Last night was almost the full moon (tonight is the actual full moon). The temperature was somewhere in the low seventies, I think–long sleeve weather, but not jacket weather…the kind of weather that makes folks want to move to Florida.

A friend and I walked down to the Gulfport, Florida, Art Walk which is held on the first Friday and third Saturday of every month (see gulfportflorida.us/gulfport-art-walk). It was suppertime, so we stopped at almost the first place we saw: Yummy’s Chicago style food (2914 Beach Blvd, Gulfport, FL 33707; 727-321-9869; Google place page). We’d never eaten there before. You can bet we’ll be back. It’s just the place for a light supper.

There’s a few tables inside, but there’s also outdoor seating, which for me is a big plus, especially since we were fortunate enough to sit at the table nearest the wonderful firepit pictured at the top of this post.

My friend wanted some wine. Yummy’s doesn’t serve wine, but, for that, they directed me to a little place in the same courtyard, Java Nirvana Cafe (2908 Beach Boulevard South, Gulfport, FL 33707-5548;
727-323-5904; Google place page).

I’ve had early morning coffee with another friend at the Java Nirvana Cafe–a great place to go to sit outside over a steaming mug and wake up. The horse sculpture which is pictured in the photo at the bottom of this post is just outside the Java Nirvana Cafe.

But, last night, I simply got my friend’s wine, and carried it back over to our outside table beside the firepit at Yummy’s where we ordered and ate our food: a kraut dog for my friend, a meatball sandwich for me–true Chicago style grub, and very good.

This courtyard also hosts live musicians who were setting up on the small stage just as we were leaving.

If you get a chance and you feel like eating outside at retired-teacher prices (that mean inexpensive!) on one of our balmy evenings, checkout this courtyard at the corner of Beach Blvd & 29th Ave. S. in Gulfport. Any evening will do, but it’s fun to do it during an Art Walk evening.

Can there be any doubt that the mix of family, friends, and food is one of life’s greatest pleasures? One look at the pictures accompanying this article should be proof. Those smiles are deeply felt. Joined in common cause, these families and friends celebrate their Filipino community while preparing their culture’s foods.

“Backstage” is where all the most intimate and exciting photographs can be taken. That’s mostly what you see here. That’s where huge woks and enormous vats of hot oil, open flame grills and all-day barbeque smokers, contribute their heat to the intensity of the festival food preparations. Elbow to elbow everyone works to prepare for Philfest 2010.

Philfest (www.pcfitampa.org/philfest/philfest.html)–the annual Tampa Bay Filipino festival–is held at the 5-acre outdoor facility, called “The Village.” It is part of the Philippine Cultural Foundation (http://www.pcfitampa.org/home.html) Philippine Cultural Enrichment Complex and adjacent to its Bayanihan Arts & Events Center (www.bayanihanartscenter.org/bac_2006_home.htm). The Arts & Events Center houses a 9,900 sq. ft. convention, exhibit, and event hall, called the Grand Sampaguita Hall.

The Philfest grounds have had recent improvements, particularly concrete walkways that make experiencing the festival more enjoyable. The backdrop of the performance stage is an immense mural by Jonathan Jennings (see photo at end of article) that captures the essence of the land and peoples of the Philippines. That stage was the setting for numerous performing acts throughout the festival. Packing every remaining square inch of the site were dozens of booths offering Philippine crafts, souvenirs, and food!

Many non-Filipinos are unfamiliar with Filipino cuisine simply because there’s not that many Filipino themed restaurants in the mainland USA. Notice, the word, “mainland,” in that sentence. In Hawaii, Filipino restaurants abound because of the history of immigrants to the islands working on the plantations.

Here are a few websites that have information on Filipino immigration to Hawaii, in particular, and the U.S. states, in general (note: Canada, also, has a large Filipino immigrant population):

• Asian Nation (www.asian-nation.org/filipino.shtml)
• The Philippine History Site (opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/)
• Filipino American History (www.csuchico.edu/ncpaso/filipino.htm)
• Filipino American (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_American)

One more list: some good websites with information about, and recipes for, Filipino cuisine. Give them a try. Filipino cuisine is rich and flavorful. Asian, but with a unique quality, and definitely the food of an island nation.

