if we can stop war for one day, then why not for two or three or a year or forever? All it takes is for enough people to "Imagine".

http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/welcome

But most of all I hope that I will be granted more time with my precious thirteen-year-old dog, Simi and that this time next year I'll be able to say, "Siamo qua - We are here."

Simi as a puppy in the UK

John Lennon - Imagine

Below is the full list of bloggers participating in this theme:

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ETNA

2012-01-03T14:45:00.000+01:00

You'll be glad to know that Sicily's two volcanoes, Etna and Stromboli, decided to add their voices to those of the fireworks on the night of New Year's Eve - New Year's Day. Stromboli was first off the mark, with fire at exactly midnight whilst Etna, as usual, did things in her own time and in her own way, with three explosions in the new southeast crater at 3.32 am.

Sadly the celebrations brought their toll of casualties all over Italy, with 561 people [30 in Sicily] injured by fireworks. A man in Rome who, on a chilly night, lit a firework in his apartment, intending to take it out on the balcony, did not manage to get outside in time and was killed by the explosion. The apartment was devastated and four children were also injured, one very seriously. The other fatality was a man injured by a stray bullet near Naples as people fired into the air in celebration. Some town councils had banned fireworks for the night but now politicians of all parties and the public in general are calling for changes in the law regarding the purchase and use of fireworks.

SEMIFREDDO DI CHRISTMAS PUDDING

2012-01-02T22:46:00.002+01:00

Having decided I wanted to make a sort of cold Christmas pudding to take to yesterday's New Year lunch at Gina's, I started looking through my recipe books. I'd made "Christmas Pudding Ice Cream" before but I really wanted something a bit lighter and more suited to Italian palates. Most Sicilians do not like dried fruit but I thought they could hardly object to cranberries as they had probably never tasted them before! In the end, I decided to stick to my tried and trusted semifreddo formula and invented this recipe. Everyone pronounced the result a success!

Semifreddo di Christmas Pudding

Dried cranberries and a little chopped, candied peel - about 175 gr / 6 oz fruit altogether
6 glacé cherries, cut into quarters
6 tablesp liqueur of your choice - I used Fichi d'India [prickly pear] liqueur as it is what I had but other suggestions are Mandarinetto, Kirsch or Maraschino.
175 gr / 6 oz Digestive biscuits
3 eggs, separated
110 gr / 4 oz caster sugar
500 ml / 16.9 US fl ounces whipping or double cream [panna da montare if you are in Italy]
50 gr / 2 oz very finely chopped chocolate

On the evening before you are going to make the semifreddo and two days before you want to serve it, marinate all the fruits overnight in the liqueur. The next day, line a large pudding dish with clingfilm, leaving plenty of overlap as you will be able to use this to pull the semifreddo out when it has set. Then put the biscuits in a freezer bag, clip it at one end and bash the biscuits into crumbs with a rolling pin.

Now beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a small basin. Next, whip the cream to stiff peaks and do the same with the eggs, in separate bowls. Now mix the egg yolks and sugar, egg whites and whipped cream together with a metal spoon. Add the fruits, liqueur, chocolate and most of the biscuit crumbs. [You only need to keep back enough to sprinkle over the top, which will become the base.] Spoon the mixture into the prepared basin, smooth the top with a palette knife and sprinkle over the remaining biscuit crumbs.

Fold the overlapping clingfilm across the top and wrap the whole basin in foil. Put it in the freezer for 8 hours or overnight. You should be able to turn the semifreddo out easily, just by pulling it out with the overlapping film, then being brave and inverting it onto a plate quickly. Decorate the top as you wish and cut into slices to serve.

Enjoy!

NEW YEAR'S DAY LUNCH AT GINA'S

2012-01-01T21:38:00.000+01:00

We were a jolly gathering for lunch at Gina's house in the country today and I thought you'd like to see the company:

I'm second from the far end on the right.

Now for the food!

There was lovely, crispy pasta al forno as only Gina can make it:

There was salsiccia

and good, local bread

and there were patate al forno:

Then there were polpette

and spiedini

and peperoni:

There was orange salad

and then there were vanilla oranges:

Gina's husband is peeling the orange in the Sicilian way.

Next came these wonderful cakes, made by Gina's sister and sister-in-law

whilst another sister had made this sumptuous chocolate crostata:

I had decided to mix traditions and had invented this Semifreddo di Christmas Pudding. I am glad to say it was pronounced a success and tomorrow I'll post the recipe for you!

There had to be cannoli

and finally there was my favourite gel al limone, made by Gina's mother-in-law. This dessert is always so refreshing, whatever the season:

Grazie per la bella festa, Gina!

SABATO MUSICALE - BUON ANNO A TUTTI!

2011-12-31T19:44:00.000+01:00

I think this song expresses it best:

Jovanotti - Buon anno

ANOTHER YEAR AND SOME SHOCKING STATISTICS

2011-12-30T23:01:00.002+01:00

Image: Wikimedia Commons via ECB

Statistics released today by Istat, the Italian National Statistics Office, show that 24.5% of Italians were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2010, a figure not much different from that for 2009. As usual, the situation is worse in the South, where 12.9% of families are suffering some form of deprivation, a figure which is double that for Central Italy and three times that for the North. Family income is a stunning 25% lower in the South than in the rest of Italy whilst the percentage of Italian families in which the 18-59-year-olds work for less than one fifth of the year stands at 10.2, an increase of 1.4% as compared to 2009.

In 2010 16% of families were finding it impossible to manage on their monthly income and 8.9% had utility bill arrears. The number who had rent or mortgage arrears stands at 11.2%. A worrying 31.3% of families had found themselves without the means to purchase necessary clothing during 2010 and 6.3% had been unable to purchase the food they needed at some point in the year. Also worryingly, 18.1% of families had experienced difficulty in paying medical expenses: Italy of course has a free health service but hospital appointments and tests carry a nominal charge for all but the poorest and there are prescription and some other charges. The statistics also show that 11.5% of families had been unable to heat their homes adequately and you may be surprised to learn that most of these live in the South: winter nights can be harsh here but the figures may also reflect the fact that families in the South are more likely to have elderly relatives living with them.

Sadly, it is Italy's young people who are most at risk of poverty and deprivation and again the figure is higher for the South.

Another year and another set of statistics, yes; but behind each of these statistics there are human beings and stories of real suffering. It is my earnest hope that politicians do not forget this and that everyone has a more prosperous 2012.

XMAS IS POSTPONED

2011-12-29T22:15:00.002+01:00

It's a while since we had a post office story on Sicily Scene and this one comes via a friend who lives in Marina di Ragusa:

Not having received Christmas cards that friends in the UK had posted in early December, my friend went to her local post office to ask if there was any undelivered mail for her last week. The clerk said that there was not and then, when asked if he could check, that it was not his job to do so.

Yesterday, therefore, my friend went to the main postal distribution centre for Ragusa, where she was informed that if she telephoned them they would check and get the postman to deliver. My friend said she knew there was post and wanted to collect it herself. This caused much deliberation among the employess but finally they agreed to check and produced no less than 29 Christmas cards, a magazine, a letter and a bill which had to be paid that very day. The excuse for non-delivery? "Well, it's holiday time."

Hey, Ragusa - we're British and we want our Christmas cards!

Lest you should imagine that the local post is much more efficient, the employees at Ragusa confirmed my friend's suspicion that all post in the Province with a local address goes to Catania [which constitutes another Province] to be franked and is then sent back to the towns of origin for delivery.

"Time stops at Messina".

PASTA AL FORNO CON ZAFFERANO

2011-12-28T23:53:00.000+01:00

I found the recipe for this dish in a little booklet that came free with a sachet of saffron and was pleasantly surprised at how well it literally turned out, moulded, as it was, in nothing more sophisticated than a loaf tin. The sauce is of carrots, shallot, Sicilian celery and zucchini, all cooked in a little oil and mixed with the saffron, grated grana or ragusano cheese and some Béchamel. Ziti pasta are used and you are supposed to cut them to the length of your loaf tin after cooking but luckily my loaf tin was just the right size!

DUE FESTE 2011

2011-12-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

I hope you enjoy this slideshow of the fabulous feasts I was lucky enough to be invited to at Gina's on Christmas Eve and at Marco and Giovanna's on Christmas Day:

Due feste 2011 - picture slideshow

The company was wonderful, too and I thought you'd like to know that Giovanna's advice for a cold cure was to get some Modican chilli pepper chocolate down me, so I did and it helped!

IL TE DI SANTO STEFANO

2011-12-26T23:52:00.004+01:00

Welshcakes purists, look away now because I put dried cranberries instead of sultanas into this batch that I made for Boxing Day tea at Chiara's today:

I must say, the general opinion was that the experiment was a success so it's one that I'll be repeating!

