Visit to Sicily ~ Part II ~ Sweets

Ever since I returned from my visit to Sicily, I have been online looking for recipes for all the wonderfully delicious sweets I had while there. There were familiar desserts, like the cannoli. But even the ones I'd heard of were deliciously different in Sicily. One of those is the cassata. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of a cassata even though it was on the breakfast buffet every morning. Yes, the Sicilians have sweets for breakfast. That fact makes me feel a lot less guilty for having a couple homemade biscotti with my morning coffee.

Breakfast array - including cannoli, cookies, filled croissants

The cookies were works of art. Do these people stay up nights trying to imagine more and more decadent desserts. And the coffee they wash them down with almost defies description. Even a latte macchiato, in the home of it's origin, is delectable. And...........I found a new one. It's called a "crema d caffe". It's cold, served in a small glass and kind of like "heaven on earth". I saw instructions online how to make it. I tried one. Dismal failure #1. I am going to keep on trying, though.

pistachio gelato and a latte

I have already attempted to make cassatelli. It looks deceptively like a ravioli. It is fried dough, filled with a sweet ricotta and dusted with powdered sugar. It was served to me on a plate, sitting atop a squiggle of chocolate syrup. My attempt to make these was dismal failure #2. I threw the whole batch in the trash can. However I will give it another try. I am not giving up.   

 

there she is: Miss Casatelli

 



Here's a few more examples of the Sicilian art of Patisserie

saw lots of these small cones filled with various sweet concoctions

Pistachio Pie - How do they do that?

Marzipan


Marzipan is ground almonds plus simple syrup. Almonds trees are plentiful. In a cooking class we took while there, we took small portions of freshly made marzipan and rolled it into tiny "polpetti", which were then rolled in cocoa and some into a sugar/cinnamon. Voila! truffles

Trip to Sicily - Part 1

Wow, I haven't blogged in over a month. I've been BUSY. I've been planning a trip to Sicily which is history now but I am going to tell you all about it. Almost as soon as I returned back home, I've had houseguests. But, I'm about back to "normal" now and able to resume my normal habits.

I live in the northeast where Summers (June, July, August and 2 weeks of September) are hot and furious and as quick as you blink your eye. So all Summer activities (weddings, Summer vacations, garden tours, farmers markets, beaches, food truck rodeos, Jazz Festivals, Fairport Canal Days, Cottages, Abbotts ice cream, etc.) have to get crowded into 15 weekends (out of 52 - not a lot - about 29% of the year). Hence, when I returned from overseas, Summer already made her annual appearance and the normal, regular Summertime activities had begun, even though I wasn't quite ready for that to happen.

For me, this trip to Sicily was the trip of a life time, something I've always wanted to do. I did travel to Italy one other time. That was a visit to mainland Italy. This recent trip was to the island of Sicily, the place my grandparents emigrated from in 1894. I was hoping to discover some remnant of their life there. I'll tell you about that in another post.

For right now, I'll tell you what I was so entranced by. The way Italians hang their laundry in the hot Sicilian sun was totally enchanting to me. I still do that, in as much Summer sunshine as we get here on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Enjoy these photos of Laundry Day in Sicily:

 

 

I am assuming that inside the apartments, there is a washing machine but not a dryer. But who needs one? Sicilian weather is spectacular. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nitrate Film Festival and Dinner

Last weekend, the George Eastman Museum presented the  nitrate-picture-show, a festival of Film Conservation. The movies were presented in the Dryden Theater at the Museum. I don't have the figures for this year but last year people from 16 countries around the world gathered in Rochester, NY for the event.

If you're interested, this link will take you to an explanation of why nitrate film is so volatile yet so valuable a piece of the history of film.  Nitrate film

I wish I could've seen more of the festival's offerings. I did see "The Bicycle Thief" (Ladri Di Biciclette", a 1948 Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica and "The Roadhouse", an American movie, also filmed in 1948. Starring Ida Lupino, Celeste Holm, Cornell Wilde and Richard Widmark.  This film is stored at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Following such an delightful experience, it was fitting that we dine at a totally awesome place. We had dinner at the The Cheesecake Factory. We went in there with a plan: eat light so you'll have room for dessert. This plan was developed after eating there several times and never able to fit in a piece of their famous cheesecake. We both had a lovely salad so we could manage to also have dessert. We made a valiant effort. We both still had to take home a "doggie bag" of leftover cheesecake. I had no trouble eating it the next day.

I do think this has to be my favorite one. I had the S'mores cheesecake. My friend had the carrot cake. The S'mores cake came with dripping down the sides melted marshmallow, a half a graham cracker perched on top and lots of whipped cream (which I removed).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mortadella Panini

I had the mortadella Panini for lunch today. I think this may be my favorite sandwich. It comes to us via  Jeff Mauro - sandwich king on the food network.

I happened to be in an Italian grocery today and while there for another reason entirely, purchased the mortadella for my sandwich, as well. Mortadella is sort of an Italian bologna with big chunks of tasty pork fat and pretty green pistachios in it. They slice is very thin.

How to: If you have a Panini maker grill, lucky you. I don't,  so here's my "panini maker". It's a regular non-stick skillet plus a small cake plate plus a very heavy stone bunny. All piled on top of each other. The bunny acts as the "press", smashing the sandwich together just like it was a $100.00 Panini press.

As you put together your sandwich, set your skillet on a medium low burner to warm up for its job of creating your Panini.

