Since most of you enjoyed my posts from Italy, especially Sicily, I decided to show you one more amazing day! This was a fabulous day at Tasca d' Almerita Winery, very close to Palermo. It is literally in the middle of nowhere, but once you're there...you are blown away with this sight.
The web site of the Winery is here

Once we were there our tour of the Winery begun. On the website you can see all kinds of wine they produce, and I got to taste a few one of them with the meal we had and let me tell you...they were exquisite. In the next two photos you can see what the cellars look like and it's quite a sight. I was proud to hear that some barrels are from Slavonian oak (northern part of Croatia).





After the tour, we proceeded to a small patio where we tried 2 white wines and some finger foods.





The lunch was incredible. Everything was served family style. There was an appetizer, lots of little antipasti, two types of pasta - traditional pasta alla Norma (with fresh sheep ricotta and eggplant) and the other with fennel, breadcrumbs, and sardines. Ah, I thought I was in heaven until this came to the table....



Holy Cannoli - as Stacey would say!

Those were truly THE best Cannoli....ever ever ever! The crust was super thin and crispy, and the filling was just sheep ricotta with some citrus zest. Oh boy. Ohhhhhh boy! Stacey and I wrote in their guestbook that it was our best Sicilian experience...and of course, the best cannoli! So if you ever wish to have a real Cannoli, go to Regaleali!

We also went to this cooking school close to the winery, where this older landy - Anna Tasca Lanza has cooking lessons and that is a part of James Beard Workshop. She was a good friend of Julia Child which is amazing!

This is a copy of her book that you can also get in the States:




On our way back we saw a pretty funny sight, I absolutely loved it! Don't you agree? I don't think I have to add anything to it.



And the very last stop was the store where we got some amazing extra virgin olive oil of theirs that is as good the one from our olives! And please look at how their wine tanks look like! How unique, I loved it!



So this is it! Hope you had fun with this last bit of my Sicilian adventure!

Yes, we decided to climb the most active volcano in the World - Etna. It is also the highest one in Europe, with the height of 3.320 m and the last eruption was in 2004. Let me tell you, I was a bit nervous, but I am very happy I did it. It was such an experience; the air, soil, smell, everything is different and unique.

An important fact to mention is that in the surroundings of Etna the soil is very fertile and people use it efficiently. One of the examples would be the Pistachio plantations in the city of Bronte that we visited on the way back. I have never seen a pistachio tree before and I was really excited to see it. As you can see on the photo, the fruit is still growing, because the harvest is in fall. I still couldn't resist to pick a few and see what it looks like in this stage. This was amazing to see also because at school we tend to order Sicilian pistachios for some specialty desserts, and they are very expensive.






While we were in Bronte, pistachio gelato was a must. Just so you know, I never liked pistachio gelato, ever! It was probably one of the flavors I couldn't eat. I am happy to say that this has changed everything. This is now probably my favorite flavor. It is so creamy, smooth, nutty, and it seems like I'm eating ice cold pistachio paste. And color? Combination of brown and dark green. From then on, Stacey and I were judging all gelato shops by the color of the pistachio one :)

After the amazing experience we headed to Taormina - a beautiful and fancy little town, full of tourists who enjoy high end stores and exquisite cuisine. We just went for a walk and of course...a dessert. This is something that caught my attention and I had to get in (ok, I had to see all of them, but this one was really special).






As I already mentioned, most pastries here are made of marzipan, pistachios, and citrus marmalade. There isn't anything creamy, the shop consists soley of cookie - like pastries, very moist and sweet. It goes very well with a strong espresso.





Crazy, huh?





With this post I will close my 5 week Italian trip and it is time to tell you a little bit about Croatia where I am enjoying myself to the fullest.

Erice is a small town on the west side of Sicily. With unusual architecture and friendly people, there is a pastry shop that my Chef suggested me to see, since he met the lady who owns it. After 30 minutes walking around, we finally found a little old style pastry shop packed with all kinds of marzipan products.



Southern Italy, as well as Sicily is famous for marzipan products since they have almonds in abundance. I was especially amazed with fruits and vegetables made out of marzipan that look as if they were real! Fabulous!



