Summer Bucket List: Asian Festival, Parade the Circle & Piccadilly

Before we get started, you can check to see who won tickets to Grapes and Ale. If you didn't win, you can get tickets here.

This year we decided to create a Summer Bucket List and actually follow through with attending the cool events, going to awesome places and finally eating the delicious things we've been wanting to try.

First up, the Asian Festival. I was surprised at how big it is! I don't know why but I always thought it was a tiny event. I was also (pleasantly) surprised at the quantity of food vendors! There were so many booths, it was really hard to make our choices. We decided to go for things we would never be able to try anywhere else.

We headed to Ono Turo-Turo. At first I thought it was Hawaiian but later found out it is Philippine cuisine. We opted for the plate lunch (our choice of two entrees, noodles and rice.) We doubled down on the noodles and it was a good choice. Pro tip: definitely split this plate with at least one other person. It was huge! You want to save room for other goodies, right?

Han Chinese Kebab & Grill was grilling octopus and was very tempting, but since they have a restaurant, we just snuck a peek and kept walking.

Just around the corner we found exactly what we were looking for: Loatian cuisine. We had a VERY spicy papaya salad and a rice dish. I wish we had a Loatian restaurant in CLE!

Even more enticing was the fresh squeezed sugar cane - it was a Must Do. Just watching them squeeze it was worth the five bucks! It was expensive and honestly wasn't that good but I can't imagine passing up the chance to try it. 

We also got to see our favorite bellydancers Troupe Shabaana.

This weekend we went to Parade the Circle for the first time. I'm not a huge fan of parades but everyone loves this event so we decided to check it out. It is extremely popular with over 80,000 people attending. 

The rain held out thankfully. Before the parade we walked around, watched an African dance and drum group and had a delicious but extremely overpriced zucchini pancake from the Murray Hill Market. $5.00 for one average sized pancake was a total rip off. I wish Noodlecat was serving food but they were running late and weren't serving until after the Parade. Happy Dog was there with either plain, chili or mac 'n cheese hot dogs. Pizza, kettle corn, sugared nuts, and corn dogs rounded out the offerings at the food stands. 

We absolutely loved all the homemade costumes and all the music. There was so much creativity and artistic talent, I was really impressed. 

My favorites:

After the Parade, we skipped the food there and headed to lunch at L'Albatros. The cassoulet and rose was a delicious combo.

We crossed another item off our bucket list by FINALLY going to Piccadilly Creamery. They use liquid nitrogen and a KitchenAid mixer to create the creamiest ice cream imaginable right before your eyes. 

photo credit

My concoction was their strawberry balsamic ice cream with pecans, fresh pomegranate and a caramel drizzle. YUM!! My phone died right before I got my ice cream but I'm sure you can use your imagination.

What's on your Summer Bucket List?