Flower Frenzy Wednesday and a Pistachio Roulade

Wednesday's market was a riot of color and chrysanthemum display with a frenzy of shopping for bouquets or pots of mums. It had a different buzz to it in the market and had a holiday feel with out any sadness particularly involved. In fact it had more of a celebratory feel perhaps even life affirming, to be here and enjoying an autumn day out. Saturday was lovely weather and today is dreary, rainy, and cold. However my purchase of a small pot of golden asters surrounded by mini gourds and a couple of mini pumpkins add a colorful lift to a gray autumn day.

Yesterday was Il Giorgno dei Morti and today is Il Giorgno dei Santi.
Day of the Dead and All Saints day as they are more commonly know in English.
Two bank holiday days that this year falls on the weekend, so no one really got out of work, except that our regular Pinerolo market was held on Friday instead of Saturday, making for a confusing schedule for those of us who didn't grow up with such holidays. Halloween for most Americans, was a kids day for parties and an excuse for dressing up in lots of your parents old clothes or scarves and jewelry and extorting candy from your neighborhood.
Here in Italy, it is a day of taking colorful autumn flowers to the cemetery with your family and going to a special mass. Also it usually means lighting candles for your loved ones and generally remembering all that have passed on. It may also include eating out for a special meal as well. It is a time for marking the change of the seasons with the passing of loved ones as well as the end of the growing season and harvest time, and moving on into the winters quiet. Good rituals to make the transition of the natural rhythms of the year.
We had a birthday to celebrate, so we enjoyed a special meal and cake to mark the occasion.

A Pistachio Roulade with a coffee white chocolate cream filling. It was moist, colorful and a nice change of pace.

So, you see, I do on occasion, still make cakes. There was a time on my life where I made a lot of cakes. Now they are occasional and I think more of a special treat. Now it's on to the next cake, as it's my father in law's 70th birthday tomorrow. I have a special hazelnut cake in mind for him.