ON HAVING YOUR SANTA AND EATING HIM

The tree and decorations have been taken down and put away and it's all over for another year, God willing - but it wasn't over for me before two other feste had been crammed into the season!

On Sunday I was invited to Chiara's for lunch again and there we were treated to two kinds of lasagne, this one with aita [chard]....

... and this one which contained meat and tomatoes:

Then there was a spezzatino of pork:

After the fruit, there were dates and homemade torrone,

some of Chiara's Christmas cake and some special, traditional, handmade biscuits:

There was also Chiara's chocolate cake:

Yesterday was the Epifania holiday in Italy and I invited a friend to tea.  I made date and cinnamon cookies [top left]. I'd found the recipe in an Australian magazine and, although they didn't come out scone-like as the recipe suggested, they did resemble the photo in the magazine and tasted good.  To the right of them is a plate of crackers with my [tardily made] cranberry sauce, because you just have to have a taste of cranberry sauce at Christmas. In front of the date cookies is a plate of cheese bites with cotognata [quince paste]. I also cut up the last of my own Christmas cake and made yet another raspberry upside-down cake.

Putting the sugar Santa on the raspberry cake - and I assure you I bought six so did not use the same one each time! - I was reminded that, at Irma's on New Year's Day, a young niece of Irma's decided she didn't want to eat any cake but did want to demolish the sugar Santa.  "He won't come next year if you eat him!" said her mother, at which the little one started to cry.  "No, no, it's all right - he'll come!" we all chorused, until she smiled again and finished him off.  

I also made a semifreddo of candied Sicilian zest - and decorated it with the last Santa!

But never mind - in Italy it is always possible to have your Santa and eat him!

CHRISTMAS AT CHIARA'S

It's always a pleasure to dine at Chiara's house and to do so on Christmas Day was very special indeed.

There were all sorts of antipasti, including these ham and cheese puffs

and my friend Linda's perfectly formed aita [chard] pasties:

Being allergic to fish, I had to pass on the salmon but I'm sure it was delicious:

Then there were cestini [baskets] di pasta. I must remember to get the recipe for these!

There were pork chops

 and, of course, turkey:

There were lots of desserts, too, including these lovely, gooey pastries

and chocolate salami:

And it wouldn't have been Christmas without a tronco!

I made and took along this Christmas cake. [It's Nigella's "Incredibly Easy Chocolate Fruit Cake" recipe and yes, I'm still a fan.] I used dried cranberries for some of the fruit content. Christmas cake is largely wasted on Sicilians, who have a peculiar aversion to dried fruit, but the British contingent ate it and I'm going to keep making it anyway because I like the aroma as it cooks and it's pretty.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you I wore my subtle Christmas angel earrings, which I'd found in Catania the week before. They were quite a hit!

Grazie per la festa, Chiara.

CARNIVAL CAKE

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.

Enjoy and don't stop the carnival!

OF EATING AND BEING MERRY

Christmas really began for me on the evening of the 21st, when the Modican "foreign legion" held their annual multilingual carol service.  We were a little quieter than usual, having lost a dear member, but we did our best to sing out for her.

Chiara had decided that it was more important than ever to spend pleasant times together, so another gathering took place at her house on Saturday morning.  This is where the serious eating began!  Christmas just isn't Christmas without hot mince pies, and there were plenty of those:

I had made a batch of Welshcakes with cranberries:

Chiara had made a lovely Christmas cake

and Roberta had made these yummy, nut-flavoured "thins":

 There was homemade shortbread, too

and it wouldn't have been a Sicilian "tea" if someone hadn't brought along some ice cream!

Later on Saturday, we held a little Christmas party for students over at English Matters.  Our clever secretary, Martina, made these exquisite chocolates

and this was my go at making Nigella's chocolate Christmas cake:

 These delightful creations came from a Modican pasticceria:

Then suddenly it was Christmas Eve, which I again spent with Linda, Chiara and  family.

As I don't eat fish, I had to pass on these salmon appetisers but I'm sure they were delicious:

Don't you love the way these little appetisers are cut?

There was calabrese salad

 and it is traditional to serve several kinds of focaccia:

I hadn't made pumpkin bread for a while, so prepared some of that to take along:

I had to pass on the salmon with beignets too, but I loved the presentation:

Then there was one of my favourite Christmas Eve dishes, roasted artichokes:

Chiara had made another Christmas cake and it was scrumptious:

And finally, there was warm panettone:

"See you later this morning", we called as we parted and within a few hours we all met at Grazia's for Christmas lunch.

There was pasta, of course:

Linda provided the British elements and very good they were:

I had to pass again on these:

Here comes Grazia's pollo ripieno, with a garnish to gladden this blogger's heart:

And where there is Grazia, there will be excellent homemade pane condito:

I had made my standby semifreddo di marrons glacés. This time I added a little more cocoa powder for the colour and a few drops of cinnamon liqueur.  [The recipe for this is in Il Cucchiaio d'Argento.]

One of my young friends had made this pretty lemon cake and served it with justifiable pride:

The parents of Grazia's youngest guests had hoped that this chocolate crib, made and sold by a charitable organisation, would be opened and consumed on New Year's Eve.  Needless to say, it wasn't to be:

Then there was more warm panettone:

We all felt very lucky to have been able to celebrate Christmas together this year.