The ants go marching...

Saturday we spent a beautiful day at Powell Gardens. The garden was hosting a Tomato and Pepper festival with tastings and samples from some local stores. We arrived around 11 a.m. and stayed until about 4 p.m. We grabbed lunch, Anna having a little of everything, and sampled fruits picked fresh from the garden. Anna really liked the fresh cantaloupe and banana melon. The banana melon was good. It taste like a cross between a cantaloupe and a honey dew. John and I tried a Paw paw and agreed it tasted like room temperature brie. Not too appealing in my fruit.
The tomato tasting was fun. We each got a plate and loaded it up with fresh cut heirloom tomatoes, fresh picked basil, fresh bread (Anna loved it), olive oil and homemade salsa. We should have skipped lunch! A local exotic snow cone company had samples of Watermelon/Basil and Pineapple/Serrano Pepper. They were okay, but not my tube of ice. John liked the Pineapple/Serrano Pepper. And there was yet more to taste!
We sampled yummy olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, a locally made salsa and a chef's homemade sauces. John was having a good time sampling! Our favorite thing after the fresh tomatoes and basil was a local chef's homemade ice cream. He had a strawberry/red pepper sorbet which was nice, but John's jalapeno ice cream was excellent. So very creamy and smooth with a nice little burn in your throat. Unfortunately, he only made it for Saturday.
We then wandered the grounds, watched the butterflies, just missed seeing a snake eating a frog, enjoying the weather and just relaxing. Anna took this as a good opportunity to nap.

We enjoyed looking at the giant bug art through out the Gardens made from wood. A lot of twig bending and shaping. They are so much fun and visit every year. It was a great relaxing day, just what we needed.