I love Sicilian food and wine!!

Ciao a tutti all’inizio della mia ultima settimana a Taormina...
(Hello to all at the beginning of my final week in Taormina....)

I have just finished having a cassata whilst sitting on my bed, writing my blog and watching ‘Grease’ the movie in Italian!! What a start to a week...haha

And what a jam-packed week I have just had too!!

I decided last week, what with my love of food and not having any opportunity to hang in the kitchen with Signora Antonella at my house since it is such a small kitchen, that it was high time that I did some cooking classes!! And as it turned out my school runs these too, separately to the language classes but with one of the Italian language teachers, Ketty, at her apartment in Taormina very close to school. Obviously the classes are completely in Italian but this just helped me with learning more of the language.

The classes began at 6pm each evening on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...and each night I didn’t get home til about 10pm or later, which meant that I had to be organised with my homework (which we get every night). I planned to take photos every night of what we made but forgot...so you will all have to use your imaginations.

Each night we made three courses or three dishes:

The first night for the Primo Piatto (first course) we made Pumpkin Risotto with cheese melted through and for Secondo Piatto we made Cotoletta alla Messinese (lightly breadcrumbed veal schnitzel) and stuffed capsicums.

When all of the food was ready (which was quite late...but the Italians eat late in comparison), Ketty’s partner Nico, ate with us. We ate and drank some local wine and chatted over dinner...it was very satisfying to be able to participate in a big way in a conversation completely in Italian with two locals!!

On the second night, we prepared Pasta con il Cavolfiore (pasta with a cauliflower creamy paste...it sounds grose but was delicious!!) for Primo Piatto and then Polpettine Agrodolce (sweet and sour meatballs) and Zucchine Arosto (grilled zucchini) for Secondo Piatto. We also prepared a ‘dolce’ for the following night because it needed to spend a night in the fridge. It was Gelatina al Limone (fresh lemon jelly). And once again Nico ate with us.

On the final night we prepared Bruschetta for Antipasto, Pasta all’oeliana (Sicilian style pasta with tomatoes, tuna, eggplant and capers) for Primo PIatto, Pesce Al Cartoccio (whole fish baked in foil) for Secondo Piatto with a side dish of Frittelle di Cavolfiore (cauliflower fritters). Then for Dolce we ate the Gelatina al Limone that we had made the night before...quite a feast!! Not to mention also the local wine and the Marsala for after.

For the final night, the Director of the school came and ate with us at the last minute as he is friends with this couple. It was a bit weird having him there and definitely put the pressure on a bit but was also good as they talked normally to each other and it really tested me trying to keep up with a normal Italian conversation...but Nico was very helpful and often stopped the conversation to explain to me what they were talking about.

This is Ketty, Alessandro (the director) and Nico (L to R) preparing the Secondo Piatto and removing the fish bones on the last night, in Ketty and Nico’s apartment.

All up the classes were great and you will all have to come to my place for a Sicilian feast when I return. I will even have to track down some Sicilian wine as the wine here is wonderful!!

So cooking classes seemed to take up most of my week and also meant that I didn’t really get to spend much time with a new girl at school who moved into the same house as me on the Sunday before my classes. Christina is Portugese, 19 years old and speaks about 5 or 6 languages!! She only stayed for a week but this was about her sixth time here in Taormina and she always stays with this family...but I saw her every now and then at school and then we all had dinner together and went for a “passegiata” (the Italian style of going for a stroll, which is more of a parade up and donw the main street!!) with Antonella on Saturday night.

I did however spend a lot of time with the one and only other Australian at school at the moment, and Danielle is also a Melbournian but currently living in London. For the first time on Friday we went and had a granita at a cafe that had been recommended to us as the best granitas in town and possibly in Sicily (they are a speciality of Sicily). I had espresso and almond and she had strawberry and almond and they were fantastic...so fantastic that we returned the following day and both had a mix of raspberry and mulberry!!! They were SO good and clearly made from very fresh fruit!!

Saturday I headed off with Pepe and four others from school on the regular Saturday excursion, but this time we went to Randazzo, a small town a little north and west of Taormina, a little inland and on the northern side of Mt Etna, and also to Castiglione, an even smaller place close to Randazzo but perched up on a hill in a beautiful rolling valley.

Whilst walking around Randazzo we saw some great things like this elderly man having his weekly shave at the barber...

We also looked at some great old churches made from the lava rock of Mt Etna which is widely used for building in the area, and Pepe also told us lots of other interesting information. We then went and had a look at the puppet museum which was really interesting. There were with rows and rows of traditional Sicilian puppets hanging from the ceiling that were half life-size and over 100 years old!!

After Randazzo we hopped back in the car and headed to Castiglione.

