Breakfast and Morning Snack

So, no school again today, so that means more posts!

As you've probably noticed, I mention food in many of my posts, so I think it's time for a post solely about food. There will be more to follow, as I'm only covering breakfast in this one and there is a lot of food here to talk about! Warning: I love food. I love thinking about food, looking at food, watching food being prepared, smelling food, going to grocery stores, preparing food myself, reading recipes, and eating food.

I've never considered myself a big breakfast person. Weekend breakfasts for me usually consist of many cups of coffee until 12:30, then making lunch. Seemingly, I should fit in here, as it seems that breakfast is not a large meal, but instead I have become a breakfast person without changing how much I eat.

Weekday breakfasts for me here are usually cereal, such as corn flakes, or chocolate rice krispies. Unless you are my mom reading this. In that case I eat high-fiber, high-protien, low-sugar cereal with skim milk, never biscotti or corn flakes, and I never ever ever take snack cakes to school. Only low-fat, unsweetened yogurt or fruit. Because I am a healthy eater, and my mom says fiber is healthy and too much sugar isn't.

Breakfasts are much sweeter, and smaller than in Canada. I'm pretty sure you would be looked upon as crazy if you tried to order eggs, sausage and bacon for breakfast. At home we eat biscotti - drier, medium sweetness cookies - with coffee or warm milk for breakfast. Other breakfasts I've seen include cakes, pastries, toast with honey, Nutella, or jam, sweeter breads (such as brioche), yogurt, and fruit. As I've mentioned, I don't usually eat large breakfasts, but sometimes when my family eats together, I look at the small plate of cookies and think, "So what are you guys eating?". It's also normal to eat leftover desserts from the night before (actually, come to think of it when I made my pumpkin pie, my host sister had a very very small piece after dinner, but more the following morning).

Based on what I've seen in grocery stores, cookies are where it's at for breakfasts. There are many choices, from high fiber, to extra chocolate, from light pastry, to dense cookies. And the funny thing is, they don't suck. I hate most packaged food in Canada. Store bought muffins and pastries have a gummy texture, cookies leave you with a terrible aftertaste. But here, pastries are light and flaky, and cookies don't leave you wondering if you got some sort of chemical poisoning. North American packaged food producers, take note!

At school we have a "recreational" break at 11. This is when the "little garden" fills up with smokers for twenty minutes, the bar at school gets overwhelmed, and I can get out of my stupid, too-small, uncomfortable desk and have a snack. Sometimes I try to fit in with the others and take a snack cake, or a package of crackers, or a piece of fruit for when I'm feeling healthy (my classmates also love my orange peeler). I've also taken cereal and milk, which earned me a few stares and quizzical looks, and once leftover risotto, which confused everyone a lot. The bar at school sells different breads and pastries (many with chocolate or Nutella), sandwhiches (filled with french fries), and hot dogs (which smell so amazing until I remember that hot dogs are really only good for the first few bites, and then I don't want to eat one for a year).

Alright here are some photos! Unfortunately (or possibly luckily) we didn't have any snack cakes. Lucky because I know they aren't healthy and I would devour three right now if we did.

So here we have some chocolate cookies (there were other, more chocolately ones, but I'm not sure where they disappeared to...), some lemony cookies, and a pastry cookie. Just one left, don't know where the others got to.

Cookies, chocolate milk powder, corn flakes, honey made by my host mom's nephew, high(ish) fiber cookies, premade toast, package of crackers that many people take to school as a snack, some peach juice (another popular school snack), cookies from the bakery that have an excellent flavour but are very hard and dry and definitely need tea to dunk in, and yogurt. The yogurt flavour is banana, and it is one of my favourites next to pineapple, which is strange because I hated those flavours in Canada. I seriously ate this right after taking the photo, and am staring at the empty container wishing it to refil itself.

Thanksgiving!

