Summer Fun: Huzzah!

Mama and I celebrated our 17th anniversary this weekend--and in high style, by going to the NY Renaissance Festival.  This was particularly meaningful because Mama and I had one of our earliest outings to the faire the summer we met 20 years ago (I've written about my love affair with fairs here.)  With Goo in tow!  And he was the age then that the kiddos are now.  If you'd told me then that 20 years later, Mama and I would re-visit the fair with our twins, with a life in the CT suburbs and be LEGALLY married, I never would have believed it.   It was a wonderful weekend (save one thing I'll get to.)

Costumes:  We always like to dress up for the Ren fest.  And this year the kids also got into the act.  Sis wore a cloak, sword, and carried a bow (Bud's, from Texas), with a special LOTR leaf pendant we purchased for her and plastic attachable elf ears, for she is Legolas, the elf archer.  Bud is Frodo, with his colonial vest, a cloak, the One Ring on a silver chain, and his little silver dagger that he was handed during the parade at the Ren Fest in Texas.  He's used it in a lot of play these last 5 years.  Mama and I were just general shire folk, me in a vest and skirt, Mama in a vest and jeans.  We added to our costumes while we were there, half the fun of the festival.  I got a flower garland, along with a belt and pouch.  Mama got leather shoulder armor called a paldron.  Bud got a belt and sword, plus real halfling ears.  Sis added archer gauntlets.  We were quite the well-dressed crew.   It certainly makes the festival more fun.  And we got things we can wear again for other faires, for Halloween, even for Comic Con.  (Speaking of the latter, we saw several Doctors--three Tenth and one Fourth, all in costume!  The first Ten was the best, English accent and all, and posed gamely for a picture with the kids.)

Food:  Snacking always plays a huge part in the faire experience and we like to eat.  We had the requisite huge turkey leg and funnel cakes, of course.  We also really liked the fried macaroni and cheese in little triangles on a stick.  Mama and I enjoyed the florentine quesadilla, with spinach, feta, mozzarella, and pesto; we also liked the little doughnuts glazed in orange juice and apple cider.  Bud liked the cherry limeade, while I had a yummy orange float, like an Orange Julius only less chemically--just orange juice, ice, and vanilla ice cream.

Shows and Activities:  Between snacks, we wandered the faire and enjoyed all the entertainment.  My favorite, by far, was the archery.  I'm not great at it, even as a Level 1 instructor, but I enjoy it; Mama and the kids do, too.  We all even managed to hit near the center of the targets.  We watched two chess games--somewhat like wizard chess, with human "pieces" fighting for the spots--something I keenly remember from 20 years ago.  Sis really liked the sparring.  She also liked the horses in the joust.  We all laughed heartily at the Vixens En Garde-version of Hamlet, with a little Star Wars thrown in for fun.  And of course, we saw the Birds of Prey show, with the Master Falconer showing off his Andean Condor, Black Vulture, Peregrine Falcon, and Harris Hawk.  The show was extra-special after our own English falconry experience where we flew our own vultures and Gyr-falcon.  On our own, we had a few sword fights with all of our weapons.  We didn't stop for too many musicians (there actually weren't too many), though we danced to the drums of Wolgemut at the end of the first day.

Which brings me to the sad bit:  Bud's special silver-colored dagger went missing at some point in the last hour of our two-day visit.  We don't know where--and he and Mama searched high and low--and we don't hold out hope that it will be found.  I was very sad, not only because he was very sad, but also because it was such a big part of his childhood these last five years.  Sure, that probably means we shouldn't have taken it--I'm not sure I realized how attached I was to it until after the fact, though I knew he was--or at least tied it to him; lots of guilt to go with the sadness because I didn't notice that he'd set it down.  Hindsight is 20-20.  And up to that point, two whole days, he'd kept track of it.  But then it was gone . . . as Ar-Ma recently said about Gong's shoes and expensive new orthotics stolen from a local temple while they were praying, somebody else needed them more than he did and it was time for them to move on (sorta like a less-evil version of the One Ring, I suppose.)  That wasn't much comfort, though.  But as FB often reminds us about Mr. Rogers's "look for the helpers," we were amazed at the kindness of strangers.  The first let Mama and Bud back into the faire to search for the dagger, which we only found missing after we got to the car, even though they hadn't gotten their hands stamped.  Several shop owners tried to help them, until the last, seeing how upset Bud was, walked them over to her boyfriend's stall where they gave him, without accepting payment, a special as yet unpainted Elvish blade.  On the walk back to the car, he apparently planned how he would decorate it with runes and Celtic knots.

Shopping:  Before the dagger incident, we'd picked up a few other things.  The kids had a budget, but I'm the one who did most of the shopping.  I always favor candles and lotions--and I actually got a candle that melts into lotion!!  The other candle is one of those multi-dip/multi-colored ones that are then carved to reveal the layers--a staple of 70s living rooms, if I recall correctly; Sis chose a pink and purple one with little rainbow layers.  We also really enjoyed experimenting at Nixi Stix, with professional grade juggling balls, pins, dancing wands, dancing sticks, and these Toroflex things that the kids like--think of it as a perpetual-motion Slinky.  There wasn't as much great shopping as i'd expected so it took awhile to find something to send to Aunt Sis, who loved the Ren Fest and went every year; my Christmas present always came from the craftspeople.  

