A picnic at St. Paul's Church

When I was a student at the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, years ago, the churchyard at St. Paul's was one of my favorite places to go after rehearsal, to sit and read and go over lines and discuss all the gossip of the day with a classmate or two. Yesterday, Anouk and I took some friends -- and a picnic lunch -- to visit the mossy churchyard. A lot about the surrounding downtown Norfolk area has changed since I graduated in 1999, but St. Paul's itself is just the same as I remember it, comfortingly so.

An 18th-century church might not seem like the most exciting place for playgroup, but A. and her friends had a blast exploring. They ran up and down the brick pathways and even peeked inside the church, exclaiming over the massive pipe organ and the intricate stained-glass windows. Of course we visited the cannonball lodged in the church's south wall, a souvenir of the Battle of Great Bridge during the first days of the Revoluntionary War. (Little Zeke thought it had been fired by pirates, and was very interested to see it.) There was even a tiny playground, and the shady magnolia trees adjacent were the perfect spot to spread our picnic blankets and sit awhile.

St. Paul's is the only surviving colonial-era building in Norfolk, and unlike many of the other historical sites around the city, is still being put to its original use today. The parish at St. Paul's is vibrant and active, and as a result, the church is a bustle of activity throughout the day, people going in and out, tending the graves, and setting up for morning services. I like that -- it makes the church feel like a representation of the city itself, which has been through so much and is still standing. St. Paul's reminds me every time I visit of Norfolk's long and colorful history. The things the church has seen -- the Revolution, the Burning of Norfolk, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era! As we walked through the courtyard yesterday, I found myself wishing that those old stones could talk. Just think of all the things they'd have to say -- and I would sit right down and hang on every word.

Lemonada (and other Greek Fest goodies)

The Norfolk Greek Festival holds a special place in mine and James's hearts -- during his first visit home with me at the end of freshman year of college, I took him to Greek Fest and plied him with food in hopes of creating a positive association with my hometown (I think it worked). Since then, we've done our best to hit it up every year that we can, and last weekend, we took Anouk for the very first time.

Anouk enjoyed her first Greek Fest very much, especially the eating part of it (which, honestly, is most of it). Every single thing she ate, she loved, from dolmades to gyros to calamari. In fact, she enjoyed everything so much that we spent the rest of the weekend looking up Greek recipes we could make for her at home. Most of what we found looked pretty labor intensive but this simple recipe for Greek lemonade was so intriguing (and turned out to be so delicious) that I knew from the first sip that it was a keeper.

Lemonada

5-6 lemons
1 cup sugar (or to taste)
2 cups water (or to taste)
1 tsp orange blossom water (we got ours at Azars, in Ghent, but it's also available online)
3-4 mint sprigs

The secret that makes this lemonade taste so good seems to be in the juicing technique, which incorporates more of the oils and the rind than normal juicing procedures. Cut 5-6 large lemons into the thinnest slices possible. Place in a bowl, and pour 1/2 cup of the sugar over top. Let sit for 5 minutes, then use your hands to squish and squeeze the lemon slices. Strain the juice through a sieve into a pitcher. Repeat this process, using the rest of the lemons and sugar, until you can't get any more juice out of the lemons. (For us, 5-6 large lemons yielded about 2 cups of juice). The lemon pulp and peels should look pretty shredded by the time you're done.

Add water and additional sugar to taste (we added about 2 cups of water, but didn't add any more sugar). Add the orange blossom water to the lemonade, stir well. Crush 2-3 mint leaves, add to a glass with ice, and pour the lemonade over it. Garnish with an additional sprig of mint and some lemon slices.

This is the best lemonade I've ever had -- the orange blossom water adds a nice floral note and the mint spices everything up and makes it even more refreshing, somehow. Next time I make it, I'm toying with the idea of adding sparkling water for fizz. I also think it would be just swell with a jot of vodka in it, too. But that is an entry for another blog entirely.

Some more pictures from our Greek Fest experience:

^^ The line for the loukoumades tent was so long (but they were worth the wait)

^^ Ecstatically enjoying some grape leave rolls

^^ Browsing the agora with mama

^^  Opa!