ALOHA!!! From Island to Island

Dear friends who now live in Hawaii came to visit. Although we experienced stormy, unseasonably cool weather, our visit and adventures were warm, happy, and definitely filling.



Cedra...compare to lemons on the tree behind



Great chefs of Sicily

Does it get any tastier than this?



Maybe.....




At the closed Casa Farfalle (Butterfly House)



Entrance to Borgo Antico

View from Borgo

A palm for Palm Sunday (Caltagirone)

For those who haven't visited Caleca in a while...





Savoca....See The Godfather movie for this place.  Our Don Fillipo standing in.

View from Savoca

Good Friday Procession in Motta



Can the dogs read this?



Exiting the church



A Station of the Cross



Saturday in Belpasso...Fresh Mushrooms

Fresh sponge mushrooms before being prepared and served with pasta

The group who enjoyed the feast including the mushroom gatherer (front center)


Easter Sunday
(with friends & former colleagues, David & Pat)

After Easter Sunday Mass with Little Sisters of the Poor in Acireale

David and Flint in the parking lot after Easter dinner at Alfio's in CapoMulini.  The parking attendants were grilling lamb.

Pat...taking a picture of the sea view. Sicily's parking lots have the best views.

Recyling Comes to Town....or Not!



About a month ago, we received delivery of the paper on the left. It is a schedule of the color bags to use for recycling and the day the bag or bags would be collected. For example, the kitchen scraps (to be put in the brown container on the right) is picked up on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday; Glass on Saturday; plastic and cans on Tuesday and Friday; other categories include paper and items that don't fit in the other categories.
 The people said the bags/containers would be delivered the next week to begin this new system. A friend said they told her that it would start in April. I asked a local shop owner, and he said it would end up like Napoli as they removed the trash receptacles all over town before they began the pickup....in April.
As you can see, the container and bags aren't very large. I put them on the kitchen table with water bottles behind the full bag of plastic.




An area where some large receptacles were...there are spots like this throughout the town. Our local business person said the old ladies would never understand the new system.




Our pickup point outside our complex....This is after the men in the tiny truck picked up today. Someone put out the wrong items, and they were left, Others will pick up their emptied 'frazione organica' later. And, I have a concern for the poor postman having to reach over this garbage to deliver the mail.



Ian's Baptism in Mineo

Gathering at Bar Eden Latino for prosecco~
Proud godfather with his godson



Dressed for Carnevale or to stay warm? Probably both. The others we saw dressed for Carnevale were horror movie characters...not even worth a digital pic.



Beginning of the Baptism ceremony in the Chiesa di San Pietro, Mineo

The newly baptized with our Navy priest and the local priest, his family and godparents

Our Catholic ladies group joined the celebration as Ian's mother is one of our members.

Beautiful statue of St. Lucia in the church

Jody and Jim with tile depicting Jesus giving St. Peter the keys to the Kingdom (church exterior) .




The rest of the glorious day was spent at the godparent's agriturismo, Azienda Agricola Infantino, dining the entire afternoon while looking back up to the town of Mineo.

 

Among the presents

The boy is a READER!!!!



Sweet finish for a memorable event and day



San Marino and Loreto

Presidents' Day weekend found us taking a cheap flight to Fiorli and driving south to Loreto in order to visit the Holy House of Mary. Enroute we took a turn that led us into the Republic of San Marino. (I refuse to count that I've visited a country or state unless I leave the airport or car and walk on the ground.) We drove into the country after being greeted by a rather handsome, pleasant young man in uniform who checked our passports. Then we made our photo and breakfast stops.


Republic of San Marino




Loreto...sidewalk chalk art




For the very few who receive post cards from this trip, these are the stamps. We didn't know the story until we were back home. Joe Petrosino immigrated to the United States as a youth. He fought organized crime while he was a policeman and was killed while on assignment in Sicily. (Wikipedia ...the article mentions the stamp.)




The Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto looking across the Piazza della Madonna from the Santa Casa Art Gallery/Museum in the Palazzo Apostolico. Excellent museum. The Holy House is located in the Basilica.




Isn't that a delicious looking slice of pizza?




Fountain detail




Steep street away from the Basilica




Our Lady of Loreto is the patron of aviators and flight. Several airports around the world have statues dedicated to her. As of December 10, 2010, Rome's Fiumicino does, too. Naturally, the town has an airplane.




View from our room

Loreto is small, quiet, and a pilgrimage site. If you read the links, you will find that there are several stories of how the Holy House came to be there. It doesn't matter which one you choose to believe, the spirit of Loreto is one of love, peace, comfort, and joy.

Dying Palm Trees of Sicily

The palms have always been such a striking feature of the landscape. However, an African beetle made its way over here. The pest burrows in from the top of the tree, and starts eating away. Before long the fronds die and the trunks fall. Most that are infected are being cut down to prevent their falling onto someone or something. Current link about the situation that is affecting all of Italy is here. I will post more pictures later where the fronds are dying or dead. Sad.



Before/after



Mardi Gras King Cake...A First!

I was ready to tackle this project Monday, but lacked cinnamon. Yesterday, I bought the cinnamon.  Flint located the gold, purple and green icings for the decorations several days ago, but I found the colored sugars that the recipe calls for in the NEX.  I spent most of the day creating two Mardi Gras King Cakes. (The inspiration came as we are invited to a Mardi Gras party. The hostess's eyes sparkled when I mentioned the words, so this is a trial run.)

The recipe is in Celebrations on the Bayou-one of the best Junior League cookbooks around, and it has nothing to do with the fact that dear friend Posey spent time as chairman of that endeavor. The recipes we've tried from that book, can't be beat. Flint has asked me to make the Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Dip for their Black History Month celebration next week. When we hosted a New Years Day open house, I would make this DIP; however, people ate it with a fork.  I don't remember how many times I would multiply that recipe!

I really haven't fooled with yeast that much except when I make bread at our nephew's in a breadmaker. A rather dreary and dismal day, my first thought, "Didn't I hear someone say long ago that yeast doesn't rise on rainy days?" But, I forged on having to turn the oven on and off for the rising of the dough. Sicilian weather seeps into the house whatever the outdoor conditions may be, and I figured that would be the best place for it to rise. And it rose beautifully! I knew the yeast wouldn't be a problem when I went upstairs and the fragrance was with me.

One of the things that I should have paid closer attention to is that this recipe makes two King Cakes. After dividing the dough in two, each piece is to be rolled out to 30 x 15 inches. We use a game table in the kitchen - a yard squared. Using an aunt's old rolling pin that must be 70+ years old, there wasn't much area. Then you have to make three strips, filling each with a mixture of brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon. Seal them, and braid it before you make the braid into a 'wreath.' Then it rises some more before baking.



The cakes aren't very symmetrical, but as they rose and baked, each became a round loaf. The oven only held one at a time for baking, and the first one out has a brown side and a browner side. The second one is too brown, but it's an even brown. The sugar crystals described as "bright" barely show so it's good that I have the colored icings, too. The taste: Fit for a king!

The lightly browned side highlights the colors of the sugar crystals.

Band of Birds

A couple of years ago as a group of us walked to school from the Food Court, thousands and thousands of migratory birds flew overhead. The line stretched as far as we could see. They almost looked like they were in an invisible tube. Today I drove and watched the same phenomena for about two miles. Warmer weather must be on its way as they were heading south.