BOOTIES AND THE BOOTED

Just a quick Friday night note on how the two main events of the week in the UK are being viewed here:

First let's take the little princess, being called the "royal girl" by the Italian press. Quite a lot of people I've spoken to seem to be under the misconception, if you'll excuse the pun, that the public had been lied to about the birth date. The reason for this is that my Sicilian acquaintances find it incredible [nearly wrote "inconceivable"] that mother and child should have been discharged from hospital on the same day as the birth. I have assured them that this is normal in Britain and have pointed out that this particular mother and baby are hardly likely to lack adequate care at home. It is strange to find myself defending the monarchy but here I am, feeling honour-bound to point out that this is not the 18th century and that members of a royal family with no political power have no reason to lie about a birth.  "Ah, but we all know that the rich have their reasons", I am told and who am I to be so sure what century it is anyway? Then there is surprise that the baby has three rather than two names and at the order of them. Diana, say outraged Sicilians, should have been the second name, if not the first. I've stopped arguing on this one and just teach them how to pronounce it.

As for the UK election, there was little coverage here until Wednesday and interest surged, as elsewhere, with the publication of last night's surprising exit poll which, of course, turned out to be spot on. Today the events of the last 24 hours are being referred to as a terremoto [earthquake] in the Italian press and the news that not one but three party leaders have resigned and did so within a mere 90 minutes has been greeted with complete astonishment. [In Italy no one in politics resigns until the whole country is baying for their blood - which usually takes at least a decade - and certainly not over a matter as trivial as having the party they lead wiped out in a general election.] 

Meanwhile this newspaper appears to think that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are "regions" of the UK. I give up!

NOT QUITE READY.....

What is judged to be really hot weather here does not normally kick in until the beginning of June so we were all taken by surprise yesterday when the temperature shot up to 38°C.  I'm not ready, my clothes aren't ready and, most importantly, my toes aren't ready! My taste buds, however, are:

GIFT - A MIGRATION STORY

As many in my home country continued, on Monday, to exult over the birth of Princess Charlotte, 1,257 miles away, in Pozzallo, attention was focused on a very different kind of birth that had taken place: On Sunday night, during a migrant rescue operation in the Mediterranean, Italian naval personnel found that a woman on one of the migrant boats was in labour.  Transferred to the naval ship Bettica, the mother was safely delivered of a baby girl by a medical team which included volunteers and helped, of course, by the military.

The sailors gave the little girl the name Francesca Marina - Francesca for Pope Francis and St Francis of Assisi [who is also the patron saint of Italy] and Marina for the Marina Militare [Italian Navy]. Following their arrival at Pozzallo, Francesca and her Nigerian mother were brought to the Maggiore Hospital in Modica, where both are said to be doing well.  The doctor who delivered her said in a radio interview that Francesca is a calm, smiling baby and that the whole experience had been very emotional for all concerned.  Today it has been revealed that her mother wants to call the baby "Gift" but will also keep her daughter's two Italian names.

I am not the first person to point out the contrasts between the two births today and several Italian newspapers have published pictures of the princess and Gift side by side but I do want to say this:  I do not often make a plea, but I would like to ask anyone who is considering, for the best of reasons, sending a present to the little princess, to think of Gift Francesca Marina, and others like her, first.

It is estimated that over 7,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean in Italian-led operations over the weekend and on Monday and at least 50 migrants have died.

SABATO MUSICALE

Here's a flavour of the Expo 2015 opening concert:

Andrea Bocelli at Expo 2015

"READY FOR LIFE"

There were those, as Mr Renzi said at the opening of Expo 2015 today, who thought that Italy would never be able to get it ready in time. Yet it did, and now, as the Premier also said, it has the six months of Expo in which to prove itself worthy of the responsibility.

The prelude to today's opening of the exhibition site was last night's televised concert from Milan. The undoubted stars were Andrea Bocelli and Lang Lang who, along with Simone Piazzola, Maria Luigia Borsi, German soprano Diana Damrau and the company of La Scala, performed against the fabulous backdrop of the city's illuminated cathedral. I must say I thought that Miss Damrau should have been advised against wearing a [presumably real] fur stole and perhaps she was, but otherwise it was an uplifting and dignified show, reminding me of why I still love Italy.

