Feast of Saint Rocco

Grandmaster E and Master Beef invited us to the Feast of St. Rocco held annually at St. Mary's Parish in Franklin, Massachusetts. The Italian festival is dedicated to St. Rocco, patron saint of healing and hope to the broken hearted, ill, and the lost.

Lost certainly applied to us as we missed the turn to the church and had to loop around. We thought we'd have a hard time finding parking, but found a space right in front of the entrance.

There were lots of rides and games of chance on the Midway. Our destination was the food stalls. So much food. Eggplant Parmigiana, Italian coldcut subs, sausage and pepper subs, toasted ravioli. The stalls were filled to the brim with Italian food. "Our food" as my dad would say.

No fair would be complete without fried dough. I've never seen such a huge portion of fried dough. A pillow of fried dough, light and fluffy, with a blizzard of powdered sugar.

We ate our way through the food stalls accompanied by music from the band, loud conversation, and the shouts and shrieks from riders on the Midway. We made a dontation (the dollar bills attached to the red, green, and white, Italian flag, colored ribbons, and a prayer to the saint that the Italian pastry stand wouldn't run out of Napolitanas (Neopolitans), my favorite.

After a brief walk, it was time for dessert.The Italian pastries rivaled the pastries from Boston's North End (Mike's Pastry was the gold standard for my family). Himself and I split a Napolitana. Thank you, Saint Rocco, for saving us dessert.  A rectangle of Heaven on a paper plate. I was too busy eating to take a picture.

Resting on a bench and trying to decide what to eat next was interrupted by dark, ominious clouds and flashes of lightning. We made the decision to get out of Dodge before the storm crashed over us, but not before going back to the pastry stall for some eclairs to bring home to the girlies. That was the excuse.

We got caught in one downpour on the highway and made it home before the skies opened up. Thank you, Grandmaster E and Master Beef for the good food and great company.