Saturday night all the exchange families in town got together for Thanksgiving dinner, all made by one of the host mothers. Yes I know that Thanksgiving is in October. This confuses many people here. Mostly the American exchange students. Kidding kidding. Anyhow Katelyn (exchange student) and I headed over to Kaley's (another exchange student) to help with pie, and setting up. Good thing most of that stuff was already done, as I am not terribly good at table setting, and, as Kaley's host mom found out, making things look pretty on plates. We made pumpkin and apple pies, and cut out some maple leaves out of pastry to put on top of the apple pie. Since I'm Canadian my maple leaf was obviously the most accurate. The first course was all Italian food - various salads, cheeses, meats, mushrooms, and, of course, breads. Second was the Thanksgiving food. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, potatoes with pies and carrots, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and salad. Third course was fruit. And fourth was pumpkin pie (which we accidentally overbaked a touch), apple pie, and a cheesecake with berries. Midway through the second course we remembered to say grace, which turned into the exchange students just saying what they are thankful for. Which was humiliating. As soon as the eight words I plan run out I sit there and say "e... ummm, e..." and look like an idiot while my host dad films.

It was delicious. It tasted absolutely nothing like what my family makes at home. But it was still Thanksgiving dinner. It couldn't not be. There were the classic family dinner problems - not enough room on the table, or on plates for food, dishes going in both directions while people say, "what? I thought we were going clockwise!", being way too full afterward - but with an Italian twist. We changed between English and Italian depending on who we were talking to, having to explain how food is the same or different in Canada/America. I had a ton of fun. I felt like I was with my family. Plus I liked being consulted regarding pumpkin pie.

Cheeses, mushrooms, fichi d'india, pumpkin, salad stuff

Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, gravy

Kaley

Pies

Mosaics

A few weeks ago, my family took me to the cathedral of Monreale, for a concert. The cathedral has a feature called "Sacred Music of Monreale", and while I was there they had an orchestra, a choir, and some solo singers. The music was really nice, and it reminded me of my band geek days, but what I really want to talk about is the cathedral. It was built by the Normans in the 12th century, and is absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately it was too late for a full tour, so I saw the inside of the main cathedral and one part of the outside, so that's all I can comment on. The best way to describe this, I feel, would be as a conversation between one of the designers and Igor, the main contractor, in Restaurant Makeover:

Designer: Here's what I'm thinking: a really grand church. Like, really really grand.

Igor: Sounds good, it'll be a challenge, but still doable.

Designer: And I want it to be nice on the inside.

Igor: Sure, that's a great idea. We could do some columns, perhaps a bit of nice stone.

Designer: Yes, yes, all that, but also, how 'bout some scenes from the bible?

Igor: Well, it'll put us on a tight schedule, but we can probably get some extra painters in, and do some scenes that way.

Designer: Paint is so.... average. I said grand!! Grand, people! Not some boring paint. I'm thinking... mosaics

Igor: I guess we could do a few small ones...

Designer: No! These will cover the entirety of the inside walls. And I want gold. And some stone. And columns.

Igor: No. It can't be done. You will be way over budget. There isn't enough time. Or enough people. It can't be done. Think of something else.

Designer: Please! Please please please!

Igor: Fine! But the outside gets nothing! It will be left plain!!

OK, maybe that wasn't as funny as it sounded in my head, but here's some pics, just so you get some sense of just how many tiny pieces of glass went into this.

The outside, where I saw it. As you can see, not a lot of decoration here, though apparently in another area there are some incredibly detailed columns.

Then, BAM, you get this.

And this.

Here's the choir and orchestra.

Photos do not do it justice.

On Monday, the three exchange students in Palermo went to the palace, for a tour. I got the feeling that we got special treatment, because we knew someone there, so it was just six of in our tour, while I saw other tours with twenty or more. It was all in Italian, but my host sister translated it for me, as I simply don't know enough words to get much out of it. I would understand things like "This was built by the ... in the ... century", but not understand why, or the meaning, so it was good to have some help. The history of Sicily is somewhat confusing, and that is reflected in the art and architecture. It's called "Palazzo dei Normanni", and was originally built by Normans, but was altered, and added to by the Spanish. It also has Byzantine and Arab influences. For these reasons, buildings can have a mismatched appearance, and the architectural style can differ between the wings of the building. Some of the rooms we saw had once been covered in mosaics, but had been torn down by the next conquerors, as they didn't have any religious significance. The palace also has a church within it, one our guide said was far more beautiful than Monreale. I could kind of see this. It had a very similar style to Monreale, but was smaller, finer and more detailed. The mosaic work was so fine that it didn't look like pieces of something, it looked like smooth painting. The detail made me dizzy.

