A minor foray into domestic Sicily.

2/1/2020

(Above: Clothing hung out to dry with an incredible vista to the background.)

Active Summary: This morning began with a somewhat normal regimen of getting out of bed, performing exercises, and then writing for an hour and a half. I followed these tasks up with some leisure activities and then decided that it was time to wash clothes. Instead of venturing out to a laundromat, though, my brother and I opted for the recommended ‘kitchen sink strategy’ (more in TIL).

After hanging our clothes to dry – some inside on a rack beneath a heater and some outside off the balcony beneath the bright sun – about 30 more minutes of leisure activities were ensued by an urge to walk around outdoors. I also needed some ingredients for pizza later on in the day, so we brought a bag with us. During out 1.5 hour walk we stopped by a little grocery shop and procured disposable pans, Parmesan Reggiano, 1.5 kilograms of dried noodles for possible future use, and a jar of tomato sauce for about 20 euros. We also stopped by a produce stand where I procured 1 kilogram of especially prime cherry tomatoes, 1 kilogram of oranges, a large head of endive-like lettuce, a large package of mushrooms, two onions, two massive bell-peppers, and three heads of garlic for 10 euros (more in commentary).

We brought the groceries back to the room and then discovered that we were slightly hungry after all that walking. We journeyed down to the dessert/restaurant street from last night. Alas, many places were closed by that point because it was midday (siesta time). A little bit more walking brought us to another gellateria, and there, my brother obtained a bowl of cookies & cream gelato while I ordered a ‘brioche’ filled with pistachio gelato.

On our way back to the room, we could not stop by yesterday’s bakery because it was closed, so we instead stopped by the wholesale baker less than 30 feet from our place. There, we procured some fresh cookies – about 15 mid-sized crunch-cookies – for 1.5 euros. The food here is high quality, but cheap.

(7:32 PM Update:) Since earlier, I’ve been having leisure time and cooking. There is no hot water*, so the dough did not rise much. Fortunately, we have fresh mozzarella, produce, prosciutto, and some delicious butter to carry the ‘special’ dough. Pictures of tonight’s meal can be found beneath the commentary.

TIL: Today I learned how to wash my clothes without a washing machine. It was a straightforward process that did not require much thought, but it was a new process all the same. I simply sloshed my clothes around in a sink full of water and detergent. Then, I rinsed/wrung the clothes out in the shower before placing some on a rack beneath the heater in my bedroom and some on the clotheslines outside. In regard to the outdoors’ hanging, I only did that for clothing with strings with which I could secure the garb to the line. Why? Because if my clothing happened to become detached from the line it would at best fall four or five stories to the street below and at worst flutter away on a breeze to some faraway land.

Commentary: Our trip out and about this afternoon was an enlightening experience. My brother and I decided to attempt finding food that was not in a ‘super market’ and instead belonged to an open market or privately owned shop. We were successful in this endeavor, and what we found were reduced prices and better-quality ingredients.

The first place we stopped at was a diminutive food store. Meaning that it was almost like a supermarket except much smaller and with most of the items within being either food or ingredients for cooking. The shopkeeper did keep some cleaning supplies on hand, but again, they were related to cooking and household cleaning. In essence, the store was dedicated to common household necessities – a mini-mart, but one bearing ingredients of a far higher caliber than could be found in a United States mini-mart. Indeed, at this store, they were selling whole prosciuttos** in a case right alongside some Sicilian / Italian cheeses, the latter of which included Parmesan Reggiano.

The second place we stopped at was a produce market much akin to the Harbison Farm Market. They did not have quite the variety root vegetables that Harbisons do, but they did have a plethora of greens, tomatoes, and oranges. Also, due to this market’s close proximity to harvest locations, prices were so low they were rather ridiculous. As mentioned above, I procured today’s bounty of produce for 10 euros. I had a 20 euro bill and a 10 euro bill out and ready to give to the man (I expected the total to be around twenty), but when he saw that amount, he gave me a look like I was some-sort of crazy and took the 10, telling me “dieci e buono, deice e buono” or “ten is good, ten is good”.

Final Note: Tomorrow will be another day of leisure, I do believe. There is an experience on the Airbnb site that I am interested in, though. Here is a link. I have no problem paying the 50 dollars price – it is the hour-long walk to get there that I’m not so fond of. Fortunately, I still have a few days to decide.

*A recurring theme within our present Airbnb stay. It has been resolved, though, as of 9:26 PM. Carmelo heeded our plea for aid and came to fix the heater himself. It took about 1 minute, and he seemed very happy that we were happy.

**Entire hams bearing many pounds worth of prosciutto within.