Today, was a special day for me, Grammy, Christina and Naomi since we scheduled a cooking class together! It was something I had been looking forward to and it was nice to have some time with just the ladies of the trip while Jay watched the kids. Uncle Ron was kind enough to drive Naomi and I to the class which was about 45 min away in the “suburbs” of Siracusa. I am still hesitant to drive in Sicily so I appreciated the ride! We met our chef, Teresa, at her house and without any small talk she immediately asked us to put aprons on and wash our hands. Naomi and I exchanged looks of amusement/surprise as we quickly realized Teresa had a lot to teach us and wanted to get right down to business! Fortunately, Grammy and Christina arrived soon after us so we could start the class.
Although, Teresa did indeed have a schedule she wanted to adhere to, the environment actually ended up being quite therapeutic because, we spent most of the time prepping the food outside in her beautiful garden with relaxing music playing in the background. We cooked ricotta stuffed ravioli, arancini, and caponata. We spent about 2.5 hours cooking everything, but the time flew by because it felt more like being on a cooking show than a chore. Maybe because I wasn’t at home trying to split my attention with 2 young children and I didn’t have a mountain of dishes to deal with after! If I do say so myself, everything we cooked was delicious! We had a lovely lunch together once we were done and Uncle Ron got to join us at the end for a taste of our food when he came to pick us up.
Meanwhile, Jay and the kids had a nice day together hanging out in the pool back at the villa!
We had a photographer come to the villa to take some nice family photos that evening. So, we all got dressed up and took some great family photos with all 15 of us. One memorable situation was when Sully was taking a photo with the grandkids and Beckett was on his lap. As the photo was being taken something bit/stung him and he stood up quickly and launched Beckett down a few stairs. Luckily, everyone was ok but that was the end of the photos for Beckett.
After the photos we all headed into Marzamemi for a night out and family dinner. Marzamemi is a small fishing village that is located ~20 minutes from our villa. We tried going to a fancy seafood place (Nassa) but were pretty much laughed out of the restaurant when we told them we didn’t have a reservation and we were 11 people that wanted to eat outside. Instead, we went to a pizza/pasta place (La Pagoda) which probably ended up being a much better decision as it had lots of space and a friendlier kid menu.
We ordered Beckett french fry pizza as those are his two favorite foods and the look on his face and the “oh my!” he shouted when he saw it lived up to the expectations! Unfortunately, he quickly realized that french fry pizza is kind of weird and refused to eat the french fries or the pizza…we can’t win! Luckily, all the other kids got chicken cutlets and ate their meals.
After dinner we walked across the street to Don Peppinu which claims to be the original Sicilian gelato. As we walked in we were quickly intimidated. It was super busy and noisy and everyone was going in every direction. They had a very defined process and moved you through it aggressively (think Chipotle). You tell them all the sizes you want and pay first. Then you wait in line and give your receipt to the people behind the counter and they call out a ticket item and ask what flavor(s) cup/cone etc. It was pretty daunting, but we got through it unscathed except for Ryan who had immediately crumbled up his receipt after paying. Luckily, he didn’t throw it away. The kids loved eating gelato at 11pm lol.
I ordered a zabliogne-flavored gelato which was a special tribute to my Mom who used to make this dessert! It is a Sicilian dessert made from egg yolks, Marsala and sugar and we always had it served warm. I had never seen a gelato with this flavor before, but it tasted just like a cold version of the dessert I remembered and for a few moments it felt like my Mom was with us on the trip. She certainly would have loved being here with all of us.
