Friday Fest!

Those of you that are not from Panama City miss out on a little thing we call Friday Fest every first Friday of the month from March through November. This is the mecca mother of all Panama City-an gatherings, it's literally better than the county fair in terms of the sights you will see. Everyone from wanna-be stars doing half-drunk karaoke at every stoplight downtown, to crazed women chasing men down and cussing them out, to the weirdest 'Gothic' people and costumes/hair/makeup you have ever seen. Grandmas in their 60's/70's chugging cups of Bud Light with tube tops barely hanging on, 300lbs women painted into size 12 jeans (hey, I'm not small but I know how to dress my larger frame!), cool guys trying to be 'Jersey', giant dogs, high school girls trying to be cute, trashy women trying to be cute, sweet babies dancing in front of booming speakers (mine was one of 'em, lol), and everyone you would normally see at Walmart at midnight. Never a dull moment. If people watching isn't your thing, well there are plenty of food vendors, charities begging for money, timeshare scammers, carnival games, bands, kid's organizations, and our favorite, classic/muscle cars (and some beaters, not sure how they get in), begging for your attention as well.

Because I have been feeling extraordinarily swollen and miserably pregnant lately, I told my husband Geff I would only go with him if he agreed that we could go to my favorite food joint downtown- Trigo. It's a San Francisco style deli that I couldn't get enough of when I worked for an attorney's office downtown last year. The prices are higher ($8-12) considering we're in Panama City and most places you can eat lunch for $5-7. But it's ALWAYS fresh, ALWAYS delicious, and they make everything to order (except their salads they make in batches daily).

I most definitely got my favorite sandwich, the Veggie Lover. Piled high on yummy crusty sourdough bread, it has lettuce, tomato, onion, banana pepper, avocado, cucumber, mustard, and yes a slice of what I believe to be mozzarella or Swiss cheese with mayo. Hey I did good on the veggies, gimmie a little slack. For the side I had the spinach salad, amazing as always. I've tried to recreate it at home and I think I spied something in it tonight that I didn't put in it before that may make the difference. It's essentially fresh baby spinach, EVOO, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, Feta cheese, and I believe I saw paprika tonight. You wouldn't think a salad so simple would be so delicious.

**Word to the wise, if you try to make it, make SURE you use EVOO. I bought regular olive oil one time thinking they were the same, they are NOT. Olive oil has a thick oily flavor to it, where EVOO has a light crisp flavor. Just FYI. I didn't know and I found out the hard way. Now if I could figure out what to do with the half-gallon Sam's sized container of olive oil, I'd be ok.**

So as far as cooking goes today, I didn't do any. Had sliced cucumbers for an afternoon snack, leftover spaghetti and meatless balls (insert Beavis and Butthead laugh here) for lunch, and Ezekial cinnamon raisin bread with almond butter for breakfast. Easy day. And this mama sure needed a day that wasn't full of cooking! Tomorrow may prove to be a challenge, Geff and I were invited to a pool party and cookout at my cousin's house, which usually entails piles of ribs, pulled pork, chicken salads, croissants, potato salad, and the like. No greens. No veggies. Just meat and mayo and cheese. Hmm.

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening. :)