Category: Italy

Forza Italia

Another year gone & here we are in Italy. Again. Its where we summer. Our daughter is now talking. You should hear her say, ‘Please’ & ‘Thank you.’ Today she even started saying, ‘Grazie’ and it made my heart melt a little. Here we are in the land of Forza Italia. The country where people… Continue reading Forza Italia

Thirteen years old…Still fit as fiddles…are we Italian now?

Here’s an announcement: We’re thirteen now! On the thirteenth of January. Who wants to party? Anyone in Liguria (Italy), should come over. Now! Bring your Party Stimmung, as they say back in the old country. When we think of all the nonsense our Ken has put us through. Sunrise jogging through Vienna years ago, hiking… Continue reading Thirteen years old…Still fit as fiddles…are we Italian now?

up up up the stairs in Verona

Straight from late summer into what feels like winter, we’ve somehow missed autumn entirely. The leaves are yellowed and fall magnificently, but the temperature is blustery. My thoughts are down south in Italy where I’m sure it’s not only warmer but they’re eating particularly good ice cream while maneuvering the cobble-stoned streets. One of the… Continue reading up up up the stairs in Verona

winding streets and churches and finally cake

Suppose I’m easing into the more conventional travel photos, but they’re finally here. Things like this street are what I find myself more attracted to at the moment, though. Having said that, here’s the cathedral: Quite a name, eh? How many churches do you know with Santissima in their moniker? Oh, and if you liked… Continue reading winding streets and churches and finally cake

creating a backstory…for all of Palermo

We are bad tourists, Elaine and I, and we’ve not done much of anything to right our wrongs. Partially due to our limited skills in the speaking of Sicilian, or Italian for that matter, and partially because we’re so wrapped up in our meandering conversations, we’ve had nearly no interaction with any actual Sicilians during… Continue reading creating a backstory…for all of Palermo

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oranges aren’t the only meat 

There are already more photos of Palermo than one can shake the proverbial stick at, but I just can’t be bothered to sift through them yet and decide which are interesting to anyone other than me.

So, I’ll give you one ridiculous shot and a bit of a story. The handful of you who still come here are doing so for the narrative anyway, right? The photos are gravy, I’m assuming.

What’s with the title of this blogpost, you ask? Well, it comes thanks to Elaine (@elaine4queen), with whom I’m conquering Palermo. There was talk of cake, but we’ve not actually found any of that yet. In the process of our hunt for cake, however, we did find these Orange Balls.

We had both heard of these, but the billing didn’t quite do them justice. Nevertheless, until technology catches up and allows me to upload the taste of something on a blog, a description will have to suffice.

It’s a ball of some sort of corn breading with a variety of different fillings depending on the whims of whoever’s cooking. In this case, we were offered either Ham and Cheese or Meat. When I inquired about what sort of meat specifically was involved in the latter, the woman behind the counter looked at me incredulously and said with an odd finality, ‘Meat.’

Some might have balked, but now I was genuinely curious. The decision was snatched away from us, when the woman announced that they were, alas, out of the Ham and Cheese. We were having the Meat, and have it we did.

They were delicious. There’s a reason why numerous people, upon hearing we were going to Palermo, insisted we try the Orange Balls. There’s nothing remotely citrus about them, incidentally. Orange is a colour here, rather than a taste. Yet they were filling and somehow decadent, and even before we were halfway done, it was clear that there would be no room left for cake.

You could possibly be one of those folk who believes there’s always room for cake. To such a person, I’ll only say, ‘Have an Orange Ball in Palermo and get back to me on that one.‘