Feast Season

This is the time for church feast and city fesiivals. Yet can we enjoy ordering and eating favorite  these days?Is it safe to get a bag of zeppoli or funnel cakes in this Covid era? You can.Just be careful.

One the biggest, New York's San Gennaro is back on this weekend. THis is where food stalls line blocks of city streets All sorts of Southern Italian specialties are offered as they have been for over a century. Are they safe? How do you weave around the crowds and where do you eat? One solution is eating in the surrounding area, Little Italy and even Chinatown. You can easily get a plate of spaghetti or dim sum and go for a dessert at a less crowded dessert stand. You can also stick to one block and avoid any crowd. As far as finding a place to eat, there are small parks there as well as the original St Patrick's which has benches located in front of its stone fencesAs for the suburban festival, get what you want tp eat and head back to your car.There have utensils, along with wet naps and bottles of water. Some areas like The Deutch Club in Clark, New Jersey have a field that can be used for picnics during their Steuben Day festival.Many churches have this as well. Take advantage of it.

What do you eat at these festivals? The food is safe Many workers have to wear plastic gloves to handle food so you don't have to worry about catching anything.You can get a slice of pizza or a kabob without any worries. These are usually made fresh and haven't been handled a lot. The same applies to other festival foods. Workers are also required to wear masks and gloves so cooking and serving are safe. Some items come wrapped already like candy apples and  cotton candy. Italian feasts like the St. Joseph's in Lodi, New Jersey have a stand where bags of salted and dried chichi (chickpeas) and sugared hazelsnuts are sold. No one has touched them or breathed on them. This is the way to go as far as take home treats.Sodas and beers are also OK. Just ask for a straw for the sodas (Or you could bring your own drinks if you still have qualms)

It's festival season after a long two year drought of not having them. Enjoy the sights and sounds of them/ Relish the different flavors and tastes of festivals.

An End Of Summer Food Fest

If you live in the Lodi,New Jersey area, you're well familiar with the Labor Day Saint Joseph's Feast.It's to celebrate the area church ,Saint Joseph of Naples. Neopolitans and Sicilians brought the saint to the small country town of Lodi, in Northern Bergen County.Now fourth and fifth generations are in charge of this amazing food fest.

As you can see, every Southern Italian festavale has a zeppole  stand.Dried puffs of dough are deep fried and then heavily dusted with powdered sugar.

Another perennial is the torrone and chichi beans.They are dried and salted chickpeas.

Parishioners are in charge of some of The food stands.You can get every Southern Italian dish, from sausage and peppers to my favorite pizza.Filipinos make up the new generation of Saint Joseph church goers.This is from a Filipino stand- one potato cut and fried on a stick.

Along with one of my favorites.

The treat truck.Tonight a candy apple.Tomorrow popcorn and cotton candy.Maybe a grape SnoCone.

This is the seats on for feasts and fests all over the country.Take advantage of the fun food offerings.It's a delicious way to contribute to a parish and community.

Premade Or Homemade

It's the dilemma of the holiday season :premade or homemade. What do you bake for family and friends?Or for yourself. That is the question.

For me this year the answer was a no brainer.Actually two answers:Pillsbury

and 

Nestle's.

Last year I went crazy baking up to 200 cookies 😲

24 iced cupcakes😲

and a marble cake with homemade fudge frosting😲

Talk about gilding the lily.It was a lot of work even though I used mixes for all three.This year I thought I'd just go to B& W Bakery in Hackensack or head to Stop& Shop and buy mini holiday cupcakes. I saw the first at the Lodi Shop Rite , as I was searching for the Gardein holiday loaf and couldn't resist. It looked too cute   and the end result would be yummy sugar cookies straight from my oven. Then I saw the Nestle's chocolate lover's giant cookies at my hangout , Stop and Shop. I

couldn't resist. and besides they're supposed to be the size of wagon wheels. Again irresistible. 

What I needed was easiness this year.Just preheat the oven, separate the cookies and then pop into a hot oven. Simple.

Besides I have to save my energy for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day cooking!😱

Feast Season

One of the best things about September is the many festivals and feasts that occur. These are a foodie's dream with local and ethnic specialties on sale.They're a fun way to celebrate and to experience local specialties.

