LA BELLA STAGIONE - 2

What a mixture of the exotic and the familiar greeted me on the via Sacro Cuore today, where I found that the cyclamens had vanished, to be replaced by these petunias in the containers.

THE DAY AFTER

You'll all have read or heard about Italy's General Election results, so I won't bore you with statistics other than to mention that in Sicily projected figures are that 62% of deputies from the centre right, as opposed to 28% from the centre left, will gain representation in the Regional Assembly. Even I have to hand it to Berlusconi, for his come-back ability, sheer nerve and showmanship [though his running mates in the Northern League are another matter] . Italians are incredibly pragmatic, you see, and when times are hard, they will vote for whoever they think will get them back to work, clear the streets of Naples of rubbish and generally make them look like a world player again. [Sometimes I think this often chaotic nation just craves order.] And if this new government doesn't work, so what? - We just chuck it out, sooner rather than later!

It may all seem very strange from outside the country, but I can understand exactly why Italians have voted as they have [though I am not condoning their decision]. The rest of the world may laugh at Italy all it likes, reader: the country still eats arguably better than any other, its design and workmanship still inspire admiration everywhere and young people do not feel that the be all and end all of life is to get as far away as possible from their families. So surely we have to concede that the Italians are doing quite a lot of things right?

COLLAGE

A week or so ago, James challenged all his readers to display, on their sites, a personal collage. It has taken me a while but here is my effort. The photo is not as “zoomed in” as I would like it to be, as I so wanted to include Jindra the clown from Prague [in the background] . I also had to photograph the objects near some books, as, apart from my jewellery [which , I have learnt, is hellishly difficult to snap so I have passed on that] and my make-up, would tell anybody the most about me: I cannot survive in an environment without books!

Well, I’ll just tell you a little about a few of the objects: Far left you see my Dad’s old camera, which recorded so many happy moments of my childhood. The bright orange piece of pottery is Poole, which I used to collect and still love. The tiny blue and white container on the left contains Welsh seasalt [ a reminder of home], there is a Sicilian shepherd’s whistle and the dark blue mug front left is my “birthday mug”. This one has what I think is an interesting history so I’ll linger on it if I may: my “Auntie Lala” [in reality my great-aunt by marriage, Sarah, only I couldn’t pronounce “Sarah” as a child so she was always “Lala” to me] had it made for me and, looking back, I think that was just wonderful of her because it showed her approval of my adoption at a time when there was still a stigma about these matters, especially for a very strait-laced and very wronged woman like her. Poor Auntie Lala [I say “poor “ but she was actually very well-off] was profoundly deaf and the only word I ever remember her saying is “What?” She always dressed severely in greys and black silk and wore numerous furs to go out, even in summer. My Dad used to say that she was a “hard” woman, but maybe she needed to be, for her husband had run out on her and lived, more or less openly, with his mistress. That just did not usually happen in those days! Was she “hard” before all this or did events make her so? I would so love to talk to “Auntie Lala” now! The other interesting aspect of this story is that my great- aunt Mabel and her two sisters, Lala’s sisters-in-law, all accepted their brother’s de facto wife, yet remained on good and even intimate terms with Lala, so they must have been women ahead of their time.

In the centre of my collage are Mary doll and Fluffy the teddy. I can still see Fluffy teddy as he appeared one Christmas morning, peeking out of the top of my Christmas stocking, just as I can still visualise the delight on my Dad’s face as he purchased Mary doll for me in a toyshop in a Cardiff arcade, so many years ago. Both have seen me through many a crisis!

To the right are a Vespa ornament, some miniature pestle & mortars and a set of Limoncello glasses in the background. And I just had to add a Sicilian cart to the scene!

Now, would you like to guess what the little pewter object on the left was used for, in times gone by?

James has asked us to include our favourite music track and I must admit I have found it difficult to find one I haven’t posted before, but Kathleen Ferrier was probably the first classical singer I ever heard and certainly I have always loved this:

KATHLEEN FERRIER – CHE FARÒ?

NODINI DI VITELLO

From the Lombardia cookbook I received for Christmas, last night I cooked these veal chops slowly with cubed pancetta, rosemary and white wine. It was my idea to add the capers.