Here are some of the other goodies that were set before us upon this pleasant occasion:

Grazie a Chiara e a tutti gli amici.

BUON NATALE

2011-12-25T17:53:00.000+01:00

And, because Michael Bublé has Italian ancestry and Marcella Puppini is, of course, Italian.....

Michael Bublé and the Puppini Sisters - Jingle Bells

MY CHRISTMAS STAR

2011-12-24T19:57:00.000+01:00

My stella di Natale or poinsettia - which was a gift - is flecked with cream this year and I love it. Two years ago, I had the pleasure of writing about the poinsettia legends for Italy Magazine and, for those of you who do not know these tales, I repeat them here:

The poinsettia plant is as much a symbol of Christmas in Italy as the presepe [crib] that is found in almost every home. With their bright red colour and leaves in the form of star points, the plants are loved, carefully tended and are often kept from one year to the next. In Italy they are known as Stelle di Natale [Christmas stars] a name which the Italians adopted from Spanish missionaries in Mexico, where the plant originated. A group of Spanish Franciscan monks working in Mexico used the plants in a Christmas procession for the first time in the seventeenth century and after that the Mexicans started using them in Nativity scenes. It was one Joel Robert Poinsett, US Ambassador to Mexico from 1825 – 1829, who gave the plant its English name and took it to the United States. At Christmas 1899 poinsettia plants were placed in St Peter’s Basilica, drawing admiration from all who saw them.

There are two legends about the poinsettia that you may like to know about. Neither is Italian but – hey- it’s Christmas! The first and most famous concerns a little Mexican girl called Pepita or, in some versions, Lola, or maybe a boy called Pablo. Pepita, on her way to see the annual Nativity scene in her village, suddenly realised she had no offering to take with her that would show her love for the Baby Jesus and she started to cry. At that point, an angel spoke to her and advised her to gather some greens from the roadside, for Jesus would know that they were given with love. Pepita did so but the other children laughed at her gift. Then, all of a sudden, the greens turned into a beautiful, red poinsettia plant.

The other legend is more universal: When God created Nature, he asked all the flowers to give to the humans who chose and tended them the very best of themselves – beauty, love, harmony and wisdom. But there was one plant that nobody wanted, although it tried hard to be chosen, for it had tiny flowers and its leaves were too big. The plant became very sad and in December God saw this. He said, “I know you want to give men beauty, love, harmony and wisdom and, as men need these things, I am going to help you. I will give you my blood and put it on your leaves, which will turn deep red and make you the most beautiful flower on earth in this most important season for man.” And so the plant with the tiny flowers and big leaves became the lovely stella di Natale and ever since, it has brought men beauty, love, harmony and wisdom.

Take care of your “Christmas stars” this year.

MULTILINGUUAL CAROL SERVICE, 2011

2011-12-22T01:50:00.000+01:00

The ladies and several gentlemen of the "foreign legion" held their multilingual carol service at the Salesian Church of Maria Ausiliatrice in Ragusa on Saturday. Italian, French, German, Bosnian, English, Dutch, Danish and Spanish were the languages represented this year and there was also a carol in Sicilian dialect.

The German ladies sang by candlelight

while enthusiasm made up for numbers as the British and American contingent belted out Hark the Herald Angels Sing:

I, as the only non-singing Welshwoman in the world, explained, in Italian, what an Eisteddfod is and read about an early, Christmas one instead [see details below]:

Denmark bravely contributed an excellent solo

and the Spanish speakers, who always choose a jolly carol, ensured that this year was no exception:

There was also a traditional accordion solo from accompanist Gino:

The service ended, as usual, with the singing of verses of Silent Night in Italian, French, German, Spanish and English.

This is the text I read from The Chronicle of the Princes:

"1176. At Christmastide in that year, the Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd held a court with great splendour in Cardigan Castle, and arranged two kinds of contests there, one for bards and poets, and the other for harpists and crowthers and pipers and other musicians. He had two chairs placed for the winners, and honoured them with lavish gifts. Among the harpists, a youth of Rhys's own court was successful, and of the poets, those of Gwynedd were supreme. All seekers of largesse obtained from Rhys all that they asked for, and no one met with refusal. That feast, before it was held, had been proclaimed a year in advance throughout Wales, and England, Ireland and the other islands."

And now I'll let you look at the food that the" international ladies" had brought along:

My friend the artist Marjorie Morton is also an artist in the kitchen and for the occasion she had made this sumptuous cheesecake:

I had baked Nigella's white chocolate and [dried] cranberry cookies. I know they are not shaped perfectly but neither, if you look carefully, are Nigella's. Anyway, they were all eaten!

More goodies:

]

There had to be Sicilian impannatighi!

There were even sausage rolls. I hadn't had them for so long and I'm sure their calories don't count during festivities, just as those of chips cannot possibly count when you're out.

Next year it's Modica's turn to organise the service again!

"IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD THE TIP..." - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

2011-12-20T23:51:00.002+01:00

The excellent Vecchia Aidone restaurant
in Enna, Sicily

Back in Britain I had a friend who refused to tip. This used to irritate and embarrass me no end whenever we were out together but over the past few years I have softened a little towards her stance.

In the UK, unlike in the US, tipping is not obligatory. You may get some surly looks in certain restaurants if you don't tip but the only person likely to yell at you for your omission is a London cabbie.

Whilst I used to round up taxi fares to the nearest pound in Britain and tip in restaurants provided the service had been good, I rarely tipped my hairdresser because the tip, added to the already high cost of his attention, would have rendered my visit to him prohibitively expensive. It is also a British convention not to tip the owner of a salon.

Not so long ago in Britain the postman, newspaper delivery boy or girl, refuse collectors and the milkman all expected tips at Christmas and these were usually given ungrudgingly by householders. I am even old enough to remember when we had coalmen and the coalman, too, got his tip. But then there came an era when all these good folk started knocking on doors to ask for their "Christmas box" and I'm not sure that people gave it quite so willingly from then on. Having been away from Britain for nearly seven years I am uncertain about the extent to which this custom continues, but it is rarer these days because there is more rotation among workers and local populations change faster than they used to.

Here in Italy, too, tipping is a matter of choice: it is appreciated but not expected as a right in bars and restaurants and I even know of waiters and barmen who will hand back a proffered tip to a customer. Why? Because taking the trouble to present even the simplest order elegantly and providing good service with a smile are regarded as routine duties and not as frills for which the customer has to pay a hidden "extra". There are, however, a few public conveniences [restrooms] in tourist spots which the unfortunate traveller will find hard to exit without leaving the "optional" tip!

My friend in Britain felt that the tipping habit was resonant of the aristocrat distributing largesse and that its continuance actually stopped workers from fighting for better remuneration. I have some sympathy with this view and regard tipping as being on a par with the boss who always buys his secretary a frivolous Christmas present rather than paying her the proper rate for her work.

To sum up, in a tipping culture I want a choice in the matter of whether I tip or not but I would really like to see the custom abolished. It is a social minefield and a throwback to the class system. Pay everyone a decent wage instead!

Below is the full list of bloggers who are participating in this week's Blog Off:

LOOK WHO'S A TEENAGER!

2011-12-19T21:36:00.000+01:00

Hi, folks.

It's Simi here again!

It's my birthdoggieday today and I'm 13!

I got this lovely, warm, Santa jumper as a combined Christmas and birthdoggieday present but I still think Santa Paws will bring me some chewies as well. Don't I look cute?

I decided to bark the news to the world at siesta time.

I'll just do my Kate Moss twirls so you can see my outfit from all angles:

There! That black poodle down the road is gonna be madder than ever for me!

That's all for now, folks but I'll be back on Christmas Day!

Be good and look after your humans.

Love,

Simi XX woof!

ADVENT IN MODICA

2011-12-18T23:49:00.001+01:00

Sobrietà, or austerity, has certainly hit the modern Sorda area of Modica where I live: there are few Christmas lights, many businesses are closing and there is no seasonal atmosphere at all. Down in the historic centre of Modica Bassa, though, it's a different story and I liked this depiction of the Three Wise Men on their journey: it is made totally of natural materials and has been set up in the main square, Piazza Matteotti:

I especially took to this fellow

and I like the way the palm trees have been decorated, too:

But where were the Modicani this evening? Were they all admiring the crib? They were not: they had rushed en masse to La Fortezza, the city's first big shopping mall. Judging by the hour-long traffic jam on the road approaching it and the number of people there, Modicans are about to follow the British in adopting shopping as their Sunday hobby.

La Fortezza has three floors of stores and eateries and a nifty moving floor that you can take your trolley on to get to the top. This evening there was even entertainment and I must say they serve a good portion of calories-don't-count-'cos-you're-out chips on the second floor.

I have just one plea for the Comune: how about putting a bus on so that those of us without cars can actually get there?