For the sandwich: two slices of Italian bread, spread with fig jam, thin slices of a mild Italian cheese like Asiago or Fontinella on each slice of bread. Then two slices of mortadella (the mortadella is big so two slices is plenty because you'll fold it so it fits on the bread). Close up your sandwich and smear both outside surfaces with olive oil and lay carefully in the skillet. Place the small cake plate on top of the sandwich, then put the bunny on top of the plate to weigh it down to "panini" it.

After maybe 5-6 minutes, have a peek to see if the bottom slice is golden. If so, flip it so the other side can get golden as well. Pile up the plate and bunny again on top of the sandwich.

                               When both sides are golden, put it on a pretty plate and mangia.

                                                  You'll want another, I'm sure.

A couple weeks ago, I received a "convo" from the art director of a bridal magazine. ("convo" is etsyspeak for email) In her note, the art director said they loved my bridal banners and wanted to feature one in the magazine's Fall issue which will be available on news stands on July 19th.

This is a very thrilling turn of events for me. I have been racking my brain for a long while now, trying to think of how to break into the wedding market. This is my target market. When I look at wedding blogs, first of all, they are all beautiful but it's very expensive to advertise on them.

I have even inquired to local bridal shows. Again, extremely expensive. I did, however, take out what I thought was a very attractive add in a small local weekly shopper type paper. Nada. Not one inquiry to that ad. I had more or less given up on that tack.

How did the bridal magazine find me? I really don't know. I didn't ask. But I think they troll etsy for content for their magazines.

This is the magazine:  Bridal Guide Magazine  If I ever wanted to purchase advertising in this magazine, I suspect it would be quite costly. But, thanks be to God, they are publicizing my creation/shop for $00.00. I also suspect that this PR will be much more effective than any ad I could have purchased!

I'm a tiny bit panicky now about getting deluged by orders. Good problem to have. Reason being, I make my bridal accessories from vintage doilies and linens. Will the earth run out of that source? Where will I find them? I have 3 months to get a head start on a deluge (which is ephemeral - is it real? or is it illusion?). I'm not taking any chances, I'm getting ready.

Spring Break

This is the week our local kids are on holiday from school. It's the week following Easter. There's a local tradition that this week is  FLOWER CITY WORK CAMP . It is a week our local teenagers (approximately 750 of them)  give up Spring Break in a sunny clime and lots of dads take a week of vacation time from their jobs to supervise said kids. The high school-ers are assigned to an inner-city home to do whatever odd jobs are necessary for that home to operate more smoothly. Perhaps a new set of porch steps, perhaps a little painting, maybe some yard clean-up. You know, the jobs are endless. The dads show the unlearned teens how to wield a nail gun, or a sander, or even a drill and generally, supervise all operations on that site.

The teens are members of approximately 50 plus local churches. They are actually incommunicado for the week. They stay overnight in local churches, wall-to-wall sleeping bags, have breakfast there, go to their assigned work site. Then back to whichever church is their campsite for the week, for dinner and snacks, a worship service and "sharing" time, then "beddie bye", getting rested up for another work day tomorrow. FLOWER CITY WORK CAMP facebook page

As you can see, I didn't mention lunch. That's where I come in, as well as many, many other moms. We make "camp lunch", deliver it to the work site. The famished teens and dads are very happy to see us round about 11:30 am.

My assignment is to make 22 deli sandwiches plus 5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (for the fussy ones), snacks, dessert and fruit. At each work site, there will be about 15 "starving" people.

Here's a little example of how the Lord puts things together:  A friend from church gave me her spiral Easter ham which she wasn't able to use. That's camp rations for tomorrow. Along with rolls, tangerines, lemon bar mix and pretzels that I purchased this morning.

While I, myself, was in the inner-city for these purchases, I treated myself to a cup of coffee and a "sweet" at a new establishment I had been looking forward to trying out. I am happy to tell you: I would highly recommend Upper Crust Bakery & Glen Edith Coffee Roasters . I had a beautiful latte and a cinnamon/chocolate rugelach.

Now, to kitchen duty to make lemon bars, operate on the spiral ham, slice up lettuce, insert into rolls, wrap each one individually in plastic wrap.

A New Amusement

You know I wouldn't be happy unless I was making something. To add even more excitement, I like to make something new out of something old.

You might also know that I am a "fiber junkie", I like yarn, ribbon, raffia, thread, cord, string......... There's a little thrift shop in my neighborhood that is like a miracle from heaven. It's a non profit. They sell the leftovers from peoples craft projects. The name of the shop is Crafts Bits & Pieces. This is the little "treasure house" I go to get my "fiber fix".

I probably won't do it justice, but in Crafts Bits & Pieces you'll find: yarn, crochet thread, knitting needles and crochet hooks, wreath making and garden inspired materials, buttons, old/used jewelry, china, dolls, how to books, Christmas decorations, old and new quilts, tons of yard goods, sewing notions, lace, stamping supplies, painting supplies, paper art supplies, sewing patterns, thread, picture frames, embroidery supplies............I could go on and on. All of it at violently reduced prices. It is absolute nirvana.

wrapped with cord

A couple months ago I began wrapping bangles with various and sundry fibers. I have used all of the above, with varying degrees of deliciousness.



wrapped with crochet thread

Of course, when I discover a new amusement, I get addicted real quick. I make lot and lots. It's almost as if I can't stop. There's only one way to solve this overabundance. Put them in my etsy shop.

wrapped with ribbon cord

 

 

wrapped with raffia