Carnevale has been in full swing in many Italian cities but in Modica there is no particular carnival tradition. This is, in some ways, a good thing as it does mean you can walk around without getting sprayed with coloured sludge but it also used to mean that children had few places to go where they could show off their carnival costumes.
This is changing, however and I think we should congratulate La Fortezza shopping centre for organising several events for children over the carnival season and for cheering us all up with their lighting:
The word carnevale is either a corruption of Italian carne levare, the withdrawal of meat or a joining together of Latin carne and vale, a farewell to meat. [As a linguist I favour the second theory.]
I cannot let the Carnevale season pass without posting a photo of yummy chiacchiere biscuits! Chiacchierare is the verb "to gossip" and the biscuits are so named either because their shape resembles that of old women's tongues [say some, unkindly] or, more likely, because of the "psst" sound they make when the pastry is dropped into the hot oil.
Meanwhile the earth of Sicily has been unable to let the season go without - well, shaking us all up a bit. There were two earthquake tremors near here in the early hours of Sunday and a further two on Monday morning [none of which I felt but friends say they did]. However, I certainly did feel a tremor at 16.35 yesterday and this one, originally reported to have been a 4.6 tremor but later reclassified as 4.2, was scary. The depth of this tremor was reported as 4 km and it was felt in many places in the Province of Ragusa but also in Siracusa and Catania. The epicentre [originally thought to have been in Siracusa] is now said to have been the hamlet of San Giacomo Bellocozzo in Ragusa Province. No injuries were reported but some plaster has fallen off the Cathedral of San Giorgio in Ragusa Ibla. A further, smaller tremor was reported just after 18.00.
Schools in Modica and Giarratana will be closed tomorrow but there is some confusion as to whether this is because of the tremors. If it is, it seems a sensible precaution to check the buildings but most schools in Modica were going to be closed anyway as part of the Carnevale holiday.
Sicilians have expressed their hurt and frustration at the lack of coverage of the tremors by the main news networks,who preferred to concentrate on the Sanremo Festival which began tonight. This part of Sicily is rooting for Giovanni Caccamo from Modica and Deborah Iurato from Ragusa, who are performing a duet called Via da qui. Their success would certanly cheer us up!
I dedicate this song to all my students who had to have a lesson this afternoon instead of enjoying the last day of carnevale. I'm very impressed that you came!
And the only way to deal with it, I've decided, is to view it as the new 35!
I've had a pleasant day, with lots of lovely greetings from friends.
Simi sneaked out by herself in the week and got me these jimjams:
No birthday in Sicily is complete without some local pastries, including, as it's Carnevale, somechiacchiere:
Naturally, I have had to play me this song all day and inflict it upon others, having waited 47 years in order to do so. Ah, how impossibly old 64 seemed way back then! The "many years from now" have flown by and, although some of them have been hard, including the last one, I've lived long enough to know that we should be grateful for every one of them.
It's always a joy to visit Linda and Chiara and I decided that something special was needed when they invited me, along with some other friends, to celebrate Carnevale on Saturday morning. I made my mother's coconut cake, which, for the occasion, became "Carnival Cake" - well, sort of. Here it is just out of the tin:
And here, with the help of some orange icing sugar, it became a carnival mask cake. This might have worked better if I'd cut the template just a little smaller but I didn't have time. Anyway, you get the idea?
I am going to give you the recipe in good old ounces, as my mum gave it to me:
My mum's coconut cake
7 oz self-raising flour or, in Italy, farina per torte plus an envelope of vanilla-flavoured lievito
4 oz sugar
4 oz butter, softened and cubed
pinch salt
3 eggs
3 oz dessicated coconut
6 oz mixed red and green glacé cherries, washed and halved
Line the base of a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper and butter the sides. Then just whizz everything, including the cherries, in a food processor until you have a "cake" consistency - you know, the mixture should just drop off the spoon when you shake it. [My mum used to beat it by hand but would have loved the innovation.] Spoon it all into the tin and bake for one hour at 150 C. It is ready when a skewer plunged into the top comes out clean. Coll on a wire rack. When you slice the cake, the finely chopped cherries will give the slices a satisfactory pink colour.
The more eagle-eyed among my regular readers may have noticed that lately, I haven't been posting on Thursday evenings, a fact which may be blamed on this television programme and, in particular, on this man:
Chef Carlo Cracco
I wrote about theMasterChef Italia format in 2011 and in this second season the judges are again the gorgeous Mr Cracco, Joe Bastianich, who likes to pronounce the contestants' dishes "merda" and throw them across the studio, and the kindly but no less exacting Bruno Barbieri, who is displaying an eclectic taste in spectacles during this series.
Carlo, of the cold, appraising eyes and rare smile, was as rigorous as ever whilst judging last night's chiacchiere "duel" at the elimination stage of the contest and the episode reminded me that the Carnival season is upon us. Since I can't have Mr Cracco, I will have to content myself with these chocolate-decorated chiacchiere which were on sale in the supermarket today:
This is Giovanna, an EIS student who has recently spent a few days in London. As you see, she has come back full of enthusiasm and we think she should be Sicily's Ambassador to the Jubilee celebrations in the UK!
