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December 25, 2010 Male bonding while waiting for mama or nonna to ready the Christmas spread:
En route to Christmas lunch:
Bella figura: Everyone dresses up in their best Christmas finery.
Postscript: This woman offered coffee and sweets to four strangers wandering the streets of her tiny village. Sicilians have truly mastered the arts of generosity and hospitality. Auguri! This was the word that echoed around the streets today. ***
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December 22, 2010 I walked out the door two nights ago and stumbled into candles and donkeys and music and straw. Jugs of wine and a vat of fresh ricotta. Why am I always the last one to know what’s happening in my village? It was a presepe vivente, a crèche come to life. Every village seems to have its own, starring locals as shepherds, washer women, and musicians. There’s another one here the day after Christmas, starring Jesus, Maria and Giuseppe.
x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x Buon Natale! *** Click here to subscribe to BaroqueSicily. December 20, 2010 Well, I never. My first Christmas in Sicily, and so many surprises! I found this pair wandering an empty piazza. They stopped so I could shoot them, but I didn’t dare interrupt the music to ask Who in blazes are you?
In Sicily, bagpipe-blowing shepherds traditionally come down from Mount Etna at Christmastime to play in the villages–sort of the Sicilian equivalent of Christmas carolers. Are these Zampognari real shepherds dressed up as Santa? Or faux shepherds trying to revive what many fear is a dying art? I’m not sure, but they blow a mean Christmas carol. *** Click here to subscribe to BaroqueSicily. December 18, 2010 My first Christmas in Sicily. Things are low-key and I’m lovin’ it. The bar has dangled a few nonchalant stars; the barista wears a red tie . The (horse) butcher has lined his doorway with a handful of twinkle-lights. Poinsettias redden the piazza. Things at the supermercato have reached a fever pitch, though. Christmas cakes in hat boxes—piled high on skids everywhere you look—teeter alarmingly, threatening to bury you alive under mounds of butter and lard. Friends tell me Sicilians start gobbling the cakes (called panettone or pan d’oro) at the end of November. By Christmas, they’re so bloated they can’t look at a hat box.
Which one to get?
Chocolate with orange nibs? Laced with Grand Marnier? Cointreau? Nuts? Truffles? A Mister Chocolate?
How about a cake with a bottle of bubbly enclosed? My head spins.
I finally close my eyes and point. I pick the classic—a spongey-eggy poof studded with oranges and raisins (OK, I’m boring). Wish I were sharing this monster with you!!
*** If you’d like to subscribe, click here. December 11, 2010 Fifty cents. What does it get you? Not much of anything in the US these days, and certainly nothing beautiful. But here, in Sicily, look what 50 cents will buy:  Canestrino (basket) with sweet ricotta, garnished with almond brittle and candied lemon peel
 Sfogliatina (puff pastry) with hazelnut cream and pistachio nuts  Bigne (cream puff) with sweet cream and cantalope slice With their opulent use of ornamentation and chiaroscuro, Sicilian pastry chefs are small-scale baroque architects.  Cannolo with sweet ricotta cream and pistachio nuts  Bigne (cream puff) with chocolate cream The little pastries are less than a quarter the size of a Starbucks muffin. Why does a single one, then, fill me up, when a Starbucks muffin leaves me hungry for more? I think it has something to do with beauty. Anche l’occhio vuole la sua parte, say Italians, the eye also demands its share. In other words, what we eat doesn’t just have to please the belly; it has to satisfy the eye. *** Congratulations to Lynn in Florida who has won Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey in the random drawing. More book giveaways to come, so stay tuned! |
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