Fried Peaches and Wooden Spoons

5.08.2015

The longer I live in Oklahoma, the more I realize how many fun things there are to do here throughout the year! To be honest, I don't take advantage of a lot of them, but last summer I did cross a few things off my unofficial OKC bucket list such as ziplining across the Oklahoma River, eating Chinese in the underground tunnels, and watching a movie in the Myriad Gardens. (Read about my summer OKC adventures here)

But one of my absolute favorite weeks of the year in downtown OKC is the annual Festival of the Arts, which happens at the end of every April to coincide with the weekend of the Memorial Marathon. I've run the 1/2 marathon, full, and 5k, and I was super bummed this year to miss the race, but I did make it to the festival a total of four times!

It helps that I work downtown, so twice during lunch walked over and wandered around. Jordan and I went with a couple from church one evening, and one day my mom drove up!
^^^We couldn't resist the heavenly smell coming from the roasted nut stand. And then later that week, my mom couldn't resist it either. (P.S. I totally tricked Jordan into taking this picture by telling him I wasn't going to include his face, just his hand holding the nuts. I fully intended to take an artsy hand-holding-something-in-front-of-a-blurry-background picture. Instagram that sucker. But then I couldn't resist the dimples.)
^^^ Fried peaches! These were definitely interesting. Lots of cinnamon and whipped cream. I found myself sucking the peaches out of their fried casing by the end. I don't know that I would get these again, but they were fun to try! Next time I'll just stick with fried pickles. You can't go wrong.
^^^Some of the artists actually work on their craft (painting, jewelry, basket weaving, etc.) during the day. I remember this guy from last year. My mom and I really loved this mason jar daisy painting he was working on. Too bad hand-painted art like this runs way too steep for me.
^^^I try to sample different foods every year. This was a pulled pork slider with mango chutney. So good and only $2! Leave it to me to find the cheapest food item they offered. Last year I bought food from the chicken 'n' waffle stand. Let's just say it was a mind explosion. So good!
^^^Every year, my mom and I go to the festival and buy a wooden spoon from the spoon lady (that's not her official name, but it's what we call her). We LOVE her spoons. There are even left- and right-handed spoons that are curved to better fit your hand as you're stirring. I have two of the left-handed ones and love using them! I thought about buying a spoon to give away on the blog, but then I just bought one for myself instead. 

I'm not sure why I even told you that.
^^^What's an arts festival without a giant mustache made out of bottle caps? Not much of a festival at all, I'll tell you. There are so many unique, creative things here, and it's fun to just walk around and look at stuff, eat delicious food, and enjoy the outdoors!

Of course, it's a local joke that whenever the arts festival is in town, it's sure to rain. No joke: every single year it rains at least once during the week of the arts festival. But as you can see, the sun shone enough for me to get my almost daily dose of some cool art and delicious fair food. Until next year!

Does your city have a festival like this? 
What's your favorite kind of handmade item to buy? Are you a wooden spoon kind of person? A pottery person? Art? Jewelry? Bottle cap mustaches?
Lindsay said...

My husband would love that bottle cap mustache! He has a collection of bottle caps and keeps telling me he's going to decorate a table out of them, but it's been 5 years in the making and it still hasn't happened! Maybe this picture will give him some motivation!
-Linds

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

this sounds so fun!! i have just started to try and do more stuff around the city i live in, because it can be very boring.. but thats because i don't do anything! fried peaches sound interesting, though i'd probably just eat them out of their fried-ness as well. actually i'd probably just eat the whipped cream. yum!! i can never resist the roasted nuts anywhere, they smell so good!

Robyn B said...

how fun!!! bottle cap mustache? yes please!

we have our "Artisphere" this weekend - which is i guess our equivalent! and it starts at noon today so i could go on my lunch break.... but i am already committed to a Bible Study we're doing during lunch! working downtown is awesome though!

Bailie @ The Hemborg Wife said...

Those spoons and cutting boards are really stunning!

Kayla MKOY said...

Those spoons! The fried fruit! The bottle cap mustache! I need to visit!!!!! ;) festivals are like my favorite things and I haven't been to one in years.

Unknown said...

Hand-holding-something-in-front-of-a-blurry-background pictures are overrated. Bring on the dimples.
Also, do you Americans fry everything? I'd never heard of fried peaches before!
Oh, and THIS is where you buy your spoons! They look gorgeous.

Ali said...

I love festivals like these! I don't think I have a specific favorite item, just whatever floats my boat at the time. We have a really small (kind of sucky) one in my town, but in July we have the Blueberry Festival nearby in Ely, MN. It's huge! So much fun, too. Well, I think so. Usually the hubster just gets anxious with all the people, and he doesn't really like shopping...so he's no fun.

Does the spoon lady have a website? Hubby is a leftie, and a cook, so I'd definitely be interested in checking out her wares!

Sara Oss said...

I don't know what it says about my childhood, but hot fruit reminds me of baby food. I recently had pears cooked in rum and was like...nope; that's baby food and I can't do it. And yes, you could totally taste the rum on them. When I was cool and lived downtown (well, Lakeview) my neighborhood had an arts festival early in the fall that was fun to browse.

Unknown said...

Yay! You are left-handed! Woo-Hoo! It totally makes sense because you are cool and pretty much all of the coolest people are left-handed.

Sarah @ Sometimes Photojenik said...

