Sicily, Italy 7 - Palermo 4 & treats

Day 7 was our last full day of the trip, which means it was a big shopping day! We had a breakfast at Caffetteria Ferraro, a cafe near our Airbnb. A good news was the cafe opens as early as 7am, which was perfect for early birds like us. We visited the cafe around 7:15 or so. A bad news (especially for J) was their kitchen opens at 9am. J couldn't get his hot dish like scrambled eggs. A worse news (only for J) was only sweet patsies were available. No savory sandwiches, even no plain croissants. Like many plain croissants in Sicily we saw, their "plain croissant" was lightly sugar-grazed, of course. Sicily, and Italy in general, can be unfriendly places for savory breakfast lovers like J. I saw J got upset and ordered only cappuccino and orange juice. I hope his cute cappuccino art cheered him up. He quickly ate cookies that were accompanied with his coffee, though. That doesn't make sense to me... 

Anyway, I got a cornetto al pistacchio in addition to tea and orange juice. The cornetto tasted really good. It was filled with the amount of pistachio cream that was more than the pastry size, literally. When I bit it, the cream escaped from here and there. Some fell on my hands and inside of my sweater's sleeve. It was such a mess! We came back to Airbnb after the breakfast, and I had to wash my hands and sweater and change. I hope I have a second chance to get their delicious cornetto al pistacchio so that I can try to eat it more carefully and efficiently.

The Teatro Massimo di Palermo was beautiful in the morning sun! We walked past the building many times, somehow always in the afternoon, when the facade was in shade and crowded with people (tourists?). I was glad to see and took some nice photos of the theater finally!

Prezzemolo & Vitale was a lovely grocery store to shop Sicilian goodies, such as cheese and wine. I didn't know there are so many kinds of pecorino!

It was interesting to see fresh seafood stalls on the street in Palermo. I guess they are fishermen who sell what they catch early in the morning. For me, a seafood lover, it's ideal to live in a city with easy access to fresh seafood.

We stopped by Tuppulia, a gelateria that is located at north of the city center, known for its exceptional flavors of gelato and granita. I thought it would be my last chance to taste granita, a Sicilian specialty, on this trip. Since I can't take it home with me, I chose two flavors: strawberry and pistachio. Both were delightful! J was interested in peanut butter gelato, so we asked for tasting of it a bit. It was very intense flavor as if it was 100% peanut butter. While both are Italian treats, Granita siciliana is a refreshing, dairy-free frozen dessert with a unique "grainy yet creamy" texture, whereas Gelato is a rich, milk-based, creamy dessert. This trip introduced me to granita siciliana. I love it as much as gelato. 

A couple of steps from the gelato shop was Cassata del Barone, a pastry shop that specializes in cassata. Their cassata looked pretty but probably difficult to take home without destroying the beautiful decoration. 

Until our reservation time for lunch, we wandered around the northern city center, browsing a clothing store, a home good store, a supermarket, etc.

We chose to revisit Corona Trattoria as a perfect place for our last lunch of the trip. 

We repeated the two appetizers: Caponata Siciliana and Trittico, and we confirmed that they were so delicious and we liked both very much!

My main was grilled calamari or shrimp. The dish looked like the shrimp sleeping on calamari pillows. They looked cozy and cute. Of course, the shrimp and calamari tasted wonderful. So did the green side. 

J had la pasta margherita con l'anciova. It's a classic first course of Sicilian peasant cuisine, especially from Palermo, pairing ribbon-shaped "margherita" pasta with a tomato-based sauce made of melted salted anchovies, raisins, pine nuts and toasted breadcrumbs. J didn't make any comment on the dish. Sweet raisins in the savory pasta sauce as well as toasted breadcrombs on pasta are not usually his things. I am not sure if he fully enjoyed the margherita con l'anciova although the dish definitely sounded like my cup of cake.

We came back to the middle of the city center. While we were walking through La Vucciria, another historical market with a mix of restaurants and street food stalls, it started raining hard. We ran to I Segreti del Chiostro, our favorite pastry shop in Palermo. We were still too full to have desserts, so we just bought some sweets to take home. 

We flew back home in the morning of the next day and had a tea time with the lovely sweets from I Segreti del Chiostro. 

Here are the other treats. The pistachio and lemon soft cookies were very good.

Originating from the baroque town of Modica in southeastern Sicily, Modica chocolate is a distinctive Sicilian treat made using an ancient cold-processing technique. By mixing cocoa paste and sugar at temperatures below 45°C, the sugar never melts, resulting in a signature grainy, crunchy texture. Because it lacks added cocoa butter or lecithin, the final product is a crumbly, minimalist chocolate with a deep, intense flavor profile. Modica chocolate is the only chocolate in Europe that is still made using the traditional method to this day. Modica Chocolate was granted Italian Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status in 2018. The texture was certainly unique and the aftertaste was clean, not oily. I liked the chocolate very much. 

Since it's hard to get clams in Wiesbaden, we bought a small jar of vongole to make Spaghetti alle Vongole, one of our favorite pasta dishes. The anchovies were tasty. We liked them when we made small anchovi toasts. capers were just capers, but good ones.

We used pesto siciliano next day of our return from the trip to make an easy pasta meal. It was handy and tasted nice. We are going to make a sandwich with Pesto di pistacchio as an homage to the wonderful mortadella pizza that we had in Trogir, Croatia. 

We have opened the lemon jam. It was intensely lemony. I love it! I'm looking forward to having the other two.

J has been improving his Moka Pot technique and made lovely dirty chai with Bialetti's Single Origin Colombia 100% Arabica coffee that we picked up at a Bialetti's store in Catania. Thank you J!

Three kinds of Sicilian red. J have opened two of them. I tasted both a bit and they were rich, fruity, bright. 

The in-shell pistachios were so good that J couldn't stop snacking. 

The guanciale was very tasty and it made wonderful carbonara sauce once and amatriciana sauce twice. 

Three kinds of cheese. I am sure the middle was Piacentinu Ennese, a traditional PDO Sicilian sheep's cheese, distinct for its saffron-infused yellow color and embedded black peppercorns. However, I don't know what the other two were. I guess they were kinds of pecorino. I can certainly say that all the three tasted pretty good. 

It was another superb trip. It was great to see the east and west of the island, visiting multiple towns. While the train ride was easy, it might be enjoyable to drive around Sicily, discovering hidden charming villages and beaches as well as ancient ruins, perhaps, next time.