Derby Day!

A word to any Louisvilleans out there--be aware that while the city of Louisville and the Kentucky Derby Festival might lead you to believe that the entire world waits in baited breath for months on end for "the fastest two minutes in sports," it's not true.  Can you believe it?

Maybe because everyone around else was completely oblivious to the Event, we I felt the need to celebrate, probably even more than I ever did when we lived in Louisville.  When we lived there, I felt like the rest of the city celebrated it enough for me!  (Although I would make these bad boys.)  Regardless of where we live, our daughters are both Louisvilleans, and just because they're growing up overseas doesn't mean they have to forget their heritage, right? 

I wish I could say I put together some kind of amazing unit study on the Derby or Louisville or horses.  But since we did not have the two-month build-up that is the Kentucky Derby Festival, Derby Day kind of snuck up on me.  For starters, our Saturday May 7th was still Friday May 6th in Louisville, so we couldn't exactly celebrate in "real time."   Maybe the Lord knew we were feeling a little bit sad about that, so he brought a little taste of Derby to us.....there was a horse-drawn fruit cart outside our complex that morning!  Why do I never have my camera?  Only in Asia can you have massive traffic congestion made up by taxis, BMWs, bicycles, scooters, and horses.  Love it.

So Sunday morning came to our side of the world, and for some reason we were all up pretty early.  I decided to check online to find out the results of the race and see if we could watch a video of the Derby while we ate our breakfast.  I always think the race starts at 4pm, so I was uber-surprised when, instead of finding videos of the race, I saw live-blogs that said things like, "6:23pm, Now singing My Old Kentucky Home."  What???!!!  We could watch it live?  I herded the girls onto the couch, and we got to watch the Derby happen in real-time (and were probably the only people in our city of millions doing so).

Pleae note Caro's horsey pajamas!

I was kind of bummed we missed the singing of "My Old Kentucky Home." Adam and I both really dislike that song, but it was always hilarious to watch all the drunken out-of-towners attempt to sing it.  (I say that as if Louisvilleans actually know the words/tune!)

Last but not least (and most importantly in my book!), I made a Derby Pie, I mean, Kentucky Chocolate Walnut "Run for the Roses" Pie.  Since none of our friends here had ever tasted a real one (and I might mention had to be informed that the Kentucky Derby had happened!), I opted to make an actual pie, instead of my usual cheat version.  The pies turned out amazingly (if I'm allowed to say so...and I feel like I am, since I always bought Pillsbury pie crusts in the States due to the fact I'd never been able to pull off a pie crust that was actually rollable.)  I'm pretty sure it was just the recipe that was awesome and had nothing to do with me.  And I could not have done it without the incredible generosity of some mothers and mothers-in-law who gifted us with packages filled with shortening and chocolate chips.  Click here for the recipe.

And such was our family's celebration of the Kentucky Derby. Maybe next year I'll do the unit study?  :)