So I think Alex is actually applying to PA school in OKC and these posts show me what we could be doing if we lived there for two years :) That being said, all your food pictures and descriptions made me drool on the spot; can you believe I've never had fried pickles OR peaches?? Also... I had NO idea that wooden spoons were different depending on your hand dominance. Are you left handed?! I'm pretty sure I didn't know that and it is just awesome! I have always wanted to be left-handed (including taking all my notes in freshman year of college with my left hand to try and force it to happen... it didn't work). Basically anyone that is left-handed just LOOKS cool. Also, you and your mom look SO much alike it's crazy! That daisy in the mason jar is absolutely stunning! I'm sure Denver has some sort of festivals like this but we haven't been here long enough to figure it out. I'm definitely not a wooden spoon person because our kitchen barely fits the utensils we already have, but I could go for some wall hangings/art or jewelry :)

Kerry @ Till Then Smile Often said...

I wish my town had a festival like that, we did have a food truck one but not with other arts. That is a great picture of Jordan. Trickery for the win!

Andrea H. said...

Looks like a blast!! Glad you were able to enjoy it!! Love the bottle cap mustache. So fun! I'm not sure I would like fried peaches, but I LOVE fried pickles. One of my all-time faves :) And super neat about the wooden spoons. I would have never guessed there was a way to make them right or left handed! Cool tradition that you have of getting one each year!

Tammy said...

So THAT'S why downtown was so insanely crowded!! I did the OKC relay this year for the first time and driving was a nightmare! Wish I'd known it was an art festival (we thought it was a kids' festival) - I might have stopped... although parking was its own challenge. ;) My leftie husband would've loved one of those spoons!

Laura said...

There are left handed spoons?! Where have they been hiding all my life?!?! I need me one! Ha. That art festival sounds like something I'd really enjoy!

The Lady Okie said...

She actually does have a website! I happened to grab her card while were there, and it's in my wallet. It's your lucky day :)
http://treestump.co/

Her spoons are around $20, which is kind of crazy, but seriously my mom and I LOVE them. They wash really easily (DON'T put them in the dishwasher), and they are just great. I basically only use her wooden spoons when I'm cooking or mixing now.

The Lady Okie said...

Ha! Yes, we fry EVERYTHING. Especially down in the south/southwest. At the Texas State Fair a few years ago, they had fried butter. Fried butter! What on earth?

The peaches were pretty good, but I think I just love regular peaches too much to do anything else to them. Fried pickles, though, are delicious! I'd never had them before I moved to Oklahoma. They don't fry as many things in Illinois. (Probably why Oklahoma is listed as one of the most unhealthy states.)

The Lady Okie said...

The left-handed spoons are my favorite! Here's her website if you want to browse.... http://treestump.co/
The spoons are around $20 each, which I know sounds outrageous, but seriously I basically only use these spoons when I'm cooking and mixing now. Plus when you only buy 1 a year, it doesn't seem so bad :)

The Lady Okie said...

I hope you had a good time at the relay! I was so bummed I couldn't/didn't participate this year in the race. But yes! Next year you should check out the arts festival. I can see why you might have thought it was a kids' festival, because there are always a ton of kids at the little play place, but there are a lot of awesome things there for adults too :)

The Lady Okie said...

I am left-handed. My mom is too :) And my grandpa! The spoon handles are the same for right or left handed, but the tops are curved, so if you're stirring, it's curved in the direction of the bowl. It's hard to explain. Basically Jordan can't use my left-handed spoons, is what I'm saying ;)

The Lady Okie said...

HECK YES. Left-handed people are the most awesome :)

Caroline @ In Due Time said...

So fun!!! I love that you have a tradition with your mom too! Who doesn't love a new spoon ;)

I don't think I have ever been to this festival, but it looks like fun! We rarely take advantage of all that Texas has to offer either ;)

Unknown said...

This sounds really creepy (I swear, it's not!!), but I couldn't help but notice that you're wearing an ACDA (American Choral Director's Association) jacket in one of the photos. I didn't realize you were in the choral world?

17 Perth said...

That mustache is amazing! Haha. Love it. Good call on the pic with Jordan. I do that to Judah! It's the only way I can get his picture sometimes. Lol.
And are u on Instagram??!!

Niken said...

never even imagined of fried peaches before. ha.

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

Fried peaches sound pretty good!

Did you know peaches don't exist here in Asia unless they are imported? And then they still don't exist for me because I'm not paying a million dollars for peaches. I think peaches have to have a freeze to develop properly. We do have mangoes though ... so I'll keep eating those!

Wooden spoons! I love them! I have always preferred wooden spoons to anything else. They have awesome ones here made from bamboo and teak wood and are super affordable ($1.50 - $2.00). I plan on buying a bunch before I leave. I'll have to get you some.

Rachel said...

I love art shows like that--the thing I'm most likely to buy at them is any sort of really quirky earrings. We stumbled across a little art/craft show in Hong Kong this weekend and I bought earrings that are tiny paper origami cranes that are somehow covered in shellac so that they don't fall apart and I love my little crane earrings.
I've always looked at those left-handed spoons at shops like that in curiosity but I've never tried them out so I don't know how the shape of the handle would affect use....

Amy @ A Desert Girl said...

Those spoons are great. How cool that they are customized for the dominant hand.

Rach said...

You're right about not going wrong with fried pickles! I love them! This whole festival looks like such fun! The wooden spoons look so neat! I think it's neat that they are made specifically for left or right handed people!

Holly said...

I miss working in or near a downtown area like this because of the accessibility to walk over to events like this. I would try those fried peaches but I think I'm with you--give me fried pickles every day :)

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