Fast Forward to Sicily

Last Thursday we bit the bullet, called Overseas Adventure Travels (OAT) and changed our September Machu Picchu trip to a trip to Sicily in November of 2021.  Hopefully by then the Corona Virus situation will have improved, plus this gives me a reason to brush up on my Italian, which has been abandoned since Osher no longer offers Italian courses.  

Commissario Montalbano

Last night we decided to brush up on our Italian and watched the third episode of Commissario Montalbano again.  It is one of the best episodes  and in a way sets the stage for the rest of the series.  For those of you who don't know, Montalbano is a character in Andrea Camilleri's mysteries that are set in Sicily.  The TV series is in Italian and some of the characters are quite humorous so it is easy to watch.  Plus Montalbano loves good food and goes to restaurants almost daily, although he never visits a market since his housekeeper Adelina cooks for him.  We've watched him eat lots of fish and arancini but never panino con la milza (pani ca meusa in Sicilian).  That's street food (cibo da strada):   spleen sandwich.  Fernando would probably love it but I'll have panelle, the chickpea fritter sandwich, instead.

Is November a bad month to go?  It's cheaper but next to December the wettest month, however Sicily is probably as wet as Southern California.  We arrive in Palermo on November 11th, St. Martin's Day, which is the start of the novello wine season so hopefully we can polish off a bottle of wine a day like we did in Rome, except we won't be eating on our own in an apartment.  Sicily's wines tend to be red and hearty, many made from the Nero d'Avola grape.  Of course there is Marsala as well...

It is too bad that sundown will come early in November so we won't be able to wander around as much in the evening, although at our age it is increasingly rare for us to do that.  On the other hand, I hear that Sicily has very good gelato so we might stay up for that.