'A Moveable Feast'
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Calidocious Inc. sponsors twelve month-long festivals each year. The purpose of these festivals is to increase interest among Americans in 'California Dutch" by celebrating various aspects of Flemish culture and heritage.
In addition to the twelve month-long festivals, there are special holidays for each month. Note: The months, as well as the holidays, can shifted six months for use in the Southern Hemisphere. They are intended to correspond to the seasons of the year.
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| Official Festival Food- Belgian style fries. |
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The twelve special holidays are: 1.'Jankees' Ice skating (or roller blading) competition plus wine-punch evening in January, 2. 'Mardi Gras', in February, 3. the 'Zin-Speed™' Bicycle Winery Tour, plus the 'Tour of Flanders'/'Tour of California' bicycle races in March (or April. or May), 4. 'Chocolapolis™' Chocolate day in April, 5. 'SFO-(Sarifornia™'), Picnic and Spa day in May, 6. the 'Juneteenth' Jazz Festival in June, 7. the 'Battle of the Big Sticks' - 'Sequoia' Lacrosse tournament in July, 8. 'Further' campfire & astronomy night in August, 9. 'Calijfia™' day, which coincides with 'California's Birthday, and the Annual Coorporate Meeting of Calidocious Inc. in September, 10. 'Halloween', in October, 11. 'Thanksgiving' in November, and 12. 'Alphabet Tree™ Day', in December.
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| Dutch Fries and French Dip |
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Each of the twelve festivals co-features a sort of culinary treat. In addition to the chocolates of Flanders, the Calidocious festivals are meant to promote Belgium's other fine cuisines.
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Flemish cooking mixes the heartiness of Dutch and German cooking, with the sophisticated sauces and flavors of French cuisine. There are more Michelin Restaurant stars per person in Flanders than anywhere else!
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The hallmark Belgian dish is "Belgian" style french fries. Belgian Fries' differ from American 'French' fries in that they are fried twice at different temperatures. This gives 'Belgian Fries' fries a more complex taste that goes very well with mayonnaise and sauces- and is well suited to a cool California evening.
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Each of the monthly celebrations also features a hike to one of the peaks at the perimeter of San Francisco Bay. This helps define the 'Circle of Zinfandel', or 'Sarifornia©', the target area for 'California Dutch'.
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The goal of all the activities is to give a non-Dutch speaker an idea of how speaking Flemish can enrich a mono-lingual English speaker's appreciation of life in the Bay Area of California. There is an African proverb that says "Language is the carrier of culture. Culture is the carrier of people." Speaking 'California Dutch' is a vehicle that can help an individual or group of individuals upgrade their "California Bay Area" experience.
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| "Adding Spice to Life!" |
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-January- 'Guilder' 'World of Dutch' festival. Keywords: Dutch East and West Indies Companies, Holland, Manhattan (originally New Amsterdam), Stock Exchange, Coffee, ABC Islands, South Africa and Afrikaans, Eleven Cities Ice Skating Race, Rollerblading, "Speed and Simplicity" (hallmarks of the Dutch language).
The featured chocolate is Mocha Coffee.
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| Wollman Rink- (in the old swamp between Nieuw Amsterdam and Nieuw Haerlem.) |
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| Columbus Circle- Time Warner T.V. Studios |
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-February- 'Zinfandel'- Comedy festival. Keywords: Mardi Gras, Humor, Urbanus- King of Flemish Comedy.
The Flemish (thanks to the Flemish language) have a sense of humor similar to English humor. Being able to make others laugh is a highly valued skill. The best comedians of Flanders are more highly regarded than Prime Ministers!
The featured chocolates are chocolates with liquors.
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-March- 'Filoli'- Bicycle festival. Key words: Bicycling and the Tour of Flanders (which varies between the end of March and first days of April), plus Fairfax, CA- The Road and Mountain Biking capital of Northern California, and the 'Zin-speed' "race"- (with stops at select wineries).
The Flemish are perhaps the world's most avid competetive cyclists. They are world-leading supporters of cross-country bicycling. (This is different than mountain biking because regular bicycles are used.)
The featured chocolate is hot chocolate.
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| West Drive |
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| The Lake |
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| -April- 'Albion'- 'Outside (Is)lands' festival. Keywords: Arbour Day, Farmers Markets, Agriculture, Hiking, Pilgrimages, England-the United Kingdom, and the English language.
