Tis the Season

March 19th has come around again, and that means the traditional St Joseph zeppole.  I was hoping to grab some this morning to bring to my woodcut class, but I had to deal with a college student crisis and ran short of time.  Back in 2004 I brought a boxful on this day up to the SGC conference at Rutgers for my printmaker friends from across the country, only to have them all go somewhere else for the day.  Instead I became a hero to all the Wash U. printmaking kids who were still there on campus and unfamiliar with this tradition.  My students today know about these treats, but they have the ability to get their own.

I had to go down to my parents' house in the afternoon, and I stopped on the way to pick up one at an Italian store that I knew would have some ready.  And it turned out that my parents had bought a box themselves and had an extra one for me.  Thus the plate above.  Both are stuffed with cannoli cream (my preferred filling).  Naturally, I had to do a comparison taste test.  Having tried a piece of both earlier tonight, I can say that both were very tasty.