LASSI

Lassi is a very famous Indian drink made of mango, yogurt, milk, honey and cardamom.


Chop one mango and place it in the blender. Add 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1/2 cup of milk, 2 T honey. Blend it until smooth. Pour it into a glass (or two) and add a pinch of cardamom powder.

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN PUDDING

Here is a recipe that I found in my cookbook "The New Book of Whole Grains" by Marlene Ann Bumgarner. It's a pudding that the colonists made, that's why it's called Native American Indian Pudding. 

Ever since I tried it I have been making it very often, it is simply delicious, not too sweet but so tasty.

All you need is  1/2 cup Cornmeal (I use the one for Polenta), 3 cups milk, 1 egg, ,1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup molasses, salt,  1/2 ts. baking soda, 1 ts. cinnamon,1/2 ts.  nutmeg, 1/2 ts. ginger.

Mix cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking soda in a pan. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and 2 Tablespoons butter. Boil, remove from heat. Beat the egg with molasses, spices and remaining milk then add to the cornmeal mixture. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. 

TAPIOCA PUDDING

Tapioca is relatively new to Sicily. It is now available in organic food shops, either in flour form or pearl tapioca. Here is my version of tapioca pudding. 

The ingredients are 3 Ts tapioca pearls, 2 Ts brown sugar,  500 ml milk, 2 eggs, separated.  Soak the tapioca in a bit of water for about 1 hour, then add the milk and boil until it thickens. Add about 2 T of brown sugar.Whip the egg whites. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the tapioca pudding. Then add the egg whites. Cook for several more minutes. 

You can serve it either hot or cold. I like it hot!

Bread and Mortadella

Mortadella is a speciality of Bologna. We like to eat it with bread. This particular bread I made is the characteristic Sicilian bread with sesame seeds. 

Francesca's Bakery Home Delivery //Torte e dolci di Francesca ... servizio a domicilio.

Many of you may not know that I have fear of flying and it's due to claustrophobia, I avoid closed places like elevators, subways, trains, long distance buses and just any location  which is claustrophobic.

Considering that I have not taken a plane since 1994, the year when we came back to Italy from Asia (we lived 5 years in Dhaka, Bangladesh and 5 years in New Delhi, India), you might ask....how did you get there if you had fear of flying? Well, at that time it wasn't yet so bad. I managed to get on a plane even though I was quite jittery and nervous. I really had no choice, we were going there for work reasons so I tried to handle it. It wasn't easy. My daughter was two months old so I had to take care of her, maybe that distracted me from the fear I felt. My mother was with us, which really helped a lot.

Let's start from the beginning. As you know I was born in Sicily but grew up in New York .... that's why my English is impeccable ... ha-ha.  I was still in elementary school when we moved to the States. My Russian grandmother was already living in New York. (that's another story).  When we got on the plane in Palermo I was mesmerized, but I felt a bit strange about going up in the air. Anyway, we landed in Rome, took another plane to Toronto, landed there and took another plane to New York, precisely, John F. Kennedy Airport. 

While living in the US, I took planes like there's no tomorrow. To Arizona, to Puerto Rico, to Italy, to Ireland, to the UK, to Denmark, to Sicily, to France, to the Soviet Union (as Russia was then called). I was not once afraid to take a plane. In the 1970s though, I was on a flight back to Italy from Ireland and something weird happened. The plane was shaking so much that suitcases where falling all over the place. I was a bit scared but the stewardess told me it was normal, everything was ok. In fact, we landed in Italy safely.

Another incident was on a trip back from Sicily to Rome. While in flight we almost collided with another plane. That was scary. I was terrified. My brother was waiting for me at the aiport and when my plane landed I ran straight into his arms crying from the fright I got.

Those two incidents might have remained in my mind, but I am not sure. I still didn't have any problem flying after that.  I even went to Japan, a 15 hour flight! Then from Japan to Thailand, then to Bangladesh. After 5 years in Dhaka, we were transferred to New Delhi, India. I started panicking when I found out we had to take a plane. We decided to take the shortest route possible, which was Dhaka - Calcutta, about a half hour flight. Then from Calcutta we took the train to New Delhi ... a 16 hour ride! Anything, just to avoid taking a plane!!!

Anyway, this is a bit of the story behind this picture. My daughter knows I am claustrophobic so she put me on a plane with an OPEN DOOR! Here I am delivering my cakes and bakes, anywhere in the world directly from Sicily.  

These days of the lockdown, shops, restaurants, bars, supermarkets etc. are competing on delivering food and products directly to our house. That's where my daughter got this idea. I thought it's very funny, and it suits me perfectly so I am sharing the picture, and a bit of the story behind it.

Strawberry Yogurt Cake // Torta allo Yogurt con Fragole Fresche

It's Strawberry season so I made a Strawberry Yogurt cake with fresh strawberries. 

Here is the recipe I used https://blog.giallozafferano.it/studentiaifornelli/torta-fragole-e-yogurt/