Tag: featured

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Cilda – My favorite place to buy wine in Catania

There are a lot of options when it comes to buying wine in Sicily.  Especially for those with access to Sigonella.  For a while I bought my wine at the NEX because I figured it was the best price and it was already in dollars.  My local friend Mario showed me a new option that is cheaper and has a better selection.  Its called Cilda (or C.I.L.D.A) and its on the outskirts of downtown Catania.  Turns out that this place has been in business since the 30s and is known by most Cantanese (or is it Catanianians..not sure on that one 😎

An example of the cost difference is with a typical Continue reading “Cilda – My favorite place to buy wine in Catania”

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Lech Austria – Shhhpegetti and Skiing

Your probably wondering about the title and  if Nick has been drinking and writing again.  Although I am a little delirious after the Easter feast we just had,  I misspelled Spaghetti because this was how our Austrian friends pronounced it.  This still cracks us up today whenever anyone says spaghetti…  we don’t get out much.  Anyways now that that is all sorted out, onto the trip.

This past winter season we promised ourselves that we would test our skiing skills on the Alps.  The birthplace for skiing.   Trying to pick Continue reading “Lech Austria – Shhhpegetti and Skiing”

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Sicily Gets “Best Beach in the World” Honor!

Tripadvisor has put out their “Best of 2013” and a Sicilian beach scored the best beach in the World!  Yes, beating out all the Hawaiian beaches, Caribbean beaches, and Mexican beaches.  The beach is called Rabbit beach and its on an island off the southern coast of Sicily called Lampedusa.   We have yet to go to this island, but it was on my radar before this.   Its about an hour flight from Catania airport or a boat ride from the southern coast.  Darwin airlines (whom I have never heard of) seems to be the only airline that flies direct to the island.  Then once your there you have to take a boat to the beach, since that is the only way that it can supposedly be accessed.

Im excited that  Sicily got such a great honor and Im equally excited to check the beach out this year sometime.  I will report back with pictures of course.  This beach looks very similar to Continue reading “Sicily Gets “Best Beach in the World” Honor!”

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Patria Winery – Mount Etna Sicily

A new winery!  By new winery I mean one of the oldest wineries on Sicily, but new for us.  Now that I have you thoroughly confused lets talk about wine! haha.  Its been a while since we did a winery tour and the timing couldn’t be better.  Spring has started to show itself and we are getting sporadic sunny and 70 days.  Luckily we hit one of the good days for this tasting.  Also this time we had a good group of friends that joined us.  I randomly threw the idea out there a couple weeks ago and everyone else must have been feeling the itch as well because we ended up being 21 strong!!  Look out… 21 Americans & Sicilians climbing Mt. Etna to a winery for a fun filled wino day.  Sounds like Continue reading “Patria Winery – Mount Etna Sicily”

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Arancia Rossa Have Arrived!

We have been keeping an eye on the produce markets waiting for these oranges to arrive.  Last year we became obsessed with eating these.  Since everything is seasonal around here you have to wait in anticipation until they arrive again.  I think this build up makes the oranges taste even better.  Even with that in mind… I can honestly say that I have never tasted oranges like this.  I know that I have said this before about artichokes and other produce and you are probably sick of hearing it, but it is true.  The taste is unreal.  It makes me want to go to Florida and drop off a few bags and slap them around a little bit.

One of the things I like most about the local oranges  Continue reading “Arancia Rossa Have Arrived!”

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Palmento – A Great Book about Sicilian Wine and Culture

I forgot to talk about this book about a year ago when I read it.  I just ran across it in the house again and remembered that I had to share.   If you need an new book or know someone that has an interest in Sicilian wine or just Sicily for that matter this is a good one. 

This book is great because it not only talks about Continue reading “Palmento – A Great Book about Sicilian Wine and Culture”

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Does the Mediterranean Diet Include Cannoli ?

Article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/25/mediterranean-diet-cuts-risk-of-heart-attack-stroke-death/1943305/

I saw this article today about how people could reduce the risk of stroke by 33% to 46% if they followed a Mediterranean diet.  This made me laugh since we are in the middle of the Mediterranean and I haven’t seen a whole lot of health nuts around!  The diet around here doesn’t really fall into the rules of the “Mediterranean diet”, when they enjoy humungous plates of pasta as a starter eventually leading to a round of cannoli as a finisher at midnight.  Nowhere is this more apparent than at the beaches during the summer when everyone shamelessly bares it all in their banana hammocks and bikinis.  🙂  At least they are proud of themselves!

In fairness… the non pasta or pizza dishes are healthier around here.  A lot of raw fruits & veggies.  Also seafood is a mainstay in the diet.  The biggest change that I have noticed is the primary use of olive oil over butter.  The news article does touch upon this fact about olive oil being an important part of the equation.  I have noticed that I have been eating a lot more of the foods that I note above… but this also includes the foods in the “bad” paragraph.  Overall I would say its tough to keep on a healthy regiment here, with the choices at restaurants and the irresistible desserts! Luckily I have hockey and surfing to keep things in balance.

Should the name of this diet be changed??  Maybe if it was called the “Italian diet”… then I would definitely have to throw a red flag on that!

 

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Cassis France – Southern France Surprise

Cassis isn’t a typical town that comes to mind when folks talk about Southern France.   When you have Nice, St. Tropez, and Cannes as neighbors its probably tough to get some attention.  We actually liked Cassis better than all those towns.  We found out about it from one of my San Diego friends that is married to a French girl.  Also it turns out that Rick Steve’s talks a bit about it as well in one of his France tour guides.  We really enjoyed how the town didn’t have any type of touristy vibe to it, but had a lot to offer.  One of the days we Continue reading “Cassis France – Southern France Surprise”