Six Sicilian Things Saturday

I haven’t done a Five Things Friday post forever so, thinking it would be a good way to move some of my Italy photos from file to blog, I started one. Several readers have expressed interest in the Sketching Workshop I took, so I perused and selected and uploaded, and by Friday evening I had the first five entries below ready to go. Edited to add: I’m working on a longer post about the Sketching Workshop, but thought I’d give you a quick glimpse this way.

And then somehow, between drafting and editing and clicking “Publish,” came dinner and that fatal glass of wine. . . So, new (alliterative) title, and one more entry at the bottom of this page. . .

  1. Macchia, the dachshund who rules the roost at Case Vecchie — most often from a favourite perch on this couch, just behind the long dining table at which we gathered for meals.

2. We made a couple of expeditions during our week . . . one of them was to watch Ricotta being made by a local shepherd and cheese artisan. Afterward, we ate the freshest, softest ricotta at a picnic breakfast in the nearby “barn,” and over the next few days recognized it folded into scrambled eggs, baked into cakes, and rolled deliciously into cannoli shells just out of the deep fryer.

We also learned a bit about the process of making not only the several stages of ricotta but also

the beautiful wheels of Pecorino, shown here aging in the cool room (so wonderfully pungent, that room was, mmmm!)

3. Sulla — horticultural name Hedysarum coronarium — wide swathes of these flowers clothe the hillsides, and several times one of us begged our driver to stop so they could jump out and get a photo. . .

I contented myself with snaps taken through the bus window. . .

But I took my share of landscape photos while walking back and forth from the cottage I stayed at to Case Vecchie (yes, we were picked up and driven back as needed, but the walk was such great exercise in such a gorgeous setting. . . So . . .

4. Panoramic view of a stunning Sicilian landscape. . .

5. Not only did we get to learn from an inspiring Artist-Illustrator through the week, but we also had daily cooking lessons from a Sicilian Culinary Icon. At the cooking school founded by Anna Tasca Lanza in 1989, her daughter Fabrizia created the visionary Cook the Farm program which draws learners passionate about food to the farm each winter to “cook, eat, and think about food landscapes.”

And, if you’ll pardon me for the pun, we got a delicious taste of that experience.

One evening, for example, under Fabrizia’s direction, we cooked up Artichoke Caponata . . .

and before that we’d put together our aperitivo: Sage leaves coated in a light beer batter and deep-fried in olive oil . . . and served, of course, with a glass of Tasca wines (I walked through or alongside the vineyards daily).

6. And now the image I’ve chosen for turning a Friday post into one for Saturday morning. . .

Now that you’ve admired, come closer and take a seat

and be introduced to the cheeses of Sicily . . .

So that’s it. Six Scenes from Sicily. Hope they add some happiness or welcome distraction to your Saturday.

I have my Italian class this morning — one of the highlights of my week. I love the walk there and back (just about 8 kilometres round trip, so I can justify couch-potato mode this afternoon — love that as well!). I love my classmates–something about exposing our vulnerabilities and getting to know each other primarily in another language makes for a surprising bond. Mi piacciono molitissimo our teacher, the language, the simple process of learning something new.

The only thing that will make me unhappy this morning will be the occasional protest from various parts of my body after yesterday’s gym session with my trainer. She’s making me pay for those weeks away. Ouch!

How’s your weekend shaping up so far? Any big plans? Any little plans? Any commitment to having no plans at all? (Or does that commitment, in fact, constitute a plan?! Hmmmm, deep thoughts. . . 😉 The mic is yours — leave a comment below, if you have a minute. . .

ciao,

frances(ca)

14 Comments

  1. darby callahan
    28 May 2022 / 11:17 am

    As it is I am making a cake, called Italian wedding cake, with ricotta. It’s for a get together tomorrow for our complex of 100 families. Not everyone attends, but there have been a few newbies to the neighborhood and it will be nice to meet with older friends on this official first weekend of Summer. Today there have been intermittent storms but the forecast for tomorrow is better.

