Page 8C
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Friday, November 10, 2017
Palermo lives up to the Italy of popular imagination How do
airlines
decide
who gets
their seat
upgraded?
By CAIN BURDEAU
The Associated Press
PALERMO, Sicily — For many
travelers, Italy is seen as romantic,
mysterious and a bit chaotic, with
torpid heat, gorgeously rich colors
and irresistible food.
In reality, of course, every
region has a distinct culture and
identity. But Palermo, the ancient
capital of Sicily and jewel of the
Mediterranean, lives up to the Italy
of popular imagination. It’s joyful
and colorful, rich in art and cuisine,
but also disorganized, unable even
to reliably collect the garbage.
Life is busily lived on the streets
here. Clothes hang haphazardly
from balconies. Motor scooters
zip down narrow alleyways (often
driven by children going the wrong
way). People shout in Sicilian — a
dialect incomprehensible to many
Italian speakers — back and forth
across streets and from windows.
They gesture, sing and openly
observe others.
All this plays out in a city
steeped in religious rituals, intricate
history, stunning art and stunning
decay. It’s a place living amid the
past — a past lost in so much of
today’s modernizing Italy.
It’s also a culture that can seem
oddly familiar to outsiders, likely
due to the waves of Sicilians who
emigrated to the U.S. and made
their mark on everyday American
life in everything from food to pop
culture. Part of “The Godfather”
was filmed here and the Mafia
remains a force despite govern-
ment crackdowns and the public’s
outrage and resistance in the wake
of bombings that killed two anti-
Mafia magistrates and others with
them in 1992.
Palermo’s mosaic
Before being bombed by Ameri-
cans in World War II and ransacked
by the Mafia after the war, Palermo
was for centuries one of Europe’s
most splendid cities, rich with
churches, palaces, theaters, villas.
Much of that illustrious past
remains, albeit faded, but so does
deep poverty.
There are medieval Arab-
Norman palaces (La Zisa, La Cuba,
the Norman Palace), fantastic
churches (the main cathedral with
tombs of Norman royalty and the
Cathedral of Monreale with extraor-
dinary mosaics), art-filled Spanish
palaces, the grand Teatro Massimo
opera house, and much more.
What makes the city unique
is the mixture of cultures across
centuries: a tapestry of Phoenician,
Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman,
Jewish, French, English, Spanish
and Italian influences.
“You need an encyclopedia
to describe the Palermitan,” says
Pietro Tramonte, a retired accoun-
tant who runs an eccentric outdoor
bookstore. “Here you find a labora-
tory, just like when life began. It’s
an impossible mosaic. But we’re
forced to live together.”
Just then, a man in a car hails
Tramonte from the end of the
alleyway. He’s dropping off a
strange donation: hardbound books
Cain Burdeau via AP
This April 7 photo shows a vendor in the Ballaro market in Palermo passing a bag of fruit he has sold to
a client. Outdoor markets are some of the best places to revel in Palermo. The ancient capital of Sicily
and jewel of the Mediterranean lives up to the Italy of popular imagination. Visitors will find a cultural
mosaic, with palaces, churches and markets.
Cain Burdeau via AP
Cain Burdeau via AP
This April 7 photos shows apartment buildings in the historic center
of Palermo with their characteristic balconies where residents hang
laundry and grow plants.
This April 7 photo shows the
palm trees inside the Villa Bon-
nano park in Palermo.
bouquet of flowers. You admire
displays of oranges, lemons, apples,
strawberries, lettuce heads, broccoli
and tomatoes as mouth-watering
works of art.
You’re in a stream of people,
moving, buying, looking, talking,
bumping into each other with bags
full of food. A scooter blows its
horn and plows through.
Your senses are assaulted by
mounds of olives and dried toma-
toes, bunches of rosemary and bay
leaves, cheeses.
“We were born here and we will
die here,” says Francesco Andolina,
a fruit and vegetable vendor whose
family has been getting up before
dawn and working until dusk in the
Ballaro market for generations.
But Palermo’s most famous
market, the Vucciria, is a shadow of
its former self. Merchants now offer
antiques and souvenirs to tourists.
