Cafe Euro in Balestrate...

Down the st. from Scott & Ange's place in Balestrate--one of the better pasticcerie in all of *ITALY* that we got a chance to go to...I guess...we wanted more of a panificio (bakery) than a sweets shop--but even still...most of them didn't deliver in terms of the breads, pastries, etc in texture etc. Their cornetto/croissants are pretty dense...as is most their...carbs we thought =/ Or the pastry cream was wack! Either way...

SO YUMMMAAAAY!!!!!!

...lotsa ricotta in these...a bit overwhelming at times but I mean...these things are massssive! TEEHEE!!!!! Their sfoglias and croissants and other stuff are far from flakey either.

The tarts were rather good--the wild strawberries--MAN the fruit toppings/fruit themselves make such a HUGE diff when abroad!! The pastry cream here is also one of the better ones I've tasted in my life too....and look they wrap everything up so prettily!...

It's also really interesting the diff in bread rise and airy qualities the farther down south you go. Mostly plain jane breads--they serve their purpose =/ But...these from Cafe Euro we thought had the right amount of sweetness and compromise in airiness/bready...whatever it is.

We had what looked like 2 massive cakey/doughey things overflowing with Ricotta--but actually one is like a bombolone (italian donut/beignet) and the other is more...brioche-like.

As u can tell the Italians (esp Sicily) love their almond cookies and pistachio or pine nuts! I can't complain. I think I prefer ricotta over marscapone as well!...SUPER CLOSE-UP OF PISTACHIO COATING!!...:) it was so ...deliciously green and coloured!! And almond-y!

I think this is one of the most fun/funny shots I've taken b/c u can clearly see Karen smiling w/ glee in the background over the foods hehe...

It was perfect weather, perfect lighting, perfect mostly everything in Sicily after so much rain and some ish in Bologna and Florence when we first came in! :) Except for the slow ass non-existent trains that take longer than the bus to get from outside the city into Palermo hehe...SUPER ZOOM on the pistachio topped almond cake!!

Pasticceria Maria Grammatico!...

I was google-ing Pasticceria Maria Grammatico for the address and to freshen up my memory of the 5 diff pastries I had there. Surprise surprise! They have a website (an oddity for many Italian businesses)....AND apparenty Maria Grammatico had released her own biography a while back called Bitter Almonds/Mandorle Amare.

Long story short--born 1940, after the war was sent to orphanage ~11, taught by nuns how to make Sicilian sweets to sell in town, left convent @ 20 to open her own stuffs. I didn't see Maria @ the shop when we were there, just some youngin'.

CLOSE UP WITH BITE MARKS!! :)

This is what most of Erice looked like--narrow cobblestoned alleyways up and down some crazy hills and nooks and winding and...super medieval. Made me wanna gallop on a horse!! and maybe knock over some plebeian dragging a cart of dirty produce! :) more on this later...

A random purchase was a sfoglia with nutella--ur general phylo dough/puff pastry w. chocolate hazelnut-y goodness! Plus we hadn't really eaten brunch yet :P So...i figured I wanted some carbs...in such a healthy form! ;) didn't want to ruin my appetite for late lunch :P

I wanted to get the 12 or 24 pack of assorted Sicilian sweets but 1--this sh*t is EXTREMELY almost intolerably sweet if ingested in such volume. That and I didn't wanna hafta carry it all back and have it disintegrate on the train ride back to Balestrate! That up there would be the Paradiso cake, the Sospiri, pignola/pine nut almond cake, and pistacchio...marzipan? thingie. Felt like mochi!

There was this...specialty to the region...marzipan with jello and...almond cake i think? We weren't big fans of any major ingredient in there so...we effed it and skipped out. And sat on some mini-porch in the alley by the Cyclopean walls and ate away :) I'm reading all this stuff about how the walls, the convents, church, and castles are dated 1600, 800 B.C. CRAAAAAZY! ^_^

A little bit about the town of Erice--TEENY TINY as HELL. I'd say maybe as big as...what comprises the Lower East Side or maybe....tinier? IT IS TEENY!! But it is the awesomest speck of a town entirely unperturbed by development and commercial tourism. Must post scenic pics later...giant archive...tired...yar! :)