As always, in this country, there are contradictions - the wonderful and the absurd: I read recently, for instance, that the organisers of Expo were finding it difficult to find the employees they needed because young people had decided they didn't like the shifts [presumably the idea of working through the lunchtime and the summer]. In a country where it is notoriously difficult for young people to find any work at all, this just makes me want to cry or scream - I'm not sure which.

The wonderful, the absurd - and the ugly, of which we have seen plenty today in the form of "Black Block" protestors who have devastated Milan, damaging property, setting cars on fire and terrifying locals and visitors alike. The good news is that the Milanese have not caved in and by mid-afternoon the Italian media were carrying photos of bar and shop owners clearing up the mess in the streets themselves.

Sicily, I'm happy to report, is being well-represented at Expo, as the region was chosen to coordinate the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster, the largest of the themed pavilions, in which 12 countries are participating. The Cluster focuses on biodiversity and the Mediterranean diet. Sicily also, of course, features in the Italian pavilion, where a Sicilian square has been created. Two Sicilian "guest stars" at Expo are the "Dee di Aidone" or "Aidone godesses", acroliths of Demeter and Persephone which have travelled from the Aidone Museum [to which they were returned by the Bayley Museum of Virginia University in 2009]. I hope the ladies enjoy their trip!

Now I want to tell you about a great gesture of solidarity that has already come out of Expo and it is this: following last week's tragic events in Nepal, Nepalese workers on their country's pavilion understandably wanted to go home. Everyone was sympethetic when they did so and their pavilion was finished, voluntarily, by other foreign workers in their spare time and by Italian Expo employees from Bergamo and Brescia.

Finally, there couldn't have been a dry eye in the house this morning when the children in this video clip changed the line, "We are ready for death" in Italy's national anthem to "We are ready for life", a sentiment also expressed in Mr Renzi's speech

Thank you, Corriere della Sera:

LA BELLA STAGIONE

BERTIE-PIERRINE SEES THE SEA

And yes, we did!

SABATO MUSICALE

Today is the festa della Liberazione.

Gruppo popolare e solisti dell'Oltrepo Pavese - Bella ciao

THE SAME SEA

I did not learn of the tragic events in the Mediterranean of last Saturday to Sunday night until lunchtime on Sunday. If I had been aware of them as I gazed at the peaceful sea at the Marina di Ragusa on Sunday morning it would have been hard to believe that they had happened only a few hours earlier, for it was a perfect spring day in Sicily, there was little traffic and all seemed calm and "right with the world". Life, as we all know, goes on and perhaps that is the hardest part.

Windswept blogger!

This is my Romanian friend, Anca.

One week on and my thoughts are still with all who have set out on this perilous journey.

PASTA AL FORNO VEGETARIANA

Let's have a recipe for a change: I love pasta al forno and it's on my list of the great comfort foods of the world.  Last weekend, I invented this vegetarian [but not vegan ] version:

Pasta al forno vegetariana

First of all, peel and cube 200 gr pumpkin.  Cook the cubes in salted water till tender. Drain and set aside.

Take 2 white and 2 green courgettes and slice 3 of them as thinly as you can [or do it in a food processor].  Grate the other courgette. Heat 4 tablesp olive oil in a wide pan and cook the courgettes, stirring, until they are tender. Now add a sliced white onion and a chopped clove of garlic and continue cooking everything until these, too, are tender. [Yes, I know this is the wrong way round for making a soffritto but it works!] When the onion and garlic have softened, add the pumpkin along with 300 gr sliced mushrooms, a little chopped parsley, seasoning and 400 gr passata.  Stir and cook on a low heat for 15 mins.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 160 C and cook 400 gr rigatoni for the length of time indicated on the pack. Drain the pasta and oil a large, rectangular, Pyrex-style oven dish. Put a layer of pasta in the dish, followed by a layer of sauce and then a layer of thinly sliced provoleta or other pasta filata cheeese [about 10 slices]. Add another layer of pasta and finish with another layer of the sauce. Sprinkle some fresh breadcrumbs or pane grattugiato and some freshly grated Parmesan over the top.