Then, from the same book - and you can tell we are moving northwards in our cookery because of the use of butter in both recipes - I tried these stuffed courgettes. "How can you mix sweet and savoury ingredients?" cried a student the other day whilst we were discussing British breakfasts; yet Italian cookery contains many recipes in which this happens, such as the "sweet" ravioli of Sicily, Sicilian sweet & sour rabbit [though admittedly, this denotes only a little honey added to a sauce primarily consisting of vinegar] and even the addition of chocolate to some Sicilian meat dishes. In this recipe de-pulped courgettes are cut in half lengthwise and blanched, then stuffed with a mixture of the pulp, more chopped courgettes, crushed amaretti biscuits, pinenuts, raisins [which I can't get, so I used sultanas] brown sugar and breadcrumbs. Butter is dotted over before placing the courgettes in the oven. The recipe states that any "roast leftovers" [by which they mean any cooked meat that has not been fried] can be minced and added to the mixture, so I minced up the meat from another of the cooked chops.

It all turned out much better than I expected!

LA WARHOLIZZAZIONE DI SIMI!

Yes, jmb was right: Simi has insisted on being "Warholized", too! She'd love to know which of these you all like best:


[Click to enlarge.]

SICILIAN DESERT

According to a report in Il Giornale di Sicilia today [article unavailable online] 43.22% of Sicilian terrain is at high risk of desertification. This is mainly due, of course, to climate change, with extremes of drought on the one hand and floods on the other having been witnessed in recent years. But human activity, as usual, has not exactly helped the situation, with deforestation, fire, a concentration of crop cultivation in coastal areas only , salinisation and ill-advised use of water all contributing to the potential environmental disaster.

A letter from a reader published in the same paper laments the fact that we have a daytime temperature of 32 C whilst still in April and that "there are no seasons any more". People have started to bathe in the sea already, whilst this never used to be the case until the beginning of May.

For Sicilians, there is a "time for everything" and I believe they are right, reader.

FASHION NOTE: 32 C it may be but the women have not yet donned summer attire. The men, interestingly, have.

WARHOLIZZATA!

Well, everyone's at it, so you didn't think I'd let myself be left out, did you? The town of Modica behind me does not escape, either. Do check out the Warholization of my friends Leslie and jmb, too.
Note to my students: Note American spelling with "Z" of "Warholization".


[Click to enlarge.]

LA BELLA STAGIONE

There is no surer sign of spring in Sicily than beautiful bougainvillea tumbling over a white wall. Last week there was none to be seen; then suddenly this week here it is in all its precocious glory. I think this delicate pink-mauve colour is my favourite kind.

RED SAND AND SUNNY SKIES

The weather in this part of Sicily is strange at the moment, reader, and even the locals say so. On Monday and Tuesday we had a warm temperature [24 C or so] but oddly darkened skies and a wind. The latter was the Scirocco, which blew the sand from Tunisia across and, being asthmatic, I found this air not particularly good for me. However, today the sky has been beautifully blue and the lunchtime temperature in the via Sacro Cuore was 32 C - a sure sign of summer. There has been high humidity to accompany this, though, so everyone has been complaining and saying that they don't feel like doing anything, which is just what they say at the height of summer; I am convinced, as I've said before, that the Sicilians talk about the weather almost as much as the British!

I always feel nostalgic towards the middle of April so here is Gianni for you:

Gianni Morandi - C'era un ragazzo

SICILIAN WHISPERS

Just a quick post , yet again concerning the water situation , tonight:

1. I found out this evening that the next water request for our condominio has not only been made, but signed - in my name! Now, who do you suppose would do that and why, reader?

2. Three people have told me today that the Water Office phone is permanently out of service because their phone bill has not been paid. Can you believe that a public office would get itself into such a mess? The only person showing any surprise regarding this is me. [I should add that I have no evidence whatsoever that this is the case - just hearsay.]

Living here is never boring!

SIMI PUTS HER PAW DOWN

Along this street people discuss the water situation in the way that the British talk about the weather and I was having a good chat about it with one of my neighbours during our walk this morning when she suddenly changed the subject and asked [I post this a little coyly]: "Why aren't you married, signora? You're nice, you're cultured and you're pretty - it's a pity!" I replied that I didn't know either and then the lady said she'd find a nice, cultured Sicilian gentleman to share my life [she is welcome to try!] At that point, Simi, who had been listening to the conversation quietly, proved both how determined she can be and how much her Italian has improved, for she barked and then let out a long howl of disapproval. She likes men and keeps waggling her bum at them in glee, but she says she draws the line at the idea of one moving in!

