A NEW BROOM

Prices are creeping up in Sicily and last weekend I was horrified at the bill for my supermarket shop, even though the most exotic item on it was a washing-up brush. It was exotic, to me, because it's the first time, in nine years, that I've been able to find one here! I was amused at the attempt at translation on the label, where it was described as a "broom."

THE SOUTH IS NOT SO CHEAP

The commonly held belief that it is cheaper to live in the South of Italy than in the North may be a myth, according to a survey published this week by the consumers' association Altroconsumo:

A nationwide inquiry into prices at 949 stores in 91 cities has revealed Siracusa in Sicily to be the most expensive city in Italy in which to do a weekly family shop with Catania, Palermo and Messina being the fourth, eighth and ninth most expensive cities respectively.  Sassari in Sardinia was second in the list and Aosta third. 

Pietro Agen, the president of Confcommercio Sicilia, has commented that prices are, in general, lower in the South but that there are fewer chain stores and, where these exist, transport costs may be pushing up the prices of their products.

My personal observation would be that the survey does not take into account the low prices in some popular local markets in the South.

And the cheapest city in which to fill that family shopping basket, according to the survey? Verona.

IN WHICH I AM BOTH BADLY BROUGHT UP AND A "BAMBINA"

Rosa and I were strolling along with Simi this morning when a car behind us beeped us to get out of the way. Admittedly we were not using the pavement as it is slippery and I've fallen on it before.

"Siete mal educate!" ["You've been badly brought up!"] yelled the driver.

Oh, well, once a naughty girl.....

Later I went to buy fruit from one of the roadside lorries and my conversation with the seller went like this:

Seller: Hello, bambina, how's the dog?

Me: She's fine, thank you. 2 kilos of mandarini, please.

Seller: You can have the crateful for 10 euros, bambina.

Me: Thank you but it's too heavy.

Seller [flexing his muscles]: I will carry it to your home, bambina.

Me: OK, then, and half a dozen apples, please.

Seller [putting 12 in the bag but only charging for 6]: For you, bambina.

Then he gestured to his mate to look after the lorry, loaded the crate onto his shoulder and followed me home.

"Always ready to help, bambina", he said as he took his leave.

It's at times like this that I remember how much I love Italy.

Can you tell from a glance at my kitchen table that I'm a British woman living in Sicily?

FOODIE FRIDAY - PESTO AND PEACHES

Don't worry - not together! I was going to call this post "Some Foodie Matters" but as it's just Friday in Sicily [00.04] I'll make it a "Foodie Friday" post.

My commenter Peter of italyMONDO - do click on the link to check out Peter's profile and blog as he has an interesting story - has asked me how last night's pesto turned out so I thought I'd show you.

I'm afraid I don't pestare my pesto. I just chuck everything in the food processor

and it always turns out all right. [The recipe is here.]

Today was market day and there were plenty of street traders selling fruit near the market site. For those of you who like to compare prices, here is what 3.50 euros bought me from one of them:

Not bad, eh?

INFLATION, INFLATION, INFLATION....

According to figures published this week, the inflation rate in Italy has increased by 10 times as much as in the other Eurozone countries in the past 5 years. Expenditure on food [up by 10.1%], clothes, shoes and cigarettes has reached record levels whilst higher prices have had to be paid for furniture, household goods in general and leisure and cultural activities. The cost of utility bills is reported to have risen by 20.2% here.

Italy has spent less than its neighbours only on health services, communications and education.

When you look at this, you can see why Italians wanted a change of government - any change.

WHAT 40 € WILL BUY

We have had our sun back today, along with a temperature of 22 C outside at lunchtime and so, for the first time in weeks, I felt like sauntering down to the location of "the best butcher in town": it is not far away, but it is an uphill walk back and that is not easy when you are carrying a lot of bags in inclement weather.

Here's what I got there for 40 € :

Back row, left to right: 6 super-sized lemons, 4 arancini [rice balls - all right, pyramids, then], 2 "thingies" [about which more below].