SABATO MUSICALE

2011-12-17T23:40:00.001+01:00

In this song from her 1988 album Ridi Pagliaccio, the great and unconventional Mina sings in Italian and Spanish to convey the stress and tiredness most of us feel at some point over Christmas:

Mina - E Natale

THE VOICE OF THE EARTH

2011-12-16T23:58:00.001+01:00

Photo: Simone Aprile
Reproduced here with kind permission of Simone Aprile

Tonight I would like to introduce you to a new friend of mine, the photographer Simone Aprile and to his colleague the musician and video maker Giuseppe La Rosa.

Simone was born in Siracusa but moved to Milan with his family as a child. There, he studied photography at the Istituto Riccardo Bauer but his greatest professional influence was Sandro Sciacca. Simone has worked for several prestigious magazines, including Vogue. Now he has returned to the South, where he is able to combine his two great loves, photography and Sicily, in the Lab House Studio in Modica. Simone says he feel close to Sicily wherever he is in the world.

Giuseppe La Rosa graduated in Film, Music and Theatre studies from the University of Pisa. One of his first projects was a television programme called No Parking which was shown on over 50 channels and later he made a video on educational and social policy for Pisa City Council. He now works full-time as a video and documentary maker and his work has won prizes at both Italian and international festivals such as: Hors Pistes 2010 [Centre Pompidou, Paris]; Sottodiciotto Film Festival 2009 [Turin]; Lampedusa Film Festival [ finalist]; Zone Video 7 [small] and Barilla Short Film Awards [special mention]. In 2009 Giuseppe founded Mojito Film Productions and began working with the Torinese director Daniele Segre.

Over the past few days people lucky enough to be in Modica have been able to see Simone and Giuseppe's exhibition, 'Nzuliddu. The name is a dialect form of Vincenzo and the show chronicles, in photographs and sound, a year in the life of 'Nzuliddu the countryman. This is the story of "a man and his roots", roots that are in danger of being forgotten, for 'Nzuliddu's routines are determined by the land he works and its rhythms. We see him at work and at home, observe his energy and his tiredness, every day from sunrise to sunset. The show is an important memoir of a humanity that is disappearing and is intended as not only a "gift" to the next generation, but as a homage to Modica and the countryside that surrounds it. It represents, quite simply, say Simone and Giuseppe, the "voice of the earth."

DO YOU KNOW IT'S FEBRUARY?

2011-12-15T22:50:00.002+01:00

Discussing the weather in a shop yesterday - Sicilians talk about this subject almost as much as the British - I was reminded that it was "really" January, not December. As we agreed it was a beautiful day, the assistant added , "for January" and quoted the dialect proverb,

"Ri santa Lucia a Natali 'u juorrnu crisci quantu 'n passu ri cani" - "From St Lucy's Day to Christmas each day is longer by a dog's step".

At least, that is the Modican version. The spelling and vocabulary in the proverb may vary slightly from town to town but the meaning is the same - that the days get longer. This proverb dates back to the sixteenth century and over the years people came to believe that each day between the feast of Santa Lucia and Christmas represents a month, with Christmas Day representing December. Thus you will realise that it is already February as I write! The weather on each of these days, it is believed, allows us to predict what the weather will be like in the month the day represents, so a sunny 15th December means we are going to have a sunny February.

Santa Lucia by Domenico Beccafumi
Source: Wikipedia

The following information is from an earlier post of mine:

Santa Lucia [283 - 304] was martyred in Siracusa during the Persecution of Diocletian. She is one of my favourite saints, along with St Martin and St Francis, because a feminist reading of her story would bring one to conclude that she was partially condemned for her unconventionality [though I suppose all saints were unconventional].

Lucia consecrated her virginity to God and expressed a wish to give all her worldly goods to the poor. She refused to marry a pagan, but her spurned fiancé had his revenge after Lucia and her mother, Eutychia [or Eutychiaea], visited Catania in the hope that the martyred Sant'Agata of that city would cure Eutychia of a haemorrage. Eutychia was cured and Lucia distributed some of her wealth to the poor, thus incurring the further wrath of her would-be husband, who denounced her to Paschasius, the Governor of Sicily.

First sentenced to become a prostitute, Lucia literally could not be moved, so then her persecutors unsuccessfully tried to burn her. Finally she was decapitated with a sword and the story goes that her eyes were gouged out first. One legend has it that only her eyes remained of her, but there is also a story that her body lay undisturbed in Sicily for 400 years.

In art, Santa Lucia is often represented with her eyes on a plate and church-goers in Italy are given tiny pieces of pasta representing her eyes on 13th December. Other symbols of Santa Lucia are the sword and the palm and she is the protector of electricians, eye specialists and the blind. She is the patron saint of Siracusa.

Mario Lanza - Santa Lucia

ITALIAN LOGIC PRIZE 2011

2011-12-14T13:23:00.000+01:00

Sicily Scene's 2011 Italian logic prize goes to a twelve-year-old student of mine who, when I explained to the class the British habit of giving houses names, deduced,

"Oh, so when you come home you say 'Ciao, Michael' to your house?!"

My former house in Cardiff, which I named Le Bateau Ivre

AN OLDER NATIVITY SCENE

2011-12-13T15:58:00.002+01:00

Writing about the crib inside the Church of Santa Maria di Betlem yesterday, I was reminded that you can see another nativity scene along one of the exterior walls of the church. This is the lunetta del Berlon, so called because it was originally part of the Church of Santa Maria di Berlon, one of four churches which the larger Santa Maria di Betlem replaced. The lunette dates from the fifteenth or sixteenth century and was sculpted by unknown local craftsmen.

GIFTS

2011-12-12T23:12:00.014+01:00

I am writing this post in response to the Italy Blogging Roundtable group's invitation to post on Italy-related gifts.

In Italy this is the Christmas of sobrietà or austerity so I wonder just how many people here will be echoing the words of one Josephine March in those oh-so-famous opening lines of Little Women:

" 'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug."

Well, it depends, I suppose, on what you mean by austerity and how you think of gifts. If austerity means not going mad at Christmas, Italians tend not to anyway: Sure, the children receive presents but not by the sackful and the festival is not regarded as a contest to be won by the family who can provide the biggest, most expensive and greatest quantity of gifts.

No one worries weeks or months ahead about the task of feeding their relatives, as that is something they do most Sundays and the task of producing the festive meal is not turned into a kitchen marathon which leaves the poor hostess in need of valium, a gallon of gin and a spa cure lasting at least a month.

When you are invited to someone's house over the holiday, you take along something to eat - usually a dessert - and a pensiero or small gift if you like. [Pensiero = thought; telling, isn't it?] But your Italian host will already regard your company as a gift and all he or she really wants is for you to relax and enjoy yourself.

Next year marks the twentieth anniversary of my association with Sicily, the region which I now call home and over these years I have received many gifts from my Sicilian friends: Every Christmas, when I was in the UK, my friend Gina used to send a package of the white torrone [nougat] that I like and other friends would send little mementoes of Sicily that I treasured: an ornament, a book, a candle scented with orange blossom. And at Christmas 1994 two friends gave me a Sicily map pendant which I wear nearly every day. "We want you to always have Sicily close to your heart", they said and so it is.

The little girl who gave me this tree decoration in 1993 is now a confident woman of 26 and I don't suppose she remembers that Christmas at all. But I do and it is enough:

Recently a friend gave me this bauble from Caltagirone, the pottery town and as I look at it on my tree this year I am reminded of my first visit there:

Two years ago my friend Lucia, scandalised that I didn't have a crib, brought me these figures:

Every Sicilian home displays a crib at Christmas and often the figurines are family heirlooms. Sicilians like to place typical figures from the recent past in their cribs and we have a famous and beautiful example of this tradition in Modica's Church of Santa Maria di Betlem:

In Sicily you learn that the past is also the present and I am so grateful to my friends here for that lesson, at no time more evident than during the Christmas I travelled to Segesta with Irma and her family. As we walked through a Greek house, Irma and I mused upon the women who had lived there and wondered what their dreams had been - not so very different from ours, we concluded.

Christmas, as the March girls discovered, is about finding joy in the company you have and the most precious gift I have received from my Sicilian friends is the love with which they surround me.

The Italy Blogging Roundtable blogs are: ArtTrav, At Home in Tuscany, Why Go Italy, Italofile and Brigolante. I'm sure you'll enjoy their posts on this subject and many others.

PEEP-OH!

2011-12-11T20:35:00.002+01:00

Hi, folks. Simi here!

It's nearly Santa Paws time and I've been helping my mummy decorate.

Mickey Moose and Chris Moose have been moved into the lounge for Christmas,

my friend Leonardo has some sparkly flowers to hold

and our tree is ready:

Our stockings are up as well!

But the best part was when my mummy brought out this nice, soft throw to make our old settee look a bit posher:

"That must be for me!" I said.

