Mare

Today, March 17th, marks a special day in Italy. It was on this day 150 years ago in 1861 that most of the various city-states unified, the first Italian Parliament assembled, and the first King declared. Everything is closed.

We decided to trek to the mediterranean sea, "mare." On the way we passed orchards of carob and olive; and greenhouses filled with tomato and zuchinni. More food was to come as we made a quick pit stop at Romina's mom and dad's place in Pozzallo where we met her brother, sister and parents. Even my big red beasts were welcomed into the home. Believe me, I wanted to leave them in the truck. As it turns out they were uncharacteristically well behaved, and I might add, impressive.

Senora had prepare a spread of Sicilian cakes, almond cookies, honey candies, and potato chips, cokes and tea for the Mange Cakes. My kids happily devoured more than their fare share of the cakes.

The beach was desolate. The sand was hardpacked and brown - like wet brown sugar. Leo built a castle with Coco and Oscar and Francesco (Romina's boy) chased the waves and played tag. I found a dried out starfish.

We came home to a feast of lobster; octopus; shrimp; a fava bean, mushroom and onion ragout; a caponata that Giuseppe's mom made for us; a plate of artichokes with oil and vinegar for dipping, and then fusilli with zucchini, wild asparagus in a light cream sauce. Only Francesco ate the octopus. It was a bit depressing for Giuseppe. None of us eat seafood, but we all had a taste of everything except the octopus. That was just too stressful. For dessert, Giuseppe bought the kids hand rolled sugar cones, filled with hazelnut gelato and dipped in chocolate. The gelato was rich and cold. Imagine emulsified hazelnuts and sugar frozen and then compressed. It was as dense as the dark sand by the sea.

Tomorrow is on the horizon. I promise to talk about something other than food. We will see what happens!

Buenosera.