The Feast of San Gennaro

Two weeks ago I attended the Feast of San Gennaro with a good friend Hayley. I had hoped to publish this post earlier in the week, but my dad spilled coffee all over my computer and successfully broke it, leaving me without a computer for the remainder of the week. I finally got a new one today, so I'm trying to finish this guy up.

Hayley and I met downtown in that awkward area where Little Italy and Chinatown really seem to blend together, as in you see a fish market right next to a pastry shop stocked with cannolis, and proceeded to make our way up the street fair.

Let me say that this festival was HUGE. I accidentally stumbled upon it last year when I went downtown and it didn't seem to be that crowded, yet I realized that of course it would less packed on a Tuesday afternoon than it would be on a Saturday evening. However, despite my intimidation by big crowds, I managed to push my way through. I wanted to take nice pictures of the festival on my camera, but it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to crowded for me to be able to pull my camera out my bag + it was raining and I didn't want to risk breaking my camera. I was forced to settle for pictures on my phone, which turned out less terribly than I thought they would.

It was hard for me to capture any good photos simply because of the swarm of people that kept pushing me out of their way when they walked by.

who couldn't love a giant cannoli??

It started raining right when Hayley and I reached the end of the festival chain, so we decided to go into this cute little place called Macbar which is amazing because it ONLY SERVES MAC AND CHEESE!!!!!!!! Obviously I was very excited. I would recommend going there when not very full, because if you get a medium or large, you get a cool macaroni-shaped reusable container to carry your food around in.

Another unique experience of the evening was that I got to try a "cronoli". There was a lot of hype this passed summer about a new food item called the cronut, a mixture of a donut and croissant, sold only at this one bakery. Many bakeries have tried creating their own spin on the cronut, and the cronoli was Little Italy's interpretation, a cronut filled with cannoli cream. Hayley bought one and I had a bite, and I must say it was delicious. I don't think it needed the cream in the center, however, but I can definitely see why people wait outside of Dominique Ansel Bakery starting at 5 just to get their hands on two cronuts.

Hayley and I were a bit rushed on our way back from the festival as the light drizzle turned into a massive downpour. We ran to the nearest subway station and headed home. I would've liked to stay longer, but you just have to take what life throws your way sometimes.