I slipped a five dollar bill into the machine, got my ticket and walked back over to the car to put it on the dash. As we walked out of the parking lot there was a young couple standing at the machine. They asked us if we had change for a twenty as they had discovered that the credit card portion of the machine wasn't working. We didn't, but I had an extra five, so I gave it to the young lady and told her I would buy their parking ticket for the day, consider it a gift from the universe. She was very excited about that and thanked me and insisted we high five. She told me that I was a good human being, which made both Pierre and I laugh.
From the lot we walked down to the municipal wharf and from there over to the Beach Boardwalk, about a mile all in all. We walked by a skate/bicycle park and commented on how we wished they would have had those when we were young - our obstacles and ramps tended to be improvised in our childhood, and the modern parks just look like they are a lot of fun. We walked past the soccer field and it appeared to be a father-daughter league playing.
We went into the Boardwalk through the Arcade on the west end and that turned out to be a mistake. The entrance to the festival was at the main entrance to the Boardwalk so we had to make our way through the crowds (and it was crowded) to get to the entrance so we could pay the eight dollars for the sample kit. A sample kit is a small paper bowl, a napkin, a spoon, a ballot and five tickets to sample chowder. The bowl itself is about half a cup in size, so it is ample enough and many of the booths actually provide their samples already in a small bowl.
We wound our way through the crowds in fits and starts, stopping and moving and stopping again. (I have some pictures, but they are not on this computer, so I will load them in another entry.) Once we had our kits we started back down the line, sampling the chowders as we went. Because of the impending threat of rain they had placed the majority of the booths in those places of the Boardwalk where there was an overhang or a roof, which unfortunately meant that it was more crowded than necessary.
The chowders however did not disappoint. All of the ones we sampled were good - some of them were just better than others. The chowders were pretty evenly mixed between New England and Manhattan styles. In my opinion (and the one I voted for as best in show) was a New England style, very simple, with a great little bacon taste that was enhancing and not overwhelming. Pierre agreed and so we both cast our votes for the same chowder.
Basically, we spent two hours wandering around, sampling chowder and talking with strangers. We fell in with an older couple from Capitola as we moved down the aisle and enjoyed the conversation, spending the better part of an hour standing, walking, sampling and talking with them. One of the things I always like about festivals, being an outgoing person, is the fun of talking to strangers.
Once we were through sampling we got some frozen yogurt to cut the chowder after taste and then headed in the arcade. Pierre and I are old video gamers from way back, being the leading age of the video game generation. The arcade there at the Boardwalk has some classic video games as well as a lot of new ones and we spent the better part of another hour there, remembering our childhoods, dazzled by the flashing lights and the beeping noises. It was a lot of fun.
Satisfied, we walked back to the car and drove home. The drive home was a smooth and quick run up over 17 back to San Jose. I dropped Pierre off at his house and then headed home, picking up my nephew and heading over the P&W for groceries. My nephew Tom has a new recipe for a scallop mushroom risotto that he wanted to try. It turned out excellent. It was a day filled with food related pleasures and good company.
In the evening I settled in and Tom and I watched a movie on HBO "Taking Chance" with Kevin Bacon. It is an HBO original and is the story of a US Marine Lt. Colonel who is escorting the body of a marine killed in action in Iraq home. It is a pure tear jerker, very well done, with an outstanding performance by Kevin Bacon. It deals with a heart rending and delicate subject without being either maudlin or exploitive. I would recommend finding it and watching it, but only if you want to sit there for an hour and a half and choke back tears (or cry).
Today (Sunday) has been a very quiet day with intermittent rain. I have spent most of the day just relaxing, though I went out for a couple of hours to run some incidental errands and wander Westgate with an Orange Julius. It it mid-afternoon as I write this and I have been watching...UFO Hunters on the History Channel. It is a cheesy program but, there are some days where cheesy programs are the perfect complement.
No comments:
Post a Comment