A few days before heading to Sicily, I had the opportunity to attend a work dinner at La Civetta in Warsaw. The restaurant is run by the wife of one of the partners I work with and he always wants us to organize events there. After this experience, I will never say no. The food was wonderful, the service is great, and his wife, along with others in the kitchen, are from Sicily. So they know what they're doing. Every single thing is amazing, including the eggplant, cheese and tomato salad, which includes 2 of my least favorite foods. And I don't usually eat much ice cream, but at La Civetta, I got a sore elbow from shoveling the giant scoops of pistachio and dark chocolate ice cream down my throat at a dangerous pace, until I almost swallowed the goblet it was served in. There were already numerous reasons to look forward to going to Sicily for Mark M. and Julia's wedding, but the dinner at La Civetta made me look forward to a weekend of Italian food even more.
There was a great sense of excitement for a June weekend away in Sicily, topped off with a wonderful wedding, next to the beach, in perfect weather. Apparently there is a lot of interesting stuff to see on the island, but for most of us, we just wanted to stay in the town of the wedding, relaxing in the sunshine and stuffing our faces with pasta, seafood, and ice cream. There are only a couple Ryan Air flights per week from Modlin to Trapani so it seemed that half of WITC was on our plane that Friday afternoon. I was responsible for picking up Polish vodka at duty free, but realized that when flying within the EU, buying alcohol at Duty Free costs a lot more than buying it in a normal shop (so we have to remember that for next time!).
After picking up the car at the airport, Mark P, Ewa, Volkan and I drove through the country side, we admired a stunningly beautiful island. The place is littered with mountains and hills, with fields of grapes and olives and who knows what else all around. The sea was visible along the coast, and there was not a cloud in the sky.
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, with 5 million people living on 25,000 sq km (although I'm not really sure what that means, it's much bigger than I thought). I wondered, how, with the billions of Sicilians living in NYC, are there still so many people left in Sicily? We stayed in Castellammare del Golfo, a small town on the Northern coast on the West side of the island (between Trapani and Palermo). It was a perfect setting for a wedding, with beaches, great food, a super relaxed environment, and minimal tourists except the 50 Russians and WITCers there for the wedding.
After we parked and approached where the apartment should have been, we noticed a slight problem. We had the address of the apartment, but some of the buildings didn't have any numbers on them. We walked around the neighborhood, and asked a nice lady to help us. She didn't speak great English, but she combined a few phrases and constant hand movements to try to assist. She didn't know which was our building, but we walked around the streets looking. Then she asked some other neighbors to get involved. People were coming out to the woodwork to watch us, sitting on the steps or chairs, while offering advice from the peanut gallery (in Italian). There was even a Polish lady that could speak to Mark and Ewa since Italian wasn't really helping. It was nice to see the whole neighborhood coming to our assistance (and others who must have been bored, since they spent their Friday evening watching us), and one person even offering us another apartment if we needed it. After about 2 hours, we finally found our friends who knew where the apartment was, and had the key. The apartment was right in front of our faces.
Mark, Ewa, Volkan, Ela and I shared the apartment. In theory, Jay was supposed to be with us as well, but he spent every night with some other girls (we didn't ask for details). The apartment wasn't spectacular, but it did come with mice in the attic, which was nice.
We spent most of our meals around the harbor at one of the many outdoor restaurants, or at the beach. With the fresh sea breeze blowing, the warm sunshine, and the delicious food and drink, it was easy to spend the time sitting and doing nothing. It must be wonderful to live in a world where siestas are common. But they probably have to practice, because eating and relaxing in the sunshine is really hard work! Since there were about 30 friends that we knew also at the wedding (staying in different places), we would bump into everyone just walking around the harbor, meeting for drinks or meals. Sometimes a meal would start with 3 or 4 people, and as people walked by, they'd join the table, and so on and so on, which led to a table of 15 people, sitting for hours, ordering second meals after getting hungry again. We even got free bottles of limoncello and some artichoke drink from the restaurant for giving them so much business. Actually a couple places gave free snacks, fruit or drinks, and it was great that everyone has a generous spirit.
The wedding itself was beautiful, with the ceremony held just above the harbor. I could immediately understand why Julia and Mark fell in love with the place. The ceremony was officiated by an Italian, in English, translated into Russian. How many times have you heard of that? Somebody gave me a flower to put in my suit, a gift from the couple for organizing the party at which they officially met a few years ago ("officially", since it's the first time they both actually remember meeting each other). After the ceremony, it was prosecco and picture time (which is always a good time), then the party bus ride to the reception (which is also always a good time). We broke into the vodka stash on the bus, and, slightly (or not so slightly) buzzed, and got to the venue to see one of the most beautiful wedding settings I've seen. The place was on a hill, overlooking the beautiful countryside, including the typical countryside ancient Roman temple in the background.
