An arancini to remember...

Arancini are a typical "tavola calda" food found in bars throughout Sicily.  They are balls of sticky rice filled with various sauces and deep fried until they are golden brown.  I've been trying to like them ever since we moved here, nearly three years ago, but honestly I never found much to write home about.  To quote Josh, the "sauce to rice ratio is not quite right - they NEED more sauce."  Well my friends, we finally found a shop that makes arancini worthy of note!  Thanks to my friend Becca and an article she sent me from the NY Times, we discovered a little hole in the wall place off the beaten track in Taormina that had the cheesiest, sauciest stuffed balls of rice that you could ever imagine...

Thank you 'Da Cristina' for surpassing my expectations of arancini and for giving me one more carb-tastic Italian food to dream about!

As seen in the NY Times.

The "boss lady"...perhaps Cristina...

Enough said!

...And since it's impossible to go to Taormina without a trip to Bam Bar for granite...we made sure to save room for dessert!

Lucas finished his chocolate granite and then wandered around asking everyone else for tastes...how could I say no?!?