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.