Aaaaah.

[camwyn]

I went to the NY Renaissance Faire yesterday and spent most of the day sweating. It was hot out, and sticky, and I thought more than once about how the place would smell if everyone there were practicing Elizabethan standards of hygiene. (Hint: not good.) I stopped at the water fountain several times to drink all I could, and at one point I chugged an iced cappucino, but I don't know that the combined liquid volume was enough to help. By the time I got home I was starting to feel a headache forming. I went home, put my bows away (if you ever want conversation at a RenFaire, bring a bow with you and make sure you know how to use it), and went out to the bookstore. When I got home again around 8:30 or 9, my head was in full-out aching mode. I had some more water, took two Tylenol, and went to bed by 10:30. I didn't get up until 9 AM.

But today I am sure that God, or someone, likes me, and there are two reasons why:

1. Willis Carrier was born, and Willis Carrier invented air conditioning.
2. A company in New York City produces Manhattan Special Coffee Soda, which as far as I'm concerned replaces 'beer' in Benjamin Franklin's statement about 'proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy'. This stuff is carbonated espresso with enough sugar to make it taste good.

Yay.

Comments

[ahmeemee.livejournal.com]

Dammit, why didn't I find out about this miracle drink when I was there?

[camwyn]

Because it's not really what you'd call a mass-market drink. Manhattan Special mostly turns up in Italian neighbourhoods and Italian specialty shops, rather than in supermarkets or small delis. It's been on the market for something like ninety years and there's maybe five ingredients on the label, tops. It only ships in glass bottles, though- and the largest size is rather smaller than 2 litres, which is kind of annoying.

I've seen it in stores as far afield as Cleveland and Fort Lauderdale, but these stores were in Italian neighbourhoods and specialised in Italian foods. If you have any such neighbourhoods in Vancouver, you might want to see if there's a place with a name like Vince Condurso's Italian Market and nose around among the Brioschi and Orangina to see if they carry it there.

[ahmeemee.livejournal.com]

I live three blocks from Little Italy, so that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the tip!

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

Little Italy in Toronto is now spread, in pockets, from College Street via St. Clair West all the way to Woodbridge ...
but I swear I will find this elixir if it is here.

Carbonated sweetened espresso. Yum.

Ever have caffe granita? Like an espresso sno-cone ... not syrup over crushed ice, mind, but crushed frozen coffee. Heaven affords no greater pleasure on a hot July night.

[ahmeemee.livejournal.com]

...all these things I never knew.

Who says you can't learn anything on LJ?

[camwyn]

If you can't find it, let me know. I visit the Toronto area once or twice a year, and I'd be willing to bring a couple bottles next time.

Weird experience.

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

I was in a bookstore, (yesterday) and I was looking for paranormal stuff and ect. So, I asked a guy if he could show me the section for it, and he took me to the New Age section. Well, I sat down on the floor and looked through the books, looking for anything interesting.

Thats when I saw it.

It was small, black and it had one word written in bold white print.

The word?

Necronomicon.

Re: Weird experience.

[camwyn]

Eh, I've seen that. There's a couple of bookstore versions of the Necronomicon, all of which are vaguely stupid. One of 'em's just the same four or five Arabic sentences written over and over and over. I think one of the others has a lot of H.R. Giger illustrations.

Re: Weird experience.

[silly-dan.livejournal.com]

A guy I knew in high school had one of those. After graduation, we never saw him again!!because he moved to Winnipeg.

Re: Weird experience.

[camwyn]

Aieee! Not Winnipeg!

... and now I've got horrid visions of a parody where a bunch of Cthulhu cultists find out that they've been wrong all along and that R'leyh was actually buried, not sunken, so they've got to go to Saskatchewan and raise Great C. from under the Prairie Pimple...

"I feel stupid, George."
"Shut up and chant, Ted."

Re: Weird experience.

[silly-dan.livejournal.com]

Aieee! Not Winnipeg!

Could've been worse. Could've been Regina.

"Shut up and chant, Ted."

Ha!

Re: Weird experience.

[camwyn]

Seriously. Canadian Cthulhu cultists stuck out on the prairies trying to work up enough of a froth to get Big C up right now because the stars are right, even though it's the middle of February...

Re: Weird experience.

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

You have? Here I thought I was going to have a heartattack, all for no reason.

Re: Weird experience.

[midnightlurker.livejournal.com]

I've got one that's basically a bunch of vaguely Sumerian/Babylonian magic(k)al rituals with a thin gloss of the Mythos. Probably the one Dragonwishes saw judging by the cover.

[derien.livejournal.com]

carbonated espresso with enough sugar to make it taste good.

Woo! I want some of that!

[irian.livejournal.com]

We don't have RenFaires over here...

[camwyn]

I'm pretty sure most countries outside the States and the UK don't really bother with them. They might hold cultural festivals where people dress up in old-school costumes, but that's as close as they get.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

If you didn't watch the closing Olympic ceremonies last night, check and see if you can catch them on the 'net somewhere. Since 2008 is in Beijing, Fun Chinese pageantry was the order of the day. People on stilts with big lanterns! Tumblers! The Red Scarf Dance! Opera Performers! Fringes and shiny things on clothes!
I saw these things, and I thought of you.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Sorry I didn't make the RenFaire. Maybe next time. Charlie's birthday is this Sunday and I'm trying to get my house in order.

Sounds like fun, though. I really want to go to one someday and I want to dress up!

[camwyn]

That's okay, hon. The Faire runs weekends until the 26th (and it's open for $10 on Labor Day), if you're still interested, but there'll always be another. They've got a costume rental booth near the entrance, too.

[estarcollector.livejournal.com]

Coffee soda? I may be the happiest person currently on the planet for that.