Our walking tour of Palermo is planned for this rainy Saturday. We both head out with our umbrellas somewhat dreading a walking 4 hr tour in the rain. We get to the plaza where we will be meeting our tour guide and see a woman walking around a bit…not wanting to be the first ones to say, “Are you Patrizia?” we just had 5 minutes of awkward eye contact until she asked CC if she was “Chin-sia”
We begin our tour with this extremely nice woman who was just so happy to be guiding us around. She showed us the Capo Market which is an old arab market that carries the freshiest fruits, veggies, meats and fish we have seen yet. As we started taking a million pictures, CC and I both realize that our cameras are not charged and are dying. The one day in Palermo that it rains and the one day that we don’t have our cameras charged in the one day we desperately need both.
We managed anyways. Patrizia also took us into many churches within the market that were breathtaking. Teatro Massimo was also on the tour list and after 3 hours of walking we were starving. Little did we know that this lunch that was included in the tour was going to be a 6
course, traditional Sicilian homemade meal. (omg, yum!)
The menu was as follows:
Antipasta: Panelle (Sicilian fritters made from chick pea flour and other ingredients. They are a popular street food in Palermo and are often eaten between bread or on a roll, like a sandwich.)
Primo: Sfincione PIzza (is a very common variety of pizza that originated in Palermo. It is typically square, with more dough, sauce and cheese. An authentic recipe often calls for Caciocavallo, bread crumbs, onion, tomato sauce and bits of anchovies)
Secondo: Anelletti Al Forno (You may find this little timballo of pasta in bars and diners in Palermo that goes with the most classic Sicilian ragout made of minced meat, tomato sauce, onions and pieces
of vegetables like carrots and peas.)
Contori: Caponata (a Sicilian eggplant dish consisting of a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, with capers in a sweet and sour sauce)
Dolce:disgusting dessert wine and cassatta al forno con ricotta (traditional Sicilian dessert that is fried dough filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and choclate bits, sprinkles with powdered sugar..YUM)
Caffe: Espresso and mini biscotti
After we could barely move, we say bye to our dear Patrizia who kept referring to herself as our mother in Palermo. It was one of the best tours we have both ever been on and really appreciated how helpful and friendly she was.
We get back home and are so full that we cannot move and lounge in bed for the rest of this rainy day and refused to eat ANYTHING else. I guess it might be good we didn’t eat much the first two weeks, because food is now easier to find. This may be a problem. As we are in bed, we get a text message. Anytime our phone rings, we get scared because no one should be calling us! Who is it? Patrizia. She is with Maria from our pharmacy. Literally the only two people we really know in Italy are besties, and informed us that they are currently drinking wine to our health…what is going on?
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