Road trip

We rented a car over the weekend and drove to the eastern side of the island. We spent Saturday in Modica, where we visited Antica Dolceria Bonajuto and stocked up on chocolate. Sunday we went to Piazza Armerina to check out the gorgeous mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale. Here are my favorite pics from our weekend.

cinnamon gelatin

ricotta cannolo with pistachios

morning cappuccino with pastries

cinnamon chocolate bar

chocolate samples at Bonajuto

The bizarro Han

When Scott and I worked at Di Bruno Bros. in Philly we became really good friends with an Indonesian guy named Han. He was hired by Genji to make sushi for the upstairs café during lunch. Han would treat me to his awesome sushi daily and I would seriously eat it for lunch almost everyday when he was there. In fact, he would get a little offended if (for some odd reason) I wasn't hungry or just didn't want any on a particular day. On those days when I said "no thanks" he would sometimes leave sushi in the fridge for me anyway...or (and this is the best part) call me later on and drop off a tray at our apartment. He was our sushi guy and every time we happened to get sushi from some other source, Scott and I would agree that Han could make it better, or we just straight up felt like we were cheating on him.

Alas, times changed: I left Di Bruno's and so did Han, he started working the sushi counter at the Whole Foods on South Street. I would stop in from time to time to see him (and get my daily fill). It always seemed like he genuinely enjoyed making it for us. But, I digress...

Scott found this place called SoSushi in Palermo and yesterday we found ourselves sitting at the bar for lunch. We are all the way on the other side of the Atlantic, missing home, friends and family, but we happened upon something yesterday while we were eating: it seems we have found our bizarro Han and also a little taste of something we miss from home. Read Scott's analysis on lunch at Getting Lost in Sicily.

A riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a vest

After lunch on Saturday we spent the rest of the day walking around Palermo. Sometimes when I'm walking the streets there it's very easy to forget where I am and think for a second that I might be on a movie set. There have been times when I'll think to myself that all of these people (the old lady wearing an apron outside of a rundown apartment building sitting on a really old wooden chair gripping rosary beads, the guy in a dirty butcher's apron standing under a dismembered cow's head, the young boys kicking around a tin can in lieu of a soccer ball) are actors hired by the Italian government just to display what we think of as typical Sicilian culture.
And then I remember that they do almost nothing in Sicily to promote tourism on any real level. My vision couldn't possibly be true - these peeps be keepin' it real.

I always tell people that Palermo embodies EXACTLY what I imagined Sicily to be before I got here. By that I mean: clothes hanging from balconies above cobbled, dirty streets; shady old men drinking in those kind of wine bars that most people would never have the balls to go into to, even though it looks so cool from the outside and would probably make a hell of a story later on; street markets with fishmongers and butchers yelling at you (and each other) as you walk by.

Sometimes I'll have a feeling of total disgust when passing a stinky, overflowing dumpster (the trash problem has reached catastrophic levels here) only to turn a corner and be in complete awe at the sight of a ray of light dancing across a beautiful building that's centuries old. These are the feeling that cannot be topped. At times Palermo can be both sacred and profane, both hideous and gorgeous, both ancient and new. I love a good puzzle. I assume that's why I keep going back there and I can't seem to get enough of that insane, chaotic city.

On a food related note, we finally bought a treccia di aglio or garlic braid. I have been known to have a heavy hand when it comes to garlic and recently I've taken to barely touching it with my knife. I like to keep the chunks big because I really want to taste it, so I'll usually peel and cut 4 or 5 cloves in half and sauté them with whatever veggies I'm using that night. On other occassions I'll mince it and throw it into the pot towards the end of cooking, so that it's still really pungent and only slightly cooked.

I would also like to take this opportunity to point out some health benefits of garlic, just because I love it oh so much. Read this to see just how good for you it is. Or just eat it because, like summertime, it's a natural aphrodesiac and it also tastes really good. What else do you need me to say?

I love me a good texas tommy

Dear Philadelphia, please send a hot dog to meet me at the airport on December 3.

I've never seen this hot dog truck before, but that might be because it's only there Monday through Friday and probably gone by 4pm. I'll be sure to make a special trip there when I get home. I have to admit though that Texas Weiners at 15th and Snyder holds a special place in my heart. My favorite combo is a texas tommy with a side of waffle fries.

A perfect afternoon

I love moments like this.

Torta di pane, zucca e patate

I've been using my springform pan a lot lately. Tonight I made a 3 layered savory pie: bread stuffing, the last of some roasted pumpkin I had hanging out in the fridge and mashed potatoes. I did write the recipe down, but I don't have it on me so I will post it later. This is a very simple idea, yet I have to admit that I've never made anything like it before. In spite of this being my first effort, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I love it when that happens.

It was basically just a layer of stuffing (day old bread, eggs, a splash of milk, chicken stock, celery, onion, garlic), followed by a layer of roasted pumpkin, followed by a layer of mashed potatoes mixed with (a lot of) garlic, olive oil, butter and chicken stock. All of these layers went into the springform pan and I topped the potatoes with a shower of parmigiano.

We ate it with roasted red and yellow peppers, green salad and a little leftover lentil salad that I added chopped tomatoes and jarred balsamic onions to. It would be a REALLY great vegeterian entree for Thanksgiving if you just substituted the chicken stock for vegetable stock.