The month is harvest time in Italy and many southern Italian immigrants brought harvest fests with them. This is apparent in North Jersey where I am. For the last one hundred years St. Joseph's Church in  nearby Lodi designates the Labor Day weekend to celebrate both the church and the St. Joseph Society,it is a multi block celebration. Parishioners donate time and food to create the same memorable dishes that their parents, grandparents and great grandparents made. There is homemade pizza  and sausage and peppers. In past years there was zucchini au gratin, a tasty squash casserole ith a thick layer of Parmesan cheese. The festival also features zeppoli , the fried dough balls that are dredged in a thick coating of confectioner's sugar. This Neopolitan treat is a staple there as is both regular and iced cappuccino. There are also stands that sell fresh torrone, the almond studded nougat popular through out the Italian Republic along with dried and salted chickpeas call ceces (pronounced cheechees). The same stand has my favorite - fresh biscotti. There's nothing like them, double in size than the regular ones, perfect with a swipe of butter on it.

One of the biggest Italian feasts San Gennaro is also this month.It has been held annually since 1926  and is going into its' ninetieth year. It was started by immigrant families living on Mulberry Street. along with shop owners. Funds raised were given to needy families. The festival grew from a few days to eleven days.There's also one in the Italian section in the Bronx with much of the same food.It also spread to Las Vegas while Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla brought it to Los Angeles in 2003 where it's been a staple since.Not only is there pizzas and sausage and peppers , There are also calzones, those ricotta cheese and filled little sacks of pizza dough that are dipped in pizza sauce. The San Gennaro festival was usually the first place that many tourists first tasted gelati and Italian ice. The festival is still known for its' flavorful lemon and orange ices as well as ice cream that has strong echoes of gelaterie in Rome. Not to be outdone, there are also German festivals too, mainly to celebrate Steuben Day, named after one of the architects of the American Revolution General Von Steuben. There are also celebrations that have hock and bratwurst as well as weissebier and jaegermeister.

September is the time for festivals and food. Celebrate with fun festival foods and traditions. It's a great way  to honor saints and harvest times.

The Pantry Is Now Open And It Went To Visentini's

Yes, I have reopened the pantry after a false health scare (blame the doctor , not me). The first trip back was to Visentini's Brothers in Lodi, New Jersey. This gem is an Italian food lover's paradise, filled with traditional and even unusual Italian treats from both the north and south of the country.

A friend told me about Visentini's Brothers, located on one of the town's main roads, Union Ave in Lodi. There have been Italians living in this area since the late 1800's so food shopping really is like shopping in Naples or Rome. At one time home chefs had a handful of salumerias to shop from,to buy home made pasta and cold cuts. Those stores have since closed , leaving only Visentini Brothers which is a combination liquor store, salumeria, caterer and grocery .What is unique about it is the variety of unusual products. The store  sells candele pasta, literally two foot long (!) pasta tubes that are a specialty of Neopolitan kitchens.There are also other tubular pastas of different sizes and shapes home chefs can try out too., Yes they offer traditional pastas such as fusilli lunghi, foot long strings of wavy pasta along with spaghetti , angel hair and penne. What is great about the store is that they feature staples of Northern Italy too. There is the finely ground Piedmontese polenta, along  with dried mushrooms,There are shelves full of Italian breakfast biscuits as well as San Pelligrino Mineral water along with the always tart and refreshing orange and lemon sodas.

Visentini Brothers is also a deli, and again they don't disappoint with their wide array. They have breaded eggplant, chicken and even cauliflower. This last is a must have .The florets are evenly and perfectly coated with something akin to bread "dust" than crumbs. It's not overpowered with spices so that the sweet earthy flavor of the cauliflower comes through.The artichoke hearts are another standout. They are the size of small roses almost with an earthy candy flavor. Visentini's marinates in a vinaigrette sauce that only adds to the flavor.The deli counter also offers other delicious dishes such as shrimp salad, meatballs and broccoli rabe. Those who are familiar with Southern Italian specialties will love their arancini, , the little oranges made from rice , chopped meat  and breading. Usually these are the size of small softballs but Visentinis makes theirs the size of small bowling balls. One can easily feed two or even three people. Their heroes are legendary around the area, with the store customizing them to individual tastes. The store also has an extensive catering menu which features filet mignon,, deviled eggs with caviar, and melon with prosciutto, They also a wide range of pastas to choose from, unusual for a caterer.

Visentini Brothers is the perfect stop for those who adore the Italian food. It is a great trip , full of tasty foods. and plates. Welcome back to the pantry, thanks , in part to this amazing store.