Alafia River Rendezvous

I’m kind of like Casper the Friendly Ghost. (Except for the friendly part.) Basically, I’m pale. Like if new fallen snow and bleached wool had a child, that would be me. (I guess that makes me cold and itchy????) Any way, today I went to an event at the Alafia River Rendezvous. It’s a super-old-fashion reenactment meets flea market kind of place: lots of clothing and items from early America. We spent about 5 hours walking around outside. In the Florida sun. Translation: I’m no longer Casper. I’m more like the Cool-Aid-Man.
Except for the sun, I was excited. I enjoy flea markets and old stuff. I especially like the foods that are available. Ok, I’ll be honest, I’m mostly excited about the foods.
We spent the morning walking from vendor to vendor as people dressed like George Washington and Betsy Ross were trying to sell us felt hats and $300 coats. Seriously. They were beautiful though.
Finally we got close enough to lunch that we could begin our foody conquest. (And by “we”, I do mean my parents and I.) I purchased a giant bottle of root beer to drink with lunch. It was pretty good. It lacked that initial punch that root beer usually has. The after taste had a pleasant vanilla note. It was nice and soft.
One of the shops we had passed was selling an “elk chili”. (Don’t get me started on chili….) We got a bowl of the elk chili and gave it a try. It was full of beans and elk meat. I was hoping the elk would taste a little more “gamey” or “wild”, but it wasn’t. It did taste a little different, but it wasn’t worth writing home about. (Apparently it was enough to blog about though……..)
Our next food endeavor was for a “roast beef sundae”. Hmmmm. (I neglected to take a picture of it. I’m sure you are beside yourself with grief.) It was two scoops of mashed potatoes, roast beef, gravy, cheese, and a cherry tomato. The potatoes were from a box, sadly, the roast beef and gravy were lacking in flavor altogether, and there wasn’t enough cheese to make up for the short comings of everything else. For shame.
Lastly we went for dessert. You can’t go wrong with a deep fried pie, right?. We tried three flavors: cherry, apple, and blue berry. The dough/crust was really yummy. It was a yeast based crust that was rolled in cinnamon sugar. Happy thoughts. The fruit filling was……straight out of a can. No added spices. No extra sugar. Just fruit from a can. Strike three.
But the crust was good. (ok, strike two and a half)
On the upside, I found a really cool silver tea service that I’m going to use for a play I’m producing at school.
On the down side, I’m burned. I’m red like a lobster. There is literal heat radiating from my body. And not in the good way.
Good news prevails yet again however. I’m making a cake tonight. Happy day!
But wait. I’m burning up from a sun burn. The oven will be a tool of torture. The day just gets better and better.
Long live sunburns and Americana. Something about that chili………….