Rice Ball Season

It's that time of year, when the entire neighborhood goes batty for something called "rice balls."



I've never gotten one before. The serving system is labor-intensive with only a few balls fried at a time, so the line is always enormous. But yesterday, I went over right when the festival opened, and only had to wait in line about 10 minutes.



It's a combination of rice and cheese with ground beef and cheese in the middle. These balls are mixed, then rolled in bread crumbs, then deep-fried at the point-of-sale. These are called arancini in Italian.



I ate mine in the courtyard behind the church, with Roberta and another friend. They were yummy, the weather was perfect, and the crowd around us was old and Italian. Lovely.