What a wonderful experience that was! We met her in Catania near the outdoor market area. She took us shopping in the markets in Catania: the cheese vendors, meat stalls, fish stalls, vegetable stands and the amount of shouting that was going on made it a bit difficult for all of us to hear her comments. To many in the group they had never experienced this before. To me it was the largest food market ever! And I have been to a few in Italy. After everything was purchased we walked back to our bus and we followed her to her private home/cooking school and prepared our lunch. We made caponata, homemade pasta, Sicilian meatballs, salad and she prepared a lovely dessert for us. Of course, it was served with local Sicilian wines. She made it very special for all of us and we all appreciated her techniques and hospitality. Hopefully many of us will take what we learned from Monica and try to duplicate the meal in our own kitchens. She did provide us with the recipes . We all received a certificate and a very contented appetite. No need for dinner that night.
Here we are with Monico inside the market purchasing our ingredients.
The fruits of our labor. So light and delicious!