Archive | Sicily

the ruins of Syracuse

March 29, 2012 at 2:20 pm

Meet Ginny (L) and Carrie (R), the two lovely ladies who stayed with us this week. They are from the D.C. area, as Elliott and I are. I loved having two girls my own age around to talk to, especially when it came to books, Downton Abbey, music, movies… the things that 25-year-old girls talk about these days. Whether we work for a non-profit in D.C. or live in London or mother in Sicily, some things are always the same.

On our trip to Syracuse, or Siracusa (as the Italians say), we first stopped at the archeological park on the outskirts of town. The first stop in the park was this overgrown Roman amphitheater, now turned brilliantly green in the lushness of Sicilian spring.

Later we turned in our tickets and walked into the main part of the park to see the three major sites: the Greek Theater, the Latomia del Paradiso (a sunken garden in an ancient quarry), and the Ear of Dionysius.

The Greek Theater was surrounded by caves in the hillside around top, and from one of the caves burst this rushing stream. The theater, large enough to seat 1500, looks over the port and towards the Ionian Sea. Workmen appeared to be building makeshift bleachers and a stage over the crumbling ruins of the old theater. I later learned the INDA (the Italian national drama institute) will be performing classical plays here this year! We might have to come back this summer…

photo taken by Carrie

We walked down into the “sunken garden” in the ancient quarry. It was a magical place, somewhat overgrown and Secret Garden-esque, with trees dripping with lemons and oranges.

We found the Ear of Dionysius, a huge cave in the limestone quarry. Legend has it that the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse housed political prisoners in the cave. The incredible acoustics of the cave allowed him to listen in to his prisoners’ secrets.

photo taken by Carrie

We spent some more time wandering through the gardens and admiring various locals soaking in the peaceful day. Meanwhile, hoards of tourists (about five school groups of Italian teenagers and seemingly endless cruise ship crowds all speaking German) filled the archeological park, and after awhile we’d had enough. We headed out of the sunlit grotto and wound our way towards Ortygia, the rustic town on an island just off the coast of Sicily. More photos from there tomorrow!

1 :: in Italy, Sicily, travel

the ruins of Syracuse

March 29, 2012 at 1:20 pm

photo taken by Carrie

We walked down into the “sunken garden” in the ancient quarry. It was a magical place, somewhat overgrown and Secret Garden-esque, with trees dripping with lemons and oranges.

1 :: in Italy, Sicily, travel

picnic in the valley

March 28, 2012 at 11:18 am

Hello, few and faithful who read this blog and care that I update frequently! I apologize for being MIA this week thus far. We’ve been entertaining some friends of friends who are visiting Sicily on their way through Italy. Lena and I have so much fun introducing Carrie and Ginny to a few of our favorite haunts near our home, and we also took a fun adventure to the ancient port city of Syracuse yesterday. I’ve got some pretty pictures to share, hopefully tomorrow!

In the meantime, here’s a bit of life around here…

For awhile now I’ve wanted to have a picnic with my friend Becca and her kids, but the weather’s been cold and rainy and windy, and thus a picnic hasn’t been at the top of our list of ways to hang out. However, as of mid-March, Sicily seems to have changed her opinion about what season we’re in, and spring has sprung!

And what better way to celebrate than to picnic in the great green outdoors?

It was warm and sunny and, other than a shepherd with his flock of sheep, we were the only people in the valley. After our picnic lunch, we hiked a little more through the cacti and green grass. The walk back up out of the valley at the end was the toughest part of our hike, but it was a rewarding way to finish a healthy, hearty picnic in our gigantic backyard!

2 :: in friends, Italy, Sicily

picnic in the valley

March 28, 2012 at 10:18 am

In the meantime, here’s a bit of life around here…

And what better way to celebrate than to picnic in the great green outdoors?

2 :: in friends, Italy, Sicily

makin’ marmalade

March 21, 2012 at 9:00 pm

There are many things on my bucket list of life: read War and Peace, learn how to manipulate the manual settings on my camera, write a book of some sort, make Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon, and learn how to can food.

But when my friend invited me to make and can my own blood orange and strawberry marmalade last week, I was hesitant. We had returned from France the day before and the day of the jam-making was my husband’s birthday. Yet it was Elliott who said, “Go! I want you to learn, and so do you!”

So my sweet husband watched our baby alone for several hours on his birthday, all hoping for the reward of some really good jam at the end of the day. I was determined not to disappoint him.

And I set off to learn. One of my friends directed as we other three women cut, chopped, boiled, and supremed at her direction. First we peeled the oranges:

Then we all sat down to “supreme” the oranges, which means we removed all the skin from each individual orange section. This was slow, tedious work, but it does make a delicious marmalade with no orange skins to get caught in your teeth.

Meanwhile, we put all the orange skins to boil on the stove. I cut up a big bowl of strawberries to mix in with the oranges.

We boiled all our jars on the stove to sterilize them. The jars had been the most enigmatic part of canning to me, but they turned out to be straightforward. We sterilized the jars and lids by boiling them for 10 minutes. We would boil them again when they were full of marmalade.

After the oranges were surpremed and the skins had boiled, we mixed the orange pulp, strawberries, and finely sliced orange skins all together.

And into the pot they went, along with quite a bit of sugar and the orange-flavored water that had been boiling with the orange skins.

And then we let the mixture bubble, boil, and steam for a loooong time. The candy thermometer had to get up to 225 F and it took about an hour to do so. Meanwhile all the windows in my friend Becca’s apartment steamed up and we basked in our own marmalade-scented sauna.

Finally the temperature reached 225 F and we had our marmalade! We carefully poured it into the sterilized jars, screwed on the lids, and then submerged the jars into a pot of boiling water. With a tea towel on the bottom of the pot in the water, the jars had enough cushion not to break. We let them boil for 10 minutes until the little button in the center of the lids was depressed. Technically, our jars were now sealed, our marmalade was now “canned,” and we could leave the jars out for a few months on our kitchen counters. I don’t think my marmalade is going to last that long, though, considering the serious dent Elliott, Lena, and I have made in it in the past week!

Now here you are. Feast your eyes on the first batch of marmalade made by yours truly!

(And yes, the birthday boy was very pleased.)