Mardi Gras in Melbourne

Spring, 2011

“We were in Palermo the weekend before Ash Wednesday, when they celebrate Carnival (similar to our Fat Tuesday). These pig's heads are a traditional treat, made of flour, sugar, and not much else. They sit atop a biscuit dipped in chocolate.”  From my Facebook page

Lent began this past Wednesday, and I had a hankering for paczki or other ethnically-approved sweet item.  Melbourne, FL is home to several cultures, which creates opportunities for small ethnic grocery stores.  Recalling the pig heads from Sicily, we reasoned that we begin our quest in a nearby Italian bakery, Cerrato’s Italian Market and Deli.  

 As soon as we entered the small shop, I knew that we were in for disappointment because the shelves looked woefully bare.   

Maybe the shopkeepers had more delicacies in the back, so we sidled up to the front counter and inquired about their pre-Lent items.  Using no words, blank looks from the proprietors supplied the answer for us.  We explaned the tradition of gorging of treats in preparation of Lent.  Nothing.  More blank looks.  Broadening the question to include sweets of any kind.  Nothing. We bade good bye to the shop keepers of the Italian Bakery preparing to exit the building.  I heard a voice calling after us:  “We make great sandwiches!”  Good to know.

"We make great sandwiches!"

Out the door and down US Highway 192 to a new ethnic grocery store called Brazil 4 You.  It’s marked with the red push pin in the map below.

Brazil 4 You

 

 

This place has a broad selection of things I’ve never heard of.

The owner, a Brazilian, welcomed us to his shop and chatted us up.  We explained that we were on a mission to find Carnival treats.  The Brazilians are a hardy bunch, because Carnival is a 5-day event beginning on the Friday before the start of Lent, in contrast to the 1-day Mardi Gras.  Mr. Owner laughed as he told us the Brazilian people drink . . . a lot.  They usually don’t want anything sweet after partying and drinking for five days.  All was not lost, though. 

 He had a extensive selection of everyday Brazilian desserts created on site in the back kitchen.  We only wanted to purchase “authentic” Carnival treats, but Mr. Owner wore us down.  We left Brazil 4 You with two small brown paper bags; one containing honeycakes and the other containing oozy cheese appetizers.  After promising to heat up the cheesy items in the oven (not the microwave),  we said good bye.  

 I recommend this shop if you ever find yourself on Highway 192 in Melbourne, Florida.  Even if you stop by just to chat with the owner, this is a worthwhile destination.  But, I’m sure you want more than idle chit chat, so plan on purchasing local and organic delicacies. 

 

Outside of Brazil 4 You

Onward.  Our next stop was the Euro Deli, west of both Brazil 4 You and Cerrato’s Italian Market and Deli.  Euro Deli’s claim to fame is its wonderful selection of Polish, Russian and the like items. 

 We had lunch here a few years ago, and I still remember the liverwurst and onion sandwich on Polish rye with mustard.  That sandwich reminded me of ones that my Russian grandparents made for me when I was growing up.  Luckily, they lived next door so I always had all the liverwurst and onion that I wanted.  

 Again, the owner welcomed us and showed us around her shop.  We saw an extensive array of Polish beers, Polish spices and plenty of perogi, with flavors I wasn’t familiar with:  pork and spinach, plum, blueberry, and kraut with mushroom.  Just so you know, I always considered myself a good cook when it came to all things Polish or Russian.  I have a perogi press, purchased almost ten years ago.  People (my sister) told me that I would never use it, and that it would collect dust sitting in a kitchen drawer.  Ten years later, it’s sitting in a kitchen drawer and gathering dust.  If you ever converse with my sister, it’s best not to mention that.  I’d be hearing about it for another ten years.  

We asked Ms. Owner about paczki, and were bowled over by her response.  Of course she sells paczki.  Woo Hoo!  Mission accomplished.  I could feel the excitement rising, and I blurted out, “We’ll take a dozen.”  Not so fast.  The Polish celebrate their pre-Lent splurge on the Thursday before lent, appropriately called Fat Thursday.  Ms. Owner said she had more than tripled her normal order of paczki, and she sold every last one of them in the course of three hours the week before on Fat Thursday.  Sigh…

Melbourne is home to numerous small Mom & Pop grocery stores, so why were we having difficulties finding traditional pre-Lent treats.  I admit that I wanted to give up and go home.  We knew of only two other ethnic specialty stores around town:  a Middle Eastern grocery store, and an Indian one with fifteen flavors of curry.  We had doubts about finding success in either of those, since their religious beliefs don’t include Lent.  Shrugging off our setbacks, we headed toward the exit when a display of Chruscik caught my eye.  Not being familiar, I asked what they “really” were.  Ms. Owner told us they were commonly known as Angel Wings.  Horray!   

 

"Real" Angel Wings are turned inside out and knotted.

Just hearing the mention of Angel Wings took me back to when I used to make these with the same Russian grandparents, way back in the day.  To be honest, they made the dough, rolled it out, and cut it into individual rectangles.  My job was to “turn them inside out,” as I called it.  Angel Wings, in my memory, were knotted in the middle designed to give an extra fatty and sugary blast halfway through the treat.  Ms. Owner used to make these herself, with a guarded family recipe, but couldn’t keep up with the demand.  She tried to find a local vendor for these, with no luck, before traveling up the Eastern seaboard to hunt for ones that tasted like her own, ending her search with a vendor located in New Jersey.  Sadly, this supplier cut the dough into individual pieces, and left it at that.  Ms. Owner and I shared a moment of silence over this barbarism.  We bought a box of them and also picked up a six-pack of Zywiec, “Poland’s #1 premier beer,” for good measure.  

Square Angel Wings

At this point in our journey, we have the honey cakes and the cheesy morsels from Brazilian 4 You, and Angel Wings and Beer from the Euro Deli.   

 

Traveling east from Euro Deli, we stopped at Publix

Calling an end to our mission for Mardi Gras sweets, we headed home, with a quick stop at Publix grocery store to replenish our supply of charcoal.  I’ll bet you can guess what I saw…..boxes of Packzi with a choice of apple-filled or jelly-filled.  We felt that the universe was speaking to us so we bought a box of jelly-filled Packzi.  We walked back to the car with a noticeable spring to our step, happy with our unexpected purchase of the sweet and fat-laden paczki.  

Display at Publix

I like my sweets as much as the next person  Somewhat unexpectedly, we hit the motherlode in our trek around Melbourne.  We’ve had enough sweet and fatty things this week to satisfy us through this Lent season, next year’s Lent, and Lent for the year after that.  During the Lenten season, we follow a vegetarian diet consisting of grains, beans and lots of vegetables which was appreciated since I was hopped up on sugar for two days.  Don’t let that deter you from dropping in on us.  Feel free to stop by and visit if you’re ever in our neighborhood.  When we open our home to guests, they always want to know what to bring, since many folks consider it bad manners to show up empty-handed.  Here’s my response:  “bring anything but sweet desserts.”