Well I know that we had an eventfull week which included a visit to a to a Japanese steak house on Thrusday, but the events of Saturday pretty much overshadow everything else.
Saturday was the annual Asian Festival at the Institute of Texan Cultures. It is a kind of mini folklife festival that focuses of Asian cultures. There was lots of traditional dancing and music as well as food and merchandise vendors. The institute also houses many exhibits of the cultures and ethnnic groups that make up the population of Texas (very diverse).
I dropped Trish off at the festival and started looking for cheap parking like I usually do. I ended up parking at a lot I've used once before on the north west part of town a few blocks from the Alamo. It was about a mile from where the festival was. I locked the car, paid for the parking and hoofed it to where Trish was waiting. Along the way I crossed the Riverwalk twice, went past some very interesting buildings and finally got to the festival venue.
The first thing we did at the festival was to eat some Chinese noodles and chicken and shrimp. It was served outdoors and was just barely warm but it was still ok. We walked over to another booth that was selling Thai bubble drinks. I ordered a mango flavored one and we shared it.Neither one of us had ever had a bubble drink before and we were supprised to find out that the "bubbles" are large tapioca which you have to chew before swallowing (there is even a disclamer on the lid about not swallowing the tapioca whole).
After the festival we wandered back to the car in the late afternoon, through the Hemisfare Park (site of a previous worlds fair, I think). We both thought it was pretty rundown and could use some re-development to restore the old buildings some of which were homes dating back to the 1830's. We had toured some old homes in Charleston SC which were 100 years older which had been beautifully restored, some privately and some by historical societies. San Antonio is spending a lot of money to maintain and expand the riverwalk. They ought to spend some money on restoring these older buildings.
As we passed through downtown and over the riverwalk we encountered a piper who was busking. He was quite good actually.
We stopped at the downtown McDonnalds. It is in an old building and has an upper level dinning area much like the one in downtown Seattle.
We finally got to our car just as it was getting really dark. As I walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Trish, she said to be carefull of the glass on the ground. I was thinking that I didn't remember there being broken glass when I parked here. Then I looked up to the passanger window and realized that it was MY glass. My GPS was stollen as well as a new pocket knife and about $4 in quarters and dimes in a coin holder. I thinik that the thief also got my sunglasses which had belonged to my father. Rx drugs and papers in the glove box including a $20 bill were untouched. The thief didn't look in the center arm rest or he would found my spare keys and been able to take the truck. Now I have to deal with insurance. Well that's life. I am really going to rethink how and where I leave things in my vehicles.
We went to a Chinese Restaurant on Saturday that was in a strip mall next to an Asian super market. After lunch we went to the market just to look. Of course we left with lots of goodies like sesame crackers and almond cookies. I also bought a jar of pickled mango slices. Pickled green (unripe) mango has a bite to it that can't quite be described in words. Eating one by itself is an experience. I decided that I would chop one up and add it to some fire roasted red salsa. Now that was good.