The streets are no longer slick with
vegetable and fruit remains.
“All the people want to go to
the supermarkets with their carts,”
Andolina says and mockingly
pretends to push a cart.
Capital of culture
Palermo recently restricted most
cars from the city center. “Now you
can hear your own footsteps, you
can hear your voice. That was taken
away when there were cars,” says
Sara Cappello, a folk singer and
storyteller.
And in 2018, Palermo is being
celebrated as Italy’s Capital of
Culture. “We deserve to be the
cultural capital because we are a
wonderful city,” Cappello says.
She then thinks of the city’s
continuing problems: Trash piling
up, corruption, unregulated devel-
opment, poverty.
“We mistreated our city so
badly,” she says. “But maybe this
too is the fascination of Palermo.”
about fascism by the Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini.
“Palermo is the fountain of
serendipity,” Tramonte continues.
“When a foreigner comes to
Palermo, he should let himself go.
Let yourself be a feather in the wind
and you can find that that wind can
take you to beautiful places.”
The markets
Outdoor markets are some of the
best places to revel in Palermo.
Vendors shout out prices.
Butchers slice, pound, weigh meat.
Fishmongers’ stands display decap-
itated swordfish. Things sizzle in
pots and pans of kiosks: chickpea
fritters (panelle), potato and egg
rolls (crocche), stuffed rice balls
(arancine).
Your head spins at the move-
ment, the flashes of life: A fellow
brushes by with a pushcart full
of sardines for sale; another tries
to catch your attention to buy a
GREEN SALAD WITH PUMPKIN
VINAIGRETTE & ROASTED APPLES
Servings: 4
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Salad:
• 2 large tart apples (such as Granny Smith),
cut into 1-inch cubes (unpeeled), about 3 cups
• 2 teaspoons fresh minced rosemary
• 5 cups baby spinach or kale,
• ½ cup baby tomatoes, halved or quartered
• 1 ½ cups shredded cooked white meat
chicken or turkey
• ¼ cup marcona almonds
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• Olive oil in a mister
Pumpkin Vinaigrette:
• ¼cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon minced rosemary
• 1 teaspoon minced shallot
• a few turns of freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Place the
cubed apple on a parchment-line baking tray
and spray with an olive oil mister to coat the
cubes. Sprinkle on the minced rosemary and
salt, and gently toss the cubes to coat. Bake
just until tender and edges are starting to
turn golden, about 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool
just a few minutes. While the apples are
roasting, make the vinaigrette. Place the
pumpkin puree, water, vinegar and maple
syrup in a small bowl. Whisk the olive oil
into the mixture until well-blended. Add the
rosemary, shallot and black pepper and stir.
To assemble the salad: place the spinach
in a bowl or platter and top with the toma-
toes, chicken, almonds and warm, roasted
apples. Drizzle with pumpkin vinaigrette,
toss, and serve.
Nutrition information per serving: 239
calories; 75 calories from fat; 8 g fat (1 g
saturated; 0 g trans fats); 45 mg choles-
terol; 336 mg sodium; 21 g carbohydrate; 6
g fiber; 12 g sugar; 20 g protein.
Why should summer have all
the leafy fun? Try a winter salad
By MELISSA D’ARABIAN
Associated Press
Summer may officially be
the season of green salads,
but wintertime versions have
advantages that make them
worth exploring.
The cooler weather
seasonable greens are hearty
and darker green, which
makes them nutrient-rich.
And, these thicker-leaved
greens such as kale or
spinach can hold up to the
addition of warm ingredients,
opening up the possibilities
for topping your salad with
roasted goodies in a way that
delicate butter lettuce never
could.
Have some hearty root
veggies in the fridge? Toss
them (and some whole garlic
cloves — yum!) in some
olive oil and roast them up,
and add warm to raw kale
leaves with lemon juice,
Parmesan and black pepper
and you’ve got a winter salad
rivaling anything you’d make
in July.
Today’s recipe takes
inspiration from this season’s
holiday cooking pantry
ingredients that I always
seem to have on hand.