Middle row, left to right: 1 kilo small pears, 1 kilo lamb pieces on the bone, a large pack of basil.

Front row: 6 breaded veal escalopes and a pack of datterini tomatoes.

I have made arancini but in my opinion the experts can make them better and that is generally my philosophy about ready-prepared food: make what you know will turn out well at home but buy what can be prepared better professionally. I would guess that this is the philosophy of most Italians, too. Why make a mess egging and breading escalopes yourself if a butcher will do it freshly on the premises and make a neater job of it? Now, you may be wondering about the "thingies" at the back right of the first picture and so was I ! I asked the butcher if they had a name and he said they were "sort of polpettone" [big meatballs] of pork mince encased in very thin beef fillet. When I cook one I will let you know how it tastes!

I am out of touch with UK prices by now, but wherever you are, I would be interested to know whether you think this was a "good haul" for my 40 euros!

According to survey results published today, you can forget the sushi bars that have become popular all over Italy in recent years because pasta is still the number one food preference here. The percentage of those who eat meat often has increased by almost half since 2007 but strangely the popularity of pizza is decreasing. 77.7% of Italians taking part in the survey said they still buy local specialities, choosing cheeses, salami, oil, bread and wine, in that order. Consumption of liqueurs is down [but I don't think these statistics take into account those made at home, which reminds me, it's about time I got my own little distillery going again!] Wine production is lower than in 2007 because of climactic factors. Consumption of mozzarella di bufala is up in Italy, despite recent problems. Well done, the Italians, for supporting, on the whole, their own, beloved food produced in the time-honoured way.

By the way, I am still awaiting the plumber-electrician man - pazienza!

SICILY IN THE RED

Sicilian families, it is reported, have the highest level of personal debt in Italy, due to their use of consumer credit and the "cessione del quinto" , a salary-backed loan which is available. Many families, it seems , are on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet you would not believe that this could be true were you to look around at the number of families who own their homes outright and even have second or third ones, and at the large number of stores stocking expensive items such as furniture that will not take credit cards. "Italy is a cash society", writes Tobias Jones and so it would appear - but nothing is ever as it appears in Italy.

Consumer associations are calling for urgent action to bring salaries and pensions in line with those in the other richer countries of the EU for, as I have mentioned before, the price of grain has more than doubled in a year. Perhaps the surest indication that something was wrong in 2007 was the "pasta strike" back in September - things must be serious for an Italian to even think of foregoing his or her daily bowl of the country's favourite food.

FOOD PRICES

UPDATE, 20.10.07: Yesterday it was reported that the price of bread had risen by 79% in a single day in a Rome supermarket!

James is doing some research into food prices around the world and has asked his readers for the prices of certain items where they are. I reproduce the information I have given him here for readers who do not read both blogs as it may be of interest:

As of this morning, supermarket prices in Modica, Sicily:

1 kilo minced beef - €7,89
No frozen chicken here but fresh is sold by weight - €3,45 per kilo. Most of those on sale are pretty large and even if you say you don’t want the head and feet, they will be weighed and the weight included in the price.
Fish – I have some difficulty with this as I never buy it and the smell of a fishmonger’s turns my stomach, but according to a friend: swordfish - €25 per kilo, anchovies - €7, cod - €15.
1 litre carton semi-skimmed milk - €1,13
Cheese: Swiss Emmenthal - €9, 19 per kilo. Mild local cheese - €6,10.
Bread: Baguette weighing 0, 350 kg - €0,75. Local bread - €2, 60.
Eggs: Never seen any battery eggs here. Local eggs - €0, 81 for 6.
Coffee, 250 gr medium roast, hard pack - €2,05.
Sunflower oil is difficult to find here. Corn oil - €1,10 per litre, extra-virgin olive oil, popular brand - €6,41 per litre. Most of the olive oil sold is extra-virgin.
Bananas - €1,69 per kilo.

