Haute Cuisine in Indianapolis . . .

I spent last weekend in lovely Indianapolis, Indiana – actually, I spent the last two weekends in Indianapolis.  Last weekend, I was working . . .

But the weekend before, my brother and I spent Friday and Sunday surrounded by most of Big Blue Nation at first and second round NCAA basketball tournament games.  We bought our tickets in October with no idea what teams would be present.  Most of the “bracketologists” predicted a month ago that both Kentucky and Louisville would be there – our bonus came on Selection Sunday when we found out that Dayton would play there, too.

 

We also got to see the first NCAA appearance by the Northern Kentucky Norse, who actually held a lead for a brief moment and put up a pretty good fight against Kentucky.  Blake was wearing a Dayton shirt that I got him for his birthday, but between games in the evening session represented for his daughter-in-law Gina by donning her Northern Kentucky t-shirt (Gina went there for a year).

In between the tournament days, I spent an evening with some of my elementary and high school classmates – we sent this picture to another classmate who has just started chemo.  Even this evening had an Indy flavor (pun intended) – I made the Caramel Chip Bars that our friend Kaaren Sadtler introduced to us at the Indianapolis show five years ago.

 

Back to the work weekend – after setup last Friday, I dug into my little finger and extracted the last souvenir I brought back from Arizona – that is a yucca needle.  I had tried twice before without success to get it out – after perseverance finally paid off, I rewarded myself with a big cupcake topped with a mountain of icing.

 

Once the show started on Saturday, there was barely time to think.  I didn’t leave my post at the register until late afternoon – shot these pictures to show a friend what the line looked like at 11:00 . . . and again at 2:00.

And it was warm enough that we finally propped open the doors to get a breeze through the building . . .

 

Early in the afternoon, a very nice lady handed me a bag – she said that inside were two apple fritters from her favorite donut shop in Greenfield, Indiana.  And they were great – I ate one later in the day and shared the other with Tanya from Riley and Company (she was across the aisle from us).  I found out later that the promoters had also received a bag.

On Sunday, this nice lady brought me a fruit basket and thanked us for supporting the Indianapolis show all these years (and oh, the contents were thoroughly enjoyed in my house this week).  I had time to thank her appropriately and started to tell her about the nice donut lady from the day before – and she informed me that she was also the donut lady.  With the pace on Saturday, her face hadn’t registered.

Also from Saturday, but so busy that I didn’t take this pic until after I got home Sunday evening – Zoe’s good friend Suetta Bartley always brings treats for her in Indy . . .