Mi Familia Siciliana e Cannoli

This is La Rocca, the huge land mass that you can see from most places in Cefalu.  Cefalu just happens to be where my grandfather was born, a very pretty beach town east of Palermo.  He was very secretive most of his life about his childhood, as he never returned to Sicily once he arrived in American at the age of 18. 

About 5 years ago, after a bit of research on Ancestry.com and SicilianFamily.com, we found his birth certificate, address of family home, information on my great grandparents and his siblings, amazing!  And by chance, literally, we would need a hour or so and a glass of wine for me to tell you the whole story, we found our Testa family!  3 generations of cousins, and lots of stories, in Italian, as they don't speak much English.

Let's not forget the cannoli, this dessert is Sicily!  A crispy pastry shell filled with a mixture of sweetened ricotta cheese, chocolate chips and topped with nuts or fruit, I mean come on!  I am contributing these to that horrible number that popped up on the scale once I returned home.

Wifi Adventures in Capri!

It's been a bit challenging blogging from the middle of the Mediterranean. I know, poor me, right! Some of my pics were not loading properly, so John took up the slack on Facebook.   Let's see if this new squarespace app works, if not follow our adventures on Facebook!

After a 30 minute boat ride from Positano to Capri, we were met at the boat by the hotel welcome service, where they took our bags to deliver them to the hotel. A 3 minute ride in the Funiculare, tram, up the hill from the Marina Grande to the main Piazzetta. Another 20 minute walk up the winding cobblestone streets to the top, and views of the famous Faraglioni rocks, legend says its shaped like Poseidon's Trident! We arrived just in time for lunch at our beautiful hotel, Punta Tragara. 

Dinner in Positano

Max for dinner tonight, we went here during our honeymoon ten years ago, and it's still one of the best! Homemade lasagna, delisioso!

Ahhh . . . the Amalfi Coast

The view from our hotel, Palazzo Murat, is quite serene.  We couldn't ask for anything more.  Now that we've had a good nights sleep, and feel normal again, we were able to enjoy a nice lunch and some Positano window shopping.  

While we enjoyed our lunch we had a nice crisp Italian white wine from the Campania region of Southern Italy, Fiano di Avellino.  Notes of honeysuckle and grapefruit.  The Fiano grape varietal is thought to be a varietal from ancient Roman times.

Italian Summer Whites

East of Tuscany and Umbria lies the Marche region of Italy.  It's hilly landscape off the Adriatic Sea has calcareous and limestone rich soils, which lend these characteristics to their crisp and fresh white wines.  Verdicchio being the star grape varietal, and one of my new Summer favorites.  We recently enjoyed a bottle with our friends Anne and Jose, I love introducing friends to something new!  Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, crisp, acidic, bold, herbaceous notes with citrus and apple.