Remember and then leave again : together we can do it

Good morning everyone!

How are you?

I hope first of all to find you well,

The last time I wrote to you I was still in America, ready to return to Italy, but unaware, like everyone else, of what would have happened shortly thereafter.

It is a very special and delicate moment for everyone, the coronavirus first affected only China, then took hold in Italy, now it is located all over the world, generating in fact a real pandemic. For weeks we have changed our habits, we have interrupted our normal activities, we cannot travel or spend our days as we did before. We do all this with the expectation that we can return to our lives. We hope that this will happen very soon. In the meantime,  we can hold onto our beautiful moments and the journeys already made. As we remember all the wonderful moments, we are able to enjoy this great therapeutic power and the hope that it gives us that soon all this can return to being normal and real again.

That’s why, today I have the pleasure of sharing with you –the sensational experiences during this third year of GoSicily USA.  Thank you for being there to share these wonderful experiences with me! It was an immense joy, and still to this day – given the forced stop we are dealing with – it has been even more sensational!

Every time I arrive on American soil it is as if it were the first: there is always the adrenaline of starting a new path, of bringing some of my Sicily on the road, of meeting new people, of seeing my friends again, of creating new connections between these two lands so far away but also so close. It has been a very full but extremely pleasant few weeks, weeks in which we have done a lot of cooking, always very appreciated by all my guests. It is true~  Sicilian cuisine, so rich, so tasty, so precious, is able to elicit many emotions. Each time is a new discovery, not only for my diners but also for me. America loves our dishes, from the simplest courses such as orange salad, to very manual preparations such as dough to make cavatelli, as well as passing through such iconic dishes like arancine or caponata, or sweets with almond nougat (that is always a great triumph)!

During each lesson, Val Paradiso also proved to be a great a great addition.  As I used their extra virgin olive oil I was able to demonstrate its value very clearly. This is because, as a raw material,  it has such a unique scent and flavor. It truly is a fundamental ingredient for the success of each dish, starting with a salad.  All my guests have been able to observe the importance of this special ingredient personally.

GoSicily 2020 has been to many places in the USA: Boston, New Jersey, New York, Brooklyn, Manhattan, to name a few. While I have been to them before, coming back is always a great privilege. These cities have a crazy energy that comes at you with such strength that you can’t help but feel lucky!  However, the real surprise of this trip was the last part of the journey I spent in Mississippi. This state bewitched me for the great potential it offers!  It was such a revelation that I promised myself to deepen even more the knowledge of this territory for my next trip, I am excited because there are all the building blocks to grow new and interesting collaborations!

As you can see, thinking about our past today, allows us to better plan our future, because when all this ends, and ends soon, we will well prepared.

I know that many of you have been forced to give up your trip to Sicily at this time.  This is very difficult of course, and I am very sorry not to be able to welcome you as we said a few weeks ago. I think of it this way ~ the journey is only postponed. I am always here waiting for you and when we’ll see each other again it will be even more fantastic!

Meanwhile, to feel even closer in this moment of forced distance, I started to do direct Facebook where I share one of the things that I do best: I cook! Cooking helps to distract me and us as we  can focus on good and positive things we all enjoy ! If I can do it with you it is even more beautiful!

So then, be sure to follow me through my social media pages. I’m waiting to see and embrace you all again, soon. As always, a warm greeting to all of you!

We’re going to make it!

Annalisa

                                                   Translated Italian to English by  Lisa Cardo 26 March 2020