The lady - Maria Grammatico is almost turning 70 and still working a full day job, starting from 8 in the morning to midnight. Crazy. She is a former nun and she learned everything from the nuns and eventually opened her bakeshop or as they call it ''laboratorio''.



We met with her and tried to have a conversation with my broken Italian, but we did it. She gave us a tour of her bakeshop and I especially liked the almond grinder to make marzipan.




All the products were fantastic, except some doughs that were made of margarine and I am not very fond of it.



She also invited me to come and work there for a month, which is amazing, but we shall see. Oh, one more thing - s few of her products are exported to the US, especially the quince paste which you can get at Dean & DeLuca.

All in all, it was a great day, lots of new experiences and many sweets!!

We finally made it to the Amalfi coast (Costiera Amalfitana) that I always used to look up on the internet and now I was there for real. What a feeling, what a sight!
I was blown away with colorful houses literally carved into the rocks right on the edge. Fascinating.

Except sightseeing, I had a goal to visit a very famous ''pasticceria'' Del Riso. And so I decided to call Signor Salvatore Del Riso and see if we could meet him and visit the bakeshop. Let me tell you, I started learning Italian for the first time 6 months ago, but talking on the phone with him was quite a challenge. No one at his company spoke english, so I had to struggle, which was actually a good thing.
At the end I was very proud, because I organized a meeting, tour, with the understanding of the location, and all of that with my broken Italian :)



On this photo I wanted to show you how they grow lemons. Everything underneath that house are lemon trees! It's unbelieveable how many of them there are.
The whole Amalfi coast is like that, it's no wonder they utilize it to the maximum. The bakeshop was a dream. If I haven't seen that before I wouldn't think a place like that exists. They are just renovating the space, which will be amazing once it's done; lots of windows, sunlight, machinery is like WOW, organization, seasonality is respected - they freeze for example wild strawberries during the season for the rest of the year. If I talk about the quality of ingredients, I don't know where to start - from high class 83% fat German butter, fresh cream, eggs from Verona, their own pear compote, candied orange and lemon peel...



This was an example of a wedding cake they did that day that will be set up once it reaches its location.
At the end I had to ask for employment, because I would want to work there immediately! At the moment they are not hiring, but....I will stay in touch ;)

After an 1 hour tour, we went to the real pasticceria, sat down, and enjoyed some of their delicacies. Here they are:



This is the best looking Cassata I have seen during the trip and I had to get it, because I never tried it before. Well, what should I say....It's OK. To start of, I am not a fan of florescent looking candied friuts. Then, I don't like the chocolate chips in it either, it just doesn't work for me. The body of the cake is cheese base, and it's quite good, but overall I am not a fan.



This is Signor's De Riso's signature cake with ricotta and pears. It contains the pear compote I tried at the bakeshop, which has such a strong, almost artificial aroma. He said they only add a bit of rum to it. The crust was a version of graham crust, but better. All in all, the flavors go together really well. This is also a classic gelato combination, you see it everywhere!



Since it was Stacey's birthday she wished a piece of chocolate cake. This was a very simple cake made with dark chocolate, ground almonds, butter, eggs, and sugar. Simple, but a bit dry towards the end.



These last two are the absolute winners for me. This little lemon soaked ball was fabulous. It seems like it is a biscuit/sponge enriched with some almond flour, baked and then soaked in the wonderful fresh lemon juice.



Now THIS is a dessert of this area. No matter where you go you will find it, but nowhere as good as here, trust me. It is called ''Delizia di limone'' and it's oh so good. The process of making it takes some time, but it's worth it. It consists of biscuit/sponge filled with lemon pastry cream which is then lightly soaked with some lemon syrup and then enrobed in a creamy lemon glaze. So if you like lemons...I actually bought the book of Signor De Riso and I can't wait to to try a few things.
You have no idea how much we all enjoyed this visit, desserts, and the whole experience. I am still under such impression of the whole place and concept, and I am anticipating an e-mail from De Riso ;)

Click here to see the web site.