baking class and merriweather cafe

 by 9:30 am i had the kitchen prepped for a baking class with the anna tasca lanza cooking school in sicily.

 chanda let me borrow her computer and she went off to work. today was the re-opening of the cafe she works for. i then talked with morgana until around 10:45, discussing the play greg and i watched last week and the fate of theatres in general amidst covid19.

 it was an extra fun class this time around . . one of the assistants had her mom attending, which caused a little bit of teasing as the mom was having trouble shaping her cookies and the assistant was getting a little annoyed. no one minded . . there was just a lot of laughter.

 bocconcini . . little mouthfuls . . almond flour thumbprint cookies filled with raspberry jam and marmalade and one almond. i added extra almond extract to mine, and they came out incredibly delicious.

 pluto is ever hopeful for a hand out . . 

 these two logs were eventually sliced into cantucci. the marsala wine that was added was not as flavorful as the almond extract used for the bocconcini. i'd love to bake a new batch using vanilla and almond extract (or anise!) rather than the wine.

 it was a very relaxed time and i even got to ask about the language that is spoken most in sicily . . which is sicilian! and not italian. sicilian is not a dialect; it's a whole other language with spanish, arabic and a bit of french influences. neither duolingo or pimsleur offer sicilian online. it's possible i can find a cd from the library when it re-opens.

 a treat for greg . . he was on a conference call that lasted all day.

 the beautiful and delicious bocconcini . . 

 in the afternoon i walked to merriweather cafe and ordered one of their sandwiches for lunch. it was wonderful to see them back in business again, for take out and delivery orders.

 i had avocado and salmon on whole grain toast with a poached egg, capers, radishes and cucumber; along with cold brew coffee and oat milk.

 the finished cookies . . 

and sweet pluto.