I wasn't planning on writing a blogpost tonight...instead, I made a nice dinner of cavatelli, broccoli, toasted almonds,
pecorino, chili flakes, and kalamata olives...definitely a Sicilian dish.  Almonds are one of the biggest produce items
grown in Sicily, as are many fruits.  In the City of Palermo, a group of nuns many hundreds of years ago began to
make marzipan fruits out of the ground paste of the local almonds.  The nuts are used in many savory foods as
well, like my dinner tonight. 
So I'm sitting around the house after picking the girls up from their friend's house and decided I had to make a
Sicilian dessert.  Lots of ricotta in the house now with the Easter Holiday and the baking that happens this time
of the year.  There was a 2 pint container of strawberries in the fridge, REALLY REALLY deep red and sweet ones.
Strawberries...Ricotta.....a bit of Imported Citron tucked away in the recesses of the ice box....So, here we are.
Sicilian Cream (read cannoli cream) with fresh strawberries.    I made it and posted the pix on my Facebook
page and there were lots of immediate comments.  That means a. my Facebook friends liked it  b. blog the
recipe.  Couldn't be easier, and I don't mean that in a nasty condescending way.

For this recipe you will need 1 pt. of ripe strawberries, washed and patted dry with paper towels, and sliced
3 cups of the best ricotta you can find, 1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar 1 DROP of cinnamon oil..anymore than
that and your dessert will burn your tongue and taste like a box of cinnamon red hots. 1 tsp. of good vanilla
extract, 1 tsp. of orange zest..2 tsps. finely chopped good Imported Citron..if you can't find that, use supermarket
citron, but make sure it's citron, not colored, and not candied fruit.  Mix the extracts, the cheese, and the sugar
together till really smooth, then add the citron and orange zest..fold in .Chill for 1 hour.  In a serving bowl, spread
1/2 of the strawberries on the bottom, then add the cream. Garnish the rim of the bowl with the remaining
strawberries and top with some thin slices of citron and orange zest. 
Put up a pot of Espresso now and serve the Crema.  This is simply a homemade cannoli cream and very re-
freshing.  Buon Appetito a tutti!
btw, for those of you who can't live without chocolate, 2 tsp. of a good bittersweet chocolate chip could be folded
in as well.