What about Sicily??

 I haven't posted anything on Sicily for 6 months??!!

Lucia making pasta con il tenerumi

And so many things have happened since February!  I've watched loads and loads of YouTube videos of the Pasta Grannies and In Taverna con Lucia on my iPad, because I've been spending 30 to 60 minutes a day on the recumbent bike exercising my knee.  I don't think I've mentioned Lucia before.  She's a very energetic Sicilian cook that videos herself making lots of dishes, many of them typically Sicilian.  Sort of like a Sicilian Maangchi:  lighthearted, funny and unassuming.  Naturally she speaks very rapid Italian but I can slow the playback speed to 75% and that helps a lot.  I also use the automatically generated closed captions but they can be pretty poor sometimes.  

One of her latest videos was on using the Italian Cucuzza squash, a very long summer squash with velvety leaves and white flowers that open up at night.  I grew it once many years ago but couldn't find a way to use it.  Lucia chops up the leaves, peels the squash and cooks it with tomatoes and onions and serves it with pasta.  

I've also subscribed to the La Cucina Italiana newsletter so every single day I get an email from them linking to 5 or 6 recipes or articles on Italian cuisine.  Ashamedly I've been reading their English version instead of the Italian one.  I remember picking up copies of the Italian magazine at the swap shop in the married student housing in Albany (that's CA not NY) in the 1970s.  I carried them around with me for years and finally gave them away a few years ago (along with the Spanish Encyclopedia Salvat), keeping only one copy for nostalgia's sake.

A few days ago La Cucina Italiana's email linked to an article on Sicilian food with links to additional Sicilian recipes.  And they don't just have recipes but articles on the regions:

• Agrigento, Sicily in Two Days
• Sicilian Cuisine: East Versus West (Catania vs Palermo)
• The Bounty of Sicily's Sicani Mountains
• Harvesting the World's Best Capers on Sicily's Island of Salina
• Retro Meets Baroque: Where and What to Eat in Southeast Sicily (Ragusa)

Of course, it is all about the food.  So what's my next step?  To sign up for the Italian version of the newsletter!