    • fsprout
      Author
      29 May 2022 / 8:42 am

      Oooh, I like the idea of that get-together — nice to build and nurture community that way. Hope you get some sunshine (or at least an absence of wind and rain!)
      I googled “Italian wedding cake” — so many different recipes!

  2. Wendy in York
    29 May 2022 / 12:24 am

    Thank you for taking us along with you on your trip . Wonderful photos . I’d love to have sat at that pretty table with you & chatted over the cheese . I imagine memories of that magical spot will stay in your mind long after other travel memories have drifted away ,

    • fsprout
      Author
      29 May 2022 / 8:42 am

      I’d have enjoyed that as well, Wendy!

  3. Dottoressa
    29 May 2022 / 4:41 am

    Such a delicious post! I’ve never been to Sicily, so I enjoy every of your photos,sketches and memories.
    Sage in batter-I’ve made it a couple of times though(usually when I cook Saltimbocca and have a lot of sage)
    I loved my italian lessons crew as well-made a couple of La Cena Italiana for them at my home
    It is raining and it is very cold here. Only usual coffee with friends ….!
    Dottoressa
    Dottoressa

    • fsprout
      Author
      29 May 2022 / 8:53 am

      I found it interesting to think about similarities and differences between Sicily and Croatia (the many cultures that mixed in both places over the centuries, different countries or empires that controlled, etc.).
      I like imagining that Italian Cena at your home, sitting ’round that big table where we had a fabulous Croatian dinner!

      • Dottoressa
        29 May 2022 / 11:50 pm

        Aw,thank you! Yes,it was the same table…
        D.

  4. Genevieve
    31 May 2022 / 2:14 am

    The cheese, the food, the landscapes!
    Thank you, Frances. They certainly added happiness to my evening.
    (Just returned from a really beautiful but hectic family gathering so recovering after 20 hours in the car!)x

    • fsprout
      Author
      2 June 2022 / 8:48 am

      So pleased you enjoyed it!
      20 hours in the car! Yes! I’m sure the gathering was well worth it, but loving self-care and recovery definitely needed after that!

  5. 31 May 2022 / 5:37 pm

    The visuals are an absolute feast! Between the foods and the countryside, I am craving a trip. Stanley Tucci needs you to join him on his next Italian trip.

    Coincidentally, I made fresh ricotta late last week and I made used it for two things: an herbed spread and a pasta salad. The herbed spread recipe will be posted on my blog later this week. There’s no comparison between homemade ricotta and store bought.

    I love cheese and the photo of Pecorino drew me in. It’s beautiful!

    You have such a wonderful writing style and I’m enjoying my visits to your blog.

    • 31 May 2022 / 5:39 pm

      I was wrong. The herbed spread will be live next week. This week is about my garden.

    • fsprout
      Author
      2 June 2022 / 8:45 am

      Glad you enjoyed the post! Your fresh ricotta sounds wonderful — cow or sheep milk?

  6. Adele
    7 June 2022 / 3:18 am

    Dottie, I couldn’t agree with you more about fresh ricotta! I make it on a semi-regular basis to use in cooking, and it’s so easy to do. However the ricotta I make at home is not truly “ricotta”, which in Italy is made with the whey leftover from making other cheeses. It means, literally, re-cooked. Still, while I dream of fresh sheep’s milk ricotta from Sicily, we enjoy our homemade version.

    Frances, next time plan a visit for the Fall, when the prickly pears are ripe. They dot the landscape everywhere and would be as fun to sketch as to eat.

    • fsprout
      Author
      7 June 2022 / 8:05 am

      In fact, the ricotta I saw being made was made from sheep’s milk — and as I understood the process, watching and listening to the cheesemaker, it was made directly from that milk which, as it’s heated, separates into the curds and the whey — The curds are lifted out in strainer baskets — that’s the fresh ricotta, which we had for our breakfast immediately after. The whey was drained off to be used in the making, later of the more processed and aged ricotta, and for Pecorino. The sheep’s milk is much richer than cow’s milk and has that wonderful tang that makes it more interesting to me.
      I would love to see the island in the fall and see the ripe prickly pears all over — those cacti are such weird and wonderful additions to the landscape. But oh, the hills were so green in the Spring!

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