That's all for now, fans. See you nearer Christmas. Be good like me, so that Santa Paws will bring you lots of chewy treats!

Love,

Simi xxxx woof!

SABATO MUSICALE

2011-12-10T21:05:00.000+01:00

Time to get seasonal, methinks. In this catchy little song, Francesco De Gregori is missing someone:

Francesco De Gregori - Natale

A RESTITUTION

2011-12-09T23:53:00.005+01:00

In September I reported that Daniela Zuccoli, the widow of Italian TV presenter Mike Bongiorno [26.5.1924 - 8.9.2009] was, on the advice of the police, to appear on the television programme Chi l'ha visto? ["Who Has Seen Him / Her?"] in an attempt to find her husband's body. This brave decision did not lead to the hoped-for result but it now seems increasingly likely that the body will be restored to the family within the next few days:

In a crime so sick as to be utterly incomprehensible, Mike Bongiorno's coffin and body were stolen from the Dagnente Cemetery in Arona [Piedmont] on the night of 24th - 25th January this year. The distressed family received several ransom demands and there were even some arrests but these did not provide the police with the information they needed.

Then, yesterday afternoon, events took a dramatic turn when a man walking his dog near a church in Vittuone [Milan Province] found a coffin behind a ceramics factory on the outskirts of the Parco Sud. Police were alerted and later Mike Bongiorno's two eldest sons were able to identify the coffin - which still bears its plaque - as their father's. Forensic tests are still being carried out on the body but the family are optimistic. Police believe that the coffin had lain where it was found for only a short time as it was in an area which is popular with joggers and dog walkers. Latest reports say that the coffin had not been opened during the interval between its disappearance and yesterday.

Mike Bongiorno was born to Italian-American parents in New York City but emigrated to Italy as a young man. He fought with the Italian partisans during World War 11 and went on to become Italy's most famous and popular TV presenter ever. His ancestors were Sicilian and the small towns of Campofelice di Fitalia and Mezzojuso in Palermo Province both claimed to be their birthplace. In 2007, when Bongiorno stated on television that his ancestors were definitely from Mezzojuso, the inhabitants of Campofelice di Fitalia took offence and declared him persona non grata. [However, it turns out that both towns have a legitimate claim as Campofelice di Fitalia was, when Bongiorno's paternal grandfather emigrated to the USA, a district of Mezzojuso.]

Here we are all thinking of Mike Bongiorno's family, who have suffered double bereavement, and hoping that they will be able to obtain closure this Christmas.

ABC - CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-08T20:32:00.000+01:00

Raffaele the hairdresser always comes up with an original idea for decorating his Christmas tree and this year is no exception.

LITTLE LIBERATION FRONT

2011-12-07T16:34:00.001+01:00

I like this notice in the Sisley shop window. It tells us that, in the new year, all the dwarves will be set free in the woods - one less problem for Mr Monti, then.

TAKING A SECOND LOOK - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

2011-12-07T01:11:00.004+01:00

When I saw the theme for this week's Blog Off - changing the way in which you perceive someone or something - I tried to think back to my early days in Sicily and the things I found strange. Believe me, there were plenty, even for someone like me who has spent most of her life studying Italian culture and who is fluent in the language. When you change your country, the things that disturb or worry you are not always the "big" issues in your life but seemingly trivial occurences which can throw you off-balance. It is, of course, a manifestation of "culture shock", which is a known psychological condition. The good news is that it does not last forever and you look back with amusement at your former self and the assumptions you made.

Modica - Corso Umberto, di notte

I've mentioned the signora I call "Eleonora" before but for those of you who are new to my musings, she is an elderly, very elegant lady who takes her passeggiata at the same time every evening and her fashionable, expensive attire never fails to turn heads. The first time I saw her , from a café terrace one Sunday, I stopped eating my gelato mid-scoop, so striking a sight was she. As I watched this senior citizen gliding along the Corso like Marilyn Monroe, I wondered if she was, indeed, playing a part in some film and I actually looked around for the cameraman. This was because the lady's makeup, clothing and hairstyle would have been considered "overdone" back in the UK, where she would probably have attracted laughter rather than admiration. And so it was that I began to change the way I judged people's appearance: elegance is always "in" in Italy, whatever the occasion, and the concept of overdressing simply does not exist.

Cuddles with my great aunt Mabel
Xmas Day, 1950

In the six years I have been here, and especially since an illness in 2008, I have become very aware that my attitude to ageing is changing. How can you explain to a younger person how it feels to grow old? The answer is that you can't so you might as well save yourself the bother. When I remember my mother in her sixties, I am amazed at her physical energy and I often find myself thinking of my lovely grandad and great aunt, who lived with us when I was a child. They seemed so old to me but when I was adopted in 1950, they were not much older than I am now. How I wish I could talk to them today and apologise for my youthful impatience!

Ageing was, perhaps, the one thing that I hadn't bargained for when I moved to Italy: oh, I knew it would happen, but I had no idea what it was like! I ponder the fact that, although I am covered by the Italian health service, hospital patients here do not routinely receive non-medical care; this means that, if you need help to go to the bathroom, for instance, it will not be forthcoming from the nursing staff. Yesterday I heard of an elderly female hospital patient who is paying her cleaner € 100 per night to help her in this way and it worries me.

However, it is as useless to fret about the next illness as it is to live in a constant state of angst over the next wrinkle, as there is nothing to do but "keep buggering on", in Churchill's words.

My slightly tanned, Modican Santa

My final reflection on the theme is a seasonal one for, over the past eighteen years, I have completely revised my attitude to Christmas: After my dad died, I hated this period because I missed him so much and Ebenezer Scrooge became my hero. I have my beloved Sicilians to thank for teaching me, after my mother's death, to love Christmas again and one year, back in old Cardiff, I decided that it was a betrayal of my parents, who had given me such wonderful Christmases, not to at least try to enjoy the festival. So now I decorate like crazy, bake Christmas treats, play seasonal music for a month and I even get upset when it's time to take the decorations down!

I have come to the conclusion that, if you are brave enough to admit your mistakes and are prepared, at any age, to learn and have your mind changed, you might just stay young. And signora Eleonora has taught me that, whilst beauty may fade, glamour doesn't have to. Now, where are my false eyelashes?

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Frank Sinatra - Young at Heart

Below is the complete list of blogs participating in this theme:

TO SEE A FINE LADY

2011-12-05T01:43:00.000+01:00

Ever since the Venere di Aidone or "Aidone Aphrodite" was brought back to Sicily in March, I've been longing to go and see her and on Saturday, reader, I made it.

Aidone, a town of 5,176 inhabitants, lies peacefully in the hills of the Province of Enna beyond Piazza Armerina. Nearby is the Greek site of Morgantina, from which not only our "fine lady" but many other precious statues and objects have been stolen over the years. The Venere was returned under an agreement signed by the Aidone and Getty Museums in 2007 and it must be emphasised that the Getty Museum's administrators have always denied acquiring the statue illegally. It was also in 2007 that experts proved that the statue was sculpted from "Ragusa stone".

Museo Archeologico di Aidone

My friend and I expected the little town to be crowded but, despite the presence of a goddess in their midst, life seemed to be going on as usual for the citizens and we were the only people in the specially renovated Museum.

We passed through two rooms of other interesting antiquities before coming upon the Venere and in one of them a pair of smiling Acroliti, representing mother and daughter in Greek mythology, are displayed. Only their faces, hands and feet remain but a mesh frame represents their bodies, they are seated and have been tastefully dressed. These two figures were returned to the Museum from the US in 2009 and I have beside me a booklet which shows their faces as the box in which they travelled to Aidone was opened there. I am sure that, upon their homecoming, they are smiling more than usual.

In the centre of a third room stands the Venere and I must say she is breathtaking: So fluid are her robes, so majestic her pose and so calm her gaze that I have no doubt that this is a very confident goddess. The body is of the famous Ragusan limestone though the exposed flesh is of marble and the lady's hair was probably of bronze. Archaeologists have dated the statue to 420 - 410 BCE.

There are some who believe that she is not Venus but Demeter or her daughter Persephone, who both feature prominently in Greco-Sicilian myth, and there are others who believe she is Hera. But I am sure she is a voluptuous Venus from an era before Botticelli brought misery upon Western women by portraying the goddess as tall, blonde, long-legged and slim.

A reminder of our own era came as I spotted, among the ancient Greek hair ornaments, links from chains and fragments of pottery in one display case, a 100 lire coin from 1978. This was found as illegally excavated land at Morgantina was being refilled. In my opinion the Museum staff have done well to preserve it, for it is likely to be worth far more than all our euros soon!

On to lunch and, on the recommendation of the Museum staff, we repaired to the Vecchia Aidone restaurant:

The zucche must grow well in Aidone!

Would you like some grappa?

I hate ironing but I'm sure I would hate it even more if I had to use this!

