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Ode to… Good Food

The irony of traveling to the eastern coast of Sicily, where Helios unleashed his firery wrath upon the crew of Odysseus for eating something they shouldn’t have (the Oxen of the Sun), on a food trip does not escape me. And it almost didn’t escape us, because one of us almost literally ate ourselves to death.

Never in my life have I seen so much food. So much good food. So much really, really good food. I’ve also never traveled with foodies before. I’ll try to make this my only generic entry on Sicily (the rest more regional). Sitting at a table in the Sicilian coast or countryside with foodies is no different than group sex, I kid you not. The moans and groans from our table, the bulging eyes at the variety of dishes splayed in front of you- the pure ecstasy of flavors coating tongues. Love hath taken new meaning with a group of foodies unleashed in Sicily. We traveled miles, made three hour car drive pilgrimages to specific restaurants, one trip simply to eat one dish- a pistachio granita.

Here is what we ALL ate at one sitting, a meal that nearly killed one of us:

Antipasta: breaded peppers, fava bean and fennel salad, roasted onions, potato string bean salad, capunata, veal livers, tomato-oil soaked bread, carrots, various cheeses, pig fat, salami, cheese with walnuts, olives, bread, mini pasta shells with olives and celery, sweet and sour meatballs.

Pastas: spicy tomato-garlic spaghetti with lemon grinds, pistachio penne, spiral pasta with veggies, linguine with zucchini and mint.

Meats: lamb chop, sausages, veal patties in lemon leafs, ribs, steak, Canadian bison (with 2 side salads, including  a bowl with fennel because it helps with appetite).

Dessert: Fried ravioli (some with cheese, some chocolate, both coated with white sugar powder), fruit bowl (watermelon, apple, peaches, cherries, strawberries, honey dew, cantaloupe), various cakes with whipped cream, eclairs, citron with salt

Beverages: wine, water (gas and without), coke (for me to digest all this), espresso, Rosolio liquor (pistachio, cinnamon and lemon)

If we didn’t drop dead, we were certain we’d become instant diabetics, simply from the desserts. Ice-cream and bread for breakfast with a cappuccino? You kidding me?

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