A Celebration featuring legumes…The National Lentil Festival
Pullman, WA
(August 17 – 18, 2007)
Did you know that there was a national lentil festival? When I first heard of it, I laughed (right out loud). A celebration for beans … how creative! So when my friend, Kami invited me to join her for the legume festival adventure … I couldn’t help but WANT TO GO! I decided a little overnight trip to celebrate the lentils would be a nice change of pace!
So I rented a car (I have an SUV so the small car saved me a bunch on gas money). This little rental was very fun - it only had 4 miles on it … I’ve never driven a car that new – have you?
The drive to the ‘lentil party’ was absolutely beautiful! The scene to the left and right was full on hay fields, red barns and blue skies. I found myself humming “America the Beautiful”… Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain… It’s amazing how different a road trip can be when you’re the only one in the car. I find road trips to be very therapeutic … Lots of time to think! When I was tired of thinking, I had plenty of music to fill my mind. The passenger seat was piled with my favorite CDs. Who did I sing along with? John Cougar Mellencamp, Top Gun Soundtrack, Slaid Cleaves, U2, Moulin Rouge, and Sleepless in Seattle. I knew I had reached Lentil Land when I pulled into Pullman and saw a huge pot and men stirring its contents in the middle of the street!
(Again, I laughed out loud).
Kami and I took her two sons to the Festival (I just had to get a closer look at that big pot) – WOW There was tons of people at this event! I had no idea how excited people could get about lentils! We made our way down the crowded street fair and found the GIANT pot of lentil chili. To my surprise, they were dishing it out for everyone! Did I grab a bowl? Yes. Am I a huge lentil fan now? Yes. Oh there is just something really yummy about that lentil chili … It’s almost like it casts a spell on whomever eats it.
I’m convinced that the lentils have power.
PS - If you ever find yourself in or around Pullman Washington (among the amber waves of grain) and you have the nerve to party with the lentils, please do so! You won’t be sorry…
Cheers to lentils!
Below is a link to the Lentil Festival website:
http://www.lentilfest.com/
John Cougar Mellencamp website:
(Thank you Kami and family for a very fun lentil weekend!)
1 comment:
I laughed out loud reading this. I'm going to look into this lentil thing. Had no idea there was a celebration for lentils. Thanks for the fun update.
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