We stompa da grapes!

On Labor Day, Kurt and I stomped grapes at the Clinton Little Italy festival, and it was AWESOME!!! If grape stomping isn't on your life list, definitely add it! I was worried it would be gross and messy, but it wasn't at all. They had a tub of water to rinse your feet, but mine only had a couple grape peels on them. Kurt was initially sketchy about the whole thing but couldn't stop grinning the entire time he was stomping. From now on, when it gets above 90, I'll be craving a vat of ice cold grapes to wade into. Heavenly! Who knew?!?

In addition to the grape madness, we also tried 'rosettes' at the Tri-Kappa booth. Neither of us had ever heard of a rosette, but the lines were consistently long and at only 3/$1 (or 12/$4, 24/$8, 36/$12 as the sign so helpfully told us - math IS hard!) we couldn't pass them up. It turns out that a rosette is a thin, crispy piece of fried dough in the shape of a flower that is dusted with powdered sugar and served hot from the oil. Think of the love child of a potato chip and a funnel cake, and you've got the idea. They're super yummy, but also super messy. We both ended up with faces (and shirts and shorts) covered in powdered sugar. Of course, someone (KURT!) might have been flicking it on innocent victims (ME!) which didn't help matters. It came off easily, so no harm done. Other than looking like morons, but we're used to that.

Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and pastries. The day had a dark side as well. During the grape stomping, there was a very determined man buzzing about with a microphone interrogating .. er .. interviewing the stompers. I had two goals: 1) stomp grapes and 2) DO NOT TALK TO MICROPHONE MAN. He seemed to be focusing on the leftmost line, so Kurt and I ducked out and got into the right line. Everything was fine; he was talking to kids, humiliating .. wait, "getting to know" college students. Seriously, I thought I was home free. Of course, when I get in to stomp, he's drawn as if by an evil force to my grape tub, and the next thing I know, I'm on the !$#%!@* microphone and there's much banter about my lackluster (I would claim delicate) stomping technique. ARGH! It's as if by thinking 'no microphone, no microphone, no microphone', I somehow created a cosmic beacon to draw the thing to me. Sigh ...

I'll post pics when Kurt gets around to mailing them to me ...