Cook in the oven for 15 mins.

Buon appetito.

AFTERMATH 2015

Three days on from the worst migrant tragedy that the Mediterranean has seen, the main facts of the disaster are being reported in every media outlet and language but perhaps I can add some detail and reaction from here, including my own:

The images of the survivors landing at Catania last night are heartbreaking and many Sicilians who were present have commented on the sadness in their eyes. The bodies that have so far been recovered have been taken to Malta and, although the numbers are not yet official, it is thought that the final toll will be around 825. Some of these were women and children who were locked in the hold. Shocking accounts are emerging of survivors who had to cling to corpses in order to avoid drowning.

As was reported on Sunday, one of the causes of the tragedy was that many of the migrants rushed to one side of the boat when they saw one of two merchant ships approaching the area.  The other cause, according to survivors, was that one of the people traffickers, the "captain" of the boat, was steering carelessly, causing a collision with the nearer merchant vessel.  It is not clear which event happened first. This man and another people trafficker from the boat have now been arrested and are under investigation for aiding illegal immigration and for multiple homocide.

Here in Sicily opinion is divided between those who feel that the Italian Coast Guard and Navy should not be going so close to the Libyan coast to save migrant boats in trouble and those who feel that Mare Nostrum, or an operation like it, should be restored. Everyone, however, has expressed profound sorrow for the migrants. Premier Renzi said on Sunday that Italy cannot remain indifferent to boats in difficulty in an age of global communication and has today called for the entire international community to act against the people traffickers who, in the words of President Mattarella, are causing the slaughter of innocents. Mr Renzi has also today ruled out military operations within Libya.

Meanwhile the boats keep coming and you will have read of the deaths off Rhodes yesterday and possibly of two other rescues in which Italy has been involved in the last 24 hours. We have also learnt that richer Syrians have been paying up to €8,500 each for a safe passage to Italy and yesterday a yacht carrying 98 such migrants was rescued when its engine failed off Siracusa. The passengers, among whom there were many families with young children, have been brought to Pozzallo.  Well, if you or I were in Nazi Germany or today's Syria and our family's lives were threatened, wouldn't we do it if we had the means? I will say again that for me, the logic is simple: if we agree that the régimes in question are awful, then we cannot blame people for trying to escape from them, in whatever way they can.

You may read for yourselves the European Commission's ten-point plan on migration:  yes, destroy the smugglers' boats before they leave but what about the people who are in fear of their lives? Then there is the point about reinforcing joint operations "but within the Frontex mandate".  We shall see but it still seems to be more about protecting borders than people to me. An "EU resettlement project" sounds good, until you read the part about "offering a number of places to persons in need of protection." What number? I am always suspicious when statistics are mentioned before humanity.  

Humanitarian organisations are calling for a European or UN Mare Nostrum operation and Cécile Kyenge, among others, is suggesting that this should be Italian-led.

Finally, an extraordinary European Council has been called for Thursday to discuss the situation. How many people will die before that?

Image:  Cécile Kyenge facebook page

HECATOMB

"They are men and women like us – our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war.”

- Pope Francis, 19th April 2015

SABATO MUSICALE

"Seek no more than your daily bread, surrender to life and never despair", ends this nostalgic song from Luca Carboni. If only it were all as simple as that!

Luca Carboni - Primavera

SPRING TIDES 2015 - 2

As some of you will know, I have been writing about the migrant situation in the Mediterranean since 2006 and during all these years, having documented tragedy after tragedy on this blog, I have been asking myself just what it would take for the rest of the world to take notice. Today we have the answer: a sensational incident that feeds current prejudices has prompted Sky to send Enda Brady to Sicily and UK online newspaper editions to report the events further up the page - for a while.

