Tag: foodie
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Cannoli Documentary Now Viewable On Amazon Prime
It’s out! Earlier this year, I had the pleasure to work with Fusion Box Films as they created “Cannoli, Traditions Around the Table,” a documentary about my favorite pastry and Italian-American heritage. Now you can watch it on Amazon Prime! The film recently won Best Documentary at the NYWIFT’s Film Festival. Congratulations to Andrea Cordaro…
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Making Friends in Il Capo Market
Palermo has three ancient markets: Vucciria, Ballarò, and Il Capo. Vucciria isn’t what it was 40 years ago when Renato Guttuso painted it, which is perhaps a good thing. Now, during the day, it is smaller and host to a few food stands and many antiques and collectible vendors. At night, however, when it comes…
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Best Wishes To Cantina Quattrocieli
Cantina Quattrocieli in Alcamo, Sicily, a winery I visited in September (pictured), reported that they tasted their novello (new wine) for San Martino, and they are happy with the results thus far. For the young wine makers, who are still growing their business and perfecting their craft, this is wonderful news! Bravi e auguri!
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When Making Cannoli
Look at these beauties I came upon this evening in Acitrezza, Sicily at Eden Bar! “Holy cannoli” is right! As I get ready for our Experience Sicily hands-on cooking and wine tour, Stirring Sicily, (presented along with Zest Lititz, Penn. and Chef Antonino Elia) that starts tomorrow, a word of advice for when you make…
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Visit A Bronte Pistachio Farm
We’ve done so much the last two days, I don’t know where to begin! For me though, something totally new was our visit today to a pistacchio farm in Bronte, the capital of Sicilian pistachios, on Etna’s western slopes. It was so cool to be up close to these beautiful trees. Did you know that…
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A Treasure Chest of Marzipan from Sicily
A colleague from Acireale, Sicily visited me this weekend and brought me a box of “paste di mandorla” from his local pasticceria, O. Condorelli … i.e., marzipan pastries from Sicily from a pastry chef that specializes in making marzipan. What you see here is only half of what was in this box on Sunday morning.…
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Gelato Dreams
What’s your favorite flavor? Because on this, a day scientists have cited as the most depressing day of the year, dreams of gelato in Sicily can cheer us all up. Here’s a selection available from one of my favorite spots: La Rotunda in Casteldaccia, Palermo Province.
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Sfincione for Christmas Eve in Sicily
Very different from our Italian-American tradition for Christmas Eve, which is to have a large, family meal often featuring fish, the tradition my cousins in Bagheria, Sicily follow for “La Vigilia,” is to have sfincione Bagherese along with pan-fried cardoon (artichoke thistle) and maybe a small serving of pasta. Pictured is my cousin Evelina’s favorite…
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Hands-on Sicily
Visiting the vibrant markets of Sicily is a crash course in Sicilian cuisine, the natural world, and culture all at once. Here, I’m in Il Capo market in Palermo getting a lesson on spatola (or spatula aka silver scabbarfish or lepidopus caudatus) from the fish monger. Spatola is a beautiful silver, long fish found in…