Sogni di Sicilia

We were the only ones celebrating Labor Day in Sicily. We took the day off and relaxed.  We stopped at Decó to get wine, and at the last minute, I grabbed some beer — Messina Cristalle di Sale. Today is swampy, and I thought cold beer might be appreciated. This is a particularly good one. We tucked the beer into the garage kitchen's fridge, and I brought wine to the house kitchen. Everyone was lounging, except for Elena, Luisa, and the granddaughters. They were at Centro Sicilia, where Luisa bought a pair of sexy-fit Levi's (pronounced Levvies here). Elena apologized for not telling us they were going; it was spontaneous. I had absolutely no problem with hanging out and not spending money  The kids were playing a game, Who Killed the Wolf or Who Did the Wolf Kill, something or another that seemed akin to Who Took a Cookie from the Cookie Jar. Ragazzi at lunch Happy baby Giulio Mozzarella di bufalo, pepe, origano, olio d'oliva Playing wolf game Teà, reflecting Marta with the...

We slept in, logging a couple of nights' sleep in one. We woke up and it was already hot, but the sleep was energizing. I'm loving our new fan. After a lazy morning of editing wedding photos for the family chat (and drinking coffee), I took a nice cool shower and we headed to the vigne. We swam and sunbathed and snacked and played with the kids and chatted with the adults. Sometimes I wonder what wonderful thing I did in a past life to deserve this. Mariella commanded a dry-off; lunch is almost ready! Already at the table were mozzarella from Napoli, bread, dried caciocavallo, a block of parmesan. Mariella brought out her sugo with Napolitana pasta, a sage-leaf shape in pasta form, and harder than al dente . We call this preparation  al chiodo, but those outside of Napoli, including my grandma back in the day, call it alla Napolitana . This sugo, Giuseppe Rapisarda explained, gets topped with either grated ricotta salata or grated parmesan, in addition to a spoonful of cooked c...