The outside. You can see the two different styles side by side.

Sorry it's so dark. This is a hunting scene, made out of (wait for it...) tiny pieces of glass.

Not sure why I'm posting this picture. I think this might have been one of the areas that had all of the mosaic torn off because it wasn't religious enough.

This is painted to look like it's not paint. The shadows are painted on.

Mosaic. As in tiny pieces of glass painstakingly attached to the walls.

The ceiling of the church.

One of the walls. As you can see there are quite a few very very small pieces of glass that have been attached to the wall here.

The stonework up close. Makes me dizzy.

These photos really do not show the art well, sorry.

The Schools are Occupied

Since last week, none of the schools have been in session, as the students have been occupying the school. I missed the day that it all started, Saturday the 20th, as I was in the country. We had one hour of classes on Monday and Tuesday last week, followed by student meetings. On Wednesday the school was officially occupied. I didn't want to take part because I wasn't sure how legal it was, and I didn't want to get involved if things got ugly. This was sort of a difficult decision for me. The students were protesting against something I would also protest, school funding cuts, and I could picture myself occupying the school in Canada if I thought it got my point across. But I feel like this isn't my fight, and I don't know enough about the issues to occupy the school. So, instead I've been studying a bit more, and have actually been fairly busy.

I spent some time with the two other exchange students of Palermo, shopping and just hanging out, as well as seeing the Palace, and having Thanksgiving dinner (more about those in further posts). I also watched La Papessa, went to a Rotary meeting, and slept in. I feel pretty good after this mini vacation.

It's currently 20°C outside, and has been super windy lately, so I'm having a hard time convincing myself it's December! So I guess I'll have to pump up the Charlie Brown Christmas music, and do some Christmas baking to feel a little more wintery.

Shopping here is... a challenge... I'm tall, and so a lot of stores don't carry my size. Finding shoes is difficult/my size doesn't exist here. Haven't even tried pants as they come in handy sizes of "small", "medium" and "large".

Sorry, this is sort of a pointless post. The next will be better, I promise.

Assembly at school.

The next three photos are from three separate days. These guys are persistant.

Circling the Statua Della Liberta, blocking traffic.

Rotary Meetings

I've attended two Rotary meetings, my orientation, and a Rotary event with the Piena Degli Albanesi club, so I thought I would reflect on my experiences so far. I'm always terrified I will have to give some sort of speech, and that I will promptly forget all my Italian and just say where I'm from. Luckily no one really seems to care that I don't say all that much, so I will just have to impress them later on when I'm a bit more comfortable with my Italian. The problem I have frequently with the Rotary meetings here is that I struggle to do the right things at the right time, so usually when they call us up to the front, I'm so focussed on making sure there aren't any sesame seeds in my teeth, or that my pants haven't disappeared between sitting down and being called to the front, that I forget to bring something important, like my flag from my Rotary club at home. Of the three times I'm exchanged flags, I've forgotten it twice and had to run back to my seat.

Aside for the usual language problems/timing issues/social awkwardness, there are two main reasons I get really nervous when going to Rotary meetings:

1. They are really formal*. Last night's was apparently relatively informal. Which meant suits with ties, or nice sweaters for the men, and dresses, or jackets with skirts or pants for women. I don't really do formal all that well. In fact I don't think I even own clothes formal enough for these events. Plus my hair is even more of a shaggy mess right now, so it does not do formal. At all.

2. I have to wear my Rotary blazer. I don't really mind my Rotary blazer. It's just that the colour is just a bit too bright, and it doesn't fit all that nicely, it was just the best I could find. But, an ill-fitting, too bright blazer does not say elegant, and well, see problem one. Also, the only jacket I have that fits over my Rotary blazer is my rain coat (again see problem one), so to w

ear my nicer jacket, I have to take off my blazer and carry it. Which looks awkward.

Last night's Rotary meeting was also a beer tasting, which was pretty interesting. Each of the four courses came with a certain beer, and the announcer went into great detail about each one. First course was an egg dish with ham, second was risotto, third was meat and lentils, and fourth was a beer gelatin, with deep fried fruit. I wasn't a huge fan of the beer gelatin and could not figure out why you'd take wonderful, delicious, fresh fruit, and fry it.

