BB5’s Back…All Right!

Enough, already. I know. You love the bloggity blogs 5 and come to rely on the up-to-the-minute (ok, month) worthless news that it provides. But then it disappears on you for 3 months. And you get sad. And you start to question everything and start getting super depressed and stuff. And just when you get near the end of your rope……….it happens. Another post on the bb5. And you read it. And you laugh. And you're back to that happy place. The one where screaming kids don’t exist. Nor does that pesky heroin addiction. You're back. Well friends, a lot has happened in the past 3 months, all of which will be shared in excruciating detail.

First stop – my trip to Sicily. Known in some circles as the ‘Mexico of Italy’, Sicily is not as ‘dangerous’ as people say it is. In fact, I would estimate that probably only 40-50% of people who live there are actually in the Mafia. The people in Sicily are quite friendly and with a less corrupt government, this place could easily become the ‘Costa Rica of Italy’. Here are some of the highlights from the trip:

- Pizza and arincini (fried rice/cheese/meat balls - how could this NOT be good?) at a restorante

- Touring the family plant where they package delicious, smelly anchovies

- Dinner at the campagna (country house) with a big Italian family. The ladies made homemade Sicilian style pizza in 5 different flavors and the guys sat around the table discussing who they were going to whack next (or at least that's what I think they were talking about).

- Taormina: this place was way too fancy to be in Sicily. Perched on top of a hill with crazy, dope views, lots of rich people and it was actually clean.

- Segesta, Segesta. Eat your heart out Parthenon!

- The crazy colors of Mt. Etna....an active volcano. Unfortunately, no lava was flowing.

- The Alcantara Gorge. You can't tell from this photo, but it was beautiful. The really good photos were not taken due to my camera being dropped in the Gorge....genius. And we got to wear these really sexy suits.
- The beach town, Cefalu

- Cremino – It’s the new rage in Sicily. It’s essentially a sweet whipped cream-like consistency, cold espresso.

- Last highlight in the 'sounds better than it actually tastes camp': ice cream in brioche. Bread and ice cream together seem like a perfect combo, but the bread gets mushy and it tastes a little wrong…

The only two things about the trip that sucked were the 110 degree weather (no exaggeration, it was 92 one night at midnight - try sleeping in THAT in no air conditioning) and the flights to and fro. Due to my application of the “Ben Smith”* method of air travel, I ended up on US Air for the 20+ hour haul to Sicily. Have you flown US Air internationally? Well if you do in the future, you have the following to look forward to:
- The space where your legs are supposed to go will actually be filled up by the seat in front of you! Ok, we all know my legs are too long for their own good, but, seriously, I have NEVER been so uncomfortable.
- Your television probably won’t work! So I may have been the only sucker on the 10 hour leg from Rome to Philadelphia that had that pleasure, but still… I am really bummed I didn’t get to see ‘17 Again’ starring Zac Ephron.
- You will have a kid in row behind you crying for 9 of the 10 hours of your flight. Ok, this was not technically US Air’s fault, but I still blame them. On another note, I no longer want to have kids.
- Your bag will arrive 3 days after your flight lands!
- This guy will be sitting in the aisle across from you - check out the drool!!!

Overall, a fun trip. In summary, when travelling to Sicily, don’t forget to ‘leave the gun, take the cannoli’. Ciao.

* Ben Smith, a FOMCA for many years, once was rumored to have saved former employer Jamba Juice, $50 on a business flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles by taking a connecting flight through Baghdad, Iraq (pre-war).