Chocolate from Modica

One of the great things about being able to travel through Italy is the chance to stop and taste/experience the local cuisine and the local specialties. In Modica, the specialty is chocolate and sweets. Torino is famous for its gianduja, a silky and velvety chocolate made with hazelnut paste. However, the chocolate in Modica is famous for its tradition. It’s a tradition that was handed down from the Aztecs to the Spanianards and then to Sicilians as Sicily was controlled by the Spanish from the 13th to 15th centuries.

I have never tasted the Aztecs chocolate but we managed to sample a bit of chocolate from Modica. I was quite surprised by the texture of the chocolate. It was very grainy and made without milk, nothing like the gianduja I was used to eating in Torino but still wonderful. In fact, I was disappointed that I did not get to sample Modica’s famous hot chocolate. (I should mention it was August and about 36 degrees C outside.)

I did however have a very usual sweet, a little turnover that looked like a tiny empanada called mpanatigghia (mm-pan-na-tee-gee-yah). The lady in the sweet shop said I absolutely had to try this little delicacy, I took a bit and chewed, swallowed and told her I tasted sugar, cinnamon, chocolate and something else I could not put my finger on, orange peel?

“No” she said. “E’ carne di manzo.”

“Wow” I was surprised.

I never expected beef to show up in a sweet confection. I ran out to the car to give Deme a taste and even he was stumped. I snatched up five chocolate bars of various flavors and began to think about how to use them.


Another wonderful treat, torrone. I love this torrone because it is simple, almonds, a bit of sugar and some orange essense. Delicious! (Most torrone I have eaten more like nougat with egg whites and nuts.)


Here is just a small sampling of the wonderful variety of flavored chocolate bars you can find in Modica. (From top to bottom: anise, hot pepper/chili, coffee and cinnamon.) I ate the one with ginger in it right when I got home.


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Mother and Mother-in-Law

With my mom headed to Italy for the first time in 6 weeks, we have been getting the house and our heads ready for her visit. She is arriving 3-4 weeks before the birth of the baby and might stay a month after. I am thrilled, Deme is a bit in shock I think, as he has never met my mother and in some way, and I think he does not believe that I am really Chinese. I warned him that my old ways will pop up as soon as my mom gets here and he might not see a stitch of pasta for up to 2 months.

As I go through my kitchen and inventory all my Chinese and American supplies it occurs to me that my mom will have to make do with things, she is not used to here and things that she might miss from Guam aka the States.

A laundry list came to mind but her are my top 5:

1. The lack of good plastic wrap, the plastic wrap in Italy is NOT Reynolds Wrap.

2. No canned or boxed chicken broth or beef broth for that matter, just over salty bouillon cubes.

3. No doubly thick, super strength aluminum foil, for broiling her famous Chinese BBQ pork on the oven.

4. No low sodium soy sauce

5. Gallons of milk, here they some in liter, almost the same the quarts and only last us 2 days or so.

I took Deme to the market to have a look at all the Asian stores I frequent so he will be able to take my mom. In addition, I spoke to my neighborhood shopkeeper and told him that I might be sending my mom over with a short list of items, as she does not speak any Italian. He then gave me a card and said I could call with my list and he could have it ready or he could even walk the groceries over to my house for me. Wow! Now that is great customer service. I hope with all my preparations we will be ready to have my mom stay at least a month and maybe up to two. I miss her cooking and her laugh; it has been almost 4 years since I have seen her and I am looking forward to her trip almost as much as the actual baby itself.


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Paestum

On our way back up from Sicily to Rome we opted to take the ferry instead of driving. As you may know by now August if the busiest travel season in Italy. I heard on the news that in August tourists, Italians and foreigners alike spend an astronomical amount of their vacations.


Deme and the dog waiting on deck.


One of the beds in our cabin.

I have never taken a ferry in which you had to sleep overnight so I was a bit nervous about it. (Titanic did come to mind.) The poor dog was not allowed in the cabin with us and had to stay in the “onboard” doggie area. An area on the deck secured with large travel kennels. The poor guy whined, barked and cried all night. (A woman who had an epileptic dog chose to stay with him in the dog area all night and told us ours did not sleep at all.) The ferry departed at midnight and arrived at 8 am in Salerno. Before driving to Rome, we stopped in Paestum for two nights to see a friend of Deme’s and his family, who are Italian but live in NY.