Apples, leftover from apple
pie, are the salad’s real star,
while the pumpkin vinaigrette
— also of pie fame — plays
an important supporting role.
I cut the apples into small
cubes and quickly roast them
in a little salt and rosemary at
high heat, and the little cubes
turn into sweet, herbaceous
Melissa d’Arabian via AP
Green salad with roasted apple and pumpkin vinaigrette.
nuggets of flavor — like
raisins, but better — and
make other ingredients almost
unnecessary. I add leftover
turkey for protein, almonds
for crunch and tomatoes for a
tiny bit of acid.
You could even add
blue cheese or feta if you
happened to have some
floating around the house,
leftover from a cheese party
platter. Feel free to swap out
ingredients to match your
pantry: As long as you are
topping winter greens with
something warm, whether
roasted Brussels sprouts or
pan-seared salmon, you’ll be
on your way to a tasty winter
green salad.
———
Food Network star
Melissa d’Arabian is an
expert on healthy eating on a
budget. She is the author of
the cookbook, “Supermarket
Healthy.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Ever
wonder how airlines decide
who gets a seat upgrade
on flights? Airlines say it’s
strictly by the book: Loyal
customers are rewarded based
on their status in frequent
flyer programs.
But some flyers insist
that once in a while, they
get upgraded even when
they’ve bought the cheapest
seat. AirfareWatchdog.com
founder George Hobica, in an
interview with the AP Travel
podcast “Get Outta Here,”
even suggests that how you
dress and act could give you
an edge.
Hobica
acknowledges
that “upgrades mostly go
to people with status in the
program. If you’re silver
or gold on British Airways
or United, and they have
to upgrade people because
they’ve oversold economy
class, the first thing they do is
go down the list of (who has)
status.” But he says he’s also
been inexplicably upgraded
when he was “wearing a nice
suit and tie” and all the other
passengers were “looking
like Richard Simmons.”
A number of airlines
contacted for comment said it
never works that way.
“The list is the list and
the gate agents work the
list,” said American Airlines
spokesman Josh Freed, refer-
ring to the “list of customers
who potentially qualify for
upgrades based on elite
frequent flyer status.” Gate
agents, he stressed, are “not
out there putting who they
like, or who’s best dressed,
further up the list. It’s pretty
straightforward. If there are
three unsold seats in first
class, the top three people
on that list are going to get
them.”
Alaska
Airlines
spokesman Cole Cosgrove
agreed, saying upgrades go to
elite members of the airline’s
mileage plan. If you’re not an
elite member, the only way to
get an upgrade on Alaska is
by redeeming miles (15,000
miles one way), using a
guest upgrade code given
to the airline’s “MVP gold
members,” who are permitted
to share the codes with friends
or family; or by paying for
an upgrade at the gate ($50-
$200, depending on length of
flight) if first class isn’t full
and all eligible elites have
already been upgraded.
Cosgrove added that
Alaska Airlines’ policies do
not allow agents to make
exceptions for guests who
aren’t elite members of the
airline’s mileage plan “even
if those guests are really
friendly.”
Other airlines, including
Delta and United, also said
their agents are bound by
upgrade policies as described
on their websites, which
explain how to use award
miles and exactly what their
mileage program members
are eligible for.
And yet, there are people
who say they’ve gotten
upgrades without status.
“To those people who say,
nonsense, this can’t happen,
I disagree wholeheartedly.
This has happened to me
from coach to business class
a number of times,” said Ann
Lombardi, a business English
teacher and tour organizer at
The Trip Chicks. What’s her
secret? “I just smile and say
thank you for your help. I
might tell a little story about
myself. It may be the combi-
nation of being nice, dressing
decently and the luck of the
draw.”
She got a surprise upgrade
earlier this year flying on
Emirates. “I was just standing
in line, I got to boarding,
the woman pulled me aside
and gave me my boarding
pass and it said 1B,” she
recalled. “I said, ‘Is there an
extra digit left out (on the
seat number)?’ and she said,
‘No, we decided to upgrade
you.’” The upgrade to first
class from coach put her in
a private compartment. After
a knock on the door, she was
asked, “Would you like Dom
Perignon and black caviar
now or later?”