Bronte Pistachio Festival
It's been too long. I'm sorry!! I have no excuse. I've just been pretty lazy about posting, and still a bit out of sorts. (Another post for another time.)
The weekend before last we went up to a town called Bronte on the west side of Mt. Etna to a pistachio festival. Bronte is not a huge contributor to the pistachio cultivation of the world, but their crop is of the highest quality (of course). Every month, perhaps more than once a month, there is some sort of festival happening in one of the cities around Sicily. Whether it's chestnuts, mushrooms, artichokes, or in this case pistachios. And let me tell you, I adore pistachios. My favorite gelato flavor of all time? Pistachio. So when I heard of this festival I knew that we had to go.
It was our first experience at a festival here, and it likely won't be our last. Luckily we got there early and found a good parking spot (let me assure you, finding a parking spot in some of these towns is like finding a needle in a haystack). We set off down the streets of Bronte. One of the main streets was closed to car traffic, white tents were erected with people selling all things pistachio, and speakers were strung between buildings blaring annoyingly loud top 40 (American) songs.
Our first stop was for pistachio gelato. Who cares that it was 10:30 in the morning. It's always time for gelato, especially pistachio gelato. And let me tell you, it was heavenly. It was served in a freshly made waffle bowl. It was certainly some of the best I've had, and I'm far too embarrassed to tell you how much I've actually had. Patrick had espresso with some sort of pistachio sweetener. He assures me that it was good as well.
We continued down the cobblestone lined streets exploring the different pistachio delights. We may have also sampled a pistachio canoli that was out of this world. What else is there to do but eat at a festival that is based on food? We also bought a bag of pistachios from a local farmer as well as some sweet pistachio concoction which is good for crepes or other sweet deserts.
As we were leaving I thought of my father-in-law. A couple years ago we went to the Wisconsin state fair together. Somehow he convinced me to sit through one of those amazing (or amazingly boring) pots and pans demonstrations. And we sat through nearly the whole pitch, however, at the end (much to the salesman's chagrin) we exited without buying a single thing. Apparently even in Italy you can't get away from these guys. There was an Italian man trying to sell an Italian version of these amazing pots and pans. So Steve, this picture is for you. Though I may not have enjoyed the salesman's presentation I certainly enjoyed spending the day with you.
The weekend before last we went up to a town called Bronte on the west side of Mt. Etna to a pistachio festival. Bronte is not a huge contributor to the pistachio cultivation of the world, but their crop is of the highest quality (of course). Every month, perhaps more than once a month, there is some sort of festival happening in one of the cities around Sicily. Whether it's chestnuts, mushrooms, artichokes, or in this case pistachios. And let me tell you, I adore pistachios. My favorite gelato flavor of all time? Pistachio. So when I heard of this festival I knew that we had to go.
It was our first experience at a festival here, and it likely won't be our last. Luckily we got there early and found a good parking spot (let me assure you, finding a parking spot in some of these towns is like finding a needle in a haystack). We set off down the streets of Bronte. One of the main streets was closed to car traffic, white tents were erected with people selling all things pistachio, and speakers were strung between buildings blaring annoyingly loud top 40 (American) songs.
Our first stop was for pistachio gelato. Who cares that it was 10:30 in the morning. It's always time for gelato, especially pistachio gelato. And let me tell you, it was heavenly. It was served in a freshly made waffle bowl. It was certainly some of the best I've had, and I'm far too embarrassed to tell you how much I've actually had. Patrick had espresso with some sort of pistachio sweetener. He assures me that it was good as well.
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