Sogni di Sicilia

Awake at 6:15. Early for me.  A quick scrub-up, as the kitchen needed it, then I booked the airport hotel, who confirmed during my call that their shuttle doesn't begin until 5:00 am. But they'll call a taxi. If we were backpackers, we'd just make the 10-minute walk to the airport, but we have heavy luggage, and that will be troublesome at 4:30 in the morning. Have you seen me at 4:30 in the morning? I barely function. I then took some time once Joe was up, to begin systemizing my luggage downstairs. After a quick shower, it's nearly noon. I need a walk or something. I think I had 27 steps total yesterday. And two pieces of torta. I decided to peruse via Gemma by daylight. It just runs for a short stretch. I checked out the Vende  posts. Not for sale, but I've always wanted a banister like this. This place looks in good shape It's hard to judge a book by its cover in Italy I thought it was cute that this little guy was out on venerdì pesce . The smells from the ...

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'...

I did most of my housecleaning today; I'll get to the first floor bed/bath tomorrow. That's an area we both really use, and I procrastinate on the chore of it because it is so much work. I'll start on it while my hair color percolates tomorrow morning. Upstairs, I got everything cleaned and the perennial laundry washed and hung, then started yet another batch of chocolate chip cookies, confident I've got the high-altitude, Italian-substitute- ingredient, Fahrenheit to Celsius, cups and tsp to grams finally figured out! I'm leaving the cookie production area as the last to clean. The cookies are 98% there. Don't let perfection be the thief of joy, Kahren. Between testing and tweaking, I ate six cookies. Now I understand why all those ceramic figures of bakers are portly portrayals.  Pretty darn close Joe wanted to walk to the farmacia , and it was nearly noon. I said I'd finish the current batch in the oven, shove the rest of the dough into the fridge, and he...