Cultural Saturday
I ended up going out to the Pigs & Peaches Festival in Kennesaw on Saturday, where I once again learned that I should listen to that little voice of caution inside my head. I thought about getting some sunscreen and wearing a hat, but I figured I wouldn't be out that long. Somewhere in the back of that rationalization was the thought that it wasn't too hot out there, either. Of course, I got burned. However, it was worth it for the tasty barbecue. I was saddened by the existence--and proliferation--of "competition only" places, who were cooking their meat in public booths, but weren't selling any of it. I remember being to a number of 'que competitions in my day where they'd have "samples" (normally costing a few dollars) for the buying public. There wasn't as much of that on Saturday as I'd've liked, but there was still a decent amount of barbecue. The place with the best-tasting sauce was out of said sauce (attendance was definitely higher than expected), but I got his e-mail, so hopefully I can get some eventually. But I had some tasty barbecue, looked over some neat crafty booths, has some tasty home-brewed orange cream soda, and generally had fun in a little fair-like atmosphere.
Saturday later in the afternoon, I headed out to Doraville for the Happy Olympics Festival, a little Chinese cultural festival held by a number of local Chinese business associations. There was dancing and martial arts demonstrations and a dragon dance with scenes from the opening ceremonies playing on LCD televisions around the venue, plus some tasty dumplings, Szechuan noodles (which may have been tasty, but I had too much barbecue), a fruit dessert with condensed milk and shaved ice, and bubble tea, which was my first introduction to this originally-Taiwanese concoction. It was ... odd. I'm not sure what I think about having tapioca pearls in my cold milk tea. The taste was fine, but ... odd. I did pick up an Olympics t-shirt at the festival; I figured that I have ones from 1996, 2000, and 2004, so I might as well pick up a 2008 shirt. As I left, there was a clothing retailer setting up shop in a booth that had been empty, but I was feeling the sun from earlier at that point. Luckily, the Happy Olympics thing was mostly indoors, so my burn was prevented from getting any worse.
Both of the festivals were a lot of fun. I had a little hesitation about driving back and forth between home, Kennesaw, and Doraville, but I'm glad I did. Neither festival cost anything just for attendance; the money I spent on food was basically lunch & dinner, and more fun than sitting at home eating takeaway. I still got back in time to watch Michael Phelps's 400m IM gold performance, which was admittedly in my priorities. Now that autumn's approaching, it's time to start watching for more of the festivals and fairs in the area. There's a Forest of Doors game the first weekend of the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, but I have the Saturday of the second weekend--the fiddlers' competition--on my calendar.
Saturday later in the afternoon, I headed out to Doraville for the Happy Olympics Festival, a little Chinese cultural festival held by a number of local Chinese business associations. There was dancing and martial arts demonstrations and a dragon dance with scenes from the opening ceremonies playing on LCD televisions around the venue, plus some tasty dumplings, Szechuan noodles (which may have been tasty, but I had too much barbecue), a fruit dessert with condensed milk and shaved ice, and bubble tea, which was my first introduction to this originally-Taiwanese concoction. It was ... odd. I'm not sure what I think about having tapioca pearls in my cold milk tea. The taste was fine, but ... odd. I did pick up an Olympics t-shirt at the festival; I figured that I have ones from 1996, 2000, and 2004, so I might as well pick up a 2008 shirt. As I left, there was a clothing retailer setting up shop in a booth that had been empty, but I was feeling the sun from earlier at that point. Luckily, the Happy Olympics thing was mostly indoors, so my burn was prevented from getting any worse.
Both of the festivals were a lot of fun. I had a little hesitation about driving back and forth between home, Kennesaw, and Doraville, but I'm glad I did. Neither festival cost anything just for attendance; the money I spent on food was basically lunch & dinner, and more fun than sitting at home eating takeaway. I still got back in time to watch Michael Phelps's 400m IM gold performance, which was admittedly in my priorities. Now that autumn's approaching, it's time to start watching for more of the festivals and fairs in the area. There's a Forest of Doors game the first weekend of the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, but I have the Saturday of the second weekend--the fiddlers' competition--on my calendar.