What appears to have happened is this: About 105 migrants, most of whom were from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, were travelling on a boat which left Libya on 14th April. A few miles from the Libyan coast, a fight broke out and some Ghanaian and Nigerian passengers, who were in the minority, were threatened by a group of 15 other migrants.  The group of 15, who were Muslim. said they would throw the Christian migrants into the sea and they subsequently threw 12 of the Christians overboard. Others survived only because they formed a human chain, according to eye witnesses. The group of 15 have been arrested by Palermo police and, although the incident occurred in international waters, the Italian authorities have the right to carry out the investigation and to pursue the matter as the perpetrators are now in Italy and because of the gravity of the crime.

Another incident that is being widely reported is the explosion of a domestic gas cylinder in a house in Libya where migrants were being kept prior to making the crossing. Five people, including a baby, died on the spot. Horrifyingly, 18 other migrants who were seriously burned were forced onto a dinghy bound for Italy and one woman died during the crossing. The migrants were rescued by the Italians and brought to Lampedusa, from where those with the most serious burns were transferred to burns units in Catania and Palermo.

In yet another tragedy, a group of migrants rescued and taken to Trapani yesterday said that 41 people had drowned during their crossing. The people trafficker involved has been arrested.

It is now estimated that 10,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean between last Friday and this Tuesday alone. As you will have gathered from the incidents I have mentioned above, the situation is daily becoming more dangerous, not only for the migrants but for all involved in the rescues. Reports today of an Italian fishing boat being seized by Libyan security forces will add to growing unease here. 

The world may now be noticing but the world continues to fail Italy, which is largely shouldering the burden alone. Dimitris Avramopoulos, who a few days ago was advocating a coherent and long-term approach, has today warned that the EU does not have a magic wand. No one has, but surely the situation is now so serious that it is a matter for a wider body than the EU. Someone else seems to think so and that person is President Obama, who, in a meeting with Premier Renzi today, has said that the US will work more closely with Italy "to encourage cooperation on threats coming from Libya." 

A BETTER EVENING

It's always nice to receive a little gift, especially when it's a cassata siciliana. My evening just got a whole lot better!

SPRING TIDES 2015

News of the incredible numbers of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean over the weekend and on Monday - latest reports are of 7,000 people - is going round the world as I write and yet again, it is the Italian Navy and Coast Guard who have saved these lives. 

On Friday we learned that 978 migrants had been rescued in three different operations on that day in the Sicilian Channel and that a body had been found in one of the boats, which had got into trouble 30 miles off the Libyan coast. Then yesterday we read that up to 6,000 desperate people had risked the crossing and been rescued, still off Libya, between Friday and Monday and tonight comes the news that the figure is nearer 7,000 and that 400 migrants from one boat have died.

These poor souls were travelling on a boat carrying 550 when it capsized 80 miles north of Libya. The Italian Coast Guard rescued the others and nine bodies have been recovered so far. In other shocking news we have learned that the body of a migrant who was overcome by petrol fumes on another boat was thrown to sharks and that this was a decision agreed by the other passengers as the boat was being followed by dogfish sharks. The peopler trafficker of this boat has been arrested by Ragusan police and is being questioned not only about aiding illegal immigration but about the death.

There have been several reports that people traffickers fired shots into the air to warn off an Italian Coast Guard vessel which was escorting a tug boat carrying 250 rescued migrants in a separate operation. This would have been because the people traffickers were trying to get their empty boat back. Another theory is that the shots were fired from Libyan ships. However, the Italian Navy, which had ships in the area, has denied that there was any such incident.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Lega Nord, has accused Premier Matteo Renzi and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano of "operating a taxi service" by authorising the rescues, which he says only help the people traffickers. Mr Salvini has today been encouraging protesters to occupy schools, hotels and other buildings being used to receive and help migrants as he says they should be used to help Italians in difficulty. Mr Renzi would, I think, reply that a civilised country cannot leave people to die so near its shores.

One can understand people's concerns: yesterday the Lampedusa Migrant Reception Centre, a building with a maximum capacity of 250,  was accommodating 1,400 migrants, an alarming situation for both the islanders and the migrants involved. Some of the migrants have now been transferred to mainland Italy but what will happen to them and others like them if the rest of Europe continues to ignore what is happening in the Mediterranean?  

EU Commisssioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos is to visit Sicily next week with Angelino Alfano and he has said that a long-term and coherent strategy is needed to deal with this "new" migrant emergency.

