This past weekend was fantastic. Spring has finally descended on Ithaca - the trees are decorated with lush pink blossoms, green is overtaking the gray of winter, festivals are bringing people out of their hibernation, and there is new life everywhere you look
This Saturday I checked out a few local Ithacan events and new places, beginning with an early lunch at the 2nd Annual Greek Festival, hosted by the St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Ithaca.
For it, members of Ithaca's Greek community had cooked up a feast of traditional foods.
I kept it classic, choosing a beef gyro.
Spyros got the pastitsio, a sort of baked noodle-casserole smothered in spiced meat and cheese.
We also got an order of hot homemade dolmathes - these were far better than the cold, oil-drenched kind you can pick up in supermarkets
There were large trays of traditional desserts - baklava, kourabiethes (soft cookies covered in powdered sugar), and melomakarona (spicy, nutty cookies) - to choose from after our main course.
We couldn't pick just one, so took a collection to go.
And then there were the loukoumades - hot Greek donuts covered in chopped nuts and honey. Very sinful and by far my favorite.
Afterwards, we went for a walk in the sunshine and to grab coffee at the beloved Gimme! coffee in Fall Creek. It was there that a flier caught me eye, advertising a baby goat festival going on that very afternoon. I kid you not.
I messaged my favorite fellow adventurer and we headed to the countryside.
It seemed that we arrived at Lively Run Goat Dairy Farm just in time. They were just bringing over the baby goats for the last bottle feeding of the day.
Children and adults alike were enthusiastic to feed the adorable babies. The milk was brought out in clean beer bottles topped with a rubber nipple.
Some of the baby goats would guzzle down the entire bottle in seconds.
Others were more interested in investigating the bottle, but not particularly hungry.
And there was one little goat in particular that simply wanted cuddles. Not milk. Cuddles.
Once they've been fed, they are lifted up over one shoulder and carried, like a little child, back to their pens.
The baby goat pen was a place of pure fun, where something was always going on. Just look at those mischievous eyes!
The babies were quite friendly (and curious!) and would come immediately over to you.
Sniff, sniff!
They liked Martina quite alot.
I think she liked them as well :)
Unfazed by all the ruckus next door, the older goats were chilling out peacefully in another part of the barn.
While we were at the dairy, we also did some cheese tasting. For a few dollars, you can try five types of goat cheese and three types of cow cheese, all made right next door in their cheese rooms. Many of the cheeses are award winning and have a creamy yet distinct taste.
The Just Kidding festival (as it was officially called) was a blast, and Lively Run is such a lovely place to visit.
Finally, after a delicious homemade dinner, Spyros had planned for us to go out to the bar at the newly opened (Sept. 2013) Argos Inn. A delightful contrast to the usual Collegetown-esque bars of Ithaca, this place was quite stylish and metropolitan.
We started off with a Yellow King (for me), and a Cuba Libre y Claro (for him). My drink was strong and flavorful, while the Cuba Libre was quite light (almost watery) tasting. We followed our first round with Brooklyns for both of us, which come poured over a single ball off ice and were quite good (also strong).
I'll have to go back and scope out the menu more - I see this becoming one of our new favorite places to go out to in the evenings.
The evening wrapped up with us sipping our drinks, sharing stories, and laughing quite a bit while we sat in two plush arm chairs located in a cozy nook across from the main bar. The perfect ending to such a fun day.
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