Note to my students: A phrasal verb and idiom: to put your foot down = to insist.

HABEMUS AQUAM!

Much to my surprise, the water lorry arrived at 07.30. I wasn't dressed so didn't go out onto the balcony to ask the driver what had prompted his arrival; besides, it is best to just let miracles take their course. Later the capocondominio rang me; she had returned late last night and gone to talk to the driver she knows before she went to work. It seems we did not have a refill on Friday, despite the fact that I had found a document in my post cupboard stating that we had.

I want to know why the Water Office have disconnected their phone. It is not open to the public at times when I can go there to order refills and and I can't be the only one. And what about people who are physically unable to get there or who cannot manage the steep stairs? What are they supposed to do? This seems like discrimination against the disabled to me. Let's have some answers, Comune di Modica!

POLLO AI DATTERINI

This is an adaptation of a recipe from May's Good Housekeeping [to which I have a subscription] and my excuse for including it here is that I used the beautiful, tiny, Sicilian datterini tomatoes in place of cherry ones. With a recipe like this, in which courgettes, aubergine, peppers and the tomatoes are all roasted with the chicken is that, unless you are very precise in your vegetable cutting, the vegetables don't all cook at the same rate. Therefore I decided to processor-slice the courgettes and that took ages as , not having used my processor for slicing since I got here, I couldn't find the "carrier" thing for the slicing blade! [Do things like that happen to you in the kitchen?] An hour later I was equipped, then enjoyed myself making a paste of garlic, loads of basil, thyme, olive oil and seasoning to rub nice and messily over the chicken. [There was supposed to be mint but I couldn't get any, so added my favourite herb, rosemary.] Interestingly, you squeeze the juice of a lemon over this dish after it is cooked. I shall certainly be making this again!

COME PRIMA

I need Patrizio to cheer me up and I am sure he will do the same for you with this version of Come Prima. Isn't every love like the first time, however old you are?

PATRIZIO BUANNE - COME PRIMA

SCREAMING IN SICILY - AGAIN!

Yes, unbelieveably, the water has run out again tonight - and we only had a cistern refill on Friday! There just has to be a BIG leak somewhere, probably in the cistern as there was two years ago. The lady upstairs has just been down to express and share her frustration with me [not nastily at all] , the capocondominio isn't here, no one else is here at the moment and I don't know what I am supposed to do about it. Even if I can get through on the phone to the Water Office tomorrow, they are not going to bring another load so soon and what is the point if it is all draining out again? I am driven to drink, reader!

CACIOTTA

I found this caciotta cheese flavoured with red pepper in the supermarket today. I do love foods such as this, where the after-taste gives you a surprise as the flavour kicks in! Next to it are what I call "real" red peppers - large, bursting with colour, beautifully and irregularly shaped and just shouting at you to buy and try them! I needed thyme for a recipe tonight and I could only find the dried variety. I admit I do get frustrated that, in a land where so much cookery depends on herbs, you sometimes just can't find them. However, when I asked for the thyme, I was immediately cheered when the young assistant in the greengrocer's sniffed at each bunch in the box [ 30 or so] to find the one which, to him , had the freshest aroma. I made my way home happily, reader.

DAILY DOINGS - 5

10 days later and 140 € the poorer, I have lighting in my hallway again and the leaky tap in the bathroom has been fixed. [I have just been playing with the lights, turning them on and off for the sheer hell of it.] The plumber-electrician man turned up, out of the blue, this morning and had everything working in a jiffy.

I'd been really worried about the leaky tap, imagining that my neighbours would hear it and blame me every time we run out of water and it was my lovely hairdresser Raffaele who set my mind at rest on Wednesday, soothingly persuading me as the lacquer went on [with an Italian artistic flourish] that: "Cara Patrizia, your leaky tap cannot possibly empty an entire cistern." [I never was very practically-minded.]

The Water Office phone has been permanently engaged all week so I started to panic about that, too. Then last night the capocondominio rang me to say she had gone over there in person to order a refill as she had checked the cistern and we were about to run out. I just do not understand how the supply can dry up after 4 - 5 days [whereas it used to last 10] in an apartment block where no one has a large family.

But let's stop talking water and think about men! Mr Elegantissimo turned up at the Altro Posto at lunchtime and this time my attention was focussed higher than his socks! [No, naughty, not there!] I spent at least half an hour silently admiring his beautiful and very expensive tiepin, reader.

