CS and I went to Greek Fest last night with, it seemed, the rest of New Orleans. Pete was there, and Southern Mom and her family, and many friends. We had a really good time–the weather was divine. In New Orleans, the weather can make or break an evening: last night, it made it! OPA!

The Greek Church bought some more land, and so the Fest was a bit larger this year–which means there was more breathing room. Ahhhh. The worst of the evening was that we forgot to bring chairs. Standing for a long time is no fun for me, but sitting on the ground makes my feet fall asleep so that wasn’t working for too long either. And walking just sucks for me these days. So I spent the evening rotating from an ambulatory state to a resting state. When it got to the point that my lower back and down all ached (four hours into the Fest), we left.

There was good live music, a Greek market selling spices, art, jewelry, and all manner of cool things (here’s a pic of a big ole vat of olives), canoe rides, games for the kids, and my personal favorite (can you guess?): FOOD!!! There was also dancing (most of which I saw was done by SM’s not-shy I-love-the-camera-on-me cute-as-a-button and very well behaved daughter, Amber). They even had the obligatory lamb on a spit that you could buy by the pound.

For dinner, I headed straight for the gyro. It was AWESOME!! Much better than I recall of last year’s offering. CS got a gyro, too, (after tasting how good mine was) and he also got the fried calamari with feta cheese sprinkled on top. CS also bought a bottle of wine to share with friends. I think he drank most of the bottle, though. I LOVE a Fest that encourages you walking around with a bottle of wine!!

And to top off a great dinner, SM and I went back to get pastries for everyone. There were, like, 20 different pastries from which to chose. There was, of course, baklava and kataifi, but there were also various almond offerings (some in pyhllo dough, some with powered sugar), butter twists, cakes, sugar cookies, trouffes (chocolate walnut balls), and, my favorite, amigdalotas (chewy almond crescents).

And with all this food, I managed NOT to overeat or get heartburn! And I dreamed that Sun turned downward at last. Let’s hope that dream comes true!

Tonight, we are back on track to have dinner with friends that I had to cancel last weekend due to heartburn. Damn, I love a weekend filled with food and friends!!