Geneva Week 4 (5/31 – 6/6) - My vacation at ‘DDC’ and Sicily = Food, Food, and more Food

Week 4 marked the end of our first full month here as a complete family. During our first month, I discovered parks, beaches, endless amounts of digging and a new doggie day care that I am rather growing fond of. Natalie and Jason have enjoyed learning about the many scenic and culinary benefits this part of Europe has to offer.

Week 4 was no different.

The week started out the same as usual. Jason went to work in downtown Geneva during the day and Natalie and I stayed up near our place where we both were productive in our own ways. I dug and rolled around endlessly and Natalie maintained the house and kept to her running schedule.  In fact, I rolled around in so much fragrant earth that Natalie gave me my first bath. I am not a huge fan of taking baths; however, Natalie accused me of smelling like a farm animal and told me she wasn’t going to let me inside if I didn’t take one; therefore, I really had no choice.

Natalie and Jason also had their 2^nd French lesson. This lesson included learning how to ask what things were (Qu’est-ce que c’est? is the phrase for ‘what is this?’ if anyone’s interested) and they also got homework for the first time.

I didn’t go to Doggie Day Care (DDC) on Tuesday this week, since Natalie and Jason would be leaving for Sicily on Wednesday night and I would therefore, be staying at DDC from Wednesday until Saturday, which was the day they were set to return.

I was not too happy about this plan, as I was still getting used to DDC and wasn’t sure I was ready to stay overnight.  Wednesday arrived and I was a bit of a grump all day knowing what the rest of my week was going to look like compared to what the rest of Natalie and Jason’s week was going to include. In fact, I made it a point to very passionately and enthusiastically roll around in some extremely fragrant earth that morning as a way of showing Natalie how I felt about the situation.

(Here I am rolling around on something good and smelly :-))

As I’d hoped, Natalie got irritated at the fresh ‘stink’ on me and called me a farm animal again. However, she still persisted on driving me to DDC that evening.

Natalie dropped me off and included with my drop-off a lemon cream-cherry tart she made for the owners of DDC. Natalie was quite excited about this tart as she created her own crème fraiche topping to include on the tart.  Since she was so proud of the recipe and excited to share it with others, I will include it on the blog soon.

As I was settling in to my first evening at DDC, Natalie picked Jason up at work and they both headed off to the airport to catch their flight to Sicily.

The flight to Sicily was a quick two hour trip over the Alps and down through Italy. Natalie and Jason arrived in Sicily at about 10:45 that evening and in what they learned to be typical Sicilian fashion, they had to wait about 45 minutes before they got their bags.

Jason and Natalie finally retrieved their bags, picked up their rental car and Jason took the wheel and started the adventure that was the Sicilian roads! After navigating through road signs that were covered by trees, speedy Italian drivers and getting lost on the road to the hotel (they went the wrong way and the usually trusty iPhone GPS wasn’t helping them much this time), they both finally arrived into the Hotel Lido Caparena in Taormina, Sicily at about 12:45am.

Neither Jason, nor Natalie slept very well and were therefore up before 8am on Thursday morning. Jason was up primarily because he couldn’t sleep and Natalie was up because the beach, which was right outside their hotel room, was calling.

This beach was on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, was privately owned by the hotel and had lounges and towels ready for guests to use. Therefore, all Natalie had to do was get in her swimsuit and walk the 100 yards or so to a day full of sun-tanning prior to the evening’s wedding activities.

Prior to the beach, Natalie and Jason headed down to breakfast and there they met up with Jason’s aunts and their families, who were all in town for the wedding.  They had lovely conversation and Jason and Natalie were definitely looking forward to spending lots of time with Ellen, Sally, Mary and Sue and their families (although, it was Sue’s son, Nick, who was getting married, so, needless to say Sue was quite busy all the way up to the wedding.)

Natalie, Jason and the ‘aunts’ as Natalie and Jason affectionately like to refer to them spent a good part of the day on the beach and getting way too much sun. Before they knew it, the afternoon rolled around and it was time to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was about an hour and a half away via bus to a town near Catania, Sicily. Therefore, everyone needed to be at the front of the hotel to catch the bus by 4pm that afternoon. Luckily, everyone got ready and made it on the bus in time. An hour and a half later, the bus stopped in front of a very beautiful castle.

(The Castle where the wedding was being held!)

