Eggplant Parmesan on a Friday Afternoon

Quick, Easy, and Fun Cooking Lessons from our Sicilian Chefs--Mary and Rose!

Today is the last day of my "holiday vacation" so Jacque and I spent the morning learning how to make genuine Sicilian Eggplant Parmesan. Our friends, sisters Mary and Rose Rapisarda, taught us all the tricks including which tomato sauce to buy and how to add the olive oil last. All of the ingredients were very natural and easy to prepare.

The hardest part is frying up the eggplant itself. Apparently it can take two hours to fry up 2 eggplants and you need LOTS of olive oil. This is definitely not a "low fat" dining experience, but it tastes so good that you forget all that! So, you begin by cooking the eggplant the night before, add some tomato sauce tweaked with sugar and salt and layer away like a lasagna of your choice.

Alternate eggplant, sauce, and numerous cheeses, with ham, cooked eggs, and oregano and you've got your base. Add some Parmesan and egg mixture to the top and you've got the makings of a great meal. You pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes so the egg can cook and you're good to go.

We dove right in but you usually wait for it to completely cool to room temperature so the cheese and egg has a chance to solidify. Apparently it's better to eat it later. We didn't want to wait though. Yum yum, it was delicious.

We also made a very simple tomato sauce for a fresh version of Pasta Alla Norma to start with and then added a quick and simple round of Italian meatballs to the meal. Overall, we ended up with a three-course meal. I certainly won't be eating anytime soon. But man was it wonderful!

Special thanks go out to Mary and Rose for all their wisdom and great conversation. Thanks for a great last day of vacay! I can't wait to cook it for Mateo, I know he'll love it.

Fun in the Snow!

There are snow banks taller than me!

For the first day of 2008 the brat pack (Jacque, Rob, Matt and Chris) decided to take the puppies (Indigo, and Madge) up the mountain to play in the snow. Little did we know that they don't actually plow on New Year's Day! After a few close calls we made it to the Rufugio, where all the Italians thought that Indigo was a wolf and Madge was a diva dog in her leopard cape.

At first we tried to go up the "back way" but we only made it as far as the Fiats could go. We let Madge, leopard princess, and Indigo, the snow dog out to play in the white stuff. It only took about 3 minutes before the snowball fight started! Leave it to the boys to get the games going.

After the obligatory "first snowball fight of the year" we ate lunch at this little pizzeria half way up the "big hill" and finished our meal with some hot cocoa Italian-style up top. The boys have yet to learn that it's not right to throw snowballs at your snow bunnies while they're getting their photos taken!

The sunset was amazing, particularly because most of it was see from the top of snow banks! The whole scene reminded me of Alaska, with all that snow and the light just right. You'd think you were somewhere MUCH farther North. What a wonderful way to ring in the new year.

Ofcourse Christymatt kept with tradition, taking goofy long-arm shots throughout the day. Chris kept with her other tradition too, of taking photos without people, without landmarks, that could be ANYWHERE in the world. Hard to stop a life-long habit. . . it's the the "artsy" side coming out.

Hello, 2008! Hope you're as much fun at 2007.

New Year's Resolutions

Welcome 2008!

For my New Year's resolution.....I resloved to take better care of myself, in all ways......which is why I'm taking the time to share my adventures with you today.....taking care of my friends, keeping them posted on how we're doing here in Sicily is just as important as anything else I can do for myself.

For all my friends and family in the states, Matt and I miss and love you very much and we're trying to keep in better touch this year. Thanks for not giving up on us and for understanding that we're not that great at writing. You're never far from our thoughts and we can't wait to hear how you're doing.

For all my friends and family in Sicily....what would we do without you?? You keep Matt and I in check, keep up laughing, and remind us daily of how lucky we are to have found you! Thanks for everything. We love you very much.

New Year's Eve Fun!

Good-bye 2007.....hello 2008!

The brat pack (Jacque, Rob, Christine, and Matt) joined in the fun and rang in the New Year 2008 together. We braved the rain and ventured into the night at 10pm just in time to make it for some Ukelele playing, salsa dancing, and fireworks fun at Tina and Thomas' house in Aci Catena. After a few wrong turns compliments of our friend, TomTom, we made it through their 2 security gates and into the garage festa.

We met people from Alaska, and Hawaii, listened to some live Hawaiian tunes, and danced the evening away amid underwater art, Kalua pig, champagne, cigars, and good chats with new friends. We were lucky and had two Hawaiian gentlemen with Ukeleles, they played and sang some great ones as we counted down to the new year......2008. There's nothing better than a live version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to lighten the heart and warm the soul.

Matt and Rob decided to use their height to play a practical joke on the hostess, Tina......not sure how they got those down! What's worse is that they got Jen in trouble too! Boys will be boys I suppose.

Chris and Matt bought Panerea for cheap! Well, at least we got a painting of Panerea for cheap. Thomas is a great artists and his garage is filled with underwater magic. His specialty is aquatic creations. We managed to grab one of his above the water splendors. Now we just have to find a wall large enough in our house to display it properly! Panerea is one of our favorite places in Sicily so it was quite magical to find such a great find.

