Today, I went to not one, but two Italian festivals. One in Little Italy, the Feast of San Gennaro, and one in Hoboken, the Feast of the Madonna dei Martiri. And feast I did. I can't even begin to list all the delicious things I ate, stared at, sniffed longingly, or bought "for later," but I will tell you that I started out at the amazing Ferrara's, and that a shameful number of pastries were involved. San Gennaro's was definitely more of a typical street fair, complete with rain, mud, and those ring-toss games with prizes that nobody wants, but I'm not complaining, especially since there were rainbow cookies. Later I hit the Hoboken festival, lured by the promise of
a cannoli-eating contest, which I thought would be a great spectator sport. It wasn't quite what I expected--the contestants were mostly pre-teen boys, they were only given five cannolis each and a two minute time limit--but the winner ate all five mondo cannolis in 43 seconds! I felt a little sick watching him, but not sick enough to restrain myself from getting a bag of Kettle Korn on the way out. As I left, I felt a sense of lightness of being, and that's because the feast of the Madonna dei Martiri has an extra benefit, which is that anyone who attends receives a plenary indulgence from his holiness the pope-n-ator. Basically, all my sins were absolved because I ate a slice of pizza and listened to a Dean Martin cover band. Hooray! So fresh and so clean! Also, I made a new best friend, so I might need to take up smoking. But seriously, who doesn't want to hang with this guy:
a cannoli-eating contest, which I thought would be a great spectator sport. It wasn't quite what I expected--the contestants were mostly pre-teen boys, they were only given five cannolis each and a two minute time limit--but the winner ate all five mondo cannolis in 43 seconds! I felt a little sick watching him, but not sick enough to restrain myself from getting a bag of Kettle Korn on the way out. As I left, I felt a sense of lightness of being, and that's because the feast of the Madonna dei Martiri has an extra benefit, which is that anyone who attends receives a plenary indulgence from his holiness the pope-n-ator. Basically, all my sins were absolved because I ate a slice of pizza and listened to a Dean Martin cover band. Hooray! So fresh and so clean! Also, I made a new best friend, so I might need to take up smoking. But seriously, who doesn't want to hang with this guy:
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