• Philippine cuisine (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_cuisine)
• Pinoy Recipe (www.pinoyrecipe.net)
• Pinoy cook (pinoycook.net)
• Filipino Food Lovers (www.filipino-food-lovers.com)
• Filipino Mix–Recipes ( www.pinoymix.com/recipes/)

Throughout this article and the website links, you’ll see the word, “Pinoy.” This means Filipino. It also means Filipino male (female is pinay).

Every Asian culture’s eggroll is different. There’s a distinctly Vietnamese eggroll, a Chinese eggroll, and a Thai eggroll; there is also a Filipino eggroll, called a “lumpia,” which is long and narrow with a unique taste, quite different from other Asian eggrolls. If you ever get a chance to sample one, don’t hesitate; you’ll be very surprised at how tasty and savory it is.

used by permission of the artist, Jonathan Jennings

OVERLOOKING LAKE DORA FROM LAKESIDE INN

• Mount Dora Center for the Arts
• Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce
• What to do in Mount Dora
• Mount Dora Village Merchant’s & Business Association
• Wikipedia: Mount Dora, Florida
• City of Mount Dora

Mount Dora is a small historical Florida village on the shore of Lake Dora that has successfully made itself into an arts and convention center with plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation.

LAKESIDE INN PIER

JUST A FEW OF MANY MOUNT DORA SHOPS

HISTORIC MOUNT DORA TRAIN STATION

ONE OF MANY LOUNGE/RESTAURANTS

NESTING BIRDS DOWNTOWN MOUNT DORA

STREETSIDE HARPIST

TAKING IT EASY

WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST LAWN BOWLING COURT

VINTAGE FLORIDIANA

Tomorrow, the Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show opens at the St. Pete Coliseum. Here’s the details from the City of St. Petersburg Events page.

January 8-10
Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show, Friday 5pm to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm, $6 adults, 12 and under are free. This nationally recognized show features nearly 100 exhibitors of antique furniture, art, pottery, jewelry, silver, toys, and glass. The event also features a two-day Antiques Appraisal Fair. Held Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 2pm, $5 per item.

The photo at the top of this article is a panorama of the 2009 Antiques Show at the Coliseum. It, and of all the still photographs in this post, expand to full size if you click on them. I encourage you to at least take a peek at the panorama at full size.

Immediately above is a short embedded video from that same vantage point. I just wanted you to see the scope of the show and to hear the sounds to get a sense of the show’s ambiance.

The rest of the snapshots from the 2009 show I present without further comment except to say that two of my favorites are the model boat (immediately above), the folk-art jugs (immediately below), and the old lace exhibit (at the very end).

It’s that time of the year in Florida. The hot, humid days of late summer are just beginning to pass away. There’s the occasional cool front that comes through (we never seem to have real cold fronts). And the festivals begin. A couple weeks ago I went to the Geckofest (geckofest.com) in one of my favorite parts of the St. Petersburg area, Gulfport, Florida. There are several other Inkwatu posts on Gulfport you might want to visit: Gulfport fresh market, Gulfport Florida, and Before TV.

The Geckofest is very much a family and kid friendly event with lots of body painting and fake tattoos as well as inflatables. For the adults, many tents where local craftsmen display their work. And, everywhere: music! Bands, solo artists, and even a belly dancing troupe are scattered through the venue. Of course, many food and drink vendors. A worthwhile experience, especially for families as the pictures in this post show.

The Geckofest is hardly the only fall festival in the area, though. For examples, there are the local Okterberfests I reported on last week (see Oktoberfest). This weekend is the Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show at the Coliseum. November 27-29 the Coliseum hosts a Gem, Jewelry and Bead Show, on January 8-10 another Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show, and on January 16-17 a Buckler’s Craft Show. One not to be missed is the The Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association’s 29th Annual Florida Antiquarian Book Fair Friday, March 12 through Sunday, March 14, 2010 at the Coliseum. For a complete list of shows at the Coliseum see the Coliseum Events page.

Another St. Pete festival not to be missed is the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society (SPIFFS.org) 35th International Folk Festival which has a new date this year: General Public–Saturday November 7, 2009, 10am-10pm and Sunday November 8, 2009, 11am-7pm; School Days–November 5th & 6th, 9am-3pm. Admission is $8.00 children under 12 free w/paid adult.