I'll close with one ray of hope from these grim four days: a Somali woman in labour on one of the migrant boats was transferred by helicopter from Siracusa to the Maggiore Hospital here in Modica, where her baby boy was safely born. Both mother and son are said to be doing well.

Please note that the situation, along with estimates of the rescued and lost, is changing hourly.

SABATO MUSICALE

This hopeful love song was no. 5 at Sanremo:

DEFINITELY SICILIAN!

Here is proof, if it were needed, that Bertie-Pierrine is Sicilian:  yes, she has stolen an aubergine!

If she was a Cockney, perhaps her name would be "Tea Leaf"....

NOT EXACTLY A HOST....

Not exactly a host and not exactly golden, either, but I was pleased to see these at last opening on my balcony this morning. It would have been nice if they had managed it for St David's Day, but you can't have everything!

And when you see clumps of borage everywhere - it is late this year, which has been exceptionally cold - you know it's spring in Sicily!

PONDERING

EASTER TIDES

Unusually, practically all the UK media are carrying the story of the 1,500 migrants saved in the Mediterranean by the Italian Navy and Coast Guard over the Easter weekend.  Here such numbers are now so common that the story has made fewer headlines, though this Easter is being dubbed La Pasqua degli sbarchi [the Easter of the Landings].

The Italian authorities were first made aware that more migrant boats were in trouble when three of the latter sent rescue requests to Rome via satellite phone from off the coast of Libya. When Italian Coast Guard vessels reached these boats, they soon spotted two other migrant boats which needed help and an Italian naval ship already in the area was also directed to the scene. The migrants were rescued and have been taken to Lampedusa, Porto Empedocle and Augusta. Fortunately there have been no reported deaths.

In addition, over 150 migrants from Somalia, Nigeria and Eritrea reached the beach of Caulonia in Calabria after their boat ran aground a few metres from it. The authorities were alerted to this landing when police found a group of about 20 of the migrants walking along a main road. They then found the rest of the boat's passengers, including around 40 women and children, some of whom were very young. The migrants say their boat left Libya one week ago and that the adults had each paid €2,000 to make the crossing. All these migrants are said to be in good health.

Sadly, Il Fatto Quotidiano is reporting tonight that a group of parents in Focà di Caulonia have blocked the entrance to a school so that the building cannot be used for initial processing and healthcare of the migrants. The Mayor of the town has said that this is the action of "a few people who are afraid" and has expressed regret over the incident.

SABATO MUSICALE

Tenth at Sanremo, this song from Catania's Lorenzo Fragola is in eighth position in the Italian charts this week:

Lorenzo Fragola - Siamo uguali

LA NOSTRA VIOLETTA

Adriana Iozzia as Violetta

Some years ago, I interviewed Modican soprano Adriana Iozzia, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing since she was six years old, for Italy Magazine. 

Since then, Adriana's star has been rising steadily and I'm happy to be able to tell you that this week, she has been appearing as Violetta in La Traviata at the Teatro Fedele Fenaroli in Lanciano, Chieti [Abruzzo].  The performance was a sell-out and I'm not surprised!

Congratulations to Adriana and I'm very proud to have been her first interviewer.

SPEZZATINO DI PASQUA

Lamb, artichokes and asparagus: those are the savoury foods most associated with Easter in Sicily. I've been wanting to cook artichokes plus a lamb dish for days, but with limited time, I decided to combine them. I added the sumac, one of my favourite spices, to give it some punch. It's not Sicilian but it should grow here. [I've read that it does but have never found any.] Here's what I did:

Spezzatino di Pasqua

6 tablesp olive oil

1 kg lamb pieces for stew: in Italy, ask for the spezzatino cut. The pieces will be very small, with quite a lot of bone on them, but this does add to the flavour.

6 small onions, chopped [I like cipolle borettane, from Emilia-Romagna.]

