Tess Malijenovsky explores the Lowcountry's natural environment... and takes you along for the ride.
The Outsider Abroad: Part Two
Written by Tess Malijenvosky
Tuesday, 09 October 2012 10:48
Tomato Fight in Spain!
The world's largest tomato throwing festival takes place in the small Spanish town of Buñol, 45 minutes outside of Valencia, every year. It's called La Tomatina. And ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be in a food fight like the ones I saw in the movies. With only four hours of sleep since our last night in Madrid, the four of us travelers woke up at 5:45 a.m. to catch a metro and a train to Buñol. We had to make do with wine for breakfast and to no surprise, there were hundreds of people from around the world who also shared my dream of launching ripened red fruits.
The morning I was to leave Beaufort for my seven week venture abroad in Europe and Africa, my father held out his hand with three small, white and black-speckled pebbles, asking me to choose one. "Take it with you wherever you go and bring it back," he told me. The other two were for him and my younger sister Chloe who was coming with me for the first three weeks in Europe. My parents have always supported our passion for world travel, but with the message of never forgetting where we come from.
Four locals eager for hunting season reveal the differences among deer hunters.
One hunts deer with a bow and arrow high in the camouflage of a tree. One is a sheriff deputy and taxidermist who hunts by rifle with his three daughters. One hunts in fellowship as the president of a hunting club. One is a local good ‘ol boy who hunts a country road by foot with a keen eye and lives off his land. These huntsmen may have different styles, but all of them cultivated a devout passion for hunting as young boys. All of them have been waiting for August 15, the first day of hunting season, in great anticipation.
I’ve been an “outsider” since last August, listening to the locals echo “Water Festival” in all its glory since I moved to Beaufort about a year ago. Man, it’s the best time of the year… Just wait ‘til Water Festival…The sandbar is crazy! etc… Well the notorious Beaufort holiday has come and gone—live music was danced to, new friends were made, old friends embraced, and sandbar debauchery had. By the time Water Festival was over, in a way I would have never anticipated a year ago, I had a newfound understanding of sandbar summers and southern nights.
The Outsider and her dad go foraging for wild mushrooms... then cook them and serve them over chateaubriand. ("Papa" happens to be a French chef!)
If you see a brunette man with a woven basket foraging your wooded property for wild, vibrantly colored mushrooms, please don’t be alarmed. It’s probably my father, or Mr. Mali as many parents and schoolchildren know him.