In progress right now, is the renowned Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival which runs October 8-18, 2009. One of the most venerable of St. Pete’s festivals is the Festival of the States which dates back to 1896; it features many marching bands and floats. Two of the biggest festivals are the Gasparilla Pirate Festival over in Tampa (its art show is a must see) and the Strawberry Festival over in Plant City, just east of Tampa. The list goes on and on, including the St. Petersburg Cajun Zydeko Crawfish Festival, McDill AirFest, the Bay Area Renaissance Festival, and Creative Clay’s Folkfest which just concluded a couple weeks ago. (See Creative Clay Folkfest for a report on last year’s event.)

Here’s some links you’ll want to bookmark to keep track of the latest information on all area festivals:

• St. Petersburg Festivals
• Florida Beaches Events
• Pinellasarts Festival Guide

If you think all we do down here is party at festivals and eat…you might be right!

If you are looking for something fun to do tonight—especially if you’re a family—go to the final night of the German American Society of Pinellas County OKTOBERFEST! (8098 66th St. N., Pinellas Park, FL 33781). They serve food from 6 pm-8:30 pm and the event (and beer!) continues until 11:30 pm. Admission is $6, food and drinks you pay for what you order, cash.

They have many of the traditional Oktoberfest meals and pastries. I had the weisswurst (a white sausage) and sauerkraut, plus reiberdatschi (potato pancakes) and then käsekuchen (cheesecake). There are plenty of other German foods at the fest, some of which are pictured here. For example, they had freshly made schnitzel, deep fried on the spot (one of my friends was the schnitzel maker the night I was there) and something I’ve never seen before: thick slices of German bologna, fried. I was too stuffed to try that, but I will remember it for next year.

The best features of the evening for me, though, were the music and dancing. The night I was there, the band was one of the best German bands I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard a bunch). Not all German bands are created equal. This one grooved! Very tight, very “long” rhythms that made you want to dance. There was no way to sit still.

The dancing highlight of the evening–in fact the reason I went–was performed by friends who are the Gulf Coast Enzianer Schuhplattler Verein which is “a nonprofit, cultural preservation society that is dedicated to upholding the traditions of Bavarian culture through dancing Schuhplattler and wearing Tracht.” Tracht is traditional Bavarian clothes; for instance, lederhosen for men. Schuhplattler is the style of Bavarian dancing that involves stamping and slapping. Unfortunately, too many people only recognize it from Chevy Chase’s lampooning of it in his “European Vacation” movie. In reality, it is a beautiful folk dance form that has many proponents, world-wide. It is excellent for family group participation.

For my friends, Wednesday night (their Schuhplattler rehearsal night) is family night. It is an ideal family activity with a focus on lighthearted fun and sociability. In fact, most German folk music (I confess to being a lifelong fan of German yodels and polkas) have words that are about family life and the home. If this idea intrigues you for your own family, check out their website and their photo page. For sure, try to make it to the German-American Club’s Oktoberfest tonight to watch them dance. Immediately below is a slideshow of my friends’ group dancing last weekend at the Pinellas German-American Club Oktoberfest.

If you can’t make the final night of the German American Club’s Oktoberfest tonight, then make plans to attend the Oldsmar Oktoberfest, October 23-25, held at Tampa Bay Downs (11225 Racetrack Rd., Tampa, FL 33626). This is a mammoth event with rides and music and lots of food. See this Oldsmar Chamber of Commerce page for complete details on that event.

If big crowds aren’t your thing, then try something smaller: area German restaurants are offering special menus during this time, some even having their own mini-Oktoberfests. Be sure to make reservations for these since seating is at a premium during this season. A few examples are the Schnitzelhaus in Tampa, Cafe Vienna in St. Petersburg, Bavarian House on St. Pete Beach, and Cafe Berlin on Treasure Island. I’m sure that even the German bakeries will be having special featured items this time of year, such as the Cafe Mozart German Bakery in St. Pete.

Prost!

This past weekend, March 27-29, was the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society (SPIFFS) 34th annual International Folk Fair at the Vinoy Park on the waterfront. The weather was beautiful but very breezy, but that just made for great surf to watch when taking a break and feasting on some of the spectacular food. The theme of this year’s Folk Fair was the “Wonders of the World” with ethnic villages capturing the flavor of each country, costumed villagers demonstrating artisanship and the preparation of ethnic foods (which were also available to eat).

