A TASTE OF THE EAST

As my friend Katia Amore of loveSicily says, Sicilian cookery owes much to the flavours of the Middle East and North Africa so it is right for today's Sicilian cooks to explore the fusion possibilities open to them by looking further afield.  Therefore I was delighted to be invited by Katia to participate in a La Prova del Cuoco cookery lesson entitled I Profumi dell'Oriente at the loveSicily cookery school on Saturday evening.

La Prova del Cuoco is a lunchtime TV programme which takes its format from the BBC's Ready Steady Cook and it is immensely popular in Italy.  Our lesson was conducted by the director of the La Prova del Cuoco Schools, Palma D'Onofrio.

First, participants got to know each other whilst chatting and taking refreshments on Katia's balcony, which affords stunning views of Baroque Modica:

Then, to get us in the mood, we were offered breaded prawns flavoured with lime and served with a sweet soya sauce:

Next, Katia [left] and Palma got down to business:

Palma cooked:

beef fillet with peppers and lemongrass

fried chicken with ginger, pink grapefruit and Marsala

stir-fried vegetables using the best of Sicily's beans 

and flavoured with a Balsamic vinegar sauce

and Cantonese rice with eggs, ham and peas.

After the lesson, we all repaired to the balcony again to enjoy more tastes and a feast prepared by Katia

whilst basking in the Modican twilight:

I've even got a La Prova del Cuoco certificate!

Grazie per la lezione e la bella serata, Palma e Katia.

INFIORATA NETINA 2012

Join me in a walk along Via Nicolaci in Noto to see the 2012 "Carpet of Flowers" [18th - 20th May]. This year's theme was Momenti barocchi.

Slideshow - Infiorata 2012

INFIORATA DI NOTO 2012 - slide show

THE "INFIORATA" AT NOTO

No one knows quite why some Italian towns began to celebrate the festival of Corpus Christi or Corpus Domini by creating carpets of flowers in their streets during the eighteenth century but my theory is that people were simply using what was on hand and free to create beauty in honour of the Lord.

The nearby city of Noto [Province of Siracusa] has been holding its 32nd infiorata over this weekend and I am ashamed to say that in the previous five years, something had always gone wrong to prevent my going there.  This year, however, I was determined to make it and set off with friends on Saturday afternoon. When we reached Noto there was a happy, party atmosphere and people walked in a well-ordered line along either side of the 122 x 4 metre flower-petal carpet, set out under Baroque balconies in the city's via Nicolaci.

This year's theme is "The Great Masters of Twentieth Century Italy" and, with no further ado, I'll let you enjoy the photographs.  [You will appreciate that I had to take some of these from awkward angles, as it is impossible to take shots from the centre of the street.  I did my best!]

"The Language of Italian Art"

" 'Strattu in Sicily"

"The Language of Love"

"Woman in White"

"Hector and Andromache at the Gates of Troy"

"Homage to Achille Funi"

"Hector and Andromache" 

"Homage to Modigliani"

"Liberty and Communication in Italy"

"Rita Levi-Montalcini: a Life Devoted to Science"

Part of "Homage to Giorgio de Chirico"

"The Twentieth Century:  Past, Present, Future!"

"Severinando"

"The Hardness of My Heart"

"He is Crucified"

Looking down via Nicolaci

The honey-coloured Cathedral looked lovelier than ever in the evening sunlight and we went inside to admire the magnificent new frescoes by Russian artist Oleg Supereko. [The cupola had collapsed in 1996.]

No outing to Noto is complete without a visit to the Caffè Sicilia to partake of one of their superb ice creams and who were we to break with tradition?

First we ordered this amazing cake, containing layers of sponge so light I swear it was floating, pink grapefruit and candied red pepper.  Yes, that's right - candied red pepper.  You are just thinking how deliciously refreshing the grapefruit is when all of a sudden you get this after-taste of something just a little spicy and all I can say is that it was heavenly.  If you don't believe me, you'll just have to go there and try some for yourselves - everyone should, at least once!

Then we ordered cedro [citron fruit] ice cream and another flavoured with almonds and saffron. These were the most zingy ice creams I think I've tasted, even in Sicily.  And yes, that's an enormous cannolo you see in the background for, as my friend explained, you simply cannot visit the Caffè Sicilia without biting into a cannolo!

On my next visit to Noto I'm going back to try the bread and marmalade ice cream!

A MORNING IN NOTO

I've lived in Sicily for almost exactly four years, but - vergogna! [shame on me!] - I've yet to see the Infiorata [carpet of flowers] at Noto. This year I couldn't get there because of work commitments. However, on Saturday morning I thought I'd pay my respects to Noto anyway, and Rosa came with me.

Noto Antico or "Old Noto" was destroyed by the devastating earthquake of 1693 and the city now known as Noto was built from scratch a few miles away. Therefore you see a homogeneous Baroque city, with one of the most stunning skylines in Sicily.

This is how Noto looked yesterday, with the honeyed stone of its buildings bathed in sunlight:

Let's start with the Porta Reale, the city gate [1838]:

The Duomo [1703 - 1776], restored to its former glory following the collapse of its dome on the night of March 13th - 14th 1996, when heavy rain seeped into cracks left by an earthquake. I hadn't seen it since its painstaking and loving restoration, and I think the restorers have done a wonderful job:

Me on the Cathedral steps, just to prove I was there!



Via Nicolaci, where the Infiorata is laid out every year in May. You can still see the design plan:



The Corso:



The War Memorial:



Church of San Carlo:



We were treated to sultry jazz music being played under the shade of this tree:



Palazzo Ducezio [Town Hall]:





Almonds, carob, mini Sicilian carts and traditional implements on display outside a shop:



And inside there was this clever display:



The Monastery of the Santissimo Salvatore:



Rosa liked this fountain:



A cool, pleasant walkway with plenty of seats along it:



And a fountain to look at while we waited [ages!] for our bus home:

The first time I saw Noto I was disappointed. That was in winter and the city was in obvious decay. In 1986 it was discovered that the whole city was so fragile it was about to fall down! I am happy to say that much work has been done on its monuments since then and today it is as beautiful as ever.