Natalie and Jason wandered the grounds (or, Natalie more like wobbled – the ancient cobblestone was a bit much for her 4-inch heels) and drank authentic Sicilian refreshments that tasted like creamy, sweetened almond milk. Natalie wanted another, but her dress was already tight and the evening hadn’t even begun.

After all the guests arrived, the wedding started in a tiny, yet romantic chapel that was to the side of the castle. Nick was beaming and his bride, Cinzia, was beautiful. Much of the ceremony was in Italian and Natalie and Jason delighted in experiencing a wedding in a different culture. After the ceremony ended, the guests filed out and picked up cones of rice to throw at the elated bride and groom!

(The cones of rice nicely displayed to look like Cala Lilies.)

Everyone then ventured into a courtyard with a sparkly swimming pool and benches covered in white pillows. This courtyard was the site for aperitivo (appetizers) and prosecco. Natalie and Jason figured that this was the reception and therefore, happily drank and munched on deep fried treats, such as ham sandwiches and vegetables. They also were served little cups of granita and stuffed puff pastries.

(The courtyard with the comfortable benches.)

A little over an hour into the reception, all the guests starting moving out of the courtyard and into another section of the castle. Natalie and Jason didn’t know why, but followed anyway.

This section of the castle had yet another courtyard and dimly lit rooms off of the courtyard. It also contained more food and a lot of it! Apparently, as Natalie and Jason quickly learned, this was the antipasti portion of the reception. And, as they also learned, this would be followed by a sit-down dinner with multiple courses!

(A picture of one of the dimly lit rooms off of the 'antipasti' courtyard.)

The favorite part of the antipasti course for Jason and Natalie had to be the cheese and ham display, specifically the huge round of parmigiano reggiano hollowed out and filled with chunks of the salty and addictive cheese! This display also contained some very fine parma prosciutto and mozzarella burrata.

(The Parmigiano Reggiano Round!)

Natalie went back a couple of times for the cheese (Jason had a bit more self-control) and after drinking and eating way more food than necessary, Natalie and Jason then made their way into the main dining room, which was in yet another beautiful part of the castle for the sit down dinner.

By this point, Natalie and Jason were thoroughly stuffed…Natalie wouldn’t have been surprised, actually, if her dress blew apart at the seams.

Even though Natalie and Jason couldn’t breathe they both had to sample the sit down dinner offerings, which consisted of two delicious pasta dishes as the ‘primi’, a fish entree as the ‘secondi’ and a refreshing white wine to complement the meal.

By the time dinner finished, it had to be somewhere close to 11pm…you would think that the feasting would be over; however, the most important meal, dessert!, still needed to be served.

Everyone moved out into the courtyard where the aperitivo were served earlier and the courtyard was now turned into a sweets paradise. At the center of it all was the biggest wedding cake Natalie had ever seen - it was the size of a small armchair!

(The largest wedding cake Natalie and Jason have ever seen!)

Natalie managed to find room in her stomach for the dessert (if she stood up, the dress didn’t feel that tight and she could eat more) and sampled the wedding cake, jordan almonds and a variety of European-style cakes and confections. Jason also dabbled in the dessert, but again, managed to hold back a bit more than Natalie.

(Jordan Almonds!)

(One of the perfect cakes that was quickly devoured by guests!)

Dancing then started and at close to 2am, the fabulous party ended and Natalie and Jason were back on the bus headed to the hotel with many of the family, as well as the bride and groom.

Unfortunately, the next morning, Natalie and Jason suffered from a serious food hangover. They would need to get over it, though, because Friday would prove to be as big of a feasting day as Thursday.

Natalie and Jason joined the family for breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for the day to visit two chefs Natalie had met while in culinary school. One of the chefs, Corrado Assenza, owns a pastry shop called Caffe Sicilia in Noto, Sicily and Natalie and Jason were going to meet up with him first. The other chef, Accursio Craparo, is the head chef at Ristorante La Gazza Ladra, which is in Modica, Sicily. Natalie and Jason would be dining there for the evening.

After a pleasant drive from Taormina to Noto (which is about a hour and a half away) and after pizza for lunch and a walk in scenic Noto, Natalie and Jason visited Caffe Sicilia and had very nice conversation with Chef Corrado. They also had some delicious treats, including Pistachio Gelato, Bitter Cherry and Almond cake and White Pepper with Bergamot cake.

