Sunday in Siracusa

Sunday afternoon here in Sicily was 40+ kms of cycling, a bit short because the skies clouded up after we got started, followed by a classic bruschetta al pomodoro antipasto. Next was another Tuscan (yes, I know we’re not there but we can’t have Sicilian food ALL the time!) specialty, ribollita – a rich vegetable soup literally reboiled to make it better (other than fish soups, are there any that are not better the following day?) and full of cavolo nero (don’t ask me what this is in English but Swiss chard works OK) and chunks of stale bread (those Tuscans rarely throw anything away) to the point where a spoon stands straight up. Drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with black pepper, it’s amazingly good. We finished up with another classic, bistecca fiorentina, thick beef steak seared on the outside and almost raw on the inside, washed down with a syrah from Spadafora here in Sicily. Yes, it was Tuscan-style food but Sicilian vino. We wandered out to the San Sebastiano festival in the evening to see Seby’s likeness carried through the streets, complete with arrows sticking out of him, then paused for pistacchio pastries at a bar in the piazza before heading home. And there WAS even football this Sunday, as one of the Italian channels showed the AFC championship game, though we went to bed after the first half – I love it when the announcer says “primo down" and "dieci yards".