There Pepe took us to a great local eatery where we ate fresh house-made pasta with mushrooms which are currently in peak season and again some great wine and coffee.

After our late lunch we then climbed to the highest point in town and looked at the magnificent view across the valley...

Spot the woman in the top floor of her house doing her ironing...I think I wouldn’t mind doing ironing if I had that view!!


On Sunday I hired a car with Danielle and another Danielle at school who is American from California and we headed off to check out some of the local wineries that had been recommended to us. It was quite the experience...

We picked up the car and started by having a classic italian breakfast of cappucino and a cornetto at a bar on the beach in the town next to Taormina, Giardini Naxos.

We had had 2 vineries reccomended to us by the teachers at school who organises all of the activities (Pepe). One was on the southern side and one on the northern side of Mt Etna, and then we had also discovered that there was a food and wine harvest festival on is a small town right next to Taormina.

We headed to the furthest winery first on the southern side of Etna and had A LOT of trouble finding it!! When we did eventually find it, we could barely find a park, even for our little blue FIAT Panda!! haha. When we went inside to a VERY full restaurant and asked to taste some wines we were told "Look at all of this confusion. Im sorry but there is no way you can taste wines now when we have 140 people here to have lunch" and the majority of them were on motorbikes or scooters!!

So we cut our losses and headed for the second one on the northern side of Etna and arrived there to a very QUIET carpark. We were starving by this time and followed the signs to the restaurant to only peer through the window to see what looked like a private function, so we walked away to only be chased by a man asking what we wanted...

In the end after a lot of negotiation and explain what we were after and them telling us it wasnt possible as they were having a family function for a christening, they then invited us in to join in with the family lunch!!

We sat down at our own table were poured wine and then broughyt endless plates of lovely Sicilian food!! We even got to have some christening cake (or proffiteroles to be exact)...and got to try two of the wines which were VERY nice!! We were stuffed and that was even with declining the main course!!

Needless to say, we each bought a bottle of wine to kind of say thankyou for letting us join in and also as the wione was amazing...and it was only 6 euros a bottle!!

Since this lunch went until after 5pm, we then didnt make it to the harvest festival...but we had a very nice and interesting day none-the-less.

Here I am with our little blue Panda!! haha

Ci vediamo
Jo xoxo

PS - Oh, on the Sunday I also found a very interesting product whilst we were in a food shop in Giardinin Naxos...

Yep, chocolate covered biscuit sticks called 'Jo!'...haha

Week one in Taormina...check!!

REMINDER: This is an old post re-published because I was stupid and deleted the original!! haha

Ciao a tutti da Taormina... e si, penso mia italiano e meglio!! Translation for the non-italian speakers or understanders: And yes, I think my Italian is better!!

I guess you would hope it would be with learning new words every day and being forced to speak Italian (and no English) at home and at school...we get told off in class if we speak English as obviously not everyone has English as a first language.

There were 4 other women and myself in my class last week, but all from different countries; England, Japan, France and Germany!! But week two will bring a slightly different group as there are new people starting every week. I have had a fairly full week of settling in and getting myself sorted out but also trying to make the most of my free time from school;

On the first day of school, last Monday, I met another guy (Chris) who was also from Melbourne but currently lives in London. He was starting also but only for a week and didn’t know any Italian already...so we ended up hanging out a lot this last week and were each others break from speaking Italian.

He left yesterday (Sunday) back to London and so we went out Saturday night to a very popular bar with the locals, particularly those who enjoy posing, but I think this is nearly all Italians!! Haha. They were all very entertaining.

Chris and I also caught the cable car down to the beach on Wednesday as it was really warm and even contemplated swimming, but we took too long over our late lunch of seafood, salad and wine on the edge of the beach!! It is definitely a hard life!! ;-)

Otherwise during the week after school I was having lunch with and getting to know others from school and that is always good as normally we speak Italian the whole time as it is good practice and it is the only language we ALL share.

On Friday I went out for dinner to a fantastic restaurant which specialises in fish and seafood. A lot of Sicilian dishes are based around seafood as it is so readily available and SO fresh...the meal was amazing!! And Sicily has great local wine which is reasonably priced too!!

On Saturday I went out on a day excursion with a group that was organised by school. Each week they have activities organised for every afternoon, whether they be group lunches or dinners at a local restaurant, seminars or lectures on italian culture, group games like scrabble, watching an italian film or going on a walk or small excursion around Taormina. Then every Saturday they run a day trip to somewhere on the east side of Sicily.

Last Saturday we went almost to the most southern tip of Sicily to a Nature Reserve called Vendicari which is on the ocean and then after that to a small town called Noto.

Vendicari was beautiful and despite it being a bit cool when we left Taormina, it was quite hot by the time we got down south as the environment and climate is also quite different down there; more dry and arid.