There were homemade strozzapreti ["priest-strangling" pasta] with a sausage, wild fennel and tomato sauce

followed by veal stew for my companion

and rabbit braised in white wine with fennel and herbs for me:

Then there was a delicious mousse of fichi d'India [prickly pear] ....

... all of which set us up nicely for our journey through the Enna rains back to Modica. We were quiet as we travelled, thinking of "our" goddess and the tales she could tell. Bentornata, dea.

SABATO MUSICALE - NOSTALGIA TIME AGAIN

2011-12-03T22:09:00.000+01:00

Italian television programmes are often criticised and it is true that there are many endless, senseless game shows which make me, at any rate, lose the will to live. But there are some excellent talk shows, dramas and the kind of sparkling variety show that the UK just does not produce any more. One of these is I Migliori Anni, which goes out on Friday evenings and in which presenter Carlo Conti takes us back on a musical journey through the years. The last episode of the current series is next Friday and I shall miss the show.

Original cover of 1969 45rpm vinyl

One of my favourite Italian singers is Orietta Berti and I was delighted to see her on I Migliori Anni two weeks ago, when she sang a medley of her 1968 - 1970 hits. I have featured one of these, L'Altalena ["The Swing"] here before as I first heard it during my fateful first trip to Italy in 1969. Little did I imagine that, 42 years later, I would be sitting in my Sicilian living room watching the same artist perform it!

Orietta Berti ai Migliori Anni - 2011 - Medley

ANOTHER TREASURE RETURNS

2011-12-02T23:49:00.001+01:00

The Prosecutor's Office of Enna has taken into possession a Greek vase - a polychrome lekanis - which dates from the second or third century BC, it was revealed today. The vase, found in a private collection in Lisbon, had been illegally excavated and removed from Italy, then seems to have travelled to Portugal via Australia. The date of its disappearance from Sicily is not known.

It has been emphasised that Italian police had the full cooperation of the Australian and Portuguese authorities and it is likely that the vase will be returned to its rightful home, the Museum of Centuripe in the Province of Enna.

Welcome home, beauty.

PECORICCO

2011-12-01T14:09:00.000+01:00

Pecoricco is a flavoured sheep or goat's cheese from the Nebrodi. I've seen it flavoured with pepper and rocket before but I'd never seen this version before this week: it is flavoured with red chilli pepper, rocket, capers and stuffed olives and I like it!

A STREET FOR A HERO

2011-11-30T14:50:00.000+01:00

On Sunday Modica named a street in honour of Giuseppe [Peppino] Impastato, the anti-Mafia campaigner from Cinisi [Palermo Province] who was murdered at the age of 30.

Giuseppe Impastato was born into a Mafia family but, traumatised by the Mafia murder of an uncle, began to ask questions and campaign against the criminal organisation during his teenage years. He became estranged from his father, who threw him out of the family home. As a left-wing activist and writer, Peppino used humour to criticise both the Mafia and politicians and, in the year of his death, became a candidate in local elections. He was brutally murdered on the night of 8th - 9th May 1978 and his body, with TNT beneath it, was tied to a railway line, either to make it look as if he had been involved in a botched terrorist attack on the line or to simulate his suicide. Two days later the people of Cinisi symbolically elected him as a town councillor.

Peppino's mother and brother fought for justice for him for many years and in 2002 Gaetano Badalamenti, the head of the Mafia in Cinisi, was sentenced to life for the murder by an Italian court. However, Badalamenti was already serving time in a US penitentiary and he died in America in 2004.

The house where Giuseppe Impastato was killed is to become an anti-Mafia museum and exhibitions of documents, photos and art have already been held there.

BOOK REVIEW - AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY REBELLION

2011-11-29T23:16:00.009+01:00

I have in front of me a little book of 58 pages, 33 of which are filled with reproductions of historical documents. Yet the story told on these pages is none the less interesting for that.

In Concetta e Francesca Grimaldi - due donne modicane nel XV111 secolo, Teresa Spadaccino recounts the extraordinary tale of two young Modican noblewomen who, destined to be dowryless, were sent by their father to live out their lives in a convent in 1785. This was not an uncommon fate for women of their class and circumstances but these two rebelled, first in small ways and later by making a formal request for their freedom, which was granted in 1793 by the Ecclesiastical Court of Siracusa. The Court found that the ladies had no religious vocation and had been secluded against their will.

As I read the tale, I came to like these two sisters and the ways in which they asserted their independence: on the night before they were to take their final vows, rather than pretending to enjoy a firework display organised by their father to celebrate the occasion, they hid in their dark room and sobbed. Afterwards they were more fastidious about their appearance than the other nuns and wore, we are told, cleaner shoes.

Once "released", Concetta and Francesca were the talk of the town for a while. Later they both married but neither had children; instead, they became benefactors for their city.

Many women, of course, were sent to convents "against their will", both before and after the Grimaldi sisters, but few had the courage or determination to contest their fate. And even if they had, what kind of life would have awaited them outside their convents? As Teresa Spadaccino points out, it is possible that, by Concetta and Francesca's time, rumours of some of the ideals of the Enlightenment had penetrated even convent walls and it may have been this that encouraged them.

I salute you, brave sisters in every sense, from the twenty-first century and I would like to thank Teresa Spadaccino for telling this tale.

Concetta e Francesca Grimaldi - due donne modicane nel XV111 secolo by Teresa Spadaccino is published by Editore Video Mediterraneo.

A LIGHT LUNCH WITH IRMA

2011-11-28T23:50:00.002+01:00

My friend Irma can always be trusted to create elegant, light new dishes from simple ingredients so it was a pleasure to have lunch with her on Friday and taste these:

For a light pasta sauce for two, brown a garlic clove in 1 tablesp olive oil, then take it out and add about 500 gr unpeeled cherry tomatoes or medium-sized, peeled and chopped vine tomatoes. Season and cook them slowly over a low heat for about 20 mins or until they cook down. Then stir in 1 tablsp Robiola or Philadelphia cheese and cook for about another five mins.

Then there were thin pieces of veal - not quite as thin as scaloppine - cooked in olive oil with rosemary and capers.

Grazie, Irma.

ANOTHER FLOOD IN MESSINA PROVINCE

2011-11-27T20:55:00.000+01:00

At the end of another week, it is with great sorrow that I bring you news of another flood in Italy, this time in the Province of Messina.

Torrential rain hit the area on Tuesday, causing horrific damage in 21 small towns. The worst affected were Scarcelli di Saponara, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Villafranca Tirrena and Rometta. The ensuing mudslides claimed four victims, all at Scarcelli di Saponara and among them was a ten-year-old boy. Whole streets, bridges, business premises and homes were destroyed and 830 people, of whom 480 are from Scarcelli di Saponara, have been evacuated. Some of these have lost their homes.

This weekend a massive clearing up operation is under way and evacuees are being helped by local, regional and national organisations and volunteers.

But there is also anger and the inhabitants of Rometta, in particular, have said that they feel abandoned: their Mayor called for help on Tuesday night but no police or civil protection officials came to the aid of the hamlet's citizens.

Raffaele Lombardo, the Governor of Sicily, has visited the stricken area this weekend and has said that his first thoughts, of course, are with the families who have lost loved ones. He has also promised an enquiry into the safety of buildings in the area. The Monti government has unblocked funds intended to help the people of Giampilieri and Scaletta Zanclea and it is unclear whether some of this money will be used to help those affected by this new disaster. People in the area are worried that they are less "visible" nationally than the citizens of Genova and may therefore receive less media coverage and help.

SABATO MUSICALE

2011-11-26T19:13:00.001+01:00

Tonight I just have to show you the 2011 Averna TV advertisement as the singer is none other than the girl from Tiger Bay herself, Shirley Bassey:

In case the embedding facility gets taken off for this video, here is the link.

No one belts them out like Shirl!

Dame Shirley Bassey - Get the Party Started

SALAME INGLESE

2011-11-25T23:59:00.003+01:00

When I mentioned that I had had salame inglese for dessert in a restaurant last week, two commenters asked what it was so I decided to post about it.

Salame inglese or salame di cioccolato which, as we shall see, has several other names, is a mixture of biscuit crumbs, chocolate, butter, nuts and other ingredients which are rolled together into the shape of a roll of salame. It is then refrigerated and, after a few hours, cut into slices and served as a dessert. It is made all over Italy with regional variations, as you would expect.

No one knows why this dessert is sometimes known as salame inglese but I would imagine that, as with zuppa inglese [a kind of trifle] this was originally a reference to the rich ingredients used. It probably earned the name salame del Papa [the Pope's salame] for the same reason. It was dubbed salame turco rather unkindly, because it was said to be the colour of Moorish complexions and it became salame vichingo [Viking salame] when a recipe for it was published in the children's recipe collection La Manuale di Nonna Papera in 1970.