Here is a photo from Orientation. Note the lovely blazer. And how I'm at least a foot taller than the other exchange students.

My flags. Going clockwise from top: Piena Degli Albanesi, Siclian flag (note the awesome three legs coming off of a head with red snakes for hair, and green wings. wicked), Palermo East, and Palermo. My Rossland one is in the middle. The Rossland one is a lot smaller, and less elaborate than the others, but I still really like it. I feel like it reflects Rossland nicely.

*Yes, I'm aware that I sound like a bit of a small town hick. That's because I pretty much am a small town hick. The last big city I lived in was Tucson when I was four.

Making Bread in the Country

My host parents had mentioned that the country house had a wood fired oven (I'm not sure exactly what they are called), and that they wanted me to try it out with my bread. Right-o. I have never used one before, but I'm not too worried. On the way there my host mom mentions that I will be making it with six packages of yeast, and three kg of flour - effectively multiplying my recipe by six. It's now approximately one and a half times larger than a big batch I'd make in Canada. I'm starting to get a little nervous. The store worker tells us that we want rimacinata flour. OK. No biggie. Sure, I've never used this kind of flour before, or this oven, or made this much at once, but I'm sure it will work...

My host parents are so excited and I'm afraid I will let them down. I gather my ingredients and heat my water and milk mixture, and my host dad gets out the huge trough I will be working in. I'm so nervous now I could cry. I take a guess at how much sugar and salt I want, and mix my dry ingredients. I pour the water mixture over the flour, but unfortunately the wood isn't entirely water tight and some of the liquid leaks onto the floor. Luckily the rest of the process goes well and sooon I have something vaguely resembling bread dough. I allow it to rise, then form it into seven loaves and one focaccia and allow it to rise again. Meanwhile, my host dad lights the fire in the oven to allow it to get hot enough. Finally it is time, and my host dad and Pino (the guy who runs the farm when my host dad isn't there), remove the embers, and place the bread inside, along with the chickpea flour batter my host mom made. We close the oven, and leave. It is frustrating to have to wait without being able to see it.

We take it out and I can't help but feel proud of myself. I know that I would have cried had they failed. I had invested a whole day into this project, as well as my host parent's and Pino's time, and it meant a lot to succeed.

On a side note, we made bread again last weekend and burnt it. It was sad. I think the oven was hotter the second time.

Ingredients.

Tasting to check salt level, also feeling to check texture.

After second rise.

Placing the bread in the oven.

After 25 mins, or so.

Finished product!

Baking in Italy

I love to bake. It's a problem. I get hungry, or stressed out, and I make a double batch of chocolate chip cookies (ok, so I really only make one batch of cookies, and eat a batch worth of cookie dough...). Something about it calms me down. Plus you get cookies out of it. Win win.

I can't really go a year without baking, so I mentioned to my host family that I love to bake, and they were very excited, especially when I said that I like to make bread. I started making bread once in a while, and my first batch was... considerably less than ideal (my host family still loved it though, because they are fantastic and encouraging). Since then I have made a few adjustments - mostly due to the different flour. I think that Canadian flour has a higher protein content, so I had to add more milk than normal.

During Thanksgiving time, I really wanted pumpkin pie, so I decided to give that a go. It took a while to even find the ingredients (or adequate substitutes). The recipe I use at home uses canned pumpkin (see - not a food elitist!), brown sugar, and evaporated milk - all of which I wouldn't find. Of course I just cooked and pureed fresh pumpkin, which was easy enough, and I found something similar to brown sugar (a type of demerara), but I'm fairly certain that evaporated milk doesn't exist here. No biggie - evaporated milk is just that - milk that has been concentrated through evaporation. So I measured out twice as much milk as I needed, and started heating it on the stove. This was harder than it sounds - too hot and the milk will curdle. Another adjustment was using all butter in my pastry, instead of half lard. I probably should have found an all butter pastry recipe, as my pastry was not terribly flaky.

I'm intimidated to try my North American recipes here for more than just not being able to find ingredients, measuring cups don't exist here. We use a scale, measuing spoons, and we have one jug with dL on the side. In the end my pie was pretty good, certainly not my best creation, but I still liked it.