WORLD PASTA DAY

BUON APPETITO!

Photos https://www.facebook.com/TheFirstTouristOfficeinItaly

 

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

 Did you know that KEFIR is very good for you? It has many nutrients and it's a powerful PROBIOTIC.

Instead of the classic pancakes I made KEFIR PANCAKES, with banana and honey on top, as well as Maple Syrup. 

INTERNATONAL SPICES

There was a time when I couldn't find hard-to-find spices here in Sicily. Now however things have changed. We can get practically everything on Amazon or online. I had been looking for ALLSPICE for several years and finally here it is, on Amazon. The Indian spice ASAFOETIDA was also not available, but now it is. This spice is mostly used in South Indian recipes, such as Sambhar, a delicious lentil stew. Chinese 5 spice powder is now also easily available, as is the 4 Spices, Quatre Epices, What to make with this French combination I have no clue, but I will definitely find recipes...online.

The original Sicilian ANISETTE biscuits ----Biscotti all'anice

 My American friends probably know what I'm talking about when I say Anisette ....the delicious anice cookies made famous by STELLA D'ORO.  In New York I used to eat them every morning. My mom would make me tea and I would dip the Stella D'Oro cookies in the tea. The most delicious breakfast ever! After which I would hop on the bus and go to school.

Well, here in Sicily these are very popular cookies. Whenever I used to come to Sicily to visit my father he would take me to Castellammare del Golfo where at the time they made the best Anisette cookies, and buy me one kilogram for me to take back to Rome, where I lived in the 80s. 

Nowadays the best anice cookies are made by MEETCAFFE, a coffee shop where they make a great coffee and delicious sweets (cannolis etc). Here are the ANISETTE they made just for me. Don't they look inviting?