My favorite part of the market...

The zucchini man! Yes, let me explain. We were wandering around the market in the hot sun, and I saw this man handing people paper cones filled with something that people were eating on the spot as soon as he handed it to them. They would order one cone, finish it, and order one more. So I asked him what it was, and he said, "Zuchini," like with the "ch" instead of the hard "k," which doesn't really matter, except that no matter how you pronounce "zucchini," you wouldn't necessarily think it was going to blow your mind or even be something you'd want to gobble down on a hot day. EXCEPT that it was! Here it is:
The zucchini man kept his boiled zucchinis in a cooler packed with ice. He would take a zucchini out, slice it, dump the zucchini in a cone, squeeze lemon juice on it, and sprinkle it with sea salt. Seriously, the cold, sour, salty mixture was so refreshing. Maybe it was the heat or the surprise factor (who thought you had it in you, zucchini!), but it was a lovely thing to taste. And the delight grew tenfold when a couple more big Sicilian dudes with gold chains came up and ordered some zucchini cones. Oh! Another surprise:
I'm assuming the above are the "zucchini" we're talking about? I've never seen such gourds!

EDIT: Prof. Spoots has spoken! The zucchini in question are cucuzza lunga, my new best serpentine-gourd friends.

The Hubs' favorite part of the market.

The Hubs will forever remember this part of the market because nestled amid meats and cheeses was something he had always dreamed of but had given up searching for due to general lack of imagination among deli owners. That's his finger pointing to it above. Overheard, "Oh. My. God. Is that a bunch of chopped up cheese and meat?"
Here's a close-up. It is, indeed, a bunch of chopped up cheese and meat. This is where the Hubs began rambling about how he had always wanted something like this, but no one offered it, and he had been too afraid to ask. (Sorry for the slightly red tint, btw. I couldn't get the lighting right because the sun was shining through orange awnings and there were also florescent lights.) Finally, a shot of the Hubs' grab bag of ham, salami, provolone, and a certain other yellow cheese:

Close up of the ricotta, olives, capers and dried peppers:

More ricotta!

Workin' off those carbs at Monreale Cathedral and Cloisters

Okay, we're not working off that many carbs touring a church, especially since we took a bus to get there. Anyhow, I gotta blog about this just to split up the frequent food postings, otherwise you'll think I'm an absolute pig (quiet, you). This is the glorious Cathedral of Monreale with its detailed glass mosaics. (I'll have to find the scene where Eve is sitting on a rock, and Adam is toiling behind her, and she's all, "Whatevs. You work it out." Still awesome 800 years later.) Here's my think-piece "Glowy Angel Shadow in Church (on Stripy Background):"
The church combines traditional Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic architecture and Muslim sculptural detailing! (Exclamation point is earnest. We were in awe.)

I think the cloisters were the coolest part, though.

Each of the sculpted capitals were unique:

All the columns had inlay detailing, which is crazy to contemplate, because there are 216 of them.

Ladies and Gentlemen: My Donut

Here we are having breakfast on our second day in Palermo at Massaro's pasticceria. At first the Italian dessert-for-breakfast approach seemed like a very good idea: 

Little pistachio and almond cookies with cappuccino and a strategically placed Massaro sugar packet.

The Hubs' apple and custard tart. At this point, in between bites of donut and tart and cookie, we started to slow down and admit that we might have over-ordered. Even when the Hubs started burping and giggling and my eyes started rolling into the back of my head, we still braced ourselves for more bites of the never-ending donut and would only allow, "It's a lot of donut."

Finally, we couldn't finish the last three bites of what is now known as the "Sweet Ring of Shame," but I'm sure whoever cleans Massaro's floors and tables is grateful for human beings' built-in portion-control censors.  If I had to do it again, I perhaps wouldn't have gone with the previously tried-and-true "biggest sparkly thing under the glass case, please" strategy, but instead I would have filled up on these little guys above (all the variations of almond and pistachio cookies) because they were delicate (compared to that mofo of a donut) and had a slightly chewy texture. I like the chewy in my cookie.

EDIT: Fine. I admit it. I actually saved the last part of the donut in case I got hungry later. I wrapped it in a paper bag and put it in my jacket pocket, but after we went to Monreale Cathedral, the paper bag was so damp from the oil from the donut that the bag tore, and I had sugar and soggy donut in my pocket. At that point, I had to let it go. Just don't say I didn't love that donut enough.

Decision 2009: P.Y.T. vs The Girl is Mine

Please settle this argument for us: Which MJ song is better, P.Y.T. or The Girl is Mine? These are the hard-hitting questions occupying us in Sofia in the wake of friends leaving (Joslyn, Larry, and Sid, we miss you!) and on the eve of a new government in Bulgaria. 


Admit it. It's a tough one.

Moody in Palermo

There was a bit of unseasonal wind and rain that passed through Palermo in the evening and next morning, but it made for cool photos. Above, the Quattro Canti.

Camilliani's fountain at night.

The Albergheria neighborhood.

Man with Pasta, a short story

We made it to dinner on our first full day in Palermo! Here is the Hubs with the pasta — an almond, zucchini, clam, shrimp and tomato explosion. 

Here is me hovering.

Face in pasta. The end.

Vroom vroom!

I wish this was my vespa.

If we were in New York, this would be Little Italy.

Trees growing in a roofless church.

Playing at the Stand Florio.

Awnings around mid-afternoon. It was pretty hot and dusty.

Interesting...? More hungry, though.