2 garlic cloves, chopped

300 gr frozen artichoke hearts, thawed

1 large yellow pepper, cut into not-too-thin strips

1 Sicilian or unwaxed lemon, quartered 

4 - 6 potatoes, unpeeled and cubed

2 teasp sumac

coarse seasalt and black pepper

0.25 litre white wine

sprigs of rosemary and about 6 fresh sage leaves

Heat oil in a deep, wide pan or wok and add the onions and garlic. Cook until golden. Add the lamb and brown on all sides. Then add the artichoke hearts, lemon, yellow pepper, seasoning, sumac and herbs and continue to cook for about 10 mins., stirring well.  Add the white wine and potatoes, stir well and bring to simmer. Simmer for about 1 hour with the lid on, stirring occasionally. Do not be tempted to add more liquid as the vegetables will produce their own.

Serve with a green salad to which you have added some mint.

Buon appetito.

PUPPET LOVE

Don't you just love the workmanship in these earrings based on Sicilian puppets?

By Gioielli Alati Di Loretta

SABATO MUSICALE

Fourth at Sanremo was this pretty song from Annalisa:

Annalisa - Una finestra tra le stelle

EASTER FUN

Great fun and games were enjoyed today by our youngest students at London Town, Modica - Centro Linguistico Internazionale when we made Easter chicks out of paper cups. Simplified instructions were, of course, given in English.

Thanks to the Guardian Teacher Network for the idea.

JIMJAMS IN CATANIA

Images: Lorenzo Fragola on facebook

The city of Catania was one of the 24 chosen by McDonald's to participate in their "World's Biggest Breakfast" event on Tuesday and everyone who attended thought it was the cat's pyjamas, according to reports. This was especially so when Lorenzo Fragola, the catanese singer who won Italy's X Factor in December, appeared and sang in his very cute pyjamas.

The breakfast event took a different form in each of the cities, in order to appeal to the various cultures involved, and the Catania restaurant decided to turn it into a pyjama party - perhaps because the country produces such stylish nightwear. Anyone who turned up in decent, unscruffy pyjamas got a free brioche and hot drink, plus the opportunity to enjoy young Mr Fragola's music.

The twitter hashtag for the worldwide event was #imlovinit24 and, at the risk of being a spoilsport, I'd just like to put in a plea on behalf of English language teachers here: it's the devil of a job getting students to remember that certain verbs, including those that denote likes and dislikes, are not usually used in the present continuous and the "I'm lovin' it" campaign has not helped us! Yes, I know that the language is constantly changing and that the form is likely to become widely accepted in the not too distant future but for the purposes of most exams, it is not acceptable yet!

WHAT THE DEVIL....?

The statue of Christ that is carried around Scicli at Easter

A day or so ago, some good folk in nearby Scicli, having heard several bloodcurdling screams coming from an apartment in their street, did what most of us would do and alerted the police. One can only suppose that they were relieved to learn that no burglary, murder or other crime had been committed and that the cause of the noise was.... an exorcism. Or perhaps they just shrugged their shoulders and uttered, "Pazienza", this supposedly being the second exorcism to which police had been called in their city in the past two weeks, a detail which the local press has been enjoying immensely.

It was first reported that this second "exorcism" was being carried out to help a teenage boy, but today the priest involved has denied this, saying that he had been asked to go to the apartment because the boy was in deep distress and that the Carabinieri were already there, along with an ambulance crew. The priest did his best to calm the boy and one feels for him and his parents.

As I understand it, in Catholicism exorcism of a person can only be carried out by a priest authorised to perform the "rite" and with the express permission of his bishop. There has to have been a medical examination to exclude the possibility that the person involved is mentally or physically ill. 

A few years ago, someone did something bad to me and at that time I figured I needed all the help I could get. So when a religious friend brought round some holy water which had been blessed by a priest authorised to carry out exorcisms and started sprinkling it around my house, presumably to cast out any lurking demons, I decided to accept gracefully. Strangely enough, things have gone a lot better since then.

SABATO MUSICALE

Third at Sanremo this year and again, beautifully performed:

Malika Ayane - Adesso e qui [nostalgico presente]

CHOCOLATE CALLING!

Aren't these delighhtful?  Could you resist them? I couldn't!

By Delizie d'Autore, Modica

AN EXHIBITION

Some regular readers may remember this photo from last year. It was taken by my friend the photographer Luca Migliore and is part of his 11 Donne project.