Paestum is a Latin name and a very old city, evident by the ruins of Greek temples that are a main tourist attraction. I did not know much about Paestum at all but it was a great seaside retreat, not far from Agropoli and Pompeii with gracious people, great granite on the beach and wonderful seafood and pasta.



The temples were really giant and stunning.

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Santo Stefanano di Camastra

While peeking at the little tourist shacks near Mt. Etna Nord; we came across a piece of really striking pottery. The stall owner told us it was from Santo Stefano di Camastra and so we thought before we left visit, we would have to pay a visit to the town.

This town is located in the province of Messina and is a very direct, seaside drive from Taormina. (About 1.5 to 2 hours away). Most of the motorway leading to Santo Stefano is completed except for a small piece. As we made our way into town, I was surprised as we met hardly any tourist, (in the middle of August) and saw only one tour bus. (I have to add we went on a Sunday and all the shops were open.)

This little town along with Caltagirone is a ceramic center in Sicily. What caught my eye the most was the brilliant reds and oranges that are a trademark in this area. The Spanish influence in Sicily can definitely be seen in their pottery. The little pottery “strip” is small and quaint with shops flanking both sides of main avenue. I forget the name but you cannot miss this street, as it is the main one into town and full of wares being displayed on walls and on shelving right on the sidewalk. We walked away with a few gifts and some choice pieces for ourselves.

Note: ***Most of the larger shops took credit cards but the smaller ones did not, there are however, several cash machines located on this street.







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Caltagirone

Italy is full of amazing things to see. As we were already in the area, near Piazza Armerina, we decided to talk a short drive over to Caltagirone to see the famous tiled steps. Being 7 months pregnant, I had no intention of climbing all the steps, (145 long giant steps to be exact), but we wanted to explore some of the pottery shops in the town and perhaps have a snack. (Gelato in brioche is my newest favorite treat.)

The town was quaint and it was obvious that pottery and tile were their specialties. Instead of the usual marble street and building markers, the signs in this town were made of thick ceramic tile. There were tile decorations on doors, alleyways, in cafés, almost everywhere you turned, there were hand painted tiles to be admired. The prominent colors in the tile pieces here were a celestial blue and a buttercup yellow as opposed to some of the pottery pieces I’ve seen in Deruta and other parts of Tuscany in which the prominent colors are also blue and yellow but the blue being much richer and darker and the yellow almost edging on orange.

*Note: There were a few tourists here and there but the town was readily accessible by car, even though the streets are narrow; The Steps themselves were not crowded at all.


Street signs and markers were wonderfully elaborate.


There were tiles everywhere, in cafes and this one is especially beautiful located in the Piazza del Municipio.



More tiles from this cafe/tiny museum of ceramic art.


I loved the sign post that mark the location of the Stairs.


There are 145 steps but it looks as if there are more because the steps themselves are very long and shallow. I made it up about 25 before I gave up.


A closer look at the Steps' designs.


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Piazza Armerina

Located about 90 km southwest of Catania, Sicily is the town of Piazza Armerina. This city has quite a reputation and touts itself as being the "La Citta dei Mosaici e del Palio", "The City of the Mosaics and the Palio."

Piazza Armerina is ancient town that was inhabited in prehistoric and Roman times as demonstrated by the world famous Roman Villa Casale located nearby. This Villa is famous for its mosaic tiles that adorn every room from the thermal baths (which were fed by aqueducts and heated by special ovens) to the private rooms of the Villa. Built in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., the Villa was destroyed in the 13th century then rediscovered in the 17th century and was not formally excavated until 1950. The work lasted 7 years and revealed 60 rooms and 3500 sq. meters (that's 37,673.69 sq. feet) of exquisite mosaic tiles. The varieties of scenes depicted on the floors of this Villa are mind boggling as is the intricateness of their design. Among the most famous are the rooms with the girls in bikinis, the mosaics depicting the 12 toils of Hercules, and various hunting scenes.

The Villa is quite moderate in size, with a few outdoor rooms. Most of the priceless mosaics are under the cover of glass roofs and walls (I assume to prevent further damage to the mosaics from rain and weather) and under the surveillance of video cameras and electric fences. We were allowed to bring the dog into the Villa with us and we chose to carry him most of the time as I did not want him getting stepped on but most of all did not want him to accidentally soil the Villa in any way. Being 30+ C, the Villa was very warm with not much shade and I recommend a hand fan and water. The site has a large bar that offers food and refreshments as well as restrooms and many, many stalls that sell everything a tourist might need or want. (Check out the leather stall, some of their creations are amazing.) There is also an ample parking lot, a 5 minute walk from the Villa itself, and the fee to enter the Villa is 6 Euros.

