Holy Cannoli! Tempus Fugit!
The year 2009 was incredible....one of growth and eye-opening experiences. So many wonderful things have happened to me this year and I hope to you as well. I was lucky enough to visit my beautiful daughter in Thailand, to finally become a novice beekeeper (a long time dream) and to travel with some of you to one of my favorite places in the world....Sicily. We're grateful to have been very busy this year, so busy that time has flown by since I last sent you a newsblog. But now it's time to catch up and share with you the exciting plans we have for 2010. We, at The Farmhouse Table, wish you good health, good cheer, and really good food in the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Across Sicily with knife, fork and wine glass

Our food and wine road trips this past September and October were in a word....delicious. Some of our favorite stops included an open-air wine tasting with Frank Cornellissen (picture above), the International Cous Cous Festival in exotic San Vito lo Capo, and visiting the Di Bartoli family vineyard near Marsala. We (blissfully) ate and drank (wine, of course) our way through Sicily and made lots of new friends around the island. Our cooking classes ranged from Sicilian-style stuffed fresh grapes leaves on the west coast to Nerello Mascalese glazed sausages near Mt. Etna. We tasted freshly pressed olive oil, picked-that-morning mushrooms, fresh ricotta sheep's milk cheese, and some nectar-like 70 year old Marsala wine. We made pasta, and cannoli, and pistachio cake. We stayed in agriturismos, ......working farms that surprised a good number of our guests at how elegantly appointed and comfortable they were. Because the food was grown right there and the wine was produced there or very nearby, our meals at these family style dinners were memorable and amazing.

Spring 2010: Divine Sicily Culinary & Wine Tour

April 17 - 26, 2010

The Farmhouse Table is pleased to announce our first Spring Tour. Elizabetta and I have been wanting to put together a spring itinerary for our wine lovers and foodie friends for some time. Sicily's countryside is filled with wild flowers at this time of year. It gives you a completely different perspective than the tourist summer season or our fall harvest trips. Temperatures are on the cool to mild side, and because it's "off season", it's less crowded so we'll be able to enjoy some of our favorite spots. Flying into Palermo, our adventure begins on the western side of the island. We'll stay on a working vineyard where we'll taste the wines of that region, explore some archeological sites, and learn to cook some of the Arab-influenced specialties of the area. As we work our way across the island, we'll be staying on an olive estate, explore a town famous for its ceramics, and taste Modican chocolate made as it was in the 16th century. The road-trip ends in the Mt. Etna region with its world-class wines and food culture harking back to the ancient Greeks. You'll be able to depart from the Catania airport for your connecting flight.

You can register for this trip on The Farmhouse Table website when the full itinerary is posted February 1, 2010.