Book of Days

Last month was dominated by Oktoberfest Miami, and then we went to Maine for a quick visit to see Seth’s family, and when we got back it was Hallowe’en, and then the local Dia de Los Muertos festival… anyway, I have finally gotten around to publishing your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for November. We delve deeper into autumn now.

The calendar is a printable PDF, as usual. I do hope you had a mysterious Hallowe’en and a lovely All Souls Night. Though I did not write to you here, we did celebrate all these nights, and you’ll find pictures at our Instagram page (@conviviobookworks) of our Hallowtide so far. These days of remembrance continue through Martinmas on the 11th of November. In this house we are still basking in the glow of orange lights each night in the company of pumpkins, and we’ve just finished the last of the Butternut Soup from Hallowe’en and the cinnamon and anise scented Pan de Muertos my sister made for Dia de Los Muertos. She made other sweets, as well. (I, meanwhile, have an appointment on Thursday for bloodwork for my 6-month physical… I don’t think “A candy apple a day keeps the doctor away” is quite how the old adage goes, and yet, this is the current state of things.)

We enter into a very busy time of year for us, and here’s a listing of the in-shop events and pop-up markets we currently have on our calendar:

We’re planning an Advent & Christmas Market at the shop the weekend of Saturday November 15 & Sunday November 16, and another Advent & Christmas Market on Thanksgiving Weekend: Friday November 28, Saturday November 29, and Sunday November 30. The shop is at 1110 North G Street in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

Find us on Friday November 21, Saturday November 22, and Sunday November 23 at the Scandinavian Christmas Market in Lantana; then on Saturday December 6 at Christmas Market Miami at the German American Social Club in Miami; and at Krampusnacht on Friday night December 13 and Christkindlmarkt on Saturday & Sunday December 14 & 15, all at the American German Club in Lake Worth. And we’ll reopen the shop again for our Solstice Market on Friday December 19, Saturday December 20, and Sunday December 21.

And here’s a really nice story about Convivio Bookworks that was written by Amancio Paradela. It came out in the October 29 edition of OutSFL. I think it’s the best thing that was ever written about us; I feel like Amancio really understands what we’re trying to do at Convivio Bookworks. Thank you, Amancio!

Finally, I imagine most of you who read the Convivio Book of Days must also subscribe to our more popular mailing list for the Convivio Dispatch from Lake Worth… but who knows, maybe I’m wrong. If you did not receive last week’s Convivio Dispatch for Hallowe’en, well… here’s a link to that Dispatch. Though All Hallow’s Eve has passed, it’s a pleasantly mysterious read, no matter what time of year. And since we are still in the midst of Hallowtide, reading it now is actually just right.

That’s all for now. I would promise to be better about writing this month, but let’s face it: Look at all those dates we have scheduled! The writing is most likely going to have to wait. I will, however, be sure to write during momentary lapses of good judgement. Have a wonderful month, and we’d love to see you, if you’re local, at one or more of our events or pop-up markets this holiday season!

Image: “Autumn Afternoon” by László Mednyánsky. Oil on canvas, circa 1900 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

P.S. There are three open seats still in this Sunday’s pasta making workshop at the shop! My family will be teaching you how to make Cavatelli. It’ll be an absolutely delicious day!

Labor Day comes early this year, as early as it can, and with it comes September, which has a different resonance as it falls from the tongue, different from July or August. It is not a word of summer, September: it is a word of transition, a word tinged with gold and brown, a word of fall. Indeed, autumn arrives this month, by the almanac. The year is waning.

To mark the shift, here is your Convivio Book of Days calendar for September. It’s a printable PDF, as usual, and this month, we’re featuring luminous goose berries. When I was a boy, I’d pick goose berries at one of the neighbor’s houses, the Gruenthallers, where they grew as a sort of hedge between their house and their neighbor next door. I’d never had goose berries before, nor since, but if memory serves well, I’m pretty sure they were delicious.

It is not goose berries but grapes that we’ll celebrate on the 8th of September for the Nativity of Mary, only because she is known at this time of year as Our Lady of the Grape Harvest in the places where vintners now begin their wine making. It’s not unusual to find bunches of grapes placed in the hands of statues of Mary on this day. And it is the apple that will take center stage this month, dipped in honey for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that begins this year on the same night as the autumnal equinox (September 22). It’s also the birthday of John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, on the 26th: another auspicious day for eating apples.

It is the humble blackberry, however, that gets the best story of the month. It is traditional to eat blackberries on Michaelmas, the 29th of September… and also ill-advised to eat them after this day. It was St. Michael the Archangel who battled Satan and in the battle, Satan fell to Earth and landed in a bramble patch. Have you ever been in a bramble patch? I have. A bramble patch would make even the pope curse and swear and this is exactly what Satan did, and legend has it that he returns each year on Michaelmas to curse and spit upon the brambles… which is why some people will not eat a blackberry after Michaelmas. They are taking no chances.

At the shop this month we have the first of our Convivio Cookery workshops, which I am so excited about. For the first one, I’ll be teaching you how to make one of my very favorite things to eat: Mambricoli, a most unusual pasta that is specific to my maternal grandparents’ region of Italy, la provincia di Foggia. You’ve probably never tasted anything like mambricoli, and they are a delight to make. If you’re local, you should come! CLICK HERE for details and registration.

We’re open next on Saturday September 6 from 11 to 4. (That’s this coming Saturday, when we are opening because our friend Hazel is coming in from San Antonio to visit the shop, and if Hazel’s coming, well, you should, too.) After that, you can expect a few Boo Bazaar events where we’ll turn our attention to pumpkins and Hallowe’en, and then, believe it or not… we’ll be setting up our pop-up market at the German American Social Club in Miami for two weekends of Oktoberfest Miami plus the German International Parents’ Association (GIPA) Oktoberfest before that on October 4.

We’ve also got a Gift Basket Making workshop on Saturday October 4 at the shop, and another Convivio Cookery workshop in November where my whole family will teach you how to make Cavatelli, another traditional Italian pasta (one much more well known than mambricoli). By then, even the weather here in this strange green land will be cooler, and our transition from summer to fall will feel more like reality, and less like a fairytale.

Image: “Gooseberries on a Table” by Adriaen Coorte. Oil on paper, mounted on wood, 1701 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.