(The very classic sign in front of Caffe Sicilia.)

(Scenic Noto!)

All of the items Natalie and Jason tried at the café were so delicious and unique; therefore, in order to keep the Caffe Sicilia experience alive for a week or two longer Natalie and Jason filled their bags with goodies to take home. These items included chocolates with a basil center, amaretti cookies, torrone (nougat confection), a pink grapefruit marmalade, an almond cream and sugary marzipan-like cookies with a jelly center called ‘conchiglie’ (Conchiglie is ‘shell’ in Italian and these cookies were in fact shaped like shells.) Now that Natalie and Jason live in Europe, they will definitely be back to Caffe Sicilia a few more times!

An hour or so after Natalie and Jason’s visit with Chef Corrado, they found themselves winding through the narrow streets of Modica looking for Chef Accursio’s restaurant. Unfortunately, the iPhone failed them again and Natalie and Jason found themselves at a dead-end street somewhere in Modica and already 20 minutes late for the dinner reservation.

Natalie and Jason at least knew they were close to the restaurant. So, instead of braving the roads again, they decided just to go on foot. A few windy streets later, Natalie and Jason finally arrived at the restaurant and got to see Chef Accursio for a moment before he was off to make what would be a fantastic dinner!

(A picture of the inside of Ristorante La Gazza Ladra.)

Since this blog is starting to get way too long, I won’t go into each and every dish as Natalie and Jason described it to me, but rather I’ve included a link to the restaurant and the menu ‘La Gazza Ladra’ contain the dishes Natalie and Jason enjoyed for dinner that evening.

I will share some of the menu highlights, though – the false ice cream was fantastic. It was essentially smoothly pureed cod that was shaped into a ball and topped with a bit of caviar. On top of the cod was a cone that was similar in texture to a crispy fried wonton. The cone had this deliciously ‘salt and pepper’ hint that went really well with the salty cod. 

The filet of black pork was also one of Natalie and Jason’s favorites. Apparently, this pork was slow-cooked for 48 hours and you could literally cut it with your fork. It was served with this smooth, yet distinct pine nut cream and perfectly cooked asparagus.

For dessert, the ‘boiled egg’ was the winner. This ‘egg’ was actually a hollowed out eggshell filled with an almond milk gelatin (which acted as the ‘egg white’) and a passion-fruit puree (which acted as the ‘yolk’). Somehow, the chef managed to create the same exact consistency with these ingredients as a soft-boiled egg. Alongside side the ‘egg’ was a frangipane cookie and sweetened almond crumbs. The creativity and fabulous flavor of this dessert was an experience in itself!

(The 'boiled egg'!)

Natalie and Jason finally finished dinner close to midnight and after winding their way back through the streets to find their car, they were headed home and looking forward to a two and a half hour drive.

A couple of Red Bulls later, Natalie and Jason finally made it into the hotel room at around 2:30am. They got a few hours sleep before heading out to the airport later that morning.

At around 7:30 that morning, Natalie and Jason met Sally, her daughter Ellen, and Ellen to go to the airport. Jason, being the expert packer that he is, managed to fit multiple pieces of luggage and five of us into a compact car to get to the airport. It was a tight squeeze, yet made for an exciting end to what was a very exciting and adventure-packed weekend!

Of course, Natalie and Jason passed out on the plane as having only 12 hours of sleep in the prior 3 days. Luckily, they woke up refreshed in Geneva and when they got to DDC to pick me up I was so excited I could hardly stand it! Although, I do have to say I had a lot of fun at Truffes and Co. I got homemade meals prepared for me each day and I got to play and dig a lot. Hopefully, there’ll be pictures soon of my adventures – they should be on the website any day now.

Since we all had a busy few days, we spent the rest of Saturday lounging around on the Saint Prex beach and having an evening picnic on Lake Geneva in Hermance.

Sunday was also a mild day. We all went for a long walk in the morning to Natalie and Jason’s new favorite bakery in Veigy, France and afterwards Natalie and Jason signed up for the gym, which is also in France.  The afternoon consisted of lounging around again, this time in the Eaux-Vives park in Geneva and having a light dinner of tapas at a café in Carouge.

Even though we all probably weighed the bed down a bit more than the week prior, we all went to sleep on Sunday evening blessed with great memories from this last week of the union of a beautiful couple and of precious time spent with family, old friends and new friends.

Paws,

Sabrina