Cous Cous at the Tower of Babel

Pascale e Totò run a bed and breakfast, and sort of a green house/landscape architecture place here in town. Totò had given Fran some good advice regarding her garden, and Pascale had shared some of her excellent English Language library with us. Indeed, when we finished books, they often went to Verdi Tecnico to join the shelves of her English Library. Total is the man at the top, sitting between a man and a young woman. When I discovered that they were also fans of the blues, and had some CDs I did not have, and I had some CDs they did not have, I made several visits to make sure our collections were completer. Their son is learning blues guitar on his grandfather's old German made guitar, and although he has only had a guitar in his hands for less than a year, he can already play Chuck Berry's riffs for 'Johnny B. Goode'.

At any rate, Pascale called and invited me to their house for cena. Totò, who is a vegetarian, is an excellent cook, and Pascale said she was going to have a group of people over for seafood Couscous. I of course accepted, but then called back to warn them I might not eat the couscous because of my aversion to fish bones. Totè assured me it would be sensa spina. (I've heard that before!!).

Anyway, I got there, and it was like Babylon, after the tower had been destroyed. There was Totò, who speaks perfect English, French (probably perfect), Italian and Sicilian (he was born in Sciacca), Pascale, who studied languages at University in France, where she grew up, and who speaks perfect French, English, Italian, and probably perfect Sicilian (she does not admit to this) and a few other languages; two Sicilian men name Rino (short for Salvatorino, (little Salvatore) if I remember correctly, who were given the nick name Rino for Salvatore, rather than Totò, short for Salvatore, or 'Ridu' short for Turidu, which is Salvatore in Sicilian, both of whom spoke Italian, Sicilian, English, some and some French, another Sicilian named 'Ridu', who promotes Sicilian wine in Brazil, so he speaks Italian, Sicilian, French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese; A Libyan named Enrico who speaks Arabic, Italian, Sicilian, French, and English; three free lance documentary film makers from Paris who spoke Italian, French, and English; me, and I speak, at this time, English, Italian, a little French and a little Spanish, and an English couple who speak English and a little Italian. The kids of the various people were also all multi lingual, and man oh man was I impressed.

Trying to follow the conversations around the table was amazing. People would fall into the language they were most comfortable in with the person they were talking to, and everyone would help out when a word was needed by someone. Of course, Ridu, when he found out I knew the origin of his name, started speaking Sicilian with me, but of course I did not understand him, and then he tried to teach me some Sicilian words as the evening wore on.

And the food. Oh my oh my. There were several kinds of appetizers available, including garbonzo bean salads, both picante and not picante, some fresh fish appetizers with spina so small even I could eat them, a wonderful fresh salad, and enough wine to float home on. And then the couscous. Totò is indeed a master chef. I had never had couscous like it before. First of all, it was moister than I am used to, and as far as I am concerned, this is a good thing. The grain stayed fluffy, and soaked up the flavors of the sauce in a wonderful way. And the seafood in it was exquisite. Calamari, cozzi (mussels), gamberi (shrimp), and cozze (clams). I ate myself silly. And it was all healthy. Dinner was followed by fresh gelato made by one of the men who used to run a gelateria, as well as a wonderful fresh cherry in Marischino Liquer sauce, which was to die for. During the desert course, one of the Rino's started playing piano. It was classics with a boogie woogie flavor, and went with the evening perfectly. I leave you with a picute of Pascale, our hostess, listening to the maestro play.