* A short note on the Palio: The Norman Palio takes place every year from August 12th to August 14th, we did not get to see this but it is a medieval-ish fair in which knights, noblemen and women parade through the narrow, basalt paved streets of the town until they reach the Cathedral in the Piazza Duomo. The next day the knights that represent the 4 districts of Piazza Armerina challenge one another to various tests of skill and ability.

For more detail see the photos below:


Many of the churches had tiled bell towers or were tiled in elaborate ways.


Here I am standing at the entrance to the Villa. I am getting big but I made it even with the intense heat.


Some scenes from the Villa; it was hard to get a good shot as the sun was fierce that day and cast strange shadows everywhere.


The famosaicosiac with the girls in bikinis.



More of the ruins in the Villa.



The hubby looks like he stepped off a plane bound for Hawaii.


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Mt. Etna

I read somewhere that granita was invented in Sicily; that the people from this area used to gather snow from Mt. Etna and use it for their granita. I really don’t see how that could have been possible since the summit of Mt. Etna is around 3,300 meters and that’s about 10,000 feet. (Granita and brioche is a common breakfast in Sicily.)

When we approached the little strip of shops, the little bar and one of the excursion centers near the base of Etna Nord (the North side of Etna); the temperature had dropped from 30 C to 16 C. We were obviously not the only ones ill prepared for the cooler weather. A few other tourists donned beach towels as shawls and marched through the lava fields for photo opportunities. There were organized tour buses that would take you to the top of Etna for 40 Euros (in about 2 hours) but we had the dog and flip-flops on therefore could not go. I cursed myself for not doing more research and being more organized.

The rivers of lava rock that had flowed and afterward had hardened down the mountain were quite impressive. I remember selling black and red lava rocks for aquariums when I was working at a pet store on Guam. Seeing the lava again brought back memories. The hollow sound of the rocks as we walked across them made me think of an Italian moonwalk. The surrounding areas around the base of the mountain were well kept with various brush plants growing amongst the scrub and other opportunistic vegetation. There were many hiking trails just waiting to be explored, the barren and somewhat harsh beauty of the mountain is something that must be experienced. I highly recommend a day trip out to Mt. Etna if you are ever in the vicinity of Messina or Catania in Sicily.


Deme and Giordano amongst the lava fields. It think Giordano is slowly outgrowing his uncle.


A little kitten that lives near the bar at Etna Nord.


Giordano with a backdrop of lava rock.


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Greetings From Gallodoro, Sicily

Thanks to a generous friend of Demetrio’s (Thank you Ilario, Lorenza, Alex and Family), we were able to stay in a newly renovated apartment in the town of Gallodoro, not far from Taormina. (Taormina is one of the top tourist sties in Sicily.) Gallodoro literally means “golden rooster”. I haven’t seen much evidence of chickens never mind roosters and no one has told me of some past history of gold mining in this area; so I don’t know how the town got its name.

The hills around Gallodoro are very dry and dotted with singed grass, thorny brush and various types of wildlife. (One evening we even saw a small porcupine.) Many of the hills are terraced; one can find ancient olive trees, grape vines, figs, prickly pear cactus, and almost countless varieties of fruits and vegetables being grown by the locals. Sadly many of the terraces have also been abandoned, the stately olive trees remain but are being slowly overwhelmed by time. The locals make goat’s milk ricotta fresh in the spring and goat droppings are something you have to look out for while exploring the terrain. At the top of one of these hills is a popular site for wind/para surfers. They climb to the top of the hill with all their gear and jump off the edge to the blue-green paradise below. (Someone in town told me that a Rockefeller offered a blank check for one of the beaches at the base of these hills, that is a nature reserve, but the check was refused.) Most of the adventurers land on the beach in the town of Letojanni below, right on target. Looking down towards town below from the hill was beautiful and surreal enough; I could not imagine doing so with my feet not firmly planted on solid ground.

At night the town holds various events such as outdoor movies which are projected onto the church wall. Last night there was a special musical performance by the students of an institute for handicapped individuals. In town there is a bakery, bar, tabaccaia, and general store. Perhaps the most significant structure in town is the church whose bells automatically sound every 15 minutes around the clock. I was bothered by the clanging the first night but after that, the ringing fell onto deaf ears after that evening. 8:15 a.m. is indicated by eight loud clangs and one little tinker. Every 15 minutes a little tinker, lets you know 15 minutes have passed. With life moving so slowly in this quaint town, you end up welcoming the reminder.