Famous Flemish agricultural products include Brussel Sprouts, rabbits, and draft horses.
Featured chocolates are chocolate Easter eggs. (In Flanders, virtually all Easter eggs are made of chocolate.)
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-May- 'Burgundy'- 'All Things French' festival. Keywords: "Live Well!" philosophy, Burgundy and Burgundian culture, France, French language, cuisine and culture, Wine, Marin, Napa and Sonoma Counties, Picnics, and Sidewalk Cafes.
Celebrates the burgundian heritage of Flanders, as well as the coastal wine-growing areas of California. The burgundians were known for their good food and good governance.
Featured chocolates are chocolate pastries.
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| Belvedere Castle |
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| Near Naumburg Bandshell |
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| -June- 'Gallium'- Music festival (Gaul is the old Roman word for France and Flanders.). Keywords: Jazz, Django Reinhardt, gypsy music (the word 'Flamenco' was likely derived in Spain from "foreign gypsy from exotic Flanders", mussels, and Saxophones (the Saxophone was invented in Belgium!).
June is the beginning of the music festival mega-season in Flanders. Flanders hosts more music festivals per capita than anywhere else.
Featured chocolates are choco- lates with fruits, such as cherries, oranges, and coconuts.
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-July- 'Lacrosse'- 'Hackensack'-('Hook and Sack') festival Keywords: LaCrosse, Flemish Battle of Independence, School Holidays, and the great Indian teacher Sequoia. Includes the 'Sequoia' championship game which coincides with Flemish Independence Day, July 11.
Featured chocolates are chocolate ice cream and milk shakes.
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| The Carousel |
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| East Hudson River |
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-August- 'Asterickx' Science and Latin-language festival. Keywords: Science, Technology, Ancient Latin culture/language, Campfires, and Stars. (Asterickx was a prototype name for the comic Series 'Asterix', created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo from Belgium.)
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The featured chocolate is a "S'more"- a contraction of "Some more". "S'mores" are American campfire sandwiches made of a layer of bar-chocolate, plus a layer of roasted marshmallow, squeezed between two honey-graham crackers.
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-September- 'Avalon' -('Camelot', or '4 Peace' festival. Keywords: War, Peace, Soccer, and Sharing of linguistic and cultural strengths.
In addition to paying tribute to the unifying character of Soccer, the festival is meant to be a reminder of, and contrast to, the terrible conflicts that have taken place in Flanders in the last 100 years.
The featured chocolate is chocolate with nuts.
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| John Lennon Memorial |
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| Tavern on the Green |
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-October-'Austival©'- (Pronounced 'Awe-stival') Germanic Countries and High German Language festival- Beer and Blues/Country music festival. Keywords: Austin- the musical capitol of the Western United States, Aachen- the Gateway to Germany from Flanders), Beer gardens, Sweet-melancholy (the leitmotif of Country music, which largely evolved from German folk music) and the 'Glass Bead Game' novel by Herman Hesse, which can be considered to be an elogy to 'High German'.
The featured chocolate is chocolate spread.
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-November- 'Fugezi©'- Arts festival. Keywords Graphic Arts, and the Art of Written Language.
Celebrates Flemish craftsmanship, particularly in the graphic arts- with special emphasis on Belgian comic strips . Proceeds from the festival will promote the 'Fugezi© Virtual Museum'.
The featured food is waffles, which are served on the day of the first fall rain- a tradition from South Africa.
Featured chocolates are pralines.
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Grand Army Plaza-FAO Schwarz |
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-December- 'Amiqueo'-- Christmas and language festival. Keywords: Christmas, J.S. Bach (The Flemish consider Bach's music to be the cornerstone of classical music), and all languages and language scripts (including made-up languages like Esperanto). 'Amiqueo' was the early 1900's proposed name for a small autonomous "country" in Belgium where the official language would be the 'World Unifying Language'- Esperanto.
The featured food/drink is mulled (spiced) wine made with Zinfandel grapes.
Featured chocolates are dark chocolates, or chocolates with maximum cocoa content. European chocolates traditionally have a higher chocolate content than American chocolates.
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December is also the month of the 'Alphabet Tree©' celebration. The 'Alphabet Tree©', (which looks like a Christmas tree), celebrates the gift of language to mankind. Decorations for the 'Alphabet Tree' include brightly-colored ornaments in the form of alphabet letters from various languages and chocolate coins.
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| 12x More Fun! |
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