Nanaimo Bars and Christmas

As I mentioned in a past post, I had decided to make Nanaimo Bars as a gift for my family here, as it's one of my favourite desserts, and one that my mom makes around Christmas time. I had a few changes from normal - different cookies and no custard powder, as well as buying walnuts still in their shells - but I figured it would be alright just the same. Well, these ended up being the most labour intensive Nanaimo bars I have ever made. Between crushing the cookies, and deshelling the walnuts, I spent a good part of the afternoon on this dessert. Also, in case you didn't know, Italy doesn't use volume as a measure for anything but liquids, so when I say I need 1/2 c of sugar, people look confused, so then I say 125mL, then they think I'm crazy. "But... milliliters are for liquids..." they say, looking concerned for my sanity. So, of course the house I was staying at didn't have measuring cups, so I used a 1L jug to measure everything. The two cooks commented many times how "expensive" this dessert was - so many ingredients, three layers, so much time to make.

Another thing I'm not so sure anyone understood was the use of butter in desserts. Everyone complained I was trying to make them fat, or raise their cholesterol. Not sure how they could talk considering the amount of marzipan, ricotta, and cream in their desserts (not to mention the massive portions of everything at dinner and lunch, and the fact that we eat cookies for breakfast). Something I forgot to account for is that butter is unsalted here, so a pinch of salt might have made the bottom layer of Nanaimo bar a little nicer. Another thing that might have made the base layer a little nicer would be fewer pieces of walnut shell that accidentally got in. Ooops. And I how I forgot to score the chocolate while it was still soft. My mom had written it in the recipe, as well as reminding me on other occasions. So my host sister told me to serve them upside down, so no one would see the ugly broken chocolate.

One day I will remember to not wear this sweater in the reflective spots on it in photos. Note how the two choices I had for nut crackers were the pear with a screw inside, and a hammer.

Making the filling. The mixer decided that icing sugar and butter was just too great a challenge and stopped working.

Finished product! Cutting through hardened chocolate with a somewhat small, too flexible knife took a very long time. And left a bruise on my hand. I have learned my lesson.

Everyone said they liked them, and I hope they weren't lying. Although they might have been just because I spent so much time and energy making them and wanted me to feel good about myself.

So after all this was done, it was time for dinner. We had tortellini in broth (which is absolutely delicious as is, but even better with parmigiano-reggiano and a very small splash of wine on top), pork liver, "insalata forte", chicken salad, and various other dishes. We had a classic dessert from Sicily (actually, more specifically, from Palermo) that we had brought with us and kept in the freezer called "Cassata". It's made with a layer of sponge cake on the top and bottom, with a filling of ricotta and chocolate chips (similar filling to that in cannoli). The whole thing is then covered with green and white marzipan and a mountain of candied fruit. It's super delicious, but I find ricotta to be very filling for a dessert.

Making Nanaimo bars had exhausted me, so I was hoping to sneak away and go to bed early, but soon I was being called over to the veranda, as it was time to open gifts! We actually only opened half of them, but it still took us an hour and a half. It was pretty much the same as what we'd do at home, although without stockings, and on a different day. Normally, (and this makes me sound like a bit of a grinch) I'm not such a huge fan of the ridiculous gift giving at Christmas. Mostly because I find people seem to think that giving "things" is the answer. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the thoughtful gifts the different members of the family gave to each other. I was very lucky with what I got from everyone - many of them I'd met just days previously! The first night I got slippers which are super comfy and I've been wearing them pretty much nonstop since (and my host sister got a matching pair!), gloves, soap, a pin, and an Italian cooking book where each recipe also has the name of the region of origin (which is super great as cooking here can be incredibly regionalized).

The following morning we slept in late and I cut up my Nanaimo bars. Something I'm not sure I've described is how strange it was to have a cook/housekeeper. I felt like I was in a hotel or restaurant a little bit. Breakfast was always laid out for us each morning, dinner and lunch served, dishes washed, even tea each afternoon. It was a very different experience.

Before lunch we finished opening the rest of the gifts, and I got some more bath things, and a journal from my host parents. I've taken to writing in my journal almost religiously, and they gave me one with "My Adventures in Italy" written in the front page - an extremely thoughtful gift, and one I look forward to using.

Lunch was our big meal, and other relatives came to join us. We had lasagne (I could probably eat the ragu used to make it straight from the pot with a spoon. That good.), lamb, carrots, beef (which Italians call "roast beef", using English words), potatoes, panettone, and my Nanaimo bars. After a few hours of sitting around, watching movies, talking, and reading, we had dinner. (I love Italian holidays.) We had spaghetti in broth, artichokes, dried tomatoes, "insalata forte", and more meat from making the broth.

And that was my Christmas in Italy! Everyone says that the holidays are the worst, but I didn't feel all that sad on Christmas. I got along really well with everyone in the family, and I really enjoyed spending time with everyone - even if it was just watching movies together. Just the same, I did call my family back in Canada.

Next post: Pisa!

PS Looking back at this post I realised it is pretty 95% about food. Sorry.