We were driven to these places by one of the teachers from school, Pepe, who seems to know a lot in general about many places in Sicily, if not Italy. He acted as our tour guide and spoke to us a lot (in italian obviously) about the flora and fauna, what different buildings and remains were and what we were looking at. For the parts that I could understand, it was all very interesting!! haha

To begin with Bepe explained to us about where we were and about the landscape. We then basically went on a bit of a walk and a wander for a couple of hours and we stopped and talked about different things along the way, like this seaweed that is common in the area...

Yes, I do not tell a lie, this IS seaweed...or a seasponge...just different to what we get in OZ. But it looks very different where it has gathered on the beach, a bit like a bunch of pebbles...

Vendicari is a place where they used to have a tuna collection farm type thing, which they call 'la Tonnara'. Remains of this structure still remain and they are currently in the process of restoring it. Bepe told us a lot about this and the process for collecting tuna, which were then killed in a less stressful way for the fish than today.

We then stopped part way for our packed lunches...nothing like at home though. Mine was un panino con prosciutto, provolone, pormodoro e oregano made by the very sweet old man at the mini-mart for €2.80!!

After Vendicari we drove to Noto a small town a little further north with a lot of amazing old buildings which were constructed using the local stone which is a very rich yellow and ochre colour. A lot of these buildings have been restored in recent years and so the town looks even more spectacular.

The weather was quite up and down both with changing locations and just cos that seems to be how the weather is in Sicily. It was a long day but nice to see some areas outside of Taormina.

Then on Sunday afternoon I decided to do a bit of exercise and see where my street (the flight of endless stairs) took me cos it just continues off every map that I have...

I ended up walking all the way up to a small settlement nearby on the top of the hill behind Taormina called Castelmola. I had originally thought I would do that on Sunday but the downpour of rain put a dampener on that idea...literally!! But funnily enough I made it there anyway.

Since it is up on the hill behind Taormina, there were great views and it was quite a strenuous walk but only 20min for me. It was also beautiful as I got up there just before dusk and so saw it all start to get dark...needless to say it was a bit dangerous trying to walk back down again!!

Me wondering how much further it is...

Yes, that is a massive cruise ship parked in the bay at Giardini Naxos...

Ci vediamo
Jo xox

This is the ultra naughty “Cat” trying to climb up me and he continues to pester me whenever I am outside or tries to run inside my room or through my door at any chance...but there is NO WAY!

Oops...

I accidentally deleted my post about my second week in Taormina whilst in the throws of trying to get the most recent one published!! :-(

I do have a copy of this post and will republish it in a few days once most people have read the latest and dont get confused when they come to the blog after seeing the alert and find the same entry.

So if you havent read the 'Week 2' post, come back soon as I will put it back up!!

xox

Moon Jumping...

Madonna mia!! Ho ancora solo due settimane a Taormina!!

Yes, my god, I am halfway through my stay in Taormina!! As they say time flies when you are having fun...and ‘fun’ is definitely an understatement for the weekend that I have just had!!

First things first though, my week at school...

I had a good week and once again feel like I learnt a lot, but maybe not as much as the first week. Becoming quite sick with a cold on Tuesday and suffering that for the rest of the week I don’t think helped, even though I tried to have a fairly quiet week.

So Monday we had more new students start at school and our class grew from 3 to 6 which was a bit disappointing as it meant less one-on-one time for each of us, but good to have different people with different knowledge and experience in the group.

As per usual there were plenty of activities planned for the week and I took part in a walking tour of Taormina (which the school only runs on the weeks when new beginners start, which is every 2nd), went out for a group dinner, attended a seminar on The Mafia and wanted to go on the group walk to the beach one afternoon but missed out which I think was a good thing as I needed rest!!

For the last few weeks in town there has been a little bit of visible lead up to Halloween, but more importantly to something which Sicilians celebrate (or commemorate) the day after our favourite american excuse for eating lollies (haha...not!!). November 1st is ‘Il giorno dei morti’ or ‘The day of the dead’....which seems like an odd celebration to me, but basically from what I can gather it is a day to respect dead relatives, to visit the cemetery and to spend time with family.


I guess the only real visible sign that this day was impending was the traditional biscuits for this day in all of the pasticcerias, which you can see en-masse in the window of one shop I pass every day. These biscuits are supposed to represent the bones of the dead...weird!! But I decided I should try one and had it with a cuppa after dinner whilst doing my homework...it tasted very similar to gingerbread but was more chewy.

This one wasn’t in the shape of a bone like some in other shops but of a person?!?

Despite this public holiday for the Sicilians, Patrick, Danielle and I decided to hire a car for the weekend and to check out Syracusa on Saturday and then Mt Etna with another woman, Turid, on Sunday. Patrick is Dutch and Danielle is another Melbournian currently living in London and are at Babilonia (the school) with me.

