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Cannoli & Friends 2010

Piana Degli Albanesi Street

A few months ago, I went by my day as usual: woke up, lazed around in the bed just a little more, got up slowly, put the kettle on and turned on my computer. And there it was. An email in my inbox asking if I would be interested in a certain baking competition that was to take place in a Sicilian town called Piana degli Albanesi. In a second, I was wide awake and wanted to jump around from happiness! The man responsible was Francesco Mangiapane, one of the authors for Burek Eaters, who recommended me to the organizers and I can not thank him enough! So, my friend Sanja and I started to pack our bags…

Making Cannoli

Cannoli & Friends take place in a lovely town Piana Degli Albanesi near Palermo. Town is famous for it’s cannolis and many people told us they’re best in whole Italy. They also told us their secret – they fry them in pork fat!

For the competition we were supposed to make a dessert from our country and we chose Vasa’s cake – an all time favorite in many Serbian homes. My mother used to make this cake so often that about 10 years ago everybody got sick up with it and she just stopped making it. Somehow, it seemed as a logical choice for this occasion :)

Making a Cake

We got a whole Aura pastry shop for ourselves to make our 8 cakes. It was kind of strange working with the pro’s equipment. Spatulas the size of an arm, mixer taller than me… Thank God their great staff was there to help us :)

Making a Cake

We stayed there deep into the night, eating the real Sicilian pizza and drinking their homemade limoncello. Aaah, life is good :)

Sicilian Pizza

The next day people from the Feedback agency that organizes the event took us for regional wine sampling and an amazing dinner at the Antica Stazione Ferroviaria di Ficuzza, the restaurant in an old mansion deep in the countryside.

Chef Saverio Patti

Chef Saverio Patti prepared 17 course meal using local foods and all that was accompanied with an outstanding selection of wines by local producers.

Lunch at Antica Stazione Ferroviaria di Ficuzza

What you see on the left is Lo sfincionello, something like pizza, but it only has tomato sauce on top and on the right are grilled sausage with almonds, veal rolls with pesto and aromatic potatoes.

Lunch at Antica Stazione Ferroviaria di Ficuzza

Suckling lamb roll and grilled cheese with black honey and red wine reduction seasoned with cinnamon.

Lunch at Antica Stazione Ferroviaria di Ficuzza

Bread with fresh ricotta and olive oil and pistachio and ricotta mousse.

Vasa's Cake

And now, on to the event itself. Here we are with our Vasa’s cake.

Baklava

Team from Turkey. National baklava champions from the Karaköy Güllüoglu pastry shop. Best baklava ever if you ask me!

Tufahije

Girls from Bosnia and Hercegovina, Sabina Pandžić and Đana Glibanović and their winning tufahijas.

Francesco and Biljana

Francesco and Biljana who represented Macedonia with delicious ravanija.

Cheesemonger

Even though we were there for two days only, it really felt like at least a week, as we spent every free second exploring the town with its very generous and friendly people, tasting and shopping for typical food products and just enjoying the experience and the beautiful countryside, really.

It was an honor to participate and represent our country in this sweet way. All I have left to say now is that this short visit to Piana degli Albanesi left us craving it some more, so I am already making plans to go back there some time in the future and spend that time there reliving the memories of the immaculately organized competition, taking in the spirit of the place and stuffing my face in that glorious food again :)!

Cheese

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14 Comments

  • Rosa February 25, 2011 2:24 am

    What a great place! the food looks terrific.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  • Jelena February 25, 2011 3:10 am

    Bravo Marija! Bravo!
    Kako kažu-good things come to those who wait! Predivno, o kakav način da se prezentuje zemlja, da se upoznaju ljudi da se steknu nova iskustva. Sa ovakvim receptima i ovakvim blogom, nije ni čudo što su te primetili! Godine truda i rada unose plodovima, i tako mi je drago da si se lepo provela. Vasina torta je odličan odabir! Perfektan mogu reći. Nadam se da će ovo biti ulaznica za još brojna kulinarska putovanja.

  • Mare February 25, 2011 4:31 am

    fantastic!
    stvarno divno!!

  • Mihaela February 26, 2011 8:00 am

    Ajmeee, blago tebi :) Mogu zamisliti kako ste uzivali!
    Vasinu tortu nisam jela godinama, iz slicnog razloga koji si i ti navela, ali ne bi imala nista protiv da mi pripremis jednu ovakvu kad stignem u Srbiju ;)
    Pusa

  • Tamara February 26, 2011 9:49 am

    bravo, bravo, blago tebi, prava uživancija i svaka čast! :)

  • Andrea February 27, 2011 2:31 am

    Bravo Marija, tako mi je drago da ste bile dolje i zabavile se. Siciliju stvarno obožavam, zanimljiva je u svakom pogledu, a hrana im je odlična. :)
    Hvala na ovako lijepom postu, baš sam uživala. :)

  • CINTIA February 27, 2011 7:17 am

    Felicitaciones ! Son excelentes mezclas y vije viendo las fotos y leyendo las descripiciones !!! I love it!!

  • Sandra’s Easy Cooking February 28, 2011 7:49 am

    Oh wowww, woww..what an opportunity! Food looks sooo good..predivne fotke!

  • Sara March 4, 2011 11:01 am

    How amazing–I can understand you were jumping all around. What a great experience.

  • vlasicvlasicvlasic March 21, 2011 6:05 am

    Extra blog! nastavi sa radom!

  • Tadeja April 5, 2011 4:35 am

    Evo me kao što sam obećala! :)
    Prije svega čestitke, svaka ma čast cure!
    I kako sam post pročitala čim si objavila, sretno me nasmijala tvoja opaska kako su vam odali tajnu da prže u svinjskoj mast.
    Ja sam općenito veliki zagovornik svinjske masti i prženja u njoj gdje god i kad god je to moguće u odnosu na ulje.
    Osim toga sam na taj način odrasla i meni je apsolutno jasno zašto to rade i koliko je to bolje.
    Moja mama je gotovo sve osim ribe i slata radila na svinjskoj masti. Uključiv palačinke! :)
    I to sasvim drugačije miriše, to je zlatno i hrskavo.
    Pommes frittes ispečen na ulju je za 5 minuta drvo ako ga ne pojedeš, na masti nije! :)
    U svakom slučaju još jednom čestitke i vjerujem da ste uživale. Reportaža je odlična!

  • francesca April 27, 2012 1:37 am

    Hi! Do you remember us?! a kiss from Aura – Piana degli Albanesi

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Piana-Delle-Bont%C3%A0/382612755083393?ref=tn_tnmn

    • Marija April 27, 2012 9:32 am

      Yes!!!! Kisses :****

  • Ron Hirst March 9, 2013 7:45 pm

    Wonderful story and photos. The dinner event seems magical. Great recipes on your site too. I will make some of the desserts. Thank you, Ron

Comments are closed.