I have found one of the most reliable recipes for this dessert to be the one published by Ursula Ferrigno in Ursula's Italian Cakes and Desserts. My friend Katia Amore uses Modican chocolate in her excellent version and I made two white chocolate versions last year.

If you have never made salame inglese, I suggest you have a go: it is not difficult to prepare and I am all for desserts you can make well in advance and forget about till you need them!

MORE NEWS OF OUR MODICAN OPERA STAR

2011-11-24T23:54:00.000+01:00

In June I wrote that our rising Modican opera star, Adriana Iozzia, was going to sing the role of Pamina in The Magic Flute in Béziers, France. The performances were a great success and tonight I thought you would like to see a photo of Adriana in this role.

Soon she will be off to sing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Macedonia and she is to be the cover singer for the role of Mimi in La Bohème at the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genova.

Congratulations, Adri!

You can see my interview with Adriana - whom I have known since she was six years old - here.

THANKSGIVING - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

2011-11-23T20:30:00.002+01:00

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "Memorable Thanksgivings".

I'll say at the outset that this post is going to be a bit of a cheat as I have only been to the USA once and not for Thanksgiving. It is also late because I have la febbre.

Anyway, as I can't really write about Thanksgiving, other to say that the holiday is not generally known here, I have decided to write about the things for which I would like to thank America:

Who, after all, could not love the country which gave us Coca-Cola, Country and Western Music and "Kookie talk?" I drank my fill of Coca-Cola in my youth and there is nothing like Country and Western music when you are in need of a good wallow in your relationship-induced misery. As for "Kookie talk", it was a "cool" way of speaking popularised by the actor Edd Byrnes in the TV series 77 Sunset Strip which ran from 1958 - 1964. Suddenly it was OK to be young and "Kookie" gave us our very own language. The only problem for me was that my parents knew more of it than I did!

Edd Byrnes as "Kookie"

But there came a day, 48 years ago yesterday, when America changed and so, I believe, did we: I refer, of course, to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and I can still feel the shockwaves of that news as if it had, indeed, happened only yesterday. At school, all the boys wanted to be like JFK and all the girls wanted to be like Jackie, the epitome of elegance with her gorgeous suits, gloves and pillbox hats. We girls had "Jackie" fringes, too. And this brings me to what I really want to talk about - books by or about Americans that I am thankful to have read. Of all the biographies of Jackie, I have found Sarah Bradford's America's Queen to be the best researched and, however history finally judges this enigmatic woman, "Jackie" fascination is here to stay on both sides of the Atlantic.

Image: Wikipedia via White House

Still in the fifties and sixties and still on biography, let me turn to the person who has made me laugh more than any other in this life - the great, inimitable Lucille Ball and I recommend Kathleen Brady's biography of her, Lucille. In another era Lucy Ricardo would have had a job and her adventures would have been lost to us. So thank you, Lucy, for all the fun.

I Love Lucy - Vitameatavegamin

Then there are the autobiographical volumes and poetry of Maya Angelou. What woman who has ever carried a little extra weight could not be cheered up by this?

Maya Angelou reads Phenomenal Woman

My favourite American poets are Longfellow, Edna St Vincent Millay, Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. If you do not know it, I recommend the latter's Christ Climbed Down as wise, seasonal reading.

My post would not be complete if I did not mention two Americans who have written beautifully about Sicilian food: They are Mary Taylor Simeti and Victoria Granof. I have written about their books here and here.

But my favourite American author of all remains the one who delighted me as a child and she is Louisa May Alcott. I'm still waiting for Professor Bhaer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans and thank you for reading this blog.

Below is a full list of bloggers participating in this round of the Blog Off:

LA FEBBRE

2011-11-23T18:05:00.002+01:00

cool myspace layouts

I have been struck down by la febbre, so there was no posting here yesterday. La febbre in Sicily describes anything from the merest hint of a cold to full-blown 'flu and I rather think I have got the latter.

If you live in Sicily and haven't caught la febbre at this time of year, you are probably suffering from the cervicale instead. This is arthritis of the neck and both conditions are blamed upon seasonal humidity. In my opinion much suffering could be avoided if Sicilians would only put the heating on in their houses but most prefer to sit around at home in jackets and woolly hats. Cold, it seems, is something to be endured with pazienza rather than combatted.

As for what to do about la febbre, it is believed here that you should sweat it out and I felt like one of Grazia's loaves as I lay under my blankets this morning. There are many folk remedies, too and one of these is to cut off some of the hairy leaves of the tasso barbasso [verbascum] plant with your left hand whilst making the sign of the cross in the air with your left foot. While you are coordinating your movements and attempting to keep your balance, you must also utter a dialect incantation to make the fever leave you.

Hmm - it's back under the blankets for me!

PANE DI CASA

2011-11-21T01:03:00.001+01:00

On Friday afternoon the ladies [and one or two gentlemen] of the Modica and Ragusa "foreign legion" held a very special gathering, for my kind friend Grazia, who is one of the best Sicilian cooks I know, had decided to show us how to make traditional Sicilian bread - the pane di casa that the housewife used to produce for her family at the beginning of every week.

I hope you are all feeling energetic, as this is hard work!

Having made a yeast "starter", Grazia uses the "fountain" method to work the dough: in this the flour is put in the centre of the work board - here a large wooden container with high sides, called a maidda in dialect - a "well" is formed in the centre of the flour and the starter is mixed in with more water as needed:

As you can see, every bit of flour is gathered into the bread:

Now the roll will be left under a teatowel for ten minutes.

But what is this? Ah, this is the kneading table, the briula, with its briuni on the left:

Grazia sits at one end of the briula, from where she will turn the dough, and today she has no shortage of helpers to wield the briuni:

Up and down goes the briuni, until Grazia is satisfied with the kneading:

Now she cuts off a tiny portion of dough and uses the knife to etch the shape of the cross on the cut edge of the rest. Then she cuts off pieces and begins to form them into traditional shapes:

Now it's time for the special effects!

The S-shaped forms are typical. Now they are all left to rise under teatowels and blankets. How long for? For as long as it takes - pazienza.

After baking, the bread can be "dressed" with oil, salt, oregano, sundried tomatoes or local cheese. Now it has become pane condito and it is delicious:

What else did we eat at our gathering? Well.....

Tiralucci biscuits

One of Linda and Chiara's sponges

Candied orange peel, sometimes dipped in chocolate, appears at this time of year

But the star of the show was the bread. Grazie per la lezione, Grazia.

SABATO MUSICALE

2011-11-19T18:41:00.000+01:00

This song, written by Claudio Baglioni for his newborn son in 1982, is one of the most beautiful expressions of parental love ever attempted:

Claudio Baglioni - Avrai

AUTUMNAL RISOTTO

2011-11-18T22:50:00.001+01:00

The other day I wanted to make an autumnal risotto with particularly Sicilian ingredients and risotto purists had better look away now!

I decided that kaki [Sharon fruit or persimmons] which are so plentiful here in this season, should be the main ingredients. If you are going to use these, you must make sure you have the sweet kind or that they are ripe because otherwise they will leave a horrible, dry taste in your mouth. The ones we get here are truly sublime. I also used pistacchi, ground so finely that in Italy the result is called farina [flour] di pistacchi and a few twists of canella from my trusty cinnamon mill.

Here we go, then: Heat 3 tablsp olive oil in a wide pan and soften a finely chopped onion in this. Then add 400 gr Arborio rice and stir it around for a couple of minutes. Add seasalt to taste. Have ready a jug of 300 ml white wine and 300 ml water, turn the heat down and add a little of the liquid. As soon as it is absorbed, add a little more and repeat the process, stirring, for about 15 mins or until nearly all the liquid is absorbed. Now add 2 peeled and chopped kaki, a sprinkling of farina di pistacchi and some ground cinnamon, stir everything again and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add some chopped parsley and serve.

Notes:

Risotto is usually served a little "wetter" in Italy than it would be in the UK.

Be careful with your clothes when handling kaki fruit - if the juice stains your clothes, you will never get the stain out!

ALLA STABILITÀ

2011-11-17T23:53:00.001+01:00

Tonight a friend invited me out to have a pizza in celebration of a certain recent event in Italy.

My local pizzeria is an unpretentious little place, staffed by the owner, a cook who looks too tiny to be able to manage the enormous pizza oven and a waitress / cashier. This evening, although the heating was on, the owner was standing around in his warm, flat cap, gazing up at the television in the corner - there is always a television in the corner - when he was not directing customers to, or clearing, tables. But by golly, the pizza is good, with crusts to die for:

Pizza alla campagnola with tomato, aubergine, artichokes and peas for me

Pizza alla diavola for my companion

Prettily presented salame inglese for us both as dessert

Cincin!

