httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJh8GxXpJIE

People of Portuguese heritage gathered in Pismo Beach this weekend for the traditional festival that honors Portugal's patron saint. This morning's parade featured the outgoing and incoming queens and their courts which represent festa committees from all over California. The festa queens were crowned at a ceremony the night before. If you were at the parade today you witnessed the three queen categories senior, junior and little queens in a traditional walking parade that ended at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, on Bello St., where Mass was celebrated. After mass then it was on to the festa grounds, where sopas was served starting at noon.

In case you wondered here is a traditional recipe for Sopas: 4 pounds chuck roast 2 soup bones 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic 1 TBS whole cumin 1 tsp whole allspice 1 tsp whole cloves 4 bay leaves 1/2 cup white wine 1-1/2 TBS Worcestershire sauce 12 cups water 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce 1 head cabbage cut into four wedges 2 sprigs of mint Salt and pepper to taste 1 loaf French bread (plain — not sweet or sourdough)

(Note: Worcestershire sauce is not used in all festa sopas; unlike this recipe, chicken base is used. These two differences make for more brothy-colored sopas, which is more like the sopas served in the Azores.)