Adventures in Food
Besides eating "all tentacles" in Erice and accidentally ordering a pizza with sheep intestines on it in Monreale, we had really delicious meals on this trip. But we did encounter things that are different from home. Here's a sample ...
Our first breakfast buffet in Palermo. All the hotel breakfast buffets had a crazy number of items to choose from. Yes, we had eggs, cold cuts, cheese, olives, bacon, chocolate croissants, panna cotta, lemon tart, almond cake, etc.
Our last breakfast buffet in Catania. The buffet still had a crazy number of items to choose from. But we were so stuffed from all the other meals we had that by the end of the trip we were eating light ... granola or yogurt, fresh fruit, and dried fruit.
DIY cannoli at the breakfast buffet in Taormina.
Eating light might also mean fresh fruit ... with a cannolo!
We preferred acqua naturale over acqua frizzante. That's "non-carbonated or still water" vs. "sparkling water."
​
We also loved the screw-top lids that stayed attached on bottles of water and cola. Clever!
​
Speaking of colas, Fanta Orange in Sicily is delicious. It tastes like orange juice, not orange-flavored soda.
This is the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. We tried it. Once was enough for us. If you try it, split it with someone so it doesn't go to waste if you don't like it. The flesh is mild, similar-ish to a cucumber. But it is chock full of crunchy seeds. Stephanie said some folks pick out the seeds, others just swallow them.
Our pizza-feast on the last night in Taormina included one that was topped with ham, boiled eggs, olives, and green peas. Valerie discovered peas on pizza are great, but "hold the boiled egg."
Valerie is a self-described chocoholic. She can scarf down rich chocolate lava cake with a fudge center and chocolate icing and want more. However, even she said that the chocolate hazelnut gelato that we had in Sicily (in two different cities) was so strong and rich that she could have stopped after a few bites. Our favs were pistachio, mango, and lemon.
The buffets included a variety of juices. We tried pear, pineapple, apple, and orange juices, but our favorite was the "red orange juice" which came from fresh blood oranges.
This was not only the best lemon pasta we've ever had served in an old cow barn, it's also the best lemon pasta we've ever had, period. Thank you, Villa Bianca!
Valerie's pasta burrata was topped with a big ball of fresh mozzarella stuffed with butter ... because nothing goes with dairy like another dairy product!
​
Jay's pasta with sardines ... he was expecting grilled sardines, but it was just flaked. Sadly, it reminded him of tuna pasta.
Besides cheese pizza, another "go-to" for us was panini, aka grilled sandwiches. Warning: In Sicily, they do not use condiments on sandwiches, which means they can be dry. We wished we had condiment packets of mustard and mayo.
Gelato. Yeah, that's pistachio on the right. Drool.
Confession: By the end of the trip, we were tired of having pizza, pasta and panini. So, at the Rome Airport we followed the 20-somethings and had a fried chicken sandwich with fries!
Shopping for yogurt. If a picture of the flavor (like strawberry) wasn't on the container, we relied on a translation app.