Arrivederci Sicilia

 Saturday morning after breakfast, we met our guide and driver in the lobby and took the car to Monreale which is just outside Palermo. Monreale has this amazing cathedral that has so many gold leaf mosaics. It was gorgeous. Our guide Maria took us through the various building additions and explained the symbolism of the different mosaics or design motifs. After the cathedral, we went into the cloisters and she pointed out more symbolism and designs in the columns around the courtyard. Everything was so well preserved. It was amazing to see. We stopped for a cookie that’s typical for Monreale and took in the view of Palermo from the top of the hill. 

After Monreale, we had a walking tour of Palermo. You could see the mix of Norman, Arab and Spanish architecture. We went into the cathedral which was great but not as impressive as Monreale. We walked through a street that was lined with book sellers which was really cool. Then when we stopped at a very old cafe for a street food tasting. We had arancini, chickpea fritters, croquettes and tried spleen sandwiches. It was a bit of an early lunch and we were so full. We got to walk through the Capo market which was chaotic but interesting to see different produce. We got a ride back towards our hotel and stopped for a small cannolo.

After regrouping at the hotel we went out to shop and walk around the city. When we took a break at a cafe for a drink and ran into Natasha, our housemate from the cooking school. I think we got almost everything we set out for. 

We finished shopping and headed to dinner at Trattoria Carpaccio. It was so good but we couldn’t finish our fish courses. We split a cannolo for good measure. 

Travel to Palermo

 On Friday, we had breakfast as a group one last time before departing the cooking school. It was a great group of people.  I hope we stay in touch. Our driver picked us up and took us to our next hotel in Palermo. 

When we got to Palermo, our room wasn’t ready yet so we went out to explore the neighborhood and got lunch. At the cooking school, we pretty much only had water, tea or coffee, and wine to drink so I was excited to have sparkling water back. 

After settling into our hotel, we ventured back out to do some shopping and also decided to take a tour of the Opera House assuming our tour guide won’t take us there Saturday.  It was really stunning. While we were there an orchestra was rehearsing so we got to hear some music. We did some shopping before dinner and dropped everything off at our room. 

For dinner, we had a reservation and arrived to find the restaurant VERY closed so we went back to the area where we had lunch and chose another restaurant. It was really good. I was joking the worst thing I’ve eaten was the potato on a grilled vegetable plate that I thought was something else. We decided to forgo dessert at the restaurant and find the gelato place we had heard about from our cooking school group. The gelato was SO good. 

On Saturday, we have a tour in the morning and then some unplanned time in Palermo before dinner. We fly out SO early on Sunday. 

Last Day at Cooking School

 Thursday morning, we met for breakfast at 9 and then had a little free time to enjoy the sun before our next cooking class with Kyle.

 For this lesson, we made ravioli (with a different pasta dough), spring caponata (artichoke in lieu of eggplant) as well as a lemon pudding. This time we got to use a pasta roller so we could make large sheets for the ravioli. The caponata involved a lot of chopping and prepping the artichokes that came from farm so we all got to chip in. The lemon pudding was similar in style to what we made two days prior with corn starch and cooking it on the stove. Of course everything was delicious. 

After we ate lunch and the product of our lesson, we had the afternoon off and thankfully the weather was good. Some of us walked around the vineyard a bit for some exercise and then we hung out at the pool to read and hang out. By 5 or so it got a little cold so we went back inside before meeting Mia at 6 so she could show us a process called enflourage which uses flower petals and fat to make perfume. We got to talk about the citrus trees in the main garden and each picked several blossoms for us to “recharge” the one she had in process. 

After the garden, we all came in for aperitivo and dinner. It was a little emotional having our last dinner as a group. We had lamb, a green cauliflower, and potatoes. We finished with cannoli and I was unreasonably excited because I hadn’t had a cannolo since Sunday. After the kitchen closed a lot of us took wine to the library to continue to hang out until it was time for bed. 

Friday we have breakfast then say goodbye. Mom & I are heading to Palermo for two nights before flying home on Sunday. Overall this experience was amazing and I’m sorry in advance to everyone who will have to hear about it non stop for a while.