PICCOLO GRANDE COLORE

2011-11-16T23:55:00.000+01:00

The first time I showed Sicilian green lemons on this blog, several commenters were convinced that they were limes! I assure you they are lemons and are just as "lemony" in flavour as their yellow cousins. They appear here between yellow lemon harvests and today I found these giant, round ones. I spotted the tiny chilli peppers at the same time.

A MEMORY OF GENOA

2011-11-15T15:02:00.002+01:00

Duomo di Genova
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Last week I wrote about the terrible floods that have recently taken place in the city of Genova [Genoa] and I started thinking about some happy times I've spent there. I want to share one of these memories with you today:

In the 1980s, on a school trip to the city, I took my band of merry pupils to see the house of Cristoforo Colombo there. Next, we went to the Cathedral, where one of my charges exclaimed, at the top of his voice,

"Cor! This is big! 'Oose 'ouse is this, then?"

"God's", said I. "Now shut up."

Me in Genova - 1984

A SUGGESTION FOR MR MONTI

2011-11-14T22:38:00.001+01:00

Dear Mr Monti,

I'm sure that, in this situation, you deplore waste so before you tackle the economy, could you please do something about the cooking foil in this country? Whatever brand I buy, it tears in the middle when I take off the stupid tape - which, I regret to say, only a man would have put there in the first place - and, unless I am cooking portions for elves, this renders the stuff virtually useless.

After all, you did say that we need "cohesion" today!

Love,

Pat and Simi in Sicily

Woof!

UN GRANDE SPETTACOLO

2011-11-13T20:07:00.004+01:00

Image: Wikipedia

In Italy we have been witnessing a "great show" all week and its finale was played out in front of the eyes of the world yesterday, when Silvio Berlusconi at last resigned.

Rumours of the Premier's political demise had begun to circulate on Monday on twitter, as Italy struggled to save itself fiscally by satisfying the demands of its eurozone neighbours. But by the afternoon the Premier had denied the rumours and people all over Italy were trying to work out how to get the cork back into a bottle of champagne.

By Tuesday, however, the scenario had changed again and it was announced that the Premier would resign, but only after full approval of the "Stability Budget" by Parliament - a process which, under normal circumstances, could have taken up to a month.

This time, though, the President and the people, aware of the gravity of the country's situation and of its terrible image abroad, swung into action: The Budget was rushed through Parliament and by yesterday afternoon everyone was waiting to watch Mr Berlusconi's last journey as Premier - to the Quirinale to hand in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.

The Premier's appointment with the President was, we were told, for 8.30 pm but, this being Italy, no one really expected events to run to time. Nevertheless, as the minutes ticked by and it became known that Mr Berlusconi was holding a Party meeting, everyone began to wonder if he was about to pull a last rabbit out of the hat - and in fact he did, laying down certain conditions for the Pdl's [People of Freedom] participation in and support of a new, transitional government. The most reported of these conditions is that Mario Monti, the academic and former EU Commissioner who has become Prime Minister while I have been writing this post, will not, as an unelected Premier, be a candidate when elections are eventually held.

At last, nearly an hour late, Mr Berlusconi was driven to the Quirinale. He made it known that he was upset and "embittered" by the jeering crowds, who were singing the partisan song, "Bella Ciao" and chanting "Galera!" ["Prison!"] and "Buffone!" Ah, Silvio, thus have the mighty ever fallen.

The announcement that the Premier had, indeed, tendered his resignation came at 10 pm, the twitter feeds went crazy and the spumante was flowing in the streets of Rome and several other cities. Sicily is traditionally conservative and all remained quiet here in Modica, although the town has a left-wing Mayor in office [by the skin of his teeth].

And that brings me to the question which is always asked abroad about Mr Berlusconi: How did this tycoon, so often ridiculed in the rest of the world, stay in power for so long? Part of the answer is, of course, that the country has had no effective Opposition, but the real answer, I believe, lies in the personality of the Cavaliere himself: Many of his supporters would claim, with justification, that he did not amass his millions by being stupid and that he has received little credit for his business achievements. They admire a man who can rise to the top and remain there. Secondly, as I've written before, Mr Berlusconi appeals to a very Italian instinct - the instinct for joy - and it is this which may, paradoxically, have toppled him.

The trouble is that the country's young people, who feel they have no hope, can manifest little joy. Every day I meet students who tell me that they feel they have no future and that they are ashamed of their country. And I, as a lover of Italy, have been heartbroken at times, in the past few years, to see the country so derided abroad, largely because of the antics of one man.

That said, I do not think that Mr Berlusconi is all bad: I am sure that he is very charming and I would rather spend an evening with him than with Nicolas Sarkozy. My hope for Mr Berlusconi is that he will ditch the airhead models and find the companionship he so obviously needs in a kind, intelligent woman nearer his age. [But when did men ever learn?!]

Now we are going to have a new, "technocrat" transitional government and what will happen is anyone's guess: Mr Monti may be able to sort the whole, sorry, economic situation out. If he needs advice, he will find no shortage of it, with those two self-appointed "headteachers" of the eurozone, Merkel and Sarkozy, ready to fly to Italy to tell him what to do. Personally, I hope he tells Merkozy to get stuffed as some people, it seems, need to be reminded that Italy is a sovereign state. As so often happens in hard times, we may see a resurgence of the right; extreme right-wing parties are already advocating an "Italy for Italians" and the independence-seeking Lega Nord may prove to be more dangerous outside government than within it. My own country, the UK, panicked by events in Greece and Italy, may even leave the EU, a policy which I believe would be domestically disastrous and which would have serious repercussions for British expatriates here.

Let us hope, however, that all will be well. I have actually been rather proud of Italy this week, for it was not the bankers who ousted Mr Berlusconi - it was democracy in action.

Finally, for those of you who are going to miss the Cavaliere, don't worry too much: his new CD of love songs will be out on 22nd November. But you may prefer to spend your hard - earned cash on earplugs.

SABATO MUSICALE

2011-11-12T16:27:00.002+01:00

In a homage to Modica's lovely Casa delle Farfalle [Butterfly House] my choice today is this anti-war song, written and performed by the great Roberto Vecchioni :

Roberto Vecchioni - La Casa delle Farfalle

"At the end of every night
of every war in every time
there is a house of butterflies in the midst of the wind."

SICILY BURSTS THE BUBBLE

2011-11-11T23:35:00.005+01:00

Some soft drinks companies, particularly those whose sales mainly consist of sweetened and fizzy products, have had their bubble burst by an amendment to a new agricultural development law which has been passed by the Sicilian Regional Government: Under this ruling, the only soft drinks that vending machines in Sicily's schools are now allowed to sell are freshly squeezed orange juice and the juice of citrus fruits grown on the island.

The purposes of the initiative are to improve the health of Sicilian children and combat obesity but members of the Italian soft drinks manufacturers' association Assobibe are not happy with the implied link between the consumption of fizzy drinks and poor health. Staff at the Italian Ministry of Education are not bubbling over with enthusiasm at the measure either and a spokesperson said that the the initiative, though encouraging, is not enough as children need to do more exercise in order to avoid becoming obese.

I say, "Well done, Sicily!"

BRMMM!

2011-11-10T23:45:00.001+01:00

It's always a pleasure to have lunch with Rosa and her family and today her delightful one-year-old grandson, for whom everything and everyone is "Brmmm!" made that the most sensible comment I've heard all week on the unfolding political drama in Italy.

To commence the feast there was pasta with Rosa's special Italo-Albanian ragù

followed by chicken escalopes:

There were focacce too

and Rosa's daughter had baked this scrumptious honey and apple cake :

There is always a tray of pastries in Sicily

and I especially liked the ones that came in their own little almond paste spoons:

Grazie, Rosa. Brmmm!

PORK CHOPS WITH MUSHROOMS

2011-11-09T13:09:00.000+01:00

To make this pork dish I followed [more or less] a recipe in the November edition of Alice Cucina. The sauce is made with red wine, passata and just enough balsamic vinegar to give it an interesting tartness. Sage, bay, onion, garlic and juniper berries also flavour the dish and mushrooms are added towards the end of cooking. I added potatoes because I was hungry and couldn't be bothered to mash some as an accompaniment as the recipe suggests.

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE? - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

2011-11-08T23:36:00.003+01:00

In my life, I've wanted to be many things and I have achieved a few of them. But the first career desire I remember expressing was to be a hairdresser, probably because I liked the word. Making people feel good about their appearance still seems to me a worthy occupation and a survey conducted in Britain a few years ago found that hairdressers were among the happiest inhabitants of my native isle.

With my Sicilian hairdresser, Raffaele

Like most little girls, I went to dancing classes and for a while I wanted to be a dancer:

Then we all wanted to be pop singers like the teenage star Helen Shapiro. My friends and I worked at lowering our voices long before a certain Margaret Hilda Thatcher thought of it.

