Sicily-Part Tre- Cefalu

On the latter part of the trip, after spending a fun day in a small hilltop town called Castiglione di Sicilia, we drove over to the northern coast to a small town called Cefalu, yet another ancient town established by the Greeks but then under Roman, Arab, and Norman domination ( I probably forgot a few). The town is planted between the sea and a huge rock (La Rocca, with remains of a castle and ancient temple on top) with a very oversized Normal Cathedral. For our movie buff friends ( and there are a few :-)), the water scenes in Cinema Paradiso were filmed here (we watched the movie after coming home and immediately recognized the former fishing village beachfront). Anyways, here we just relaxed for a view days, discovered REALLY good cannoli, made friends with some locals and generally just enjoyed ourselves. We stayed at an awesome apartment with a huge balcony on the roof- the first day was a bit windy, but we fully enjoyed the views the second day.
Since returning home, after much asking around we did discover a great Sicilian pasticceria which is even walking distance from us (of course you find the greatest places right before you leave, but for any potential visitors it is called Il Siciliano on Piazza Acilia).
Also, I have been attempting to make caponata (an eggplant appetizer dish), and although it has turned out very well, it has not even come close to what we had in Cefalu. I will post a recipe once I am happy with it ( which is likely to be never).
Sadly, we never made it to Palermo-- but that just means that we will have to return ( hope you are ready Aaron!)

Sicily- Part Due- Snow and Beach

A Sicily trip with kids cannot be complete without a visit to Etna. We went to one of the ski bases and played in the snow. In better weather one can take the ski lift up even higher and take a guided tour at the top. The vulcano is active- Mikael and Aaron spotted some lava flow one evening on their walk and were VERY excited- but apparently this has been the case every day for the last year. There was a picture of the building (Refugio Sapienza) where we ate lunch surrounded by lava flow after an eruption in 2001! And what else to do after a morning of sledding but head to the beach and play in the sand.

Sicily- Part Uno- Taormina

So as our last hurrah as our time nears the end in Italy was a vacation to Sicily. Just to make the trip more interesting we dragged my dear medical school friend Aaron along and off we were to beautiful sunny Sicilia! We had a great time, but imagine our surprise when our first night there it snowed!!! Ok, we were on the slopes of Mount Etna, but not THAT high. Our first day we went to see Taormina, famous for its Greek Theatre and its beautiful views. Unfortunately it rained on/off the entire day, which did not stop us, but the pictures do leave some to be desired. We had a fun meal at La Botte and had to have our first try at Sicilian deserts ( which include the famous cannolo, but also all things pistachio and of course their almond paste delicacies). We also loved the public gardens (Villa Comunale) donated to Taormina by an English woman and complete with something called the Beehive- a chinese pagoda looking like structure.

More February Fun!

We also celebrated my birthday in February! It was a big one (35!!!!) but I seemed to have survived. We had a nice family evening- Mikael had gone shopping with Miki and Lili the week before when I was busy, and Miki had helped to pick out a new outfit and watch for running (ok, running is a total overstatement, but it sounds so much better than jogging). Apparently he had a real strong opinion about a pink/red watch (pink is his favorite color at the moment) and told Mikael I would not like the black one. And he was right. We tried to take a family picture but you can see that not everyone was in the mood.

Carnevale

February flew by but not without some fun! We celebrated carnival, which, even without the crazy Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, the even crazier celebrations in Jacmel (Haiti), or the famous parades here in Italy (such as in Venice and Viareggio) is superfun if you have children or just get into the spirit of things. Miki was talking about the festivities the entire month, brought home little masks and hats and frappe they made at school. Just like last year, we were again invited to a fun party at a schoolmate's house. When we arrived to the party, Giorgio ( the little host), did not even recognize Miki with his wig on - he kept on insisting that it was not him! Lili showed variable interest in the idea of dressing up, for the party she wanted nothing to do with her cowgirl vest (she wore it for the school party). I never even dared to try on her hat ( that girl is opinionated and antihat at the moment).

Stir-crazy?

As I mentioned before, there were some rainy days in the last month so we were forced to entertain ourselves inside.

We, the parents, entertain ourselves by torturing our very tired daughter (believe me, she could not have cared less). I am not even sure how she ended up in that laundry basket.

Miki entertains himself by dressing up (and just wait, we will have to take some pictures in his pirate costume complete with long black pirate hair).

And Lili, well, apparently she really knows the meaning of entertainment.