Saturday morning we set off at 9am in our hire car for Syracusa with Patrick in the driver’s seat, what with having much experience on European roads, he was definitely the best candidate for this role!!

We had perfect weather...clear blue skies...and so whilst taking a minor detour, stopped to check out the ocean and it was amazing!! This is Danielle checking out the vast ocean and lamenting for Australian beaches!!

We made it to Syracusa and onto the small island, Ortygia, that is the old town which is were all the action is, and there definitely was action what with not only the usual weekend food and clothing market but also public holiday festivities.

We walked around and looked at all of the lovely narrow streets and windy laneways, had a look at the beautiful old cathedral, outside of which was a very cute little boy struggling to get his soccer ball out of the bag on the back of his bike...

And looked at the coastline of Syracusa with it’s vividly blue water.

After this we headed off this little island to look at the big park (which ended up being closed due to the public holiday), but on the way stopped to have a look at a very intreaguing looking building that we had seen on the skyline from Ortygia, which turned out to be a very modern and very large church.


We stayed and had a drink in the main square and then headed back to Taormina for dinner. It was a late return and we had some dramas with our meal but that story can wait for another day!!

Then Sunday, we started even earlier and headed off for the mighty Mt Etna at 8am!! It isn’t too far from Taormina and was a fairly easy drive there...thanks to Patrick having so much experience.

For those who don’t know, Mt Etna is an active volcano on Sicily. And the night before when we were driving back from Syracusa we could see the lava glowing on the top from the Autostrada!!

Once we had worked out what the options were for going up, who we needed to pay and what we needed to do, we booked into a 5 hours tour where you take the gondola a third of the way up, then take a 4WD bus up another third and then trek the final third to the top to see three of the main craters in action!! There was then the option to go down the way you came up or to walk down...Patrick and I convinced the other 2 women to walk down.

Fortunately, since none of us really had the right gear for this kind of trip (and I think this made the guide VERY sceptical of our abilities), a fairly serious mountain climb, and in 0 degree temperatures with 80km winds mind you, they provided us with snow jackets, and proper high cut walking boots...otherwise we would have definitely froze and the other 2 women would have had very sore feet in their runners!!

We left the bottom at 10:15am, caught the gondola and then the 4WD bus. Once we reached this two-thirds point, we realised just how much further and higher we had to go!!

How cool do I look in my jacket and sunnies...the hood was even a necessity at this height with the wind blowing quite strongly.

We climbed a bit...

It looks hot but DEFINITELY wasnt!!

And the guide spoke a bit...

And we climbed some more...

And some more...

And more still...until we made it up to the main craters that were steaming away and smelt extremely sulphurous!!

Patrick, Daniell, Turid and I at the first crater...

We were suffocated by suphur as we walked around the craters and were told by the sicilian guide with his thick accent in his broken english "No photo...from here, no stop and no photo...indian file, 50 centrimeters to next person!!"...he was literally yelling at us!!

Noted how small the people are in this photo and that gives you some perspective...

The craters were amazing...but the wind!!!...it nearly blew us off the lip of the mountain which was only a meter or 2 away...it was a bit scary!!

You can see how strong the wind is here by the direction of my hair!!

Then we headed down...possibly the most fun part and this is where the moon jumping comes in!! To get down the steeper and softer parts that are very similar to sand dunes, the best way was to run, or bound might be a better description!! If you have ever bounded down a long, steep sandune you will know what I am talking about.

Here is everyone running down in file...but the photo doesnt do the movement and fun of it justice, so here is a little video, I hope it works for you all and sorry for not being up right way.

During the run down with Turid following behind...

We walked back across the lava flow from 2002/3 to the hut where the bus originally dropped us and had the food we had each taken for lunch. Then we commensed the climbed down...well after a little detour UP!!! onto another smaller crater... (and I thought it was all supposed to be down on the way back!!)

This is on the edge of the crater looking down...what a view!!

The rest WAS down and we manged it all very quickly with "moon jumping" (the name I have given it) the rest of the way.

When we returned at 4:30pm, we were very black, tired and in desperate need of a toilet!!

I forgot to mention about the dirt and the terrain...obviously since it is such an extreme environment with having been burnt but also having snow up there all year around, the ground is black rubble and rocks and sand-like stuff with no vegetation or colour (apart from yellow in places from the sulphur). And this is why I took many photos in black and white as it didnt make much difference.

So by the time we got home later that evening, we were all looking very tired and dirty. Our clothes were covered in black dust... as were our faces!!!

Me back at home pre-shower!!

It was an AMAZING experience that I would reccomend to all!!

Ci vediamo,

Jo xox