The weather was perfect, the pool was tempting (however, no swimming allowed - which of course a few people ignored), and there was so much food that we didn't know what to do with it. It started with appetizers of fish, mussels, prawns, oysters, salads, cous cous, and to my surprise, a tasty lung/spleen sandwich. I was feeling brave and ate it very confidently, and it went down pretty well. I was already pretty full, but then came risotto, pasta, fish, potatoes, prawns and lots of desserts. Of course there was dancing, and lots of fun songs that guys in our WITC group enjoy. Mark and Julia looked great, everyone had a great time (especially making a music video to Pharrell's "Happy"), and J's family treated us to a choreographed performance to a Backstreet Boys song (I was very jealous not to be in the performance). I couldn't be happier for them. It says a lot that so many friends from Warsaw (maybe 25 of us) were more than happy to spend the weekend here with them...it was great to party for all.
The party didn't stop that night, as we spent the next day at a pool party at the beach. We spent the day eating, drinking, swimming, taking jumping pictures and just celebrating our friends' new union. It was so relaxing and fun to sit and have no worries in the world (except all of the broken wine glasses next to the pool...I'm not sure why they let us take the glasses next to the pool in the first place...that can only end badly).
One of my favorite discoveries was the amazing pasta alla norma. It was especially great at "Il Patio" on the harbor, and had eggplant (which somehow I am liking more and more every time I eat it), potatoes, basil, and some really nice cheese, tossed with some funny squiggly noodle called busiata. I guess busiata is the Sicilian name for fusilli, but somehow it seemed thicker and heartier than fusilli. I also loved that cous cous with fish or seafood is very popular there, served in a broth.
Of course you can't go to Sicily without thinking of the Godfather movies. People were humming the theme song everywhere, and I assumed every local was part of the Mafia (please make sure I'm not swimming with the fish after writing this). I looked into how the Mafia started (online, not actually asking Mafia). Sicily became part of Italy in the 19th century, which meant needing to follow new, sometimes annoying rules, but also with limited oversight from the mainland since they were not connected. The Mafia came about as a way to govern separately (and in their own interests) from the Italian government, during a time they were adjusting to capitalism, but also as a way to keep order among everyone. And of course it still exists to some extent, with powerful families running a lot of things. Just spending a couple days there, you also can get a sense of why the Sicilians in New York have a reputation for being so loud, friendly, caring, chatty, family-oriented, and such great cooks. Because we could see that all over Sicitly.
In the end, I could not find any pistachio ice cream as good as in La Civetta (and just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating the first time, I went back to the restaurant after Sicily to try it again...and it's still amazing). Apparently the recipe comes from a popular ice cream shop in Sicily, but some people say that the milk in Poland is better, so the ice cream could be officially better in La Civetta because of that. If anyone wants to try it out sometime, just let me know and I'll bring a few lactaids pills.
There was a great sense of excitement for a June weekend away in Sicily, topped off with a wonderful wedding, next to the beach, in perfect weather. Apparently there is a lot of interesting stuff to see on the island, but for most of us, we just wanted to stay in the town of the wedding, relaxing in the sunshine and stuffing our faces with pasta, seafood, and ice cream. There are only a couple Ryan Air flights per week from Modlin to Trapani so it seemed that half of WITC was on our plane that Friday afternoon. I was responsible for picking up Polish vodka at duty free, but realized that when flying within the EU, buying alcohol at Duty Free costs a lot more than buying it in a normal shop (so we have to remember that for next time!).
After picking up the car at the airport, Mark P, Ewa, Volkan and I drove through the country side, we admired a stunningly beautiful island. The place is littered with mountains and hills, with fields of grapes and olives and who knows what else all around. The sea was visible along the coast, and there was not a cloud in the sky.
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, with 5 million people living on 25,000 sq km (although I'm not really sure what that means, it's much bigger than I thought). I wondered, how, with the billions of Sicilians living in NYC, are there still so many people left in Sicily? We stayed in Castellammare del Golfo, a small town on the Northern coast on the West side of the island (between Trapani and Palermo). It was a perfect setting for a wedding, with beaches, great food, a super relaxed environment, and minimal tourists except the 50 Russians and WITCers there for the wedding.
Castellammare del Golfo (pic from Alan)
After we parked and approached where the apartment should have been, we noticed a slight problem. We had the address of the apartment, but some of the buildings didn't have any numbers on them. We walked around the neighborhood, and asked a nice lady to help us. She didn't speak great English, but she combined a few phrases and constant hand movements to try to assist. She didn't know which was our building, but we walked around the streets looking. Then she asked some other neighbors to get involved. People were coming out to the woodwork to watch us, sitting on the steps or chairs, while offering advice from the peanut gallery (in Italian). There was even a Polish lady that could speak to Mark and Ewa since Italian wasn't really helping. It was nice to see the whole neighborhood coming to our assistance (and others who must have been bored, since they spent their Friday evening watching us), and one person even offering us another apartment if we needed it. After about 2 hours, we finally found our friends who knew where the apartment was, and had the key. The apartment was right in front of our faces.
