Weekend happenings

As the weather gets gloomier the festivals get heartier...

In Trieste Tra un Mese è Natale (a month until Christmas) a fair of Christmas gifts (and I assume tasty treats) has been on since the 21st and finishes on Sunday. The only handy thing I got from the website was the location: da Piazza Cavana a Piazza Hortis. Lots of towns are having similar festivals at the moment; Turismo FVG and Giro FVG have more info about these.

Chocofest (in Gradisca D'isonzo) starts tonight and continues over the weekend celebrating all things chocolate, coffee and cream.

Purcit in Staiare is a festival to celebrate pig slaughtering by eating tasty piggy products. Blatantly using the information given here, purcit is the name given to Friulian pork and staiare is an ancient Friulian dance. So Purcit in Staiare is a party to relive the joyous events following the late November slaughtering of the home pig in the Friulian villages and the subsequent preparation of porky products that supplied the villagers with their protein and fat needs for the year. There is a free bus from Trieste to the festival on Sunday so you can eat, drink and be happy.

Festa della Zucca

On Sunday we walked about 5 km south of Cervignano to the small village San Martino for the Festa della Zucca (festival of the pumpkin). The Italians do love a good food festival and I find the festivals are handy for knowing what veggies are in season (bring on pumpkin soup). As well as generally celebrating pumpkins, there was a re-enacted wedding with people dressed up as noble folk, plebs (I particularly liked one fellow who looked like Baldrick from Blackadder), knights and other sword wielding characters. There were a bunch of stalls selling something for everyone - wooden weapons, all things pagan, religious items, herbs and spices...

The pumpkin sculpting entries were a highlight, our favourites generally being the pirate based ones. There were a number of cigarette smoking pumpkins...did I mention these were made by children? Hmmm.

Anyho, to food, we started off our eating experience for the day with chocolate coated fruit skewers, this was followed by pumpkin gnocchi with butter and sage, polenta and cheese frico. Oh, and roasted chestnuts. Yummy!

Cavalli e Profumo di Mosto

Before and after...

We passed a lovely Saturday at the Cavalli e Profumo di Mosto festival last weekend. The festival was in Medeazza, a tiny little village a sneeze away from the border with Slovenia. Since we couldn't get our hands on a pair of horses to join the horse excursions we went on a walking excursion instead. The walk rambled though the forest into Slovenia and back passing through wine-making regions. We visited a small church in Slovenia which was apparently made from a small ship, which seemed odd considering it was made of stone. On return to Medeazza we enjoyed a delightful pranzo at an ozmizza, watched over by the resident piggies.

What's On....

This weekend is looking pretty exciting and full of tasty things to eat...so, putting on my tourist guide hat...

Sapori Friulani (Friulian Flavours)
Palmanova 3-4 October

Lots of food stands plus a photography exhibition, bike ride, a Friulian comedy show, and various markets.

• Program (pdf)
• GiroFVG page
  

40th Mostra Regionale della Mela (Apple Festival)
Pantiannico 1-4 October

Many apple type activities including a 10 km fun walk on Sunday and a Miss Mela competition (of course...)

• Home page
• GiroFVG page
• Program (pdf)
  

Cavalli e Profumo di Mosto
Medeazza 2-4 October

Medeazza is in the Duino-Aurisina area about 1.5 km from San Giovanni al Timavo. You can get to San Giovanni by the Trieste bus #44 or on the APT airport bus (#51). This festival looks like heaps of fun with a bunch of ozmizze open, a 3-4 hour guided walk each day (one crosses the border into Slovenia, and the other explores the trenches of WWI), "rural games" in the afternoon (I think games such as sack races...), music at night, and horse excursions (if you have a horse handy).

• Program (pdf)
• GiroFVG page
  

Anatra and Norberta

I finished knitting Norberta a couple of weeks ago and she is now destined for a life with my nephew (if I can let her go). To be fair, I thought I should make a toy for my niece as well. Quizzing my sister I found out that she is obsessed with ducks...so Anatra was born and I spent a weekend quacking. Norberta has been spending a lot of time in the cupboard of late because we've seen a lot of these guys around the place lately, and a dragon can never be too careful.

Ham, ham, ham, ham

We went to La Festa del Prosciutto di San Daniele last week courtesy of Sam and the "Little Car that Could". San Daniele is famous for its prosciutto and with good reason...it's very tasty. As is the way with Italian festivals, since this was a festival for prosciutto that was pretty much the only item on the dinner menu. You order a serving of prosciutto and it comes with a bunch of bread sticks which you wrap the prosciutto around (bascially a ham-pop) and munch it down...best accompanied with some fine German beer.