Taste of Bethesda and Crafty Bastards

This post is woefully overdue.

Last Saturday, my mother's visit coincided with both the Taste of Bethesda and the Crafty Bastards, two events I have waited all year for. We started off at the Taste of Bethesda, where many of Bethesda's 200 restaurants set up booths and offer small bits of their menu in exchange for tickets. We skipped breakfast in favor of an early arrival, walking about 5 minutes from my house to the festival. I love large event set-up, so being out on this fine day, watching cooks and vendors arrange their tables and grill meats made me joyful.
We watched a 16-piece swing band do a sound check, admiring the cafe-like tables.
Jaleo, which, as you may recall, I have previously enjoyed, cooked a paella to feed 450 people. Mom and I checked back on its progress through the festival.
We found out that the heat is mostly in the center of the pan, so after something is cooked it is pushed to the side so it does not cook to death. Here they are making room for several gallons of mushrooms.
The rice is cooked directly in the pan, with the addition of much broth (mushroom broth, and I think chicken broth too. This was a chicken paella).
We sampled many different foods: shrimp shumai, a philadelphia roll, crab mac and cheese, chana masala, and a samosa.

When we were full, we headed to Crafty Bastards, an alternative arts and crafts fair in Adams Morgan. They have all sorts of funky crafts, many which are repurposed from other things:
These purses are old book covers. There was also jewelry made of nuts and bolts and clothing made of other clothing. Many of the booths had hand-made banner like this one:
Lots of screen printing (tshirts and posters), jewelry, items that look cool but have no use, and baby cloths. I ran into literally half a dozen people I know--5 Smithies, 1 Nice Jewish Girl, and Jason! We took a picture to prove to our mothers that we had actually seen eachother in Washington!
This donut was actually a floor cushion. I love Crafty Bastards.
Despite our large lunch at 11am, Mom and I found ourselves hungry, so I introduced her to the joy that is frozen-yogurt-that-tastes-like-yogurt. I'm sure this has another name, but my title is highly descriptive: it is frozen yogurt that does not try to taste like ice cream. It is cultured like yogurt. I tried the raspberry flavored with strawberries and little rice dough balls. Mom had plain with m&ms and strawberries. Totally hit the spot.