Giovanna also brought us some delicious, homemade chiacchiere to celebrate the end of Carnival:
There was son et lumière, a parade of masked figures and dancing for all at Ragusa's Carnevale nel Barocco in the city's Piazza San Giovanni on Sunday evening:
Best of all, €5.00 bought you a tray of pasta with traditional pork sauce, a hunk of local bread, a glass of red wine and a container of chiacchiere:
Every year, at around this time, I show you chiacchiere, the wafer-thin biscuits made in this period and I have convinced myself that I can get away with eating more of these smaller, ribbon-shaped ones!
Chiacchierare is the verb "to gossip" and the biscuits are so named either because their shape resembles that of old women's tongues or, more likely, because of the "psst" sound they make when the pastry is dropped into the hot oil.
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.
This carnival season I was determined to visit one of Sicily's more unusual celebrations and when I read about what the good folk of Novara di Sicilia get up to at this time of year, I knew I had to go there, so yesterday Rosa, Fulvio and I set out early and headed towards Etna.
First of all here are some views of Etna and the surrounding countryside as we drove along. The Etna snow was the lowest I've ever seen it and weather, visibility and temperature changed dramatically as we neared our destination:
Novara di Sicilia is a very small but proud town about 51 kilometres northwest of Taormina and to get there you have to come off the motorway at Giardini Naxos and follow the signs to Francavilla. Then you climb, following curvy roads through countryside that seems totally isolated - apart, that is, from the sheep and the occasional herd of goats.
Reaching Novara di Sicilia at last, we couldn't figure out where to park Fulvio's car but everyone else had parked right in the main street so we did the same. When Fulvio asked a group of passers-by if it was all right to park there, they laughed and assured us that the vigili don't work on Sundays and this must be true, as, despite the presence of numerous camera crews and the biggest influx of visitors the town gets all year, we did not see one vigile all the time we were there.
As I said, Novara di Sicilia seems a proud little town. It even has a Davide!
And it has lots of the narrowest streets I've ever seen, even in Sicily:
It was also immediately clear that the town's citizens eat well, for the display in a tiny butcher's-cum-salumeria was sumptuous. "Here we make sandwiches with roast suckling pig", said the owner and those sandwiches did look good. But I contented myself with buying a chunk of maiorchino, the local cheese, which is a kind of pecorino. Maiorchino, as you will see, had a big part to play in the day's events.
Next we went in search of a restaurant. There was one, but as you might expect on a day like this, it was fully booked, so we made enquiries in a nearby bar where the kind owner recommended an agriturismo called the Girasole. She found the number for me, I called and yes, they could accommodate three people for lunch - just! The Girasole is only about five minutes from the town by car and we sped there like homing pigeons. There were stunning views from here, too:
Reader, what a lunch we had!
There were arancini and focacce
with broccoli, potatoes and green beans:
Then there was the local speciality of maccheroni in a sauce of sausage and pork
with maiorchino to grate over it:
The main course was beautifully cooked veal and spring vegetables
and my, the bread was good!
For dessert there were these little pastries, filled with hot, sweet ricotta.
Local wine was served throughout and home-made liqueurs were offered at the end - all for €25 per head.
During lunch, I was called upon to explain to an American tourist that the owner was sorry, but as she had not booked she could not eat in the restaurant that day. The poor woman seemed to think that if she waited long enough, she would get a table. That's not how it works in Sicily, honey and it's not how it works in an agriturismo, where everyone eats the set menu and finishes their meal at the same time - between 3 and 4 pm. I do hope this lady went back into the town and got some roast suckling pig sandwiches!
At last, it was our turn to head back into the town too, for the event we had come to see was about to begin. This was the gioco del maiorchino, a contest dating back to the beginning of the seventeenth century and the reason for which is now lost in time and myth. The contest takes place over the last three days of carnival - well, at least the finals do - and it consists of the rolling of a giant maiorchino cheese down a precise route through the narrow streets. Many different teams take part and I can tell you that the game is taken very seriously. It has a lot of strictly observed rules and its own vocabulary of archaisms which are never uttered at any other time of the year.
But wait a minute -what's going on here? In the middle of the square, this gentleman is making ricotta for the evening's communal feast:
Suddenly there is a cheer, as two men carry the chosen mairchino out onto the street and begin to prepare it for the contest. First they scrape the top with knives, then prop it against the wall to dry out a little more:
After that it is taken into a narrow alleyway where the sides are rubbed against the ancient stone wall, presumably to make them smoother:
Then string is tied around the cheese and there are several trial rolls, with stewards shouting to the crowd to please mind their legs, because if the cheese veers off course, you could get a nasty bash!
At last the cheese is deemed ready and the real contest can begin.
