It's almost weekend again and...

I haven't told you about last weekend. In Sicily, autumn is the time for festivals. In Piedemonte we went to the "uva" (grape) festival a couple of weeks ago, last weekend it was Zafferana. Zafferana's festival is actually four festivals. Each Sunday in October they celebrate a different harvest. Last week it was supposed to be grapes but we didn't see any grapes there. (Plenty of wine vendors, though) This week it's honey, and I forgot what the other two weeks are. So, instead of calling it the ____ festival, they call it Ottobrata. It's becoming pretty famous and people come from all over Italy, Europe and even the States to celebrate with the town.

Zafferana is a good-sized town about two thirds of the way up the mountain (Mount Etna) and the weather is beautiful this time of the year. The climate is excellent for growing grapes which is the main crop of the mountain area. There is also an abundance of chestnut, pine and apple trees.

In the States when our little Midwest towns have an October fest, we cordon off a bit of a main street and in the rest of the town, life goes on. In Zafferana, the whole town is shut down for the day (I guess that's why they have it on Sundays). People have to park as much as a half mile from the festival area and those who come late might had better have on their hiking boots.

A very busy place those few weeks. Parades, puppet shows, costumes, food, and lots of people.

Vendors come from all over to show their "wares." Some are commercial and some are local farmers and artisans. They have booths, stands, and even blankets on which to spread out wonderful products for sale. From the farmer bringing in his cheeses, peaches, apples, artichokes, etc. to the guy demonstrating the miracle window cleaner at least a hundred times a day. Products from Italy, Turkey, Senegal. Things to eat, to enjoy the beauty of, to wear, to cook or to cook with.

The town is built on three levels with stairs going from piazza to piazza at each level. The bottom level has vendors for a variety of things but the two main parts to this area are the games and the food. Outdoor grills serving up everything from Tuna (beside the grill sitting on a table of ice was the whole tuna from which they cut a steak-sized piece to cook for you), to horse meat pinani (plural for pinano which in Italy just means sandwich, hot or cold--same sandwich).

In fact, it's difficult to find a stand there not serving caballo (horse meat) so when I went to one of the stands to tell the guy what I wanted for a sandwich I said, "Sono Americana, no mi piace caballo. Per favore un altro coso."

I think I said I am an American, I don't like horsemeat. Please give me another thing. He showed me a meat in a tray and I said it would be fine but I really don't have a clue what I ate. Bob, on the other hand, didn't care. He'll eat anything.

One thing more. On the way to up the mountain we stopped in the nearby town of Via Grande which was enjoying a bit of the spill-over from the larger festivities at Zafferana. There were many interesting things there but the one that caught my eye was the little shop with two guys outside grilling artichokes. Bob and I like artichokes but to buy them fresh, steam them or cook them in some other way is a LOT of time and trouble for the little bit you get to eat----and, we always end up eating them with butter which we don't need. These were delicious and made with only a bit of olive oil and salt as they grilled.

It was another great day and we came home with a few purchased items for eating or for Christmas gifts and with tired but happy bodies.

I think it's time I put some more photos on flickr. I'll try to do that this three-day weekend when I can go to the base and spend an hour on the computer with a good signal.