So, all in all, we had a wonderful time, though the loss of the dagger overshadowed the end a bit.  On the way home, we talked about going to faires in Pennsylvania and Maryland sometime; we laughed that later, Sis and Bud could even work them--on horseback, on violin, juggling, swordplay.  It was the perfect anniversary weekend.

Our Autumn Adventure

Sis said she wanted to do something with a fall theme today--apple-picking, pumpkins, corn maze, hay ride, something.  And so we decided to head to Middletown to pick apples at our favorite orchard Lyman Orchards, recently featured in Family Fun magazine.  Instead of eating lunch there, however, we opted to go for Tibetan food at the Tibetan Kitchen, a first for us (which is amazing, because Mama's had almost every type of food!  Here is a great blog on Tibetan culture).

And it was amazing!  First, the restaurant was charming, with about 10 tables, an altar to the Dalai Lama, a Tibetan screen painting of Buddha's encounter with Mara and his enlightement, as well as posters for various movies about Tibet, including Seven Years in Tibet, The Cup,  and Cry of the Snow Lion.  The kids were very adventuresome and enthusiastic about trying new dishes.  We had mango dhara, like a lassi, and the best chai I've ever had, so cardamom-filled and creamy with milk.  I started with Thang, a soup with tofu, spinach and sweet potato noodles that the kids enjoyed, too.  Mama liked the Thukpa Dhrang-mo, a spicy cold noodle with sesame dressing.  For our main courses, I had the Shogo-ngopa, a Tibetan curry of potatoes and spinach--so wonderful and flavorful!  It was served with delicious flaky fried flat bread.   Mama enjoyed the Tibetan equivalent of hash browns, Shogo sip-si, of shredded potatoes sauteed with dried chili, garlic, and red onion.  It was served with a dense steamed bread we all liked.  Sis liked her Thukpa, rice noodle soup with vegetables and chicken (and maybe mint, as it reminded me of Vietnamese soups), while Bud liked his Sha-momo, steamed dumplings with chicken (read about momos here).  This was served with Dhang-tsel salad, rather like our "Sumi" sesame Ramen coleslaw.  And we even managed dessert, Tibetan Kheer rice pudding with cardamom, pistachios, and almonds and Drey-sil, which was sweetened rice with a side of yogurt all flavored with a sugar syrup.  Bud wasn't so interested, but Sis liked the latter.  And throughout it all, we talked about Tibet:  who the Dalai Lama was, the relationship of Tibet to China (starting with the Silk Road), Buddha's birth and childhood and then Nirvana.  It was an absolutely delightful experience for all of us; we can't wait to go back and try more new dishes.

Then we headed for the apples . . . .we loved the colorful foliage and tromping through the trees of Mutsu and Empire.  We picked three bags full, with plans for pie, pork and apples, and school snacks.  We have been going to Lyman since the kids were 1 1/2 (if not before, just the two of us) and this must have been the warmest apple-picking outing ever.

After picking apples, we went to the market store, which was so packed we almost couldn't get inside.  But we wanted cider doughnuts, cider, apple turnovers, and pot pies and so braved the crowds.  I found an absolutely delightful Apple Cider herbal tea from Republic of Tea.

And duck food.  Because you always have to feed the geese and ducks.  And pigeons.  And seagulls.  Just like when the kids were too little to see over the bottom fence post!  We called to do them and finally called Pop and Gommie to help us out!

And then we headed home, with the late-day sun illuminating the golden leaves.  A beautiful day.

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Miss V's Homemade Chai

The family recipe of my neighbor from New Delhi.  We had been talking about my addiction to chai and so she made some.  I won’t have the right teas so I write it up as I can replicate it.

darjeeling tea

green cardamom pods

sugar

milk

            Place tea and crushed green cardamom pods in water and boil gently on the stove.  When well heated, add sugar and milk to taste.  Serve.

Miss V

DreamWorksop

On Saturday, we took a little outing to a wonderful place:  the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop, in Hamden.  A small, local museum in an old munitions factory where inventor and guns manufacturer Whitney worked on interchangeable parts and muskets.  Now the museum--which isn't really, in the sense that there isn't much of a collection or historical interpretation on view--functions primarily as a hands-on imagination workshop for kids and grown-up kids.  Every week there is a different craft, more of a woodworking/design/invention activity than the more traditional art museum paint/scissors/glue activity (admission is generally free but there is a fee for the craft kit, about $9).  And the kids loved it.  They made wooden trains, starting with gluing blocks together, then attaching axles and wheels, which they tacked together, ending with decorating.  All while wearing safety goggles.  With great concentration, they focused on all the details and carefully completed their work, surrounded by walls full of other projects, from catapults to castles, puppets to pull toys.  It really had that wonderful dusty, cluttered, full of inspiration workshop feel, magical even.  The staff, of predominantly very young (high school?) volunteers, were extremely kind, encouraging, and helpful.  When the kids were done with their project, they experimented with the wall of marble runs, including Pascal's Triangle and Archimedes's Screw.  Special for the holidays was Mr.Gilbert's Train, a large model train layout complete with New Haven green and a circus, plus, best of all, trains that the kids could take turns driving.  Then we all went across the covered wooden bridge to see the mill's "waterfall" and to walk in the park some.  It's a great place and we'll definitely be going back.