Saturday, December 26, 2009

THE "WHAT I ATE AT XMAS" POST!

It had to come, folks, and here it is!

At Raffaele's on Thursday there were these treats on offer - and yes, I was servita after minimal waiting this time!



Later on Christmas Eve I was invited to eat focacce with Irma and family.


Irma made this lovely table decoration.

Focacce are traditional on Christmas Eve in Sicily and Irma, like most Sicilian women, makes her own:





This one is filled with patacche [or topinambur in dialect] which are Jerusalem artichokes:






This one is filled with sausage



and the middle one here with ricotta:




Broccoli
[cauliflower] is the most traditional filling for the vigilia:



This one has a meat filling, though some Sicilian families do not eat meat on Christmas Eve:



My contribution to the feast was my "quickest-ever lemon cake" and I'll be posting the recipe later or tomorrow!

>
Irma had made cobaita



and a friend had made and brought her these wonderful biscuits the day before. [Irma must have more will-power than me as she'd kept them!]



Grazie per la bella festa, Irma!


OK, Christmas Day at 1pm and it's off to Gina's mother-in-law's home for another feast!

Just look at this pretty presentation of the antipasti



and then there was a surprise as the pasta was served al cartoccio:



After that there was spicy sausage



and fennel salad



and polpettone made by Gina



followed by a dish of meltingly tender pork



served with a green salad and an aubergine salad:



My "quickest-ever lemon cake" became a "quickest-ever orange cake" as I'd run out of lemons



and then there was my favourite Sicilian dessert, gel al limone:



And to finish there was mouthwatering fruit:




I must tell you that only in Sicily would the men, during Christmas lunch, have a jolly conversation about which cemetery plots they had purchased and only in Sicily would two women produce a meal like that and, when thanked, shrug their shoulders and say,

"Oh, it was just a family meal - nothing special."

Grazie, Gina e grazie alla signora!

15 comments:

RNSANE said...

Well, I just wish I'd been at that "family" meal...it looks fit for kings and queens. You must have been waddling around, moaning and groaning. Fabulous photos!

Unknown said...

This is a great travel blog you have here. I have one myself which I hope to be a top resource for those looking to travel. We have a lot to cover and not that much time to do it. I was wondering if we could exchange links to help spread some traffic around. Please let me know if this is possible.

Jason
ThatVACATIONfeeling.com

James Higham said...

Is that all you ate?

jams o donnell said...

Wow that was a meal to die for!

Devonshire Dumpling said...

I looked at the photos, drooled and immediately felt full up. As a little and often snacker of small portions I will never understand how you can eat your way through a share of those dishes and still look like a waif. You astound me!

annechung said...

wow, what a spread! With food like that I could easily live in Sicily and be very happy. Happy New Year.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Carmen. Waddling is the word! Hello, Jason and thank you. Doesn't a link exchange involve ads on the site? Hi, James. I'm afraid so! It sure was, jams! Hi, DD. I think I'll have to do a lot of running round the block before New Year! Hi, Anne, e Buon Anno a te.

CherryPie said...

What a great feast. I am looking forward to the Lemon Cake recipe.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Coming right up, Cherie!

Emily said...

Oh, yummy! You're making me hungry! And your lemon cake looks especially delightful, even in the midst of that spectacular feast!

sally in norfolk said...

wow I am fit to burst just from looking at it all :-)

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Emily and thank you. Hi, Sally. I thought I'd never be able to eat again after such feasts!

Lucia said...

Delicious, my friend's mother from Pagino, makes the Focacce but they call it ODA ODA or something like that. I had one stuffed with sausage! Everything looked delicious!

Rowena said...

Fantastic meals as ever Welshcakes! Oh, I see you've received the exact same message from Jason that he left at my site! I sugggested that he try listing at a travel blog directory....he'll have much better luck spreading traffic around.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Lucia. I've never heard of "Oda Oda"! That's interesting . I love sausage-filled focaccia. Hi, Rowena. A travel blog directory sounds a good idea for Jason.

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