Food Toys and Festivals

I am a sucker for kitchen gadget and food festivals.
As I was moving things around in my kitchen I came upon these lovely objects.

I adore this Sicilian handmade mold for their desserts.
Traditionally this is used for a Gelo mold, they make these jellies with almond milk, watermelon or even quince paste, which is thicker.

The religious Crown of thorns is a nice touch!

Also my Mexican chocolate mold, again with a nice religious heart!
I picked this up when I was at Suzanna Trillings fabulous school in Oaxaca last November.

In these very Catholic countries, food plays a large part in religious celebration.

August 10th is Saint Lawrence’s feast day, San Lorenzo.

It is the night if the falling stars, and Italy is Celebrating with a nighttime wine festival called Calici alle Stelle. I am going to a neighboring village of Tavernelle which is also having a street fair so double the fun. Hope there are some antique stands too!

Florence celebrates as San Lorenzo is the patron saint of the Central Market, and Chefs. As you can see, he was grilled to death,so perhaps could also be for BBQ’ers!

The vendors of both the street market and the internal food market set up stands around the Church of San Lorenzo and offer plates of pasta with meat sauce,(sugo in Toscana), called lasagna, and fresh watermelon to all that attend the evening event! The local band comes to play and athough it there are too many lights in the city to see the falling stars, a good time is had by all!

 

The term lasagna, comes from the pasta shape, which is large and holds the sauce well. The foto below shows the lasagne used for the festival. Lasagna al forno is the baked lasagna,layered that most of us know.

So August 10th go outside and hold your glass to the stars! Make a wish…perhaps next year you will be here with us!