The cheese rolls too quickly to get a good shot of it and for us, it was time to leave, as those twisty roads would have been no fun in the fast-approaching darkness. We could hear the enthusiastic shouts of the spectators for a long time as we drove away and, as the contest would last for another four hours, I'm sure everyone had a great time. We certainly did!
The carnival season is upon us and there are chiacchiere biscuits in the pasticcerie to prove it:
These wafer-thin biscuits are fried and derive their name from the verb chiacchierare, to gossip, either because they are said to be shaped like the tongues of old women or because they make a "Psst!" sound when the dough is dropped into the hot oil.
At our local pasticceria, trays of the freshly made biscuits are being brought out from the workroom behind the shop and, before expertly wrapping the small tray I have asked for, the assistant takes them back into the workroom for a final dusting of icing sugar. Now they are chiacchiere to be proud of!
The Carnival season is in full swing in Italy so, leaving Sicily for the moment, let's take a look at what is happening in the Serenissima. This is an article of mine which was published in Italy Magazine on Monday:
The Venice Carnival 2010 officially opened with the flight of an angel in Saint Mark’s Square on Sunday, watched by 75,000 people.
This year it was the turn of Bianca Brandolini D’Adda, a member of the Agnelli [Fiat] family, to swing on a harness from the top of the famous Campanile [bell tower] into the Square. Wearing gold wings and a dress of layers of tulle representing feathers, Miss Brandolini D’Adda said she had been so excited that she had not felt the cold. She admitted to having been a little frightened at first, but said her support team had been very reassuring. When she came down she said she would be happy to take the “flight” again straightaway.
On Saturday the actor Ferruccio Soleri opened the theatrical proceedings by giving his famous interpretation of Harlequin in Goldoni’s “Arlecchino servitore di due padroni” [Harlequin, Servant of Two Masters”].This is just one of the 290 shows featuring over 300 artists which will take place over the ten days of the Carnival. There are, of course, traditional processions and balls, some of which are attended by heads of state and celebrities but there are also many street events. Part of the pleasure of Carnival is to just wander around and marvel at the costumes, performances and people you will see.
This year’s Carnival is called Sensation – 6 sensi per 6 sestieri [6 Senses for 6 Districts] and its events are focused on the theme of the senses:
The Cannaregio district will focus on taste and will host cookery lessons while its restaurants will offer seasonal and local specialities. The Castello district is concentrating on touch and is organising journeys in the dark, the inspiration of the Milan Blind Institute. The Dorsoduro district is hosting musical events to focus on hearing and visitors to the Santa Croce district will be treated to the aromas of spices and chocolate as it celebrates the sense of smell. San Polo celebrates the “joy of the eyes” by organising cartoons, games and puppet shows for children.
Last but certainly not least, that “sixth sense” of ours will be celebrated by the San Marco district with its traditional, spectacular events and less traditional ones such as the Drag Queen Beauty Pageant which will take place on February 12th.
I love chiacchiere, the thin biscuits made during the Carnival season, especially if they are drizzled with chocolate, like the ones atop this selection
or homemade like these, which were sent in to the School by a student's mum today:
Chiacchierare is the verb "to gossip" and the biscuits are so named either because their shape resembles that of old women's tongues or, more likely, because of the "psst" sound they make when the pastry is dropped into the hot oil.
Chiara the indefatigable produced a wonderful lunch to mark the end of Carnival today. Present were Linda and Gino, Roberta and Roberto and me. Sicilian festive lunches usually finish at about 5pm and this one was no exception.
It's always a joy to anticipate Chiara's antipasti ideas, for she is so creative. Today there were antipasti of rye bread topped with ham, cheese and walnuts
and these of pork in aspic [traditional during this season].
Cannaruzzini pasta in pork and tomato sauce followed [also traditional]:
Then there was a dish of very tender pork with sausages
with chicory and radicchio salad
and aita [chard].
After all this, a tray of sugar, various jams, homemade marmalade plus freshly squeezed lemon juice, mandarin juice and tarocco orange juice arrived.
You guessed it! This heralded the arrival of pancakes. I had mine with the tarocco juice.
Roberto and Roberta had brought these dolci. [ Chiacchiere, the traditional Carnival biscuits, are on the right.]
As I have a penchant for making my life difficult sometimes, I had made some of these pastry masks. I had found the recipe here. I found a child's colouring book outline on the net as a template and I must say I quite enjoyed myself gouging the eyes out. The recipe tells you to cover wooden spoons with baking paper and put the nose part over the handles to get a projection. This seemed to work but several of them broke in the nose part when I took them off the paper. They also started breaking when I tried to thread the ribbons in so I gave that up and just scattered the ribbons around them.
Here are Roberta and Roberto in Carnival masks made by Roberta. Roberto was determined to keep his cap on and I think it looks very good with the mask, don't you?
I'm a sort-of retired language teacher from Cardiff, Wales, UK, now trying to make a new life in Sicily. I'm not growing vines, making olive oil or restoring a palace stone by stone!
