Another food festival

Saturday was so humid here (slightly rainy) that people were out in t-shirts. It was significantly warmer outside than in our house. After running some errands we stoppped by a weekend long wine, cheese and sweets festival. It was down in Praia da Vitoria at the marina. What a great view!

This was a showcase of local products. Mostly from this island, but a few from nearby islands.

One of my fave pastelaria's was here. Look at their beautiful cakes...
This was one of the bread vendors from a local bakery. The bread here is fantastic, it can't be beat.

More sweets...

Donuts...
This is a common way they serve potatoes over here.
These beans are very popular, especially as bar food. It is almost like a sunflower seed in concept since you eat the middle out of the harder outside shell. But it is a bean.
Some local wine from Biscoitos. The vendor did not soeak English and kept giving me samples. Well we thought they were samples, but when we made a purchase he charged Ryan for them. No biggie though, stuff is cheap here. The 5 euro bottle is like $7.50 and the 3 euro bottle is like $4.50. So I guess the samples were cheap too.
We bought one of each...
Some local honey. The guy who produces this was here showing off his product and giving out samples.
Great looking yogurts. These are from local cows, milked and made into yogurt, fresh on this island. The prducer was at the festival and spoke excellent English. He told me all about his product and that these were made fresh on Friday. We bought them Saturday.

After touring all the vendors and grabbing some samples, we sat down to eat a little taste of some sweets. I had this dough puff filled with a custard. I have had this once before and it is really good, but the custard is very sweet.

We finished up with this homemade wine. Literally homemade as this woman had it in pitchers. It had a funky smell and tasted ok, but we could not finish it. It was fun to try anyway.
One thing I love about this island is the abundance of festivals and little showcases down at the marina. These almost always have food or other local crafts or activities. They are so much fun and free to enter. Often times there are samples, sometimes they set up full restaurants and bars inside. It is so much fun to experience.
QUESTIONS: Any local food festivals in your town? Have you ever tried homemade wine?
Oh yeah, what about my new look? I just couldn't bear to spend one more day looking at the other template. I really wanted something more personal and this reminds me of the landscape of the island here in the Azores. I am still working on fixing everything up, but so far so good...I think!

12 comments:

Gina; The Candid RD said...

I think this new look is great!! Definitely beats the other one. My first look for my blog was awful, I wish I could hsow it, it was nauseating. I like making little changes every once in a while, just to keep things upbeat.

This little food festival looks fantastic. We have many food festivals around here, but mainly in the summer. The yogurt sounds interesting, called Amora? Isn't that "my love"?? IT must have been delicious! I love how they serve potatoes too. Americans should do the same, nice and small rather than humungo!
We have homemade wine often because Nick's extended family actually makes it at their house. It's absolutely wonderful, and it gets you drunk pretty fast so you have to drink at your own risk!

How did you get the labels (comments, about, edit) on the top of your blog?

Beth said...

We love food festivals, and we go to quite a few around town and elsewhere. I think they are always a lot of fun!

Anonymous said...

I really like your new layout.. very easy to navigate.. and I enjoy the header pic!!

That festival looks fun and that bread.. yumm!! Enjoy your Monday! :)

Anonymous said...

I love festivals like these!

Love the new look of your site! Nice and clean and bright!

chow and chatter said...

oh what a great festival and love the new look

Melissa said...

The layout looks great! I'd love to try homemade wine, or try making my own. Seems like it would be a fun project! I've heard that brewing your own beer if smelly, but wine isn't as bad.

Anonymous said...

I really like your new look!

All the little festivals sound like so much fun. There are food-related festivals around here (but not so much this time of year) and a lot have to do with wine. I have never tried to make wine, but it sounds like a fun project!

Melissa said...

That festival looks like so much fun! There are a lot of festivals in my area. We're a big melting pot in Boston and south of Boston has a very large Italian and Portuguese community so there are festivals about once a month at local churches. My Nana used to coordinate her church's Italian festival every summer. It was a blast!

Simply Life said...

oh my gosh, this looks amazing! wish I was there!!!

Anonymous said...

I love the new look!

I haven't been to any food festivals in a long time. But growing up, there was a Strawberry Festival every spring. Strawberry shortcake everywhere! So good!

Emily said...

Love your blog's new look! So cute!

The food festival looks like so much fun. Definitely a foodie's dream. I can't believe how creative the bakers are with their bread creations. Pretty amazing!

Julie said...

WHY are there no food festivals near me!! so not fair. that looks awesome though :)

and your new bloggy layout is gawwwjuss!

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