Today was the final day of the Carefree Fine Arts and Wine Festival… until January. And March. That’s right, I’ll be back here three times a year! My new job kicks ass!
To bid a fond adieu to the wonderful city of Carefree, we woke up at 6am and headed to the festival to get good parking so I could move the van as soon as the show wrapped and not have to risk running down fellow artists in the desperate attempt to get packed as soon as possible. Since we’d arrived so early, we got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast on the patio.
There’s nothing wrong with having repeats for breakfast, but this was the only place that happened to be open early, so I stuck with something semi-healthy. Veggie omelets are a good stand-by for me.
It was a slightly busier day, so I spent a lot of time at the booth chatting with the other artists and some rabid fans who collect my artist’s oil paintings. We were lucky enough to have lunch brought to us by the amazing Chef Sara! I am head over heels for this woman’s food!!!
She brought us a raw vegan wrap made with alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, carrots, cucumber, red cabbage, falafel (not fried, being RAW and all that), and a vegan tahini sauce, surrounded by seaweed. Not too long ago, I would not have touched this with a ten-foot pole, but I was AMAZED at how delicious this was!!! Sara, can you come live with me??
My only complaint – floss is needed immediately after eating unless you want to frighten people off with your algae-covered teeth. It’s a price I’d be willing to pay!
She also brought us raw cheesecake! This one is goji berry.
I AM SO SPOILED! This was the tastiest cheesecake I’ve ever had in my entire life – no cheese needed!
She also gave me the lavender cheesecake to sample.
It was very perfume-y, but still delectable.
I bought some of the donut holes to take home as a gift for the roommates to try. I’ll tell you, if I could afford it and all my food tasted like this, I could be a raw vegan for life! I am utterly floored by how delicious this meal was!
When the show wrapped at 5pm, there was a desperate race for the parking lot while all of the artists fought to get their vans and trailers to their booths as quickly as possible. I managed to get the very first spot and therefore navigated to my spot very quickly. It took about three hours to break down the booth and get everything packed up, then we headed to Venues Cafe for a celebratory dinner.
Of course I had to have an Easy Street… or two. Hey, it’s a celebration after all!
I got the grilled vegetable and avocado sandwich on fresh focaccia again – if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
A group of us spent about two hours at the restaurant and I ended with a decaf cappuccino topped with warm cinnamon.
Alec, the wonderful waiter who accommodated me all SEVEN TIMES that I went into the restaurant, brought out a complimentary chocolate mousse topped with vanilla amaretto cookies and fresh orange slices.
When we got back to the hotel, I went to the pool for a quick swim and spent half on hour floating in the warm water, staring at the stars as my breath created puffs of white in the chilly air, and thanking God for blessing me with such a precious, wonderful new adventure. I am so thankful.
A perfect ending to an amazing weekend!