Sogni di Sicilia

I didn't have time to blog, so here's a quick recap. After a lazy morning, a lunch of leftover tavola calda from Ettore's party, a quick clean up, and a trip to Lidl and Decò, I got home in time for Ettore, Agnese, and Simone to arrive upstairs before my coat came off. Elena and Mariella "reminded me" of the cenone , big dinner, tonight at Pina and Francesco's house. This is the first I heard of it. We're leaving for Catania, where they live, at 7:45 tonight. Evidently, someone from the friend group hosts a holiday kick-off dinner each year. The intersecting aisle in back of me is equally as long and full of panettone  and pandora as these in front of me. AstroTurf and potted plant arrangements pop up everywhere. LOL This would get a hard no from my Greek baking ladies. We are making gingerbread cookies! I bought kits from Lidl and, spoiler, they taste nothing like gingerbread. I think molasses doesn't exist here, but it's too late to rely on Amazo...

Birthday Boy! By no means am I a "wait in line in the cold for three hours before the store opens" Black Friday shopper, but once that opened up for virtual buys, I was in. We have an advantage here, being seven hours ahead of the time in Minnesota. I'm mainly interested in travel deals and, if I can find the perfect thing, a Christmas gift or two. Skipping makeup or anything following my shower other than throwing on clothes, I went upstairs, where Ettore the Birthday Boy spied one of his gifts I was taking up to wrap.  "Happy Birthday!" He was eyeing the gift and running late for school. " Do you want to take that one now, and open the others later?" I asked, knowing the answer before he took it and ran. Now to do some online shopping. I booked a non-Black Friday deal excursion for Joe's family, for when we're all in Mexico in January: Tulum, cenotes snorkeling, zip lining through the jungle. Good to book now because a group our size is diffi...

I got up, got ready, poured coffee, then cooked and baked all day, save for a run to Decò and the ortofrutta, to get ingredients for my last-minute idea to make an apple pie. That idea turned out disastrous, but the "pumpkin" pie is a reasonable facsimile of what it should be. I ended up using parchment paper to create a pie pan; it worked better for the butternut squash pie than for the apple. Mental note to bring a pie pan here! My oven mitt wrecked the nice top on this pie Flat, burnt on top, undercooked filling I roasted some vegetables, and decided to skip the yam chips, because I've been in the kitchen for 10 hours and it's almost time for dinner! ****** We got to Elena's and saw Fina and Giovanna there; they had to do the three-time refusal to join us for Thanksgiving dinner before finally saying yes! My contributions were hot when we arrived, but timing them for 8:00 pm and eating at 10 pm meant that I did a round or two of nuking. We ate in Nonno's ol...

Elena loves the American Thanksgiving holiday. She's already put in an order with the butcher for a turkey. Ovens here do not have the cavernous openings of US ovens, so turkey is not a popular dish. Maybe also because it's funny tasting and makes you sleepy and gassy? That's what I'd say. I've been commissioned to make pumpkin pie. Also here: - No canned pumpkin or fresh pie pumpkins - No sweetened condensed or evaporated milk - No pie pans I've combed the interwebs to discover there's a huge fan club for homemade butternut squash puree vs canned pumpkin, and people are choosing it over fresh pie pumpkin. Hmmm I'm skeptical. But I've been making a long slow go of it, with some in the oven as I write. There are recipes without sweetened condensed milk, and I've converted a round cake pan into a slanted pie pan ala aluminum foil. I'm also preparing a bread stuffing (which won't be stuffed), and a rice-mushroom-chestnut dressing that I'...