Tag: featured

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Sicilian Grocery Stores

I have had some questions about the grocery stores here in Sicily.  Its funny to me how people think that Sicily is a 3rd world country.  Sicily has been civilized hundreds of years more than the U.S.   Granted the culture is definitely different and Sicilians do hold onto old traditions.  One of these traditions are the local markets.  In America there are the large supermarkets that have everything under one roof, while in Sicily the majority of markets are split up into specialties.

For example nearby there is a great baker that specializes in breads and right next door to him is a place that has fresh veggies and fruits.  Granted you have to spend the time to go to each spot, but each has its own personality that makes it kinda fun.  And the quality of their products can’t be beat since they are dedicated to those products.

There are also big grocery stores in Continue reading “Sicilian Grocery Stores”

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Uno Anno

A couple weeks ago we hit our 1 year anniversary of living in Sicily.  Its amazing that we have been here this long… it has really flown by.  Moving here was a huge leap of faith in that I had never even been to Europe before moving out here.  Jess had some experience from living in Spain for 6 months with a study abroad during University, but overall we were coming into Sicily blind.

People’s reactions to our plans were Continue reading “Uno Anno”

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Prague 1 – Intro to Goulash Country

Things have been super busy over here lately and I haven’t been able to even come close to keeping up with the travel posts here.  Im going to try to at least get the big trips posted soon.  This post is going to be part 1 of 3 for our trip to Prague.  I took a ton of pictures there and didn’t want to cram it all into one post.  I actually took all the pictures with my iphone as well.  I didn’t want to lug Continue reading “Prague 1 – Intro to Goulash Country”

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Agrigento Sicily – Valley of the Temples

Agrigento is a place that every visitor of Sicily should try to make.  Especially if you are into archeological things.  Agrigento is well known for its well preserved Greek temples that date back to 580 B.C. !!  Now I understand why they call America the New World.   Wikipedia has a page about Agrigento that has a lot of information (LINK).

We stayed the weekend in Agrigento to make sure that we got all the sights in.  Plus its about a 2 hour drive from where we are on the island.  I was excited because one of the few surf stores was supposed to be in Agrigento, but after searching Continue reading “Agrigento Sicily – Valley of the Temples”

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Donnafugata Damarino 2010

Dan Marino?

We have been impressed with Donnafugata wines, so we thought we would give this one a shot and sure enough it was good as well.  I made some chicken piccata using the wine.  Also had most of the bottle left over for dinner and it was great white for the dish.  Light but still had a nice taste to it.   I believe we got the bottle for around $10.

http://www.donnafugata.it/prodotti/Damarino.aspx

 

Vespa rating for the Damarino 2010 from Donnafugata

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Cooking Lesson: Pesce al Sale

There was an outing organized for a cooking lesson at a downtown Catania restaurant called Ristorante Crociferi.  I was lucky enough to get the day off of work, but Jess was not able to join in.  The lesson was Pesce al Sale (Salt Fish), which is a very traditional Sicilian dish.  This marked the first time that I tried the dish let alone made it.

Surprisingly it is very easy to make.  You basically make a salt paste with coarse and fine salt mixed with water.  You then cover a cleaned out whole fish with the paste and bake it.  The coating of salt traps all of the moisture and fish flavor and makes for a very tasty dish…. surprisingly the fish does not taste salty!

We had a great lunch paired with our fish. Thanks to Ristorante Crociferi for allowing crazy Americans to come into their kitchen.

Ristorante Crociferi

Piazza S. Francesco 14 Catania

http://www.ristoranteicrociferi.com/