Dolci, pignolata, Carnival cakes, honey, white meringue, chocolate

Not that I'm thinking about birthday cakes or anything like that, but I just happened to be reading about pignolata last night, which Bill and I ate in Palermo.  The word "pigna" is Italian for cone and they are cone-shaped little cakes made from leftover doughs of the Carnival cakes.  Then they're fried and drizzled in honey- YUMMMMMMM - and nowadays they put chocolate on top or white meringue.


Another dessert we had occasionally at the Rosa Nero in Palermo, our favorite trattoria in the Kalsa, was arancine al cioccolato.  Arancine are usually rice and/or meat filled fried balls, delicious finger food and very satisfying to walk around and eat.  The Rosa Nero made arancine with part of the inside rice ball removed and stuffed with vanilla and chocolate bits.  Then fried.  I thought I died and went to heaven!

Cefalu and wonderful ceramics

Gee, I got so wrapped up in food I almost forgot!  Cinzia and Antonio also have a small shop in town where their beautiful ceramics are displayed.  I brought home incredible red ancient Greek patterns that Antonio told me were patterned after Etna and it's lava fireworks display and lava flows.


Of course the Greeks had a profound influence on Sicily - read Thucydides if you don't believe me.

Cefalu, cooking class in Sicily, Roger II and wonderful ceramics

So my friend, Mary Calhoun, is back in Cefalu again!  Lucky her.   Alison and I met her when we did our 12 day tour of Sicily this year.  Where did we meet?  At a fabulous cooking class, Sicilian Food Lovers -Antonio was the chef and his wife Cinzia were absolutely wonderful.  We made pasta (good grief, who would have thought?), the filling for cannoli and had we ate outside by the olive and orange trees on a beautiful 17th century estate.  Can it get much better?  We had a terrific time and boy did I eat a lot.


Cefalu is a beautiful seaside resort between Palermo and Messina.  Most people go to see Roger II's cathedral, which we did go into.  Unbeknownst to Roger, someone put in modern, abstract art windows in his medieval cathedral!  For some reason though, I liked them.


We also walked along the lungomare, the usual promenade by the sea that most Sicilian towns have and we ate our share of octopus, sea bass and dolci.


For us history lovers, Cefalu dates back to the Carthaginians, Phoenicians, and all the usual suspects who found their way to Sicily.  Cicero is said to have stopped there and pronounced it one of the most beautiful places in Sicily. 

Darn! I missed it! Just as we have Renaissance festivals around the US, there is a medieval festival every August in Geraci, a community just southeast of Palermo. Settimana Medievale during the first week of August is dedicated to the Giostra dei Ventimiglia. The historical re-enactment is part of a cultural tourism project. Through a series of cultural, social and economic initiatives, the project aims to promote and recuperate the historical memory of all of those communes (around 30) that used to be part of the prestigious Contea di Geraci (Contea means "county"), a genuine state within a state during the period of the Kingdom of Sicily. The "county" was a large land grant to a noble family by the Normans and became associated with the Ventimiglia family through marriage.

The re-enactment involves a procession in XIV century dress, jousting, displays of dressage and falconry, medieval cuisine, music and plays, cultural events and the ressurection of the old money of the Ventimiglia Earldom. Its success hinges on the rediscovery of the medievalness of these town centres, still to be found in their architecture and lay-out, on the reconstruction of the environment and the display of typical produce in medieval tents. The festival probably focuses on a period of time a little later than the Vespers period, but undoubtedly includes many traditions that had been in existence for centuries. From Sicilianexperience.com

Hot springs, essential oils, aromatherapy

I just got back from Orvis Hot Springs, soaking in natural hot springs for two days.  One of the other pleasures besides soaking was I had a terrific massage (ask for Priscilla if you go - she's fabulous!) who used a very pampering massage oil she called rose quartz.  One of its ingredients was something I had never heard of (and I have had a LOT of massages) - ylang ylang.  So I looked it up and therefore became curious as to what I thought might be available to Ysabella and Company in Sicily around the time of the Vespers.


