Evivva Il San Guiseppe!!!!

Around this time of year, when people are consuming large quantities of green beer and corned beef, I am often surprised that St. Patrick's Day outshadows St. Joseph's Day, honored on March 19th. It's been my favorite holiday since I was a kid and my Aunt Jo Honey had a table at her house every year. We would all get tickets for which kind of sauce we'd like on our pasta-plain or con sarde.

Oh, excuse me, I should back up and explain St. Joseph's Day for those who don't know. St. Joseph is the patron saint of Sicily and hundreds of years ago during a terrible drought, the people of Sicily entreated to St. Joseph to bring rain. The rains came and as a way of showing thanks, Sicilians set out table in the town plazas, bearing food. The guests of honor during these celebrations were the elderly and the children and it was a way of the community taking care of its own. However, since this falls during Lent, no meat is on the menu.

While the food is important, it is also essential to have an altar set up, with candles, flowers and bread formed into crosses and other various shapes. Music must be played. Wine should be flowing.

Back to the food. Every vegetable you can imagine is battered and fried, my favorites being artichokes, caulifluer and cardooni. Cardones are part of the artichoke family but look like celery that's overgrown and slightly fuzzy. I love them but they are kind of labor-intensive; you have to skin and boil them before they are ready to be battered and fried. My Aunt Jo uses the stems of swiss chard with fantastic results. Frittata with spinach, artichokes and chard are also popular, as are cabbage patties and baked eggplant. Of course, there is pasta con sarde, which is a red sauce made with no meat and instead uses sardines, pine nuts and raisins. For dessert, there is sfingi, fried dough made with whiskey, and honey balls, which are smaller, firmer fried dough balls that are drenched in honey and shaped, again, into crosses and the like. Finally, plates of oranges, olives and fennel slices are set out to aid in digestion and sweeten the breath.

Sadly, the festivites have gotten to be too much for Aunt Jo so I usually do something small with my immediate family. This year, my mother had the nerve to go out of town so I'll have to fry up a plate of cardones for myself. More for me!