Luca will shortly be holding an exhibition of the photos in Ragusa and in connection with this, there is an artiucle about them in the Corriere della Sera online supplememt, Io Donna. The introduction says that although Italy is suffering a "brain drain" at the moment, there are people, like the women featured in the photos, who have chosen to move here. The bit about me partially recounts the story of my reunion with my birth sister Jill [although they have the name wrong - never mind].

I am again honoured to have been photographed by Luca and to be in the pictorial company of such interesting women.

BAKED RADICCHIO

I owe the idea for this recipe to Corriere della Sera, but as usual, I've done my own thing with it: I couldn't get the very crisp type of radicchio mentioned, so I separated mine into leaves. I incorporated the honey with the oil and balsamic vinegar [as in the video] instead of adding it afterwards [as in the text], and I used rather more of it. The Corriere recipe uses pomegranate seeds, adding them when the radicchio is cooked, but as pomegranates are out of season here, my first idea was to use sultanas. However, I didn't have any and torrential rain prevented me from going out to get some, so I used the dried cranberries I did have, adding them before baking. 

Here's what I did:

Separate two medium-sized radicchi into leaves and wash ,drain and get them as dry as you can. Arrange in a roasting dish and drizzle a little olive oil over them. Make a dressing from 4 tablesp olive oil, 1 tablesp balsamic vinegar, 1 tablesp honey and seasoning to taste.  Pour over the radicchio leaves and toss it through. Add a few dried cranberries or sultanas and some pinenuts. Bake at 180 C for 15 mins. 

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

This makes an excellent accompaniment to grilled chicken.

SABATO MUSICALE

Here's another song I liked from this year's Sanremo. Written by Grazia Di Michele herself, it is a gentle song about hypocrisy and prejudice. I thought it was beautifully performed:

Grazia Di Michele e Mauro Coruzzi - Io sono una finestra

EASTER EGGSTRAS

There seems to be a fashion for combining Ester eggs with clothing items this year, which I would have thought was a bit of a risk in a country which does not like diversification in the retail sector. I've seen some Easter eggs wrapped in jolly headscarves and I must say the Condorelli "L'Egging" is cheerful too:

I doubt that even Kate Moss is thin enough to use it as a legging but the leaflet on the egg does suggest using it as a scarf or hair band.  Perhaps Bertie-Pierrine will set a new canine fashion in it!

Anyway, I enjoyed the pun - and the chocolate!

ONE FOR THE HOMELAND

I meant to get this booklet for London Town, Modica - Centro Linguistico Internazionale ready for St. David's Day but when Bertie-Pierrine bounded into my life, she kind of took it over! Anyway, it is ready now and free for our students. If anyone in Modica still thinks Wales is in England, they haven't met me!

Homeland, I think of you!

PROGRESS - 2

First of all, Bertie-Pierrine hopes you all had a happy International Women's Day:

She wants you to know that she has had a very busy week, in which she redoubled her efforts to learn to read in honour of World Book Day:

Then there was the obligatory chewing of one of her mummy's socks [while the latter's foot was still in it]

and she is practising to be a sommelier when she grows up!

There'll be more news of her progress soon and meanwhile she sends lots of baci..

SABATO MUSICALE

Tomorrow is International Women's Day [symbolised by the mimosa flower in Italy] and I dedicate this French song, an old favourite of mine, to every woman who needs a break.

Anne Sylvestre - Clémence en vacances

NOT THE MASTERCHEF REPORT

Tonight I was hoping to be able to bring you my insights into this year's MasterChef Italia, which held its final last night, but unfortunately my Sky signal chose 9 pm to give up the ghost in the face of a few gusts of wind. [This part of Sicily got the tail end of the heavy winds which had mercilessly lashed mainland Italy throughout Wednesday and Thursday, causing considerable damage and three deaths.]  I'd been looking forward to the programme all day so, needless to say, I was not pleased!

