EvainSicily

Yesterday I was at the street market in  my Ortigia and I ate a  wonderful  caponata When  it was served at my table that marvellous vision reminded me the description given by Andea Camilleri in one of the episodes of his popular Inspector: " The moment he opened the refrigerator, he saw it.  Caponata! Fragrant, colourful, abundant, it filled an entire soup dish, enough for at least four people. It had been months since Adelina, his housekeeper, last made it for him. The bread, in its plastic bag, was fresh, bought this morning. The notes of the triumphal march of Aida came spontaneously, naturally, to his lips. Humming, he opened the French windows after turning the light one the veranda. Yes, it was a cool night, but still warm enough to eat outside. He set the little table, brought the dish, the wine, and the bread outside, and sat down " (Excursion to Tindari, Andrea Camilleri) There were three Dutch tourists reading  carefully th...

Do you know why  when you're really stressed  you like to eat chocolate and desserts? Because if you read stressed from the end you read  desserts!!! I love English!!  cookies courtesly made by Katia Amore  @ lovesicily

 When I ask to foreigners  what they like about our street market  they always say: the local people and its authentic atmosphere Yes it's true something is also changing here BUT the locals still make our  market

calia e simenza at the Apollo temple - Ortigia

Pipi arrustuti char- grilled peppers I know  Iknow still more pictures about food!! 

 It will be enough? Sarde alla beccafico today! Do you know why they are called " alla beccafico "? it seems that beccafico is a kind of bird  who likes to eat a lot so that it  looksreally stuffed with a lot of food exactly as the sardines are in this old Palermo style recipe...

Singing while shopping at the market in Ortigia!

Panelle the most popular street  food in Palermo easy to make if you have: chick pea flour water  parsley salt and black pepper oil for frying

It's time now for the new olive oil and the new wine.....  

Last week the delicious almond and pistachoes buiscuits made by the loveliest nuns at Santo Spirito Convent  in Agrigento, helped me and my collegues to face the tiring but exciting preparatory tour  we did for our Exploring Sicily tour next April!! don't miss the Santo Spirito's nuns specialities  especially for the following Easter time!

   It's orange time in Sicily! You can find everywhere also during a guiding tour  in the magic place  of the ancient Greek stonequarries in Siracusa enjoy it!

 Ragusa Ibla almost a timeless atmsphere in a magic silence just my voice talking  about one of the most authentic  Sicilian Baroque beauty to my tourists when a voice on a megaphone shouted  announcing the arrival of fresh fruits and vegetables in just a few seconds some local people in the surroundings appeared around the little cart my tourists run away towards the crowd leaving me at the top of the stairs  taking pictures laughing and I with them the lady you saw in the picture told us  she needed  fresh spinach for her scaccia   so the following question was: Lucia, what is a scaccia?? and in a moment  the magic Baroque was forgotten and we started talking about the magic Sicilian food...  

 strolling at the market in Ortigia: tourist :   But here everything is just one or two Euro?  me (looking around) : oh no! look! the fanfole are 6,00 euro tourist:  Fonfole??? what's are fonfole, fanfile fonf what??

among the three this was my favourite: Sweet ricotta & vino cotto (by : Cialoma in Marzamemi)

A friend in need is a friend indeed Gli amici si conoscono nelle avversità

that's a great way to learn cooking!

  During my time away from working waiting to walk again  I had more spare time for me among other things, I tried to do new experiments in cooking at least new to me. Strawberry time is almost gone in Sicily why not to try to make strawberry jam? My mother had ALWAYS made ONLY Queens apple jam for years! I  used rigorously organic strawberries brown sugar and lemons from my beloved lemon tree!   it was quite simple! you need : 500gr of strawberries 400 gr of brown sugar the juice of one lemon the grated peel of the  lemon  cook together the all ingredients till they reach the right consistency   then pour the hot jam into hot glass jars previously heated in the hoven to sterilize them then keep  the jars upside down for a while and then if you want to preserve your jam for a longer time keep the jars  in boiling water for about 30 minutes Try also...