NYC girls' weekend

Last Friday we flew to DC Friday where Jacob and Gavin spent the weekend with Jacob's parents. I had the amazing chance to escape to New York City with my sisters-in-law Micaela and Ashley, and it was so much fun!

We saw Newsies on Broadway, and the performance was fantastic!

Times Square, but also a Statue of Liberty street performer and bagels
on the big screen. What could be more New York?

Grand Central Station

 We had brunch at Cafe Lalo, which was featured in the movie You've Got Mail.

Top: Micaela and I have due dates 3 days apart
Bottom: spinach and gouda sandwich on a whole wheat bagel--yum!

I have a mild obsession with the Brooklyn Bridge. When we visited NYC in 2011 I was disappointed about all the scaffolding. This time it was wonderful to walk across the bridge, and most of the scaffolding wasn't too visible.

Though I would prefer to eat them in Paris, these French macarons we ate in NY were delicious.

time lapse: approximately 45 seconds

NY cheesecake - pumpkin with gingerbread crust

I could go back to NYC lots of times. :) 

Applefest

Just a few minutes away is an adorable town called Lebanon, and today was their apple festival. We had things going on this morning, so we didn't make it until this afternoon when a lot of the food was sold out. But we still had a great time and ate some yummy things.

apples galore, as you'd expect

It just wouldn't be an event in Ohio without several stands of cornhole-related products. :)

busy festival, downtown closed to traffic

delicious apple dumpling

 The line for the pretzels snaked around the corner, but it was well worth the wait.Gavin agreed.

fresh-baked, piping hot, dunked in butter, then salted
PERFECTION

cute Lebanon

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

Over the weekend we participated in America's largest Oktoberfest celebration in downtown Cincinnati. Since we're not beer drinkers we went at lunchtime to enjoy the great food before it turned too much into a party of drunks. (Don't get me wrong: the lines for beer still snaked through the crowds.)

This guy leading the kids in the chicken dance was pretty authentic.

These two!!

We missed the part where George Takei, the event's grand marshal, led the crowd in what is apparently the largest chicken dance in the world. You can see video of that event here.
We were there for the food, so I'll just get right to it.

amazing sausage, pretty good sauerkraut and mustard, and the potato pancake
with a cameo in the corner

apple strudel... Mmmmmmmm

These below almonds are, as you can tell by the way I'm embracing them, a huge love of mine. If it had been much colder, I would have been able to close my eyes and smell them sugar-roasting and feel like I was back in Germany at the Christmas markets.

after the cherry strudel 

The people-watching was almost as good as the food. Here are a few shots of people who went all-out for the event.

I asked this guy if I could take his picture. He seemed more than willing to
show off his sartorial skills. :)

Strawberry Festival

Today we went to the Troy Strawberry Festival. The weather wasn't ideal, or we'd have stayed around for the strawberry pie-eating contest. Jacob promises we'll do it next year. 

He was handed a package of pop rocks at the parade, which he was eager to try. Here's a photo sequence of him trying them. (They weren't his favorite...)

just a few of the strawberry-themed items at the festival

milkshakes and smoothies (I think this was called a smoothie but was more of a milkshake)

chugging the rest of the strawberry salsa

the strawberry burrito

these are candles!

The festival's big draw, which they've been talking about on the news and everything, is the strawberry donuts. Every person we saw at the festival was carrying BAGS of them, several dozen per person. They were very, very good. Here's Gavin's method of devouring one.

(is this format getting old?)

(I had already finished mine. Mmmmmmm).

 And throughout the cute town of Troy there were lots of statues made to look pretty life-like. Gavin was fascinated.

Taste of Cincinnati

Taste of Cincinnati is the longest-running culinary arts festival in the USA, and it attracts at least a half-million people each year. We had a really fun time there Saturday.

Jacob insisted on kissing the Haribo bear who gave us free samples.

 Among many other things, here's what we ate...

Buffalo drumsticks--brilliant, right?
Everything good about buffalo wings, with more to enjoy!

But very messy--Emily is smart to let Joel get his hands dirty.

The cherry pastry was good. We did NOT attempt to consume the GIANT cream puff.

Best free sample of the day: Chobani tubes. I'm in LOVE with Chobani!

Hungarian cucumber salad

veggie tortilla chips--also a free sample,
but very liberally given

Best of the day: a real gyro. Mmmmmmmmm

An event like this draws crazy-huge crowds...

...and some crazies.