**An interesting note: Three of Gallodoro’s residents were extras/actors in the film The Godfather I, which was not filmed on site in the village of Corleone but in a village not far from Gallodoro called Savoca.




The piazza in the center of town on a moonlit night.



The church and its bells that remind you every 15 minutes that time does not stand still even in vacation.



The town of Gallodoro.


Giordano overlooking the bay below.


I love the blue-green of the water along the coast.


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Our Road Trip to Luxembourg

This past weekend we took a road trip to Luxembourg. Who? What? Where? When? Why? And How?

Deme has a old friend named Fergal whom he used to share a house with when he lived in Ireland. (Fergal is Irish.) Fergal then married a lovely, dainty, petite but “she-can-hold-her own” lady named Alice, who is Belgian. Deme was the best man at their wedding 6 years ago when he was working out of Brussels. Both Fergal and Alice settled in Luxembourg and since Deme and I have been married, they have come down several times to Rome for long weekend sans their child, the outspoken Gwyneth. Now it was our turn to pay them a visit. (An interesting note, Fergal and Deme were out of touch for a while and Fergal found Deme again and met me via this blog, before we ever met in person. Blogs are great!)

We drove from Italy through the St. Bernard tunnel in Switzerland and then through France and into Luxembourg. It was a long drive as the last weekend in July/first weekend in August is the busiest travel season in Europe. There were thousands of folks on the road hauling camping equipment, bikes, trailers, horses, boats, canoes, really dehydrated looking dogs and so on a so forth. The drive there took 10 hours and the drive back took 9. Giordano was a great passenger and never complained, I on the other hand, got a sore back from being in the car that long and WILL remember a back pillow the next time.

Some things I Noticed about Switzerland, France and Luxembourg:

1. Luxembourg is a very, very clean. No graffiti downtown, no dog poop on the streets even though there were dogs to be seen. The flower pots that hung everywhere were well tended, well watered and absolutely overflowing with blooms.

2. Luxembourg has its own language, Luxembourgish. Most citizens that live in Luxembourg speak 2-5 languages. (French, English, German, Luxembourgish and/or Dutch/some other language.) Most of the labels in Luxembourg are baffling since there are at least 5 languages printed on every product.


We had dinner one night in an Italian restaurant. We even found grissini from Torino there.


The owner of the restaurant does a musical number every night and he coaxed Giordano to help him sing "Roma Capoccia". He also sang in English, French, German, and Luxembourgish.

3. There is an abundance of farming in both Luxembourg and France. Cows, horses and sheep were grazing every bit of available farm land. Straw was being cut and baled for winter. I saw no less than 4 species of cows, and fields and fields of corn and cabbage crops.

4. Driving through the Alps is very expensive. To drive through the St. Bernard tunnel cost, 36 euros and to drive through the Frejus tunnel cost 26 euros.

5. There were no Turkish toilets in Luxembourg but I found a few in France.



6. People drive much slower in France than in Italy. They typical speed limits were 90, 110 and 130 kph, in Italy they are between 110-180 kph.

7. There was a lot of bread, pate, butter, and meat being served everywhere. The sauces were richer and I did not see a drop of olive oil being offered anywhere.

8. Switzerland has official languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh. Now that is cool!

9. The flag of Luxembourg and the flag of the Netherlands are just about identical. Both consist of three horizontal stripes of red, white and blue except the flag of Luxembourg uses a light blue and the flag of the Netherlands uses a darker blue.

It was a great trip and we all learned a lot. Thank you Fergal, Alice and Gwyneth for all your hospitality!

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Lux Part II

Some examples of the architecture in Luxembourg:



A lovely garden.


The basilica in Echternach is the most important religious building in the country. It contains a magnificent white, marble sarcophagus in which are the remains of St. Willibrord.


The old Benedictine Abbey in Echternac, founded in the 7th century by St. Willibrord.


The Abbey II.


Giordano in front of the palace of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Grand Ducal Palace was constructed between 1572 and 1574 as a town hall in the Spanish Renaissance style. You can visit the palace from 15 July to 2 September.


Deme and Giordano on the main shopping strip in the center of Luxembourg. There were many, many shops as well a nice public market, cool cafes and even a Venetian gelato shop. Giordano was able to order his gelato in Italian and so was I.


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