The fireworks over here are amazing....feel like blowing something up? Wanna catch something on fire.....just light an Italian firework! Tina's car will never be the same.....but hey, it's New Years! The "kids" got to play with all kinds of fun fire, us ladies, we liked the sparklers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

MAY 2008 BE BLESSED WITH LAUGHTER, LOVE,

AND GOOD TIMES FOR YOU ALL!

Cheers- Christymatt

PJs + Martinis = FUN!

Crepes.....birthdays......PJs......and Martinis, what a combination!

So there we were munching on great Italian bread and bean soup when the idea sprang forth.....let's have a Martini party and hey, let's wear our PJs too, so we're nice a comfortable. and thus.......the First Annual (annual because I think we can only handle it once a year) Martini/PJ party was born. We brought all the fixin's and Pat made crepes for supper. Everyone had their own glass and the "bartenders" got to work. First there was a little too much gin.......yuck! Then there was a little too much Vermouth.......double yuck! Then they were just right.






I believe we each drank about 4 of those little babies on average and BOY did our heads pound the next day. Fun was had by all though, and we finished off our evening by playing Taboo and Rummy-O.... two games that actually require your brain to function properly and not the best games to play when one has had 4 Martinis......but hey, it was fun anyway!









Our evening was filled with celebrations. We got to celebrate the birthdays of two of our dear friends--birthday buddies Rob and Kendra, and helped Pat ring in another D-Day. The evening was filled with laughter and good times.

I feel so lucky to have such a great group of friends and playmates so to speak. Here's to next year's festa. Thanks for the laughs!



Cheers- Christine

It's Almost a New Decade!

39 is the NEW 29!

Our good friend Rob just turned..........well, you can read the title. We had a lovely little celebration before we headed off to the PJ/Martini Party at Pat's.....more on that later though.

We wish him all the best for a great year and are so happy that we got to ring in his final year in the 30s with him. Looking forward to

many more happy birthdays together.

A Hour and a Half Later.......

My Return to Blogger via Google Accounts........

So here it is.....the day after Christmas and I'm thinking, yea, I'll post my new images to flickr and maybe even update my blogspot site. Well, little did I know that it would take me an hour and a half to get a darn password to work on google's login page. I'm so angry that I can't even see straight and want nothing to do to blogger or google or gmail or any of that stuff!



If I never see the words "please re-enter password" again I'll die a happy woman! Talk about a great way to totally RUIN the holiday spirit. In other news.....the Arnolds now have an email account that's just for their friends and family.

ChristyMatt.Sicily@gmail.com. I figured out that the only way it'd let me do anything productive was by creating a new gmail account. Apparently I was right so now we've got two goodies for free. A new spam free email account and an updated blog. Yea.

Here's a few snap shots of our Christmas here in Sicily. There are way more on our flickr site. Make sure and have a look around.

As one of my goals for 2008, I want to update this site more often for my friends and family. I know, I know, you've heard THAT before.....but this time I really mean it. The best laid plans......here's to hoping it'll stick this time.

UPDATE long past due....

Welp...I'm on my lonesome in Nicolosi right now, Christine called me excitedly, a few minutes ago, from the base of a 60 foot tall Radio Telescope in California. This is but one of the many reasons I love my wife.

LOOK!! Our friends the Andre's (Phil and Aja) just had a beautiful baby girl! Her name is Eleanora Louise Andre....she's just under 9lbs...the whole fam is doing great!

















In older news....
About a year ago, we adopted (or he adopted us) a small orange tabby that we named "Sally"... He's about half the size of Harry, and mysteriously afraid of feet. There's Harry wearing Sally as though he were a wrap.

We purchased a Mini Cooper Type S last year...it just rolled over the 7,000 mile point. It's fast...and very fun to drive.

I find that my italian skills have improved somewhat...I now feel that I'm better at the capiche part....it's the parlo I'm really having difficulty with.

Phil and I got a paintball game together up in Nicolosi....I got some of that new computer generated camo...which works REALLY well....when you're completely still. A good time was had by all ten of us...

I have mastered the fine art of turning DVD's into movies for the Video iPod my sweet sweet loving wonderful wife bought me. =)

If you have not held the wonder of science and technology that is an iPod (Nano or Video) you need to... It's like the One Ring..... after you sees it....you wants it.

Several weeks ago Christine and I started on our PADI Open Water diving certificate....we've completed 2 of the required 4 dives...and we're really enjoying it!

My friend Chris accompanied me on a hike up Mount Etna...to visit the ICE CAVES...these caves contain ice year round....they are said to be where the very first ice cream came from! It was an ardous hike....the guide actually got lost at one point....and we wandered over many piles of sharp lava rocks stacked as you would expect on a grill....I don't think Chris has forgiven me for inviting him on this trip. =)

More sooner than later...

-Matt

Happy 4th of July!

Well, seems to me that we get to this about once a year........it's the fourth of July in FLA and I sit bobbing in the Boggy Bayou with my dad and family waiting for the fireworks to be blasted off of the large barge before us.

Looks like this year's fireworks will be a treat. I haven't seen them from "In" the water in years. How magical. It was also my nephew, Sebastian's, first fireworks, there were lots of ohhhhhh, ahhhhhh, from the front of the boat.

What an adventure. This is just one stop in the "Traveling Chris Show" for the summer of 2006. So far stops in Milwaukee, WI, Ontario, CA, and Atlanta, GA top the list. More to come.......