I did know who the winner would be, as much to the judges' chagrin, the contest result had been leaked on Tuesday's Striscia La Notizia programme, and even if I hadn't, I could have worked out what was happening from social media.  However, I did want to see what tasks were set for the three finalists, generally enjoy the drama and feast my eyes once more on chef Carlo Cracco. The Striscia spoiler caused a twitter storm, as you may imagine, and the programme also accused one of the finalists of working in a professional kitchen before becoming a contestant.  If this is true, it of course breaks the MasterChef rules. Both the contestant and the restaurant concerned deny that he has worked there and the argument is ongoing.

Congratulations to worthy winner Stefano Callegaro and I would like to express the hope that when his recipe book is published, it will actually contain some recipes, unlike last year's effort, which was supposed to give readers ideas rather than recipes. Such a book is fine by me as long as it is not marketed as a recipe book!

My Sky signal is back on now so, barring a few drops of rain or the odd breeze, I should be able to watch the repeat tomorrow.

YET AGAIN - MIGRATION UPDATE

On the day when the Italian Coast Guard has completed the rescue and bringing to safety of 941 migrants in the Mediterranean, we are once again witnessing politicians arguing about who should carry out patrol and rescue missions in these waters and the scale of any such operations. The Italian Mare Nostrum operation having been wound up in October, the Triton operation [coordinated by the European External Borders Agency Frontex, which may have different priorities] has been working on a much smaller scale and its ships have not patrolled near the Libyan coast, as the Italian ships did. Italy, to its credit, continues to send in rescuers close to the Libyan shore after alerting Libya to migrant boats in danger in its waters.

Thus it has been over the past two days, during which Italian Coast Guard vessels, three  merchant ships and one Triton naval unit rescued migrants in seven different operations. The migrants were travelling in five dinghies and two other boats. Sadly, one of the larger dinghies, which was carrying around 130 people, capsized 50 miles north of Libya and ten bodies were recovered.

The rescued migrants are said to be of Syrian, Palestinian, Tunisian and Sub-Saharan nationality. Among them were 30 children and 50 women, one of whom is pregnant and needed urgent medical evacuation by the Coast Guard on Lampedusa.  The migrants have been brought to Porto Empedocle, Augusta and Pozzallo today. Pozzallo has again received the saddest delivery - that of bodies - a sight which always causes great sorrow in the town.

The Court at Siracusa has opened an investigation into the deaths and it is being treated as a murder enquiry. That said, just what is it going to take to get the EU as a whole to act on the Mediterranean migration issue? How much longer are other countries,including my own, going to stand by and watch desperate people die?  Italy has said it will not abandon migrants in danger at sea but the rest of the EU continues to abandon Italy.

Gauri van Gulik of Amnesty International said today,

"Merchant vessels and national Coast Guard have again responded valiantly to the immense and growing challenge of saving the lives of vulnerable migrants but that falls far short of sufficient in the face of this growing humanitarian crisis. Without a European search and rescue operation, the European Union's approach looks increasingly haphazard and negligent."

Update at 15.15 on 5.3.15
The death toll from the capsized boat now appears to be around 50. Two people have been arrested on suspicion of people-trafficking.

ST DAVID'S DAY POST SCRIPT

Do you ever wonder at the circular nature of life? I often do and it was brought home to me again on Friday, as I racked my brains for a St David's Day teaching activity that I hadn't used with the same group of little girls before.

Putting out a display of books about Wales, I picked up my beloved copy of Mary Jones and her Bible, a book I have had since I was four years old and which my mother used to read to me in her soft, Welsh tones. I'm not a particularly religious person but the story of a farm girl who wanted a Bible in Welsh so much that she saved for six years to be able to buy one, then, in 1800, walked, barefoot, the twenty-five miles to Bala to get it, has stayed with me. It was Mary's focus and determination that held me a lifetime ago and still does now. [If you do not know the story, you will find it here.]

On Friday I thought that my group of eleven-year-olds might be interested so I simplified the story, leaving out all the past simple tense forms for them to insert. As I had predicted, the story impressed them, too, especially the barefoot bit, which they could hardly believe!

Little did I think, as I lay tucked up in bed listening to the story in early 1950s Bristol, that I would be using it as a teaching resource 60 years later in Sicily!

Incidentally, I was glad to read this in October.