Later I wanted to be a doctor, like the character Audrey Blake in the television series Emergency - Ward 10 but unfortunately I was hopeless at the sciences at school and soon discovered my linguistic bent. And that rather sealed my fate for in those days the only career that anyone suggested to a female linguist was teaching.

I did actually want to teach by then, though and entered the profession willingly rather than drifting into it. And despite several attempts to escape from the educational sphere, I have always ended up back in it.

In one of my many classrooms, c.1976

Another thing I wanted to be was a wife and mother but that destiny has eluded me. In my youth, pregnant women sat around in smocks in cosy front rooms and were cosseted and I've always thought that that would be rather nice. George Eliot said that it is never too late to be what you might have been and for some women science has made very late motherhood a possibility. I do not wish to pass judgement on their decisions here but that path is not for me. I have not, however, given up on the hope that one day I will meet someone who really loves me enough, for, like most people, I would like to be "first" with someone.

If I had not become a teacher I like to imagine that I would have become a journalist and in recent years I have been a columnist and been paid for it. My remaining ambition is to become an author but if any self-publishing companies out there are thinking of spamming me with their details, please don't. I'll do it "my way."

So there is still something I would like to achieve.... when I grow up.

Now for some nostalgia:

Emergency - Ward 10

Helen Shapiro - Walking Back to Happiness

Here is the complete list of bloggers participating in this round of the Blog Off:

THINKING OF GENOVA

2011-11-07T23:32:00.008+01:00

My thoughts today have been with the people of Genoa, where flash floods which hit on Friday claimed seven lives. Today has been a day of mourning in the city with flags flying at half-mast and a minute's silence was observed for the victims at midday.

The first funeral, that of a 40-year-old nurse and mother who was originally from Sicily, has also taken place: Angela Chiaromonte and her 14-year-old son had taken shelter in a doorway and Angela died whilst trying to hold her child above the level of the torrent of water that was raging along the street with no mercy. Helped by another citizen, the boy survived but it was too late for anyone to be able to help Angela. In the same building, an Albanian mother and her two children, aged one and eight, died as they were trying to reach the safety of the upper floors: the water just swept them down into the basement. Nearby, a nineteen-year-old woman who had gone to collect her brother from school was crushed by cars which were being carried away by the flood.

Considerable anger has been directed at the city's Mayor for not closing the schools on Friday and it has also been implied that irregular building had been taking place in the city. However, geologists are now trying to ascertain whether delays in the widening of the Bisagno Torrent were the cause of the flood. The amount of rain that fell on Genoa on Friday was equivalent to the average rainfall in the city for the whole month of October.

In the past few days there has also been flooding in Tuscany and an elderly woman died in her flooded home on the Island of Elba today. There are also alerts along the course of the Po and there has been a flood in Naples. As more rain falls, Genoa will remain on flood alert until at least 18.00 on Tuesday.

A VERY SPECIAL HOUSE

2011-11-06T22:27:00.001+01:00

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."

- Rabindranath Tagore

As an added attraction during Chocobarocco, the Comune of Modica set up a very special "house" in the atrium of the town hall - the casa delle farfalle or "butterfly house", which has actually been open for a month and closes tomorrow. It has been a huge success.

Around 300 butterflies fly freely in an environment especially created for them and biologists are on hand to care for them. Visitors are greeted by calming music and the sound of running water as the beautiful, ephemeral creatures fly all around them, alighting on a lapel, shoulder or head as they please.

Congratulations to Modica on creating this magical oasis in the city centre and for giving so much pleasure to residents and visitors alike.

Look on the right!

I couldn't decide whether I liked the blue, green or the last pure yellow butterfly best. How about you?

The experience reminded me of some lines written by Colette about her mother, Sido:

"Son grand mot: 'Regarde!' signifiait: 'Regarde la chenille velue, pareille à un petit ours doré! Regarde la première pousse du haricot, le cotylédon qui lève sur sa tête un petit chapeau de terre sèche..... Regarde, vite, le bouton de l'iris noir est en train de s'épanouir! Si tu ne te dépêches pas, il ira plus vite que toi!"

"Her great word was 'Look!' meaning: 'Look at the hairy caterpillar - it's like a little golden bear! Look at the first shoots of the bean, the seed leaf popping up with a little hat of dry earth on its head...... Quick - look! The bud of the black iris is opening. If you don't hurry it will go faster than you!' "

SABATO MUSICALE

2011-11-05T15:54:00.000+01:00

Here's a pretty love song from 1988 for you to enjoy this Saturday:

Ana Oxa - Quando nasce un amore

DONA NOBIS PACEM - BLOG BLAST FOR PEACE 2011

2011-11-04T23:40:00.017+01:00

Peace is in the interest of the people. Sadly and scandalously, it is not always in the interest of governments. What to do about it? Refuse, as individuals, as groups, and then in our multitudes, to play the games devised by our political masters. This, I believe, is what is happening in another sphere with the Occupy movement, proving that it is possible for the people to make their voices heard. If we want it enough, together we can stop the killing and achieve a new way of living - in peace.

Here, with my translation, is one of the greatest anti-war songs ever written:

Boris Vian - Le Déserteur

Monsieur le Président
Je vous fais une lettre
Que vous lirez peut-être
Si vous avez le temps
Je viens de recevoir
Mes papiers militaires
Pour partir à la guerre
Avant mercredi soir
Monsieur le Président
Je ne veux pas la faire
Je ne suis pas sur terre
Pour tuer des pauvres gens
C'est pas pour vous fâcher
Il faut que je vous dise
Ma décision est prise
Je m'en vais déserter

Depuis que je suis né
J'ai vu mourir mon père
J'ai vu partir mes frères
Et pleurer mes enfants
Ma mère a tant souffert
Elle est dedans sa tombe
Et se moque des bombes
Et se moque des vers
Quand j'étais prisonnier
On m'a volé ma femme
On m'a volé mon âme
Et tout mon cher passé
Demain de bon matin
Je fermerai ma porte
Au nez des années mortes
J'irai sur les chemins.

Je mendierai ma vie
Sur les routes de France
De Bretagne en Provence
Et je dirai aux gens:
Refusez d'obéir
Refusez de la faire
N'allez pas à la guerre
Refusez de partir
S'il faut donner son sang
Allez donner le vôtre
Vous êtes bon apôtre
Monsieur le Président
Si vous me poursuivez
Prévenez vos gendarmes
Que je n'aurai pas d'armes
Et qu'ils pourront tirer.

- Boris Vian

Mr President
I'm writing you a letter
that perhaps you will read
if you have time.
I've just received
my call-up papers
telling me to leave for the war
before Wednesday evening.
Mr President,
I don't want to do it.
I'm not on this earth
to kill unfortunate people.
I don't want to make you angry
but I must tell you
that my decision has been made
and I am going to desert.

During my life
I've seen my father die,
I've seen my brothers leave
and I've seen my children cry.
My mother suffered so much
that now she's in her grave
laughing at bombs
and laughing at worms.
When I was a prisoner
they stole my wife,
they stole my soul
and they stole my beloved past.
Early tomorrow morning
I'm going to close my door
in the face of the dead years.
I'm going on the road.

I'll become a beggar
on the roads of France
from Brittany to Provence
and I'll shout this message to people:
"Refuse to obey,
refuse to do it.
Don't go to war,
refuse to go."
If blood must be shed,
Shed your own.
You're a good apostle,
Mr President.
If you have me hunted down,
warn your policemen
that I will be unarmed
and they can fire.

[My translation]

To find out more about #blogblastforpeace, please visit the inspirational and wonderful Mimi Lenox here. You can see more peace globes at the Peace Globe Gallery.

TREASURE TROVE IN MODICA BASSA

2011-11-03T23:55:00.003+01:00

One of the places I have an affection for in Modica Bassa is the Casa del Formaggio, partly because of its fantastic, traditional products and partly because it is situated in the street where Simi and I lived for five weeks when we first came to Modica.

So on Sunday, when I visited the Chocobarocco Festival, I took the opportunity to call in on Giuseppe:

Cotagnata [quince paste] and mostarda are on display [centre]

Some local cheeses are kept cool in the traditional way.

Do pay a visit to this little shop if you are ever in Modica - you will be surprised and delighted by what you find there.

ECOLOGY - SICILIAN STYLE

2011-11-02T23:16:00.000+01:00

Image: Wikipedia Italia

The citizens of Palermo have for some time been urged to separate their rubbish and place it in special communal containers for plastic, paper and organic waste on specific days at specific times and many of them have spent much time and energy making sure that they comply with these requirements.

Imagine their anger, then, at learning that their efforts have apparently been in vain: on Saturday night a passing resident surprised refuse collectors who were loading rubbish from all three containers onto the same lorry with the intention of unloading the mixed waste in one go onto the same dump. The passer-by took photographs and sent them to Corriere della Sera.

"We were just following orders", said the hapless refuse collectors.