Throughout the weekend, there was folk dancing and music onstage. The program highlighted performances by Colin Grant-Adams, a Scottish Balladeer, the Russian Folk Group Barynya, and American country music and line dancing. Saturday’s offering also included Chinese dancers and acrobats. Some of the other groups onstage were the German Schuplattlers Dancers, the Italian Tarantella Dancers, the Polish Gorale Ensemble, the African Urban Ballet Dundu-dole, exotic Asian dancers and musicians, and dancers from the South Seas Islands. Sunday was Hispanic Day featuring Latin bands and performers such as Gumbi Ortiz, Tampa Tango Argentino, The Latin League, and Larry Duran. If you check out the Inkwatu post on last year’s Folk Fair, you’ll see photos of typical performers and villages from the different countries.

This year, I concentrated on taking pictures of the the Parade of Nations at 3:00 pm on Saturday, leading into the Grand Opening Ceremonies. It’s a particularly colorful display including dancers and musicians, all in ethnic costumes, culminating in a giant Chinese festival dragon at the end of the parade.

SPIFFS sponsors a number of different activities and events. One such event I especially enjoy is the Asian Fest (Inkwatu post on last year’s Asian Fest) which is held in the fall. As soon as the date of this year’s Asian Fest is announced, I’ll alert you so you can make plans to attend.

When you visit the SPIFFS website be sure to check out two of its pages in particular: a photo gallery of past fairs and an About Us page that has some very interesting information about its Speaker’s Bureau, its Language Bank, its performing groups, and its honors (SPIFFS is one of the Library of Congress “Living Legacies”).

(Note: all the pictures in this post, including the individual small ones, link to larger images in Flickr; just click on the smaller images you see here.)

Recently, in a post on the The St. Pete Shuffle, I mentioned that I’d missed their India Night last year. Fortunately they gave another one last night. It was a solid hit. The line for authentic, home-cooked Indian food was the entire length of the main building and stayed that way for at least 90 minutes. I overheard others in the line mentioning that they, too, had missed it last year and were glad to finally get to come to one. Word gets around about a good thing and this is definitely a good thing.

The event was presented as a joint effort between the St. Pete Shuffle and V.I.C.A.S.- Volunteers of India Culture & Art Society, which is a member of SPIFFS – St. Petersburg International Folkfair Society. You may have seen the two earlier Inkwatu articles on SPIFFS’ 2008 Folk Fair and their 2nd Annual Asian Pacific Rim Festival.

Both the St. Pete Shuffle and SPIFFS have their home at the historic St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, so it’s a natural fit for them to have special events together. I’ve attended another St. Pete Shuffle/SPIFFS event which was their Turkish Night, earlier this year. Once again, terrific food, a success that I hope they repeat. I’m a great fan of ethnic foods which I believe have the power to heal divisions and help forge our melting pot culture into the strong, diverse mix that it is.

According to St. Pete Shuffle organizer, Chris Kelly, the menu last night included “Chicken Curry, Biryani Chicken Rice, Idli/Sambhar with Chutney, Rice cakes and Spicy Lentil Soups, Samosas, Gulab Jamun, Mango Lassi and Lemonades.” I had the biryani chicken rice, a samosa, the rice cakes with lentil soup, gulab jamun (the best I’ve ever had), and mango lassi (also the best I’ve ever had).

In addition to the food last night, the event also featured fashion and dance, with a presentation of classical and modern Indian dance following the meal. There was also to have been a “Bollywood dance Lesson” which I missed. Throughout the evening, magnificent jewelry and handbags worked in various metals and beading were available for purchase. The women running the affair modeled everyday and traditional festive Indian apparel. A mehndi artist was available to create temporary henna tattoos.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the SPIFFS 34th Annual International Folk Fair in March! Student Days are March 25-27, general public March 27-29 (27th 3pm-9pm, 28th 10am-10pm, 29th 12noon-6pm) at Vinoy Park (Bayshore Blvd. & 7th Avenue Northeast). SPIFFS advertises that the fair events will include “Ethnic cuisines, cultural avenues, ethnic displays, arts & crafts, Grand parade of Nations, International Beer Garden, Live Music, & more…”

I’ll see you there!

