baroquesicily.com - Sicily Stories and Travel Tips from Jann Huizenga

Sicily, and a Story of Spines

June 20, 2011

Direct from Italia! Coming soon to Peoria.

Dresses that showcase the back and plunge to the booty.

My husband commented that this blue number made him want to pour a cold drink down the valley of her spine and watch it trickle inside the wide rim of the dress.

I guess you never know what weird male fantasies a pretty dress will trigger.

Bella Figura in Sicily, Italy, copyright Jann Huizenga

Is this a Missoni?

Which of the dresses do you like best?

Click to subscribe to BaroqueSicily.

Beauty Boys of the Polizia

June 15, 2011

What are the requirements for becoming a police officer in Italy? Winning a friggin’ beauty contest?

Whether they’re carabinieri, guardia di finanza, polizia, or simple vigili urbani, they are uniformly bellissimi…

Click to subscribe to BaroqueSicily.

A Man and his Bike

June 11, 2011

Early evening.

Vittoria, Sicily.

A man pedals by.

Sad.

Wistful.

Why?

Click to subscribe to BaroqueSicily.

Maltese Magic: What’s to Eat?

June 7, 2011

When you hear “Maltese food,” what do you think of? Come on, quick!!!

Do you think honey rings?

You should. (Made with black treacle. Mmm.)

Sample one outdoors at Caffè Cordina in Valletta, the place to see and be seen.

Do you think ftira?

Buy this flatbread piping hot from the oven, and see if you can resist eating the whole damn thing in three minutes flat. According to one national survey, the Maltese eat about a kilo of bread a day. Easy to see why.

Maltese bread oven, copyright Jann Huizenga

Borg Bakery in Valletta

Do you think pastizzi?

They’re the national snack: melting puff pastries stuffed with mashed peas or creamy ricotta. Drink with a glass of milky tea.

How to prepare this snack? Take a Tunisian glass of sweet tea, and add some British milk. Stuff Sicilian ricotta into a French puff pastry and give it a good Maltese twist. Talk about fusion cuisine! Malta may have invented it.

Enjoy your pastizzi with the good old boys at Crystal Palace Bar in Rabat, or at any old-fashioned bar.

Do you think fenek (rabbit)? You should. It’s the national dish of Malta.

You can find rabbit at most restaurants in Malta, but for a special treat head to Salvino’s in Valletta to sample Chef Andrew Pace’s version (slow-cooked in wine, garlic, and wild thyme). He makes a mean fish soup, too.