It is warmish here today, the spring trend seems to be continuing. Yesterday a farmer, named Michelangelo, who sang at our wedding, was telling us about the crops that have been ruined by the incredible amounts of rain we got in the last month. His fennel, artichokes and fava roots are all flooded. He is such a sweet man , when I expressed my sincere distress about the situation, he smiled a huge smile and asked if I like mandarine oranges. I said of course, I like anything and everything you grow. last night I stopped by the shop and there were 6 kilos of just picked for me mandarine oranges, all firm, and bright beautiful orange and sweet, sweet, sweet. THANK YOU Michelangelo.
4 comments:
I'd love a bit of rain and mandarin oranges! hehe
I too am a chef and I am completely new to your blog, I discovered it while researching a move with my family to Sicily and am enjoying what I have read so far.
I was wondering if you could help me with a quick question? because I feel as though I am running round in circles here! hehe
I am a 32 year old father of 4 from the United Kingdom. My grandfather fought in WW2 in Sicily, hence the reason that my grandmother is Sicilian (they got together at the end of the war), she is from Palermo so I have had links with Sicily, in fact I was in Palermo last year. Unfortunately my experience of being in Sicily is nowhere near as comrehensive as I would like and I would ask my grandmother for advice but a.) she is getting quite old, so her advice can sometimes be through the eyes of an old lady and b.) she has, in her infinite wisdom, left Palermo and set up home in Wales!! hehe!
I have always wanted to spend time living in Italy, in particular Sicily, and now as a chef I want to go and live and work surrounded by all of the wonderful food and ingredients that Sicilycan offer. Unfortunately, because I now have a family, making that move is obviously a lot more tricky than if i were to only be considering myself, I have to take into account things like the children getting into schools, will there be plenty of fun things for them to do and most importantly will they be happy? I know that all children are individuals and that what some children enjoy some others will hate, but I wanted to know what your opinion was of Sicily as a country to raise your children?
I really really am hoping and praying you have some information which would be useful to help me make a decision because I feel as though I am constantly going round and round in circles!
I have spent 5 weeks in Malta a number of years ago and really liked it, so am considering that as a second best if Sicily is not an option, but to be honest my heart is in Sicily and I am concerned that Malta woud eventually just feel too small!
Any help and advice that you could give would be very greatly appreciated,
Thanks for your time,
Mark :o)
(marcomacellaio at hotmail dot co dot uk)
okay. Mark, my head is spinning with all the topics you bring up and the overlap of our lives. I will say one thing. go to Expatsinitaly.com first of all. There are lots of folks who have already addressed the children question.
when do you plan to come to Sicily again? our butchershop is outside of Palermo and we can definitely visit and discuss things at length when you are here.
in the meantime, go to ExpatsinItaly those folks are amazingly helpful. And thanks so much for visiting the blog.
Regarding the kids. We would love to have children, but I dont know that we will. This has been a very difficult transition for me and my husband is native born Sicilian. I see how the kids are raised here and am stunned by the over bearing attention and sacrifice the women make.
However, the men seem to do what they want.
The economy here is very tough right now and we have just dropped prices like crazy to generate activity and are adding services for the tourists this summer.
I am also stunned by the relatively small amount of time the kids seem to spend in school here.
All that being said, I think that children if allowed to, will bellyache at change. However, even if only for a few years, an experience living in a foreign country, learning a foreign language (which they certainly will if they go to school) is something that will add to their lives immeasureably.
Finding work for you would probably be the deal breaker. If you do get a contract or go in as a partner (sweat equity for example) in a restaurant or agritourismo, then you can really start to evaluate the situation. Of course you are running around in circles. Everybody needs one variable in place before real plans can be made. So I would say think about work first. I can imagine a lovely situation if you lived and worked in a resort or agritourismo. but again, see what you can find and work from that.
good luck, and definitely go to Expats.
Haven't seen or heard from you in a very long time. I hope that all is well with you and your family and that business is picking up!
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