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FIRST ANNUAL ARBORS RECORDS INVITATIONAL JAZZ PARTY

Recently, I had the opportunity to photograph backstage at the Arbors Records First Annual Arbors Records Invitational Piano Jazz Party at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort on Clearwater Beach. There’s a lot of jazz in Florida and a lot here in the Tampa Bay Area. One of the biggest supporters of jazz in the area is a niche recording label, Arbors Records.

Arbors Records specializes in classic jazz. So, what is “classic jazz”? That’s tough to answer because it’s not even possible to define “jazz.” But, everyone knows it when they hear it. I would suggest that a workable definition of classic jazz is jazz up until the early 1940s, or pre-bebop (pre-Charlie Parker, pre-John Coltrane, pre-Miles Davis, pre-Ornet Coleman, pre-Dizzy Gillespie). You might also use this more descriptive definition of “classic jazz” from the Classic Jazz Society of Toronto.

The opportunity to shoot backstage at First Annual Arbors Records Invitational Piano Jazz Party was made possible by the invitation of a good friend and professional colleague of many years, Gary Baldassari. I first made Gary’s acquaintance when working the NFL Super Bowl pregame show as its music director during the 1990s. Gary was the audio specialist and audio engineer for Best Productions, for whom we both worked, that produced the shows. Baldassari worked for many years for Walt Disney productions and is the author of numerous technical articles on recording techniques. He is a frequent audio engineer for the Pori Jazz Festival in Pori, Finland, and has long been associated with Arbors Records, recording many of their albums and running sound for their various events such as their famous jazz cruises and their classic jazz festivals.

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GARY BALDASSARI MIXING AT ARBORS RECORDS JAZZ PARTY

According to the Arbors Records website:

“Arbors Records was founded by Rachel and Mat Domber in 1989 to record and preserve the classic styles of jazz. It originated because of their desire to record their friend, the outstanding reedman, singer and composer, Rick Fay, who had been in the music business for over 40 years mostly as a performer at the Disney parks in California and Florida, but had never previously recorded.”

I’d had the good fortune working with Rick Fay on one of the NFL Super Bowl pregame shows I was the music director for. It was for one of the New Orleans shows and Mr. Fay did played our soulful clarinet intro of “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” leading into “The Saints Go Marching In” for a beautiful, archetypical classic jazz recording I still cherish. It was Mr. Baldassari who introduced me to Mr. Fay and secured his services for this recording.

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OVERHEAD CLOSEUP PROJECTIONS AT ARBORS FESTIVAL

Continuing from their About Us page:

“Since the release of their first recording, Rick Fay’s Hot Five: Live at Lone Pine, in 1990, Arbors Records through the summer of 2002, has put out almost 160 CDs…Another 30 to 40 CDs have been recorded but are still in production…Arbors Records is also the producer of the acclaimed March of Jazz weekend jazz parties, held in Florida the third weekend in March…Arbors Records is also a sponsor of the Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Classic, in Clearwater Beach, Florida. In addition, Mat Domber is a board member of the American Federation of Jazz Societies and a co-founder of the Statesmen of Jazz, a touring ensemble group of senior musicians who perform at jazz events and give clinics in the schools…Starting with the original dixieland recordings by various Rick Fay groups, the label now embraces traditional jazz and contemporary classic jazz and the swing styles of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and beyond. But regardless of style, all of the recordings have in common a love of melody, improvisation and swing.”

This event–The First Annual Arbors Records Invitational Piano Jazz Party–was beautiful music. I got to hear the most astounding two-piano performance by a pair of European artists, Louis Mazetier (Paris) and Bernd Lhotzky (Munich). I adore good two-piano classic jazz work. Many a night have I listened to the Marian McPartland show on NPR. What was always so unbelievable to me was that her wonderful series of guest and she would, completely extemporaneously, perform together on two pianos. It’s much easier to imagine one piano and a single line instrument, such as saxophone or clarinet, doing this successfully…but two-pianos!? There are so many notes on a piano and it is so easy to get in each other’s way, to step on each other’s musical toes. The challenge is to not create acoustic mayhem.

