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Sarasota Chalk Festival (Part 2)

11/18/2015

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I went to the Sarasota Chalk Festival. It was my first time visiting this festival. It used to be held in downtown Sarasota but had outgrown the area and is now held in Venice. Part of the exhibit is at the airport and part is in downtown Venice on Miami Avenue. Yesterday, I shared some of my photos from the airport. Today, I’m sharing my favorites from downtown Miami Avenue.

The theme this year was “Eat, Drink and Be Merry”. So it was perfect that Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo were eating cake.

And of course you need the drinks from Cheers…

Children were portrayed in such creative and interesting ways

Women were celebrated…

And of course men … with a special appearance by James Bond with the newest movie in the franchise “Spectre” released a couple of weeks ago.

Food was celebrated. It is “Eat, drink and be merry”, right?

I love this girl holding the “Joy of Cooking” cookbook.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, one artist drew a woman sitting enjoying watermelon with a turkey nearby celebrating our wonderfully warm weather pretty much year ’round.

Well, there you have it. Although I took more photos (there were tons of artist drawings) this post is getting kind of long so I will stop here. I hope you enjoyed my photos. If you haven’t checked out the first part of my photos taken at the airport, you can do that here.

I can’t wait until next year’s festival.

Have you been to the chalk festival before? What did you think?

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Sarasota Chalk Festival (Part 1)

11/17/2015

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During this unique community celebration, local, regional and international artists of all ages and skill levels come together to create colorful pavement art. The theme this year is ”Eat, Drink & Be Merry” and ran from November 9-16, 2015.

Sarasota has been the home of the Chalk Festival each November since 2007. The festival was held in downtown Sarasota until last year when it moved to Venice (held at the Venice Municipal Airport and downtown on Miami Street).

This is my first year visiting the Chalk Festival. We moved to Florida in June of 2013 and have been on vacation the week it was held in 2013 and 2014.

After seeing all of the gorgeous art, I don’t think I’ll schedule another vacation in November again. Because this is a not-to-be-missed-event. Not only can you see chalk masterpieces, they also have dance, music, magic, poetry and storytelling performances.

Last year, artists created a 22,000-square-foot megalodon shark painting (still on show at the Venice airport) that was recognized earlier this year by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Largest Anamorphic Pavement Art.

As I mentioned earlier, this was my first visit to the Chalk Festival. My friend and I went yesterday, the last day of the festival so most of the art was already finished. We did happen to catch this artist still working when we arrived at the airport location. Next year, I think I will go multiple days so that I can see the artist create.

And by the time we came back to the airport, he had finished

Here are some of my favorites from the airport…

And for all my foodie friends, the iconic Julia Child.

See Part 2 of this post to check out some of my favorites from Miami Street.

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Banana Ketchup Recipe

11/7/2015

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This Banana Ketchup is based on my best recollection of the ingredients of a Banana Ketchup I had during an island tour in St. Lucia.

**This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase from my links which help to keep this blog running.**

Banana Ketchup Recipe

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoon olive oil
½ cup finely chopped sweet onion (about 1 small onion)
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried green chili (See Note 1)
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
2-3 large ripe bananas
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon raw local honey
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Water, as needed

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mash bananas using a potato masher. You could also put them in a food processor or high speed blender.

In a medium saucepan, heat oil in over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, green chili powder, ginger, turmeric, and allspice and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in bananas, vinegar, honey, tomato paste, and salt; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Transfer ketchup to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Thin with water as needed to reach a ketchup-like consistency. Season with additional salt to taste.

Transfer to an airtight container.

Substitute regular tomato ketchup with Duck Fat Fries.

Or for dipping of Coconut Crusted Mahi Mahi Sticks.

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Sarasota Chalk Festival (Part 2)

Sarasota Chalk Festival (Part 1)

Banana Ketchup Recipe

Linda Roisum

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