I’m sitting in a gazebo by the pool, trying to put words to the gastronomic sensations we have had in just a few days.

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OMG! The FOOD!

What a difference between food that was grown down the street and picked at its peak vs food that was grown thousands of miles away and picked for shipping – not eating.

I wanna move.

To say we haven’t had a bad meal, yet, is an understatement – every grape, peach, tomato – OMG the tomatoes – are just fabulous. And the cheeses! The mortadella! The breads! The pastries!

I’m in gastronomic heaven.

Our second night here, Phoebe made a papardelle with pancetta, onions, and red wine.

Stunning in its simplicity. And unbelievably delicious.

 

05-21-14-olives

George, our landlord at Villa Modica brought over olives he grew and cured, himself. Laced with hot peppers, they have a salty bite that you just won’t find elsewhere. I’m eating handfuls at a time. Just fabulous.

 

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The fruit has been spectacular. The difference, here, is the fruit doesn’t have that perfect look that we expect at the grocery store. But what it lacks in perfect looks, it gains in perfect taste. The food hasn’t been bred for looks – it’s all about what it’s supposed to taste like.

 

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We had our first Sicilian Pizza last night…

 

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05-21-14-pizza-modicana

I made hand-spun pizza for many years and always thought mine was pretty good. This was better. The flavors just exploded. The version I got was called a Modicana. It had mozzarella, ricotta salata, onions, sausage, and arugula. What a taste sensation.

There are several fish markets along the street. Here, they’re advertising fresh swordfish. It doesn’t get fresher.

There are produce stalls everywhere. We’ve been going to one in particular where we can park the car. There is one guy there who is a total hoot – a real charmer and salesman. His English is about as good as our Italian – and we’re communicating perfectly.

 

 

05-21-14-booze

And we’ve picked up some chocolate and some fun liqueurs. I see some really different biscotti in our future.

I knew coming in we were going to love the food. I had some pretty high expectations – and in just three days, they have been exceeded a hundredfold.