Bilbao Aste Nagusia

When I first arrive in Bilbao I notice preparation for some sort of festival. I have a hard time finding information on it and my hotel isn’t too helpful.

After some research I find this link Euskoguide and Wikipedia.

There is a big party planned and it is happening a couple days after I leave. I contemplated changing my travel plans to stay for the festival. However I already pre-paid for many things and am looking forward to my upcoming plans. I do plan on coming back to Bilbao for another night before flying out for Spain but I believe my hotel reservations are at an airport hotel far from the action.

I am pleasantly surprised to find my final Bilbao hotel is about a mile from the festivities and I am able to participate after all.

Walking around town I notice booths are being set up in pieces, mostly from scratch. People hang by harnesses to attach the metal structures that would later form the booths.

A combination of plastic coverings and wood panels are assembled. On the wood panels the artwork is hand painted.

Many of the booths seem to be political in nature but it is hard to tell because most of it is Basque, a local language for the region.

It doesn’t matter if it is somewhat political; it looks like everyone wants to have fun and the group is very inclusive with all ages, races, genders as participants. Seems like my kind of crowd, even if I can’t understand much.

The festival mascot

If you order a drink they give you a string to help you hold onto your drink cup.

I spent a good amount of time watching this band do their sound check. I got bored and walked on. When I got back there was a huge screen blocking the stage. Not sure if they ever performed.

This punk band was great. I could only get a side view because they were so popular.

I walked around for a little more and decided to start walking back to my hotel to plan for my flight the next day. As I walk back I catch a fireworks display.

What an wonderful impromptu day in Bilbao!

Crowds thrashed to these guys as well

Highland games

Once a year a time comes in Central Florida where there is a celebration of all that is Scottish. It is called the Central Florida Scottish Highland Games. Every year it comes and every year I miss it because it is always scheduled on a weekend I have to work. Luck would have it that I was able to arrange my schedule to have this day off work so I could attend this year.
I am glad I finally got to attend.

The first task was to find my clan. I recently became aware of my Scottish heritage so I spent some time trying to locate the clan I hail from. There are a series of tents set up that talk about each of the different clans. Locating my tent proved harder than I thought because a name could possibly be part of a couple different clans. What matters is the area that your relative lived in. I wasn’t 100% sure so it was back to the drawing board to figure that out later.

Along with the clan tents, there were tents set up to purchases things to represent your Scottish pride.

I really wanted to buy a tartan that represents my heritage but not being 100% sure of the clan I held out this time.

Next it was on to the snacks. I started off with a haggis taco from tijuana flats. It was decent. The toppings masked the haggis flavor quite a bit. It was no haggies, neeps and tatties but it would suffice.

I love Sticky Toffee Pudding. But I didn’t get any; too much food to try and I didn’t leave room.

Later on I had a craving for a meat pie. I shared a meat pie and sausage roll with my husband. MMMMM meat in bread, yummmm!

One of the highlights of the festival is the beer vendor Dunedin Brewery. This Florida brewery provides all the tasty beer beverages for the festival.
The only bad thing about the process is the 2 separate line process that these festivals like to do. You wait in one long line for a ticket to buy and beer and then another long line to get served the beer.

They do have these handy pitchers that can be reused year after year. It saves line time.

After gathering food and beverage they have a limited number of tables under tents, or you can sit on the lawn and watch the entertainment.

We ate quickly and went out to watch the entertainment.
I got to listen to some talented bagpipers.

There is an area with highland animals. These two hairy coo’s must have been hot here in Florida.

Finally it is time for the manly man games. We spent some time watching feats of strength.

And my husband tried his hand at archery.

And more manly games.

We finished the night watching a Scottish modern rock band play. I can say it was a very entertaining day and worth the wait.

Here is a short video of some of the nighttime entertainment,

Downtown Orlando Food and Wine Fest

My husband and I were fortunate enough to score free tickets to the Downtown Food and Wine Fest at Lake Eola in Orlando. The festival consists of over 30 food vendors that festival visitors can sample.
We rode our bikes there since it is only a 4 mile ride from our house. We were famished so after buying our first ticket pack we headed to the Primo food booth. At the booth was Melissa Kelly herself (the chef). I don’t get star struck much but being next to a national known chef did make me slightly happy.

I am assuming that is some form of lard.

Build your own Meatball sandwich

Next up was the Porch in Winter Park. I have been wanting to check out the porch but never seem to find the time. Their food while not photogenic was very tasty.

Lemon Pepper Chicken

Flower Sprouts were awesome!

I took some time to stop and enjoy the steel drum.

I had a craving for both the pork belly and Lobster Mac that was available at Old Hickory Steakhouse. They weren’t mind blowing but they did hit the spot (although I could have used more pork belly!).