"Cous cous Festival", where food and cultures meet

Do you know what is the "Cous cous Festival"? And when & where is it held?
Starting from the 25th until the 30th of September an amazing international and intercultural event will take place in San Vito Lo Capo, a little seaside village in the province of Trapani. I am talking about the Festival of Cous cous on its XVth edition.

Nine countries from all over the world (Ivory coast, Egypt, France, Israel, Morocco, Palestine, Senegal, Tunisia and of course Italy) will partecipate on the race, cooking their special dish of cous cous with either fish, meat or vegetables, according to every local tradition. Afterwards a jury will express its verdict and the winner will receive the award of "Best Cous Cous 2012".

The province of Trapani (San Vito lo Capo, Bonagia, Mazara del Vallo, Marsala, Erice just to name a few spots) has always been famous for having successfully adopted and adapted this Arabic dish with the local ingredients that this part of the island offers, first of all the super fresh catch of the day.

That explains why there is no better area than this one to try the outstanding Sicilian cous cous served with a marvellous fish soup on top, just like here in the pic on the right; (while the pic above is the view of the lovely Trapanese coast taken from the Erice's Castle).

Please have a look at the event's Official Website for further details if interested: http://www.couscousfest.it/

"Caldofreddo": a MUST when you go to Trapani or nearby

Do you know what "caldofreddo" is? Caldofreddo is a very particular ice cream prepared in the western part of Sicily. Literally in Italian these are two separate adjectives that mean hot (caldo) and cold (freddo), so it would be just like saying "hotcold".

But what is exactly that we are talking about?

It is basically a huge bowl of ice-cream made in layers and served in a traditional Sicilian terracotta bowl that we call "lemmo". You can normally choose two ice cream flavors, I often go with hazelnut and coffee, or hazelnut  and pistaches.

They first put a flavor, than a thin layer of victoria sponge or a soft big cookie that we call savoiardo (similar to the one we use to make tiramisù, but usually made artisanally), then the second flavor, and on top whipped cream covered in melted dark chocolate and a topping of hazelnuts in pieces.

Needless to say that you start getting high as soon as you taste the whole thing! So here it is my suggestion: if you happen to visit the province of Trapani, you definetely want to go inside a Gelateria and ask for a caldofreddo. The best one I had was many years ago in San Vito Lo Capo (pic above), a lovely village with an amazing beach and seaside, but I know for sure they do it also in Trapani and Erice.


So... hurry up folks: Sicily is waiting for you... the sun, the sea, the beach, and... the caldofreddo!!! :-)))