Mazetier and Lhotzky are even all the more amazing because they are both premier “stride piano” experts. “Stride piano” is early classic jazz in which the left hand of the piano player is constantly jumping huge distances to play, with just that one hand, a very melodic bass part as well as an inner chordal accompaniment. Add to that a florid melodic invention on top with the other hand and one pianist manages to sound like three musicians! So, put together two famous stride piano musicians and you’ve got the effect of six musicians with just two people. Exciting barely covers it. One’s body twitches and bobs continuously. It’s impossible to hold still.

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LOUIS MAZETIER and BERND LHOTZKY

According to Hot House Florida, the Arbors Records Second Annual Invitational International Piano Party will be January 15th, 16th and 17th, 2010. They say:

“The all event price is $250.00 per person. (No individual event tickets will be sold) Seating is limited to 200 people at 20 tables of ten. A 10% discount will be given for 10 reserving together. Seating will be arranged in order of reservations.

“The Sheraton Sand Key Resort is located at 1160 Gulf Boulevard, Clearwater Beach, FL 33767. Telephone: 1-727-595-1611, FAX; 1-727-563-6004: TOLL FREE: 1-800-456-7263. A limited number of hotel rooms are available at the special rate of $199.00 per night, single or double occupancy, plus tax. Please make your hotel reservations directly with the hotel and mention Arbors Records Invitational.

“Arbors Records is located at 2189 Cleveland Street, Suite 225, Clearwater, FL 33765. Phone: 1-727-466-0432; FAX: 1-272-466-0432; TOLL FREE: 1-800-299-1930. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and personal checks accepted.”

You can order CDs directly from Arbors Records or from a variety of their distributors such as Webster Records Jazz by Mail. An excellent article on Arbors Records is this all about jazz article from 2004. The Arbors Records website has an excellent page of jazz links that is very informative.

Hot House Florida, out of Palm Beach Florida, is a blog associated with Hot House Artists that “provides insight into select local and national jazz, Latin and blues artists that will be performing in our area.”

Another classic jazz local classic jazz resource is Puppy Jazz Distribution, out of Sarasota. One of the distributors who carries Arbors Records, Puppy Jazz specializes in classic jazz and hard to find labels. They have a free newsletter available by email or online.

For more information on coming Arbors Records events, such as the 2009 Jazz Cruise and The Second Annual Arbors Records Invitational Jazz Party, be sure to visit the Arbors Records website or contact them by email, snail-mail, or phone.

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ARBORS JAZZ PARTY at the SHERATON SAND KEY

This past weekend, October 11th and 12th, SPIFFS (the St. Petersburg International Folkfair Society) presented its 2nd Annual Asian Pacific Rim Festival 2008. I was fortunate to be able to attend their first one last year. It was a good beginning and this year was even better. I hope this becomes successfully established and as much of a community tradition as SPIFFS’ larger, annual International Folkfair (see SPIFFS — St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society).

SPIFFS (330 5th St. N., St. Petersburg, FL, 33701; 727-552-1896), lists a significant number of Asian member organizations:

• Suncoast Association of Chinese Americans
• The Fiji Club of Central Florida, Inc.
• Filipino-American Club of Pinellas County
• V.I.C.A.S.- Volunteers of India Culture & Art Society
• Korean American Association of West Florida, Inc.
• Laotian American Association of Florida, Inc.
• Florida Hmong Community Association
• Polynesian Connection Club of Vaepopua
• TACO (Taiwanese American Cultural Organization)
• Thai Association of Tampa Bay
• Tongan Cultural Organization of Florida, Inc.
• Vietnamese-American Association of St. Petersburg

 

By far, the most extensive presence at the fair was the Thai Association with multiple tents, flower collections, carved fruit, steam tables of an entire Thai menu, and gifts. I confess a fondness for Thai culture, attitudes, and cuisine. It pleases me to see how their presentation at the fair has expanded.

I’m not sure exactly what portion of the St. Petersburg population is Thai, but I suspect (along with Vietnamese) it is one of the groups with the highest representation.

According to the 2000 census data (see Hello St. Petersburg), this is the composition of St. Petersburg’s Asian population:

Asian: 6,640 (2.7%)

Asian Indian: 867 (0.3%)
Chinese: 544 (0.2%)
Filipino: 798 (0.3%)
Japanese: 151 (0.1%)
Korean: 317 (0.1%)
Vietnamese: 1,910 (0.8%)
Other Asian: 2,053 (0.8%)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 130 (0.1%)
Native Hawaiian: 27 (0.0%)
Guamanian or Chamorro: 13 (0.0%)
Samoan: 13 0.0%4,858 (3.9%)
Other Pacific Islander: 77 (0.0%)
Some other race: 2,661 (1.1%)
Two or more races: 5,397 (2.2%)

That’s only for St. Petersburg and doesn’t include the greater Tampa Bay area, but even so, those figures seem incredibly low compared to my own experience. I suspect the next census will show much higher numbers.

