Lipari Island – A Sicilian Getaway

What do you do when you are on an island for an extended period of time? You go to a smaller nearby island. Sorry for the random thought, but I think its funny how many islands we have been to over the past couple years. We might have an obsession with them or maybe some type of “hermit” psychological brain condition that we should spend some time looking into. But who has time for that when there are so many islands to visit in the Mediterranean. MUST SEE more islands. One thing that I like about islands is that they always have their own identity. Lipari definitely has its own identity despite the fact that it is less than an hour away from Sicily via hydro boat (or is it hydrofoil? Continue reading “Lipari Island – A Sicilian Getaway”

Sicilian in San Diego?

What I found surprising before moving to Sicily is that there is a lot of Sicilian presence in San Diego.  Most of the Little Italy places have roots with Sicilian families that immigrated to the States way back when.  The story as I heard it was that they all moved to San Francisco, but the great earthquake of 1906 scared them all down to San Diego.  In San Diego they found a better climate and great fishing.  This lead to Little Italy becoming a mecca for tuna fishing and canning.

Before we moved out here I would talk to some of the Sicilians at Filipi’s in Little Italy.  They told me of certain places to see and where to stay away from the mafia folks.  They definitely glorified the mafia image a bit, probably due to the many Hollywood movies and such.  The reality is that we haven’t had any kind of “experience” with any type of mafia and we feel safer here than San Diego.

I digress…  I receive mail from local San Diego places still that have my forwarded address.  Last week I received a flyer from an Italian restaurant in San Diego called Il Fornaio.  They have this cool routine where they focus on certain regions of Italy and Sicily came up on this flyer.  I thought it was really cool to see this from here in Sicily!  The menu looks pretty legit and the wines that they imported are definitely some of the popular wines that we drink out here.  Unfortunately there is a bit of delay in mail to get here in Sicily so the event is over at the restaurant, but if your in the area and want a taste of Sicily in your backyard they might still have it available.

I know what your asking yourself right now… what would Nick chose on the menu. 🙂

Antipasti I would probably go for the Arancini

Pasta I would go with the Calamarata alle Melanzane because this looks like their attempt at Pasta alla Norma, which is the main Sicilian pasta dish.

Secondi is a very tough choice… all 3 of the choices are very solid… but if I had to make a choice it would probably be the Agnello because Im a sucker for lamb dishes.

For the Sicilian wine I would definitely chose the “La Segreta Ross, Planeta, 2010″ .. its one of our regular favorites here.  The only difference is that we pay $8 a bottle while Il Fornaio has it listed for $35.  I know what your thinking again… ” I don’t really like this Nick character”… ha.   But consider the fact that if you wanted a traditional Sicilian meal like this one you would be paying $1500 for a flight and have to risk your life with the Italian drivers… That upcharge of more than 4x doesn’t sound so bad anymore right?

Prague 1 – Intro to Goulash Country

Things have been super busy over here lately and I haven’t been able to even come close to keeping up with the travel posts here.  Im going to try to at least get the big trips posted soon.  This post is going to be part 1 of 3 for our trip to Prague.  I took a ton of pictures there and didn’t want to cram it all into one post.  I actually took all the pictures with my iphone as well.  I didn’t want to lug Continue reading “Prague 1 – Intro to Goulash Country”

Thanksgiving in Munich Germany

Germany!  I grew up going to a town in Michigan called Frankenmuth and it was Michigans version of little Germany.  Every time that we went it was a big adventure usually with a bunch of the family.  I always had a great time with the different food that was delicious and the vibe of the town with an old fashioned arcade and huge cuckoo clock in the middle of town.  These memories got me really excited about going to the real Germany especially since we were going on the Continue reading “Thanksgiving in Munich Germany”

Dublin

Ready for another trip off the island…. this time to another island!   We found some great flights that were direct from Catania, Sicily to Dublin.  Dublin was one of our top places that we wanted to see while we were out here and it didn’t disappoint.

It was noticeably colder when we got off the plane in Dublin.  Jess and I huddled together like freezing Chihuahuas  at the airport while we Continue reading “Dublin”

Keeping Austin Weird

Went on trip to Austin for a long weekend for a bachelor party of a good friend… and in keeping with the rules of a bachelor party thats all I can say about that … and there will not be any pictures involved here… other than food!

We had a lot of great food this entire weekend.  From epic BBQ to savvy sushi we covered all the bases.  I mean if your going to soak up all that alcohol you might as well do it with good taste in mind right?  Unfortunately I do not have a whole lot of pictures due to the rules, but here is a list of some of the restaurants and Continue reading “Keeping Austin Weird”