All fruit and vegetables can be purchased more cheaply from roadside lorries but you have to buy them by the crate and I can neither carry nor use that amount quickly enough.

I mentioned the increase in the price of wheat here and, interestingly, it was reported today that the price of bread in Rome has gone up to €3,60 per kilo and there is to be an enquiry there, the results of which could have repercussions for other towns. [Remember that the type of bread on sale varies greatly from town to town here.]

A SICILIAN READY-MEAL!

I must be unwell as I don't feel like cooking, which is very rare for me. There are no frozen ready-meals here and I wouldn't buy them if there were but I do have portions of meals I have made in the freezer and was going to defrost one of these. However, I liked the look of this freshly concocted dish in one of the larger supermarkets this morning: it contains chicken wings, onions, carrots, new potatoes, tomatoes, capers, garlic, olives, seasoning, olive oil and herbs. No, of course I'm not going to eat all that in one go! I'll cook it, have some tomorrow and freeze the rest. James might be interested to know that it cost €5.33 and there is easily enough for 4 servings.

AUTUMN DAYS

I am wearing a sundress as I sit here typing, yet the surest sign that autumn has arrived is the abundance of fichi d'India [prickly pears] in the shops. I think this is my favourite Sicilian fruit as it was the first I was offered here, back in 1992. They taste nothing like the ones available from time to time in Britain, as these lose their delicate flavour after travelling, being selected for supermarket sale and undergoing whatever the stores' processes are. You never find pickled prickly pear here, as you do in the USA, though. To Italians a food is either "sweet" or "savoury" and rarely are the two mixed.

In my basket you may behold what €6 bought me this morning. [There are about 4lbs of large potatoes underneath the fruit.]

BITS AND PIECES

Just a few bits and bobs to tell you about this evening:

First, a post of Ellee's yesterday made me think about the location of supermarkets here: many are on the outskirts of the town and have large, flat, free carparks as in Britain, but my local one is underneath a block of flats and down the slope pictured. It is well signposted but you'd need to know that Conad is a chain of supermarkets to realise that that's what it is. You could miss quite a few businesses and offices here if you didn't keep looking up [and down] actually: Raffaele's is up the stairs in the second photo and you wouldn't know there was a hairdresser's there unless you happened to glance up and see the poster. [I once asked him why he calls his salon "yellow", by the way: apparently there was another hairdresser called Raffaele here years ago and when "my" Raffaele opened, he had his salon decorated in yellow and so he used that as part of the name to distinguish himself from his namesake. I think he also rather likes the word!]

Today is a sort of holiday for Carnevale: some businesses have been closed all day whilst others have not reopened this evening. There isn't much of a Carnival tradition in Modica: it seems, here, to be mainly a festival for the children. There will be some processions in Modica Bassa tonight but I'm not going down there as I don't feel like having water and that gooey stuff thrown at me, though I don't begrudge others their fun. Having just been out with Simi, I saw that we have a beautiful new moon, so in a moment I am going to fling the shutters open and gaze at it awhile , for, dear readers, if you have not seen a Sicilian moon, you have not seen a moon....

A less welcome visitor than the moon was a locust which decided to fly into my bathroom last night. I'm afraid I was much too intent on getting rid of the thing to photograph it! Perhaps I won't open the shutters right now, after all...

Now to a complete change of subject: there is to be a health initiative in Sicily so the already reasonable prices for fruit and vegetables are to be lowered. Portion sizes in bars are also to be reduced but no one seems to know yet how and to what. I'll let you know when I see evidence of this.

Going back to the supermarket, there were three power cuts in there while I was at the checkout yesterday [not, I think, their fault]. Even the door is electronically controlled now, so no one could get in or out during this time. As you can imagine, there was much shrugging of shoulders and uttering of "pazienza"!

And finally, for this post, "they made me do it" - blogger, that is; late last night they made me change to beta . This is my first beta post and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing - pazienza.