 

In the above picture you can see a couple stands with the label Tonga. Tonga is a country with which I was not familiar until I lived in Hawaii where I supplemented my pension by playing piano for a tiny Methodist church on the island of Oahu in which over half the members were Tongan. Apparently, the South Sea Islands of Tonga were heavily proselytized by Methodist missionaries long ago. When it comes to missionaries versus native religions, I wish the natives had been left alone. The upside, however, is that I got to discover, first-hand, a culture of very warm people who have an intriguing tradition of choral singing a capella (unaccompanied), improvised counterpoint at an extremely intense volume.

If you enjoy folk music and have never heard Tongan choral singing, please consider trying one of these: Music From The Kingdom of Tonga, Vol. 1 or Music From The Kingdom of Tonga, Vol. 2. The men are a big part of this singing culture, especially in their ritual kava circles which you can hear on Pacific Music 2: Tongan Kava Circle. (That particular recording is reviewed at Amazon by David Stanley, an author for Lonely Planet and other publishers, whose acquaintance I have recently made. I’ll be reporting on a book of his in a coming Inkwatu post.)

 

Bubble Tea! If you’ve never had any, you can now get it in the Tampa Bay area. It’s a treat that began in Taiwan, swept over Hawaii, then California, gradually working its way to the East Coast. Bubble tea, also called “Boba tea” or sometimes “pearl tea,” is not just a taste treat, it’s a texture treat. It’s made with pureed iced fruit or a tea-milk mix plus large tapioca balls. You suck the combination into your mouth through a large straw about 3 times the size of a typical straw. Mostly you get the fruit or tea-milk liquid, but every so often a nice big tapioca ball gets sucked in with a satisfying “schwuck” against the roof of your mouth. Ah…heaven.

If you want to make bubble tea at home, you can get a Bubble Tea Party Kit for Eight which includes everything you need: black and green tea tapioca pearls, 8 cups & straws, a shaker, and four different flavored tea mixes (honeydew, strawberry, black milk tea and taro)!

 

Whenever I discover a food that’s new for me, I’m always so grateful that I’ve finally encountered it but sad that I hadn’t learned of it earlier, especially if I’d lived where I could have gotten tons of it if I’d only known about it (“if only” is a pretty useless human sentiment, isn’t it). Such is the case with lumpia that I had at the Filipino stand at the Asian Fest. It’s like a pencil thin very, very long egg roll, but the taste is different. It would be easy to eat too many of these.

The lumpia recipe link above is to the Gumbo Pages, my absolute, tip-top, #1, most favorite New Orleans cooking website. It’s worth repeated visits.

 

As in Chinese (perhaps all Asian languages), the Hmong language doesn’t use definite and indefinite articles (“the” and “a”); hence the endearing “chicken on the stick” linguistic error on the sign at the Hmong pavilion. I’ve mentioned the Hmong in a couple of earlier posts (Hmong hip-hop poet and SPIFFS). In part, my affection for them is their tragic story of betrayal by the US government after they risked their lives to help us during the Vietnam conflict. As a consequence they are now persecuted in their own lands but denied easy access to the safe haven of immigration here. Of course, the other part of my affection for them is their food. Their grilled chicken kabobs are terrific and the hot sauce you pour on them makes it difficult to eat only one. I tried to get the woman to tell me what was in the hot sauce. She said just hot peppers and oil. I’m not sure…there’s something else in there that’s very fragrant (although, maybe it’s just the quality of the peppers or the oil).

 

Next year, I hope you make it to the 3rd Annual Asian Pacific Rim Festival 2009. Be sure to get some lumpia, bubble tea, chicken on the stick, and the Thai food of your choice. Because of the extreme miniaturization of the collage images in this post, I encourage you to check one or both of the following links to get a better idea of the displays and people at the fair.

Most images link to larger images.
click on larger image for closeup

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