FFFA: Eat Real Festival

A brief interlude of joy at the Eat Real Festival.

As it turns out, I don't really like festivals. All the people and the noise... the jostling about in crowds to make any forward progress... not actually having any idea where you are trying to get to... having to wait in line for every dang thing... all the people... and the people...

So, earlier this week, I lost my ever-loving mind and determined that this weekend's forced family funtime adventure would be the Eat Real Festival in Jack London Square. My initial motivation was the fact that our friend Nicole of FARMcurious had a booth and was going to do a demo on cheesemaking. And I momentarily forgot that a festival would also have a lot of other people at it. Okay, not really. I knew there woud be some other people. But I do forget just how crowded the world is. And how much I hate that.

We hadn't been on an FFFA in a while, due to extreme conditions in our work environments and also illness. I knew I was being ambitious, but I thought it would be fun. And it was, for brief flashes.

We peeked in at Nicole's cheese show, but it was popular (meaning crowded) and Baby Grady wasn't terribly interested. I could tell it was going to be good, though. And Nicole has put it in my head that I should make six kinds of chevre for the holidays. In fact, Nicole would say it's so easy, why wait for the holidays? Make six types of chevre for Tuesday night! But I am not the domestic goddess that Nicole is. So, the holidays. Homemade chevre.

At this point, Grady indicated that he was not enjoying the festival, but I managed to bring him around with some nursing in the Ergo inside a cool, quieter building. Honestly, if you think you are having a bad time, see if you can convince someone to put a boob in your mouth. It is apparently extremely fortifying.

Then I ate a taco that was downright delicious. I should have taken a picture of it. It contained braised pork shoulder. I also discovered the delicious gluten-free sourdough bread baked by Bread SRSLY. They deliver by bicycle throughout San Francisco. And no, I am not even kidding with that nonsense. That's how it is around here... gluten-free bread delivered by bicycle. Probably fixie. Because it's more sustainable?

Grady enjoyed some pineapple-mint agua fresca, though what I mean, specifically, is that he enjoyed dipping his paw in it.

But then as Grady started to fall apart for the second time, this time because it was time for a nap, and I looked around to find lines and crowds everywhere, I felt rather annoyed at being there. I was hungry, yes, at a food festival, but I didn't have the patience for fighting through the crowds to get more food. How dare all these other people also want frozen custard?!?! So we left. I left a food festival hungry. And came home and ate peanut butter straight from the jar. It was an epic new level of failure, even for an FFFA.