January rain (or shine)

We spent the month of January relatively peacefully. It rained. A lot. And then some more. Mikael, as I have stated before, is impervious to weather. I like rain. I do. Like a rainy Sunday afternoon, cuddled up with a good book on the couch ( I am not sure if this has happened in the last decade but it sounds good). Or a nice cool rain on a muggy summer night. I even like swimming in the rain ( this I have done recently, at some thermal pools with my Mom-fun). But the January rain is COLD and unrelenting. Furthermore, I have come to believe that it has some personal vendetta againts me (yes I am that important- maybe the sun does not revolve around me, but rain certainly does). It always seems to be coming down the hardest the 10 minutes I need to walk from the metro to the daycare or even more so, the 20 minute walk home pushing the stroller. With 2 kids. It is not really possible to hold an umbrella while pushing the stroller, plus it is often windy anyways. I hate arriving home drenched. But I have been trying to keep positive--I have been trying to tell myself how much I will miss this rain in Doha. And I probably will, but that really does nothing for my appreciation of it now. But enough about the weather. I should not complain- this winter, I have shoveled no snow, I have worn no gloves and really when I look at our January pictures we have gotten to be outside quite a bit. Villa Borghese, Villa Ada, Villa Chigi, Parco Virgiliano just to name a few. Needless to say, the playground in the park is always the ultimate destination.

We like the swings, of course

And some kung fu ( Miki style).

And even if not the rain, I will definitely miss the beautiful year around greenery that we are surrounded with in this climate.

Chef Miki

As you have seen before, I like hanging out in the kitchen. Over time, I have progressed from unpacking all the tupperware from the cabinets and playing in Lexi's water bowl (don't worry, to my parents' delight, I have trained a capable and motivated replacement for this role) to actually wanting to help with what is going on. Lately, I have been announcing my plans to become a chef (and no, it is not just to please my sometimes morose Papa, who is the REAL chef of the family at this point) . In preparation for this, I have been spending time in either the real or my toy kitchen. But more importantly, as a savvy business move, I have been posing for all kinds of pictures in various kitchens throughout the world (well, my world anyways). I don't know, I think I might be able to use them on my book cover (because, as I am sure you are all aware, you are not really a chef without at least a couple of cookbooks and of course the mandatory TV show. But lucky for me, redheads do well on TV- look at Bobby Flay or Mario Battali).

Miki

***Parents' note- We have high hopes for Miki. First and foremost we hope he can somehow bring his chef's palate (which certainly exists in his imagination) to more practical use at the dinner table so that he does not immediately announce he does not like something without having even tried it.

Holidays in Budapest

So as I mentioned we spent the Christmas holiday with my family in Budapest. This was my first Christmas there in 23 years, celebrated in my grandmother's dining room with the same furniture, the same interesting painted ceiling, the same christmas tree decorations (and the same cousins :-)). So needless to say, that even with poor Lili sick and in a bad mood, it was a really special time for me. We got to spend time with my grandmother (Mami), and all sorts of cousins and aunts and uncles. Miki had a great time, poor Lili more or less tolerated everything (but was not herself), Mikael ate and drank well (he is not a needy guy). We were extremely spoiled the whole time and are very thankful to all the family who tolerated us eating all their food and having our children run (or in Lili's case crawl) amok in their homes.

Santa Claus? Mikulas? Jezuska?

Yes, I know it is January but the holiday season was very busy, what else can I say? So I will attempt to do a little bit of catching up. Santa Claus is very confusing for us, we have not quite figured out how explain things to Miki yet. This is because really Santa Claus for my side of the family is the day of St. Nicholas, December 6th- this is when you put your boots in the window and you get fruits and chocolate if you have been good or virgacs-a stick to be beaten with- if you have been bad! So this occasion (without the virgacs) was called (by my Mom) little Mikulas (Santa Claus). Then, on a random Saturday, we 'met' the 'real' Santa Claus at the Embassy Holiday party. This was fun but it is always a mess-- too many kids who have eaten too many sugary snacks. And why did Santa Claus come to Rome when it was not yet Christmas? Errr... He has so many places to go, he needed to come early? Then there is Christmas- this is a whole other issue where I, at this point, have officially caved in. Gifts for us are brought by baby Jesus, but this was just too much for Miki at this point, so we are sticking with the Santa story but we celebrate mostly on the 24th. After much preparation explaining that he probably will NOT see Santa, and listening with Mikael for Rudolph's bell, which was my Grandma's bell from her childhood, it all went smoothly. Who knew lying is so much work?

So slowly but surely we are coming up with our own family traditions. For example, Mikael introduced stockings to my side of the family a few years ago and now everyone has a stocking that we tote around the world. This year we had a lovely holiday in Budapest which will be the subject of the next post, which will hopefully appear before February.