Monkling's Blog

A couple of years ago, I spoke about today – Epiphany, 3 King’s Day, the 12th Day of Christmas. Yeah, it’s all pretty much the same thing, those 3 titles. Anyhow, I spoke about La Befana, the witch who brings gifts to the little Italian boys & girls in Italy.

Last year, when we were in Rome visiting Stephen during the Christmas season, I was determined to find my own Befana. I searched all the stores we went into. I finally found my Befana in Christmas Village. I was so happy that I had a Befana all my own. Maybe she would bring me some extra gifts. Alas, that was not to be. This is my Befana:

Now although it does look like La Befana, apparently the vendors ripped off the dumb tourists. It is not a real one. It is a Halloween witch. This was discovered on Christmas when I showed it to my brother. For the first time, I thought to look at the little tag on it. That is when I made the horrific discovery about being ripped off. Damn street vendors! They sold me an ordinary Halloween witch, not an authentic Befana. No wonder I didn’t get any gifts today!

Arancini are Rice Balls. I mentioned them once before but I had never made them. Until this week. Since Arancini are a family thing, I decided it’s time for me to see whether or not I could handle making them. As it turns out, I can:

I also found out why my family does not make them too often. Making rice balls involved scooping up the rice with your hands, making an indentation in it and filling it with a meatball/mozzarella mixture. This is what they look like on the inside:

Did I mention picking up the rice? I would have taken a photo of my hands during the process except that I couldn’t very well hold a camera when my hands were covered with rice. Naturally, the phone also decided to ring while I was making them. And not just once. (Sure I could have ignored the phone but I didn’t. )

After you stuff the rice balls, you dip them in egg, coat them with bread crumbs & fry them. I’m sorry but I cannot post the recipe. It is a family secret. If I were to post in great detail about how they are made, I would be disowned.