While trying to find our apartment, the neighborhood comes to help
Mark, Ewa, Volkan, Ela and I shared the apartment. In theory, Jay was supposed to be with us as well, but he spent every night with some other girls (we didn't ask for details). The apartment wasn't spectacular, but it did come with mice in the attic, which was nice.
We spent most of our meals around the harbor at one of the many outdoor restaurants, or at the beach. With the fresh sea breeze blowing, the warm sunshine, and the delicious food and drink, it was easy to spend the time sitting and doing nothing. It must be wonderful to live in a world where siestas are common. But they probably have to practice, because eating and relaxing in the sunshine is really hard work! Since there were about 30 friends that we knew also at the wedding (staying in different places), we would bump into everyone just walking around the harbor, meeting for drinks or meals. Sometimes a meal would start with 3 or 4 people, and as people walked by, they'd join the table, and so on and so on, which led to a table of 15 people, sitting for hours, ordering second meals after getting hungry again. We even got free bottles of limoncello and some artichoke drink from the restaurant for giving them so much business. Actually a couple places gave free snacks, fruit or drinks, and it was great that everyone has a generous spirit.
Walking around the harbor
Family picture
After lunch, trying to figure out what everyone ordered
The wedding itself was beautiful, with the ceremony held just above the harbor. I could immediately understand why Julia and Mark fell in love with the place. The ceremony was officiated by an Italian, in English, translated into Russian. How many times have you heard of that? Somebody gave me a flower to put in my suit, a gift from the couple for organizing the party at which they officially met a few years ago ("officially", since it's the first time they both actually remember meeting each other). After the ceremony, it was prosecco and picture time (which is always a good time), then the party bus ride to the reception (which is also always a good time). We broke into the vodka stash on the bus, and, slightly (or not so slightly) buzzed, and got to the venue to see one of the most beautiful wedding settings I've seen. The place was on a hill, overlooking the beautiful countryside, including the typical countryside ancient Roman temple in the background.
View from the reception venue
The weather was perfect, the pool was tempting (however, no swimming allowed - which of course a few people ignored), and there was so much food that we didn't know what to do with it. It started with appetizers of fish, mussels, prawns, oysters, salads, cous cous, and to my surprise, a tasty lung/spleen sandwich. I was feeling brave and ate it very confidently, and it went down pretty well. I was already pretty full, but then came risotto, pasta, fish, potatoes, prawns and lots of desserts. Of course there was dancing, and lots of fun songs that guys in our WITC group enjoy. Mark and Julia looked great, everyone had a great time (especially making a music video to Pharrell's "Happy"), and J's family treated us to a choreographed performance to a Backstreet Boys song (I was very jealous not to be in the performance). I couldn't be happier for them. It says a lot that so many friends from Warsaw (maybe 25 of us) were more than happy to spend the weekend here with them...it was great to party for all.
Welcoming the new couple
Guys looking awesome
Volkan and me with Mark and Julia
"Day after" jumping pictures in the sea
And in the pool
One of my favorite discoveries was the amazing pasta alla norma. It was especially great at "Il Patio" on the harbor, and had eggplant (which somehow I am liking more and more every time I eat it), potatoes, basil, and some really nice cheese, tossed with some funny squiggly noodle called busiata. I guess busiata is the Sicilian name for fusilli, but somehow it seemed thicker and heartier than fusilli. I also loved that cous cous with fish or seafood is very popular there, served in a broth.
Busiata alla norma
Seafood cous cous and broth
Of course you can't go to Sicily without thinking of the Godfather movies. People were humming the theme song everywhere, and I assumed every local was part of the Mafia (please make sure I'm not swimming with the fish after writing this). I looked into how the Mafia started (online, not actually asking Mafia). Sicily became part of Italy in the 19th century, which meant needing to follow new, sometimes annoying rules, but also with limited oversight from the mainland since they were not connected. The Mafia came about as a way to govern separately (and in their own interests) from the Italian government, during a time they were adjusting to capitalism, but also as a way to keep order among everyone. And of course it still exists to some extent, with powerful families running a lot of things. Just spending a couple days there, you also can get a sense of why the Sicilians in New York have a reputation for being so loud, friendly, caring, chatty, family-oriented, and such great cooks. Because we could see that all over Sicitly.
In the end, I could not find any pistachio ice cream as good as in La Civetta (and just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating the first time, I went back to the restaurant after Sicily to try it again...and it's still amazing). Apparently the recipe comes from a popular ice cream shop in Sicily, but some people say that the milk in Poland is better, so the ice cream could be officially better in La Civetta because of that. If anyone wants to try it out sometime, just let me know and I'll bring a few lactaids pills.
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