It’s Greek to Me: Festivals & Fairs

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Over the weekend I walked to San Diego’s Greek Festival.

San diego greek festival sign

These were some of the flowers I passed on my walk over.

pink flowers on bushes

Pink flowers

It was a gorgeous weekend for an outdoor festival!

Large bushes and pink flowersOk, it’s actually a smidge too chilly for me with no humidity and “only” 69F temps but I know most people think that’s perfect.   Add 20 degrees and I’ll be happier.

The festival was held a local Greek Orthodox Church.

Top of a greek orthodox church

I run or walk by this Church almost daily and finally had my camera with and could make some photos.

Front of Greek orthodox church white

It’s an annual event and ironically, this was the weekend, last year, that we moved back to San Diego after our brief, 9-month stint in Phoenix.   This weekend, last year, we moved back to San Diego; just one, singular day after my fitness show and competition <–link with photos.

Greek Festival signI look back at Phoenix, the show, packing and the move, and the timing of it all and think boy, that was a lot of work and I am glad that was then, and this is now!

In typical festival nature there was plenty of food!

Signs -- Kafenion, Pastries

Three pastries on white plate

four pastries with frosting on plate

And it was all homemade or handmade, fresh and made on the spot.

Sign for gyros

Grill with gas tank

Man cooking large meat on a stick

These iced frappes looked so good…

Signs for Frappe and baklava Sundae

Sundae drink with pink straw

Sundae drink in someone's hand

But I had just drank a vanilla iced coffee at the house..

Vanilla Iced coffee in glass…and didn’t want to be too wired up!

Vanilla Iced coffee in glass

There was also Greek music playing, a beer garden, and some artwork showcasing, you guessed it, Greece and the Greek Isles.

Painting of flowers and greek isles

There were some Greek-themed cookbooks and kitchen items for sale.

Greek Cookery cookbook

fork and spoon tabs

Wooden spoonA wooden spoon handmade in Greece from olive wood.  Gorgeous!  I’d be scared to even use it for fear of ruining it.

It was a fun event where old and young, people from all walks of life and diverse ethnic backgrounds all seemed to be having a fabulous time!

people at the greek festival

And the best part was that I walked there.  No car required.

Street with palm trees and shrubs

It made me want to rush home and make some Hummus

Hummusvegan, 4 ingredients, 5 minutes

Or roast some chickpeas for Carmelized Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Chickpea “Peanuts”

Carmelized Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Chickpea “Peanuts”

I’m glad the No Bake Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites were a hit from my last post!  Foodgawker and Tasteologie liked them too, which made me happy.

No Bake Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough BitesMost of you said you enjoy coconut and coconut-containing recipesThat’s awesome!   Let me know if you happen to try this recipe.

 

Questions:

1. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend?

Between the Greek Festival and the coconut chocolate chip cookie dough bites , and one other thing (next post!) I had a great weekend!

2. Have you ever been to a Greek food festival or a food festival featuring a particular type of food?  Or any street fairs or local fairs?

I have been to so many types of food festivals and outdoor street fairs with food from the Taste of Chicago (a massively huge event in Chicago, hundreds of thousands of people attend, spanning miles of city blocks, and it lasts many days, and you can get just about every kind of ethnic food from Vietnamese to Moroccan to giant turkey legs and there’s music, too.)

I’ve also been to “Oktoberfests” (in the US, not in Germany) and German festivals because growing up in MN with a heavy German population, they was common.

I also love Renaissance Fairs (even though they can be a little over the top sometimes) but they’re fun for an afternoon.

Last weekend in San Diego was Taste of Little Italy and although we were in Aruba this year, I’ve been to it in past years.

And I’ve been to tons more food festivals, too!

When I was growing up, the state fair and local county fairs were The Thing To Do in the summer.   I have such great memories of them!

3. Do you like outdoor festivals or fairs?

Blends my other question, but yes, I love them!

Something about walking around outside, people watching, hearing the sounds of the crowd and smelling the food that’s being made, I just love taking it all in!

Not having to struggle with parking and having a great sunny weather and not sweltering temps are added bonuses.

P.S. If you’re just catching up on posts, here are mine since Friday:

 

The song, “I’m so excited.  I just can’t hide it…” is playing in my head right now.  It has something to do with this.  Next post, an update.

Have a great week!

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Comments

  1. Love Greek food and festivals! Am partial to The Fillo Factory, which makes all kinds of phyllo dough foods ~ just had their Spinach & Feta Pie (AKA Spanakopita) from Trader Joe’s for dinner tonight and everyone always ooo’s and ahh’s their way through it – literally! Looks like it was a gorgeous day there.

  2. You took some really beautiful pictures, it makes me want to go there.
    And it makes me hungry, which is not a good thing, becuase it’s 2AM here and eating at this hour will kill my metabolism :))

  3. Lucky, you had much better festival weather than me! :-) Great pics, looks like a fun event.

    1. Went to Sunset’s Celebration Weekend and saw Ani Phyo.
    2. Yes, the most recent was the Asparagus festival.
    3. Yes, especially when the weather is perfect for them.