Last Saturday, we spent close to 7 hours at the Texas Renaissance Festival, a renaissance theme park located in the town of Plantersville, Texas.  True enough, the sights, sounds and tastes of the 16th Century  was very much alive in the park.

Craving for fish and chips?

Wish granted!

Care for some sausage?

Tada!

How about a side of sauerkraut?

Cool off with a cup of ice cream.

Grab some pretzels to munch on while watching a jousting match!

The pretzels were certified bestsellers!

Who would have thought Kettle Popcorn go as far back as the 16th century?  Tee hee.

We had a wonderful time immersing ourselves in the Renaissance period, a time when auto insurance quotes were unheard of. *wink*

The above photos are the “tastes” from the festival.  Here are but a few of the “sights”, my other WW entry.

It’s been a little over a week already since we got back from our 9-day  holiday at The Golden State.  If we exclude the arrival and departure dates, that’s a total of 7 full days in California.  With relatives and a good number of friends residing there, 7 days is in fact, too short.

It was my daughter’s first trip to California, so we did the rounds of the theme parks - Universal Studios, Disneyland and California Adventure.  We also managed to squeeze in a drive up to Mammoth and Yosemite.  We did a lot of eating, and I mean A LOT.  Hubby and I were also able to meet with long-time friends.  We would have met more had it been possible. 

Next time, we will definitely stay longer.  That way, we can include Las Vegas in our itineray.  Everybody knows that one will never run out of things to do in Las Vegas.  A visit to  Madame Tussauds will most definitely be on our list.  I would have also liked a visit to San Francisco.  But we’ll just have to save it for our next visit.

In just a few more days, summer break will be over.  So if you want to squeeze in another holiday with family or friends, check out Trusted Tours and Attractions’ online travel guides.   Sign up for the newsletter, too, and have a shot at winning a $150 iTunes.] giftcard.

Summer.  I wouldn’t wish for it to end if it just weren’t too hot.

I used to not like durian primarily because of its “unique odor”.  And there’s something about the texture of the fruit that I didn’t quite like.  My Mom has loved the fruit for as long as I remember.  I was already in my late 20s when I “saw the light”.  Hahaha.  I gave the fruit a taste and it was as if I tasted it for the first time.  It was creamy and tasted very good, too.  I’ve been a fan since.  In the Philippines, whenever we went to Tiendesitas, we make sure we buy durian for dessert after our meals.  We like durian ice cream, too!

I’m glad I found these pics from my archives.  These were taken in Malaysia in May 2005.  We just came from Genting Highlands and on the way back to Kuala Lumpur, we requested the driver of the van we rented to make a quick stop at this stall.

my sis-in-law, Claire and my Mom

I could’t join my sister-in-law, Claire, and my Mom in the durian feasting because Abby was sleeping in the van. But I made up for it when we got back to the hotel…

my date with a very “unsusual” comfort food

Hotel guests are not allowed to bring durian into the hotel.  But the man we bought it from wrapped it really well that it didn’t smell at all.  Late that night, I snuck out to the balcony and feasted on the durian all by myself.  Yummy!

For my Wordless Wednesday entry for today at my other blogsite, Mapped Memories, I posted 2 photos from Thailand taken during our (hubby and me) December 2003 trip. 

If I were asked what my most favorite Thai food is, it would be Khao krok kapi, better known as Bagoong Rice (Shrimp Past Rice) in the Philippines.  I like adding a dash of ground chili.

I wasn’t blogging yet this time that’s why there are no decent food pics.  Hee hee.  Hubby and I had this meal at the food court of the Siam Discovery Center.  In addition to the Shrimp Paste Rice, we also had Tom Yung soup, which was super super spicy and Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves (my 2nd favorite Thai dish!).

I love Thai food.  It’s just too bad we have yet to find a passable Thai restaurant here in the US.  Oh, you know what else I love about Thailand other than their, food…massage therapy.  Hubby and I had the best massage experience in Thailand.  Gosh, I really need one right now! *sigh*

Who is Emilia and what is “Kuechen”?  Emilia is my Mom, but she doesn’t want to be called that.  Hee hee.  She prefers Emy or Emily.    Kuechen is the German word for kitchen.  We had to take a photo in front of this store called, Emilia’s Kuechen, when we were windowshopping at a place called Taulusanlage in Germany.  This store sells assorted sandwiches.  The sandwiches are huge and the fillings all look so yummy.  We didn’t have any though.  Just took a picture.  Hee hee!

In 2006, hubby and Abby joined my Mom and me for the first time in Europe.  Just a little backgrounder, we are in the manufacturing business and we export metal sculptures to different countries.  Our business has brought us to a number of countries via trade fair participation and twice a year for the last 12 years, we’ve been going to Germany to exhibit our products.  Now back to my story…

Abby was only 18 months old when we made that trip and meal times turned out to be such a challenge.  She didn’t eat much most of the time and the only meal she would ever eat with gusto were the chicken nuggets from Mc Donald’s.  Go figure!  In that trip, we were able to visit a total of 5 countries and for sourvenirs, we had Happy Meal toys to show for…from each of the 5 countries. Really!

This photo was taken at the Mc Donald’s located at the Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof, the main train station.  Abby’s Happy Meal drink is milk referred to as ”Bio Milch”.

Aside from the chicken nuggets, Abby enjoyed the fruit yogurt that came with the meal as well.  We were at this Mc Donald’s location for lunch  two days in a row.

This was at a Mc Donald’s in the city of Metz in France.  The toy that came with the Happy Meal was a mini radio, which upto now, Abby still loves playing with.  It’s her all-time favorite Happy Meal toy.

We were very thrilled with this radio because it features Billy Crawford who, at one time in his life, was a child actor in the Philippines.  Hee hee.  Small world?

These are our family friends, Uncle D and Aunt H.  I don’t know if they’d mind having their photo out in cyberspace so I had to put sunglasses on them.  :D  Anyway, I had to publish this photo if only for the heart-shaped chicken breast.  It was very apt for the Mc Donald’s tagline that time which was “Lovin’ It” (translated to different languages). 

I simply bought a Happy Meal for take out for this Mc Donald’s in Maastricht, Holland.  We just needed our souvenir toy!  Hahaha!

Finally, Mc Donald’s in Luxembourg.  We actually ate at another burger place called Quick.  But we did still buy a Happy Meal, which Abby ate at Quick.  Hee hee.

As much as possible, we try to sample the local cuisine of the places we visit whenever we travel. That didn’t quite happen on this trip. I don’t really mind though as that would be a perfect excuse to revisit these beautiful cities.