So - ylang ylang originates from Madagascar and the flower looks like a yellow or pink tiger lily, although it's a tree.  It is supposed to help with high blood pressure, nervousness and the like.  But it's the smell that's heavenly.  And so unusual I had to ask about it.  So below are some of the oils that might have been available to Ysabella in Sicily.
As with all oils, it seems every one I investigated, according to The Bulk Apothecary, instructs pregnant women to avoid using them.  Sorry ladies!  Afterwards!  All properties and descriptions are from The Bulk Apothecary online.
Fennel.  There's actually a fennel essential oil.  I use fennel in salads and was introduced to doing that in Sicily.  It's supposed to be invigorating, stimulating and warming, aside from that anise smell that I really like.
Myrtle.  Another surprise.  While doing my dissertation, I found dozens of references to "myrtle skutching".  Apparently medieval Sicilians used myrtle in huge tubs (think grapes and winemaking) where slaves would mash it for its tannin in the famed leather tanning and industry of Sicily.  The oil may be used as an astringent, antiseptic, and decongestant and is used in aromatherapy as a remedy for sore throats and coughs.
Blood orange.  Bill and I both drank gallons of blood orange juice in Sicily.  It's red and wonderful and tasty and tangy.  Even better than regular orange juice.  I really missed it when I came back to the U.S.  And what a shock!  There's an essential oil for it too!  It's used as an antiseptic, anti-depressant and an aphrodisiac.  Hmmm.  That explains some things.  Anyway, the scent is described, like all citruses to me, light and uplifting.


And that's my medieval essential oils report for the day!

More on Findlen's view of feminism

Macchiavelli aggressively made up [biographies of] medieval women and supplied the evidence that was missing for them." Presented as facts, these fables forged the medieval origins of Bologna's female intelligentsia.

While people later recognized that Macchiavelli was a forger, he brought critical attention to women's lives. In a sense, He also contributed to the beginnings of the discipline of medieval history. When he forged a document, he did so based on extensive knowledge of the archives and a fine understanding of historical method. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, people began to identify and select the documents that matter for defining the Middle Ages.

Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Findlen said, representations of medieval women enhanced a city's reputation. Scholars in Bologna wanted to learn about its presumed tradition of learned women. They craved information about medieval women who could provide historical precedents for someone like Laura Bassi, the first woman who can be documented as receiving a degree and professorship from the University of Bologna in 1732. Having precedents made her seem like a reinvention of the old rather than someone threateningly new.

Findlen first turned to Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430), the daughter of a University of Bologna graduate and professor. She is perhaps best known for her writings praising women. In her Book of the City of Ladies (1405), a catalog of illustrious women, Christine contemplated her Italian roots. This longing for her past inspired Christine to imagine "what the ingredients were of this world that made her, and other women like her," Findlen said. Although inspired by some kernels of truth, Christine's writings invented evidence to fill out her narratives, Findlen said. In this way, Christine provides a starting point for Bologna's interest in women's history that will unfold over the next four centuries.

Findlen's project rethinks our compulsion to write about the past. "Some of the stuff we take for granted is legend, not fact," she said, "but the unreliability of the past is also part of the evidence that we have to account for." 

Envisioning the wider impact of her work, Findlen said: "I would like this project to offer a window into the invention of history, taking Italy as a case study, to understand why people were so passionate about the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance, people are increasingly concerned with documenting the history that was.They're interested in the history that might have been. And then they're also interested in the history that should have been. And those are three different approaches to history."

Women, sfinci di san Giuseppe and Sichelgaita

Just some rambling thoughts about women and food in Sicily and Southern Italy.  The author of Sweet Sicily, when talking about Sfinci di San Giuseppe, compares this wonderful dessert (which I had at the Rosa Nero trattoria in Palermo) with a woman - soft, round and delicious in every way.


Sfinci di san Giuseppe is a sweet fried dough ball filled with cream of ricotta, sugar and chocolate chips.  Sometimes it's decorated with orange zest and candied cherries.  The origin of the name is uncertain, but the author thinks it might be from the Greek spoggos or Arabic isfang, both words meaning sponge, the texture of this sweet dessert.  It's made usually for St. Joseph's tables on March 19 but I found it all over Palermo.


And speaking about feminism and women in the Middle Ages, my all time favorite is Sichelgaita, second wife of Robert Guiscard, a landless knight who had 10 brothers, all of whom came to southern Italy to fight originally as mercenaries for Lombard and Greek overlords.  Naturally, when you're the muscle, why fight for someone if you can take it for yourself?  Robert Guiscard, immortalized by that peerless author of Sicily and the South, John Julius Norwich, originally married a Norman noblewoman around the Troina area, but later moved on to bigger and better things.  Sichelgaita was the sister of the Prince of Salerno, she was almost six feet tall, loved wearing armor and fighting.  Legend has it that she turned the tide of the Battle of Durazzo when all the Normans fled from the Byzantine army, she raced to the front, whirling her weapon and screaming at her husband's army to act like men.  She plunged into the enemy line hacking away and Robert's army was so embarrassed that they turned and fought like demons.  They won that battle, by the way.  Anna Comnena, the Byzantine princess who writes about the Normans (among other things) at the time, said that Sichelgaita was "a fearsome sight."  I'll bet!