Finally, this week's prize for Italian logic goes to the student who, having been told that he cannot, in an oral exam, answer in Italian questions which are posed in English, cried, "But I born in Italy, teacher!!" As I keep saying, I do love Italians!

AGNELLO DELLA NONNA

My blogging friend Anne wanted to know what I was going to do with the lamb I bought on Saturday but I was going to inflict this upon you all anyway. I finally decided to make this slow-cooked dish of lamb with garlic in a mushroom and white wine sauce. Yes, it's another one from the Cucina del Sole book! As with all casseroley-type dishes, I would recommend making this the day before you want to serve it.

ONLY IN ITALY

Mobile phones are to be banned from voting booths in the upcoming General Election but the reason is not, as you might imagine, to stop people calling their acquaintances from the booths for advice on how to vote; rather, it is feared that voters might use their phones to take a picture of the ballot paper so that they could later prove they had voted in the "right" way and then claim a reward in the form of money, a favour or even a job offer!

Voters will have to leave their camera-phones in a special "basket" outside the booths and the mind boggles as to how they are each going to retrieve their own phone. How the situation is going to be monitored has not yet been revealed but those who ignore this new ruling could face up to three months' imprisonment and / or a fine of up to €1,000.

TWO BOOKS ON SICILIAN PASTRY COOKERY

It was clear from the comments on Friday’s “lemon made from almond paste” post that many of you were interested in the frutta di Martorana so I thought I’d talk some more about them and take the opportunity to tell you about two books on the sweet produce of Sicily as well.

Before I visited my lovely island for the first time, I had read about Martorana fruit but nothing prepared me for the shiny beauty of these replicas of fruit, nor for their delicate taste: they are made from pasta reale [almond paste] but “marzipan” is a very inadequate translation which does not do justice to the work involved in its making. Legend has it that the first ever batch of Martorana fruit was made on the orders of a certain mother superior, who wanted to impress her Bishop during his visit. So the nuns prepared the “fruit” and hung it from the cloister trees; so “real” did it look that the Bishop declared that a miracle had happened, as all the fruits had appeared in the same season! Oh, I hope with all my heart that this story is true!

True or not, it is recounted in both the books that I am going to tell you about tonight and the first is Sweet Sicily by Victoria Granof. In this beautifully illustrated tome Granof, inspired by the idea that in Palermo granita [ flavoured, crushed ice] is presented inside a brioche for breakfast [and indeed it is, in summer] tours the island and interviews many pastry chefs. Unusually in an English-language book about Sicilian cookery, my adopted town of Modica gets a chapter all to itself, so of course the volume has pride of place on my kitchen bookshelves! Recipes are given, their origins are discussed and there is a helpful historical timeline of Sicily which helps the reader place the recipes in their historical context. I dip into this book whenever I feel low and it reminds me how lucky I am to be here.

Some of you may recall that my favourite non-fiction author on Sicily is Mary Taylor Simeti and I have said before that no volume on culinary Sicily in general compares in scholarship with her Sicilian Food. In Bitter Almonds Simeti interviews the famous Ericean pastry chef Maria Grammatico and watches her at work. The book tells the fascinating tale of Maria’s early life and I reread it in one sitting last night, as preparation for this post. I appreciated the book very much when I first read it in 2003 but I am glad that I have read it again here, for I can relate to so much more of its detail now. Poverty forced Maria’s mother to send her and her sister to the San Carlo convent in Erice in the 1950s. There the girls lived under a severe and harsh regime but they learnt a skill which has remained with Maria all her life – that of making frutta di Martorana and other Sicilian pastries. Maria now runs a famous pastry shop in her beloved Erice and the tourists flock there.

The book contains some of Maria’s recipes, Simeti’s observations, an insight into Sicilian frugality [for nothing was wasted in the convent kitchen, and this is a trend I have observed myself here]. We also learn a little of Maria’s philosophy and I leave you with this, for I cannot paraphrase this wonderful lady:

“What we value has to be inside of us. This sort of work, making the Christmas hearts, embroidering them with marzipan, it’s an art that’s disappearing….. Young people today don’t want to learn these things. For me, sitting here and and making these things is really relaxing. They’re so beautiful! And I like it because I’m creating something with my own hands, it’s not like machine work…… You can’t think about the money… [because] then you can’t put in all the love that it takes.” [My bolds.]

That is very Sicilian – so wonderfully Sicilian that it moves me to tears, reader – and very wise indeed.