Carolina Renaissance Festival

On Saturday, Jag and I drove out to the Carolina Renaissance Festival. I had prepared in advance with some ACME Generic Wench Garb(tm), the bodice of which budget garment set unfortunately turned out to be more like a vest than the chest-uplifting apparel traditionally worn to such events. A new bodice is definitely a must for propping up my bust for future Ren Faire visits.

The day started out on the gloomy side

but quickly improved as we drove west.

There were lots of rides for kids, including a giant rocking horse:

In addition, there was climbing tower, a catapult-themed bungee cord ride, and some traditional fair-type rides like this one, which was called "Davinci's Flying Machine" but apparently manned by pirates.

This doorway (which was a staff exit) was cool:

A handsome Scotsman escorted me around the festival.

This woman was costumed as a "living statue". She was actually much more convincing than this photo implies.

I was completely fascinated by the giant walking tree/Green Man who was wandering around, interacting with the crowd.

I approached and requested a photo, which he graciously agreed to. He definitely talked just like a tree.

"Staannnnddddd rriigggght hheeerrrrre."

He was taking donations via two gourds strapped to his "arms", so I obliged. He probably spends half his take on Gatorade after walking around in a foam rubber suit for 6 hours a day.

A view of one area of the festival, looking back towards the entrance:

I was strong and did not buy one of these:

However, I did end up bringing back a fairy door:

and some jewelry:

I also got talked into a candle by a very aggressive (and funny) candle vendor.

We toured The Dungeon, aka "The Torture Museum", which was not really worth the $1.50/ea, and caught a performance of Zilch the Toryseller doing his rendition of "Romeo and Juliet", which was definitely worth the $1 we each dropped into his hat after the performance. The food prices were not unreasonable, and it was quite tasty. They had beer, wine, mead and cider in addition to the usual food and drink.

We needed to leave by 3:30, so we didn't get to see quite everything on this trip, but it was a great time and worth the drive and entrance fee.

~~~~ Thee Ende ~~~~

Memories of The Frug

Back in the 80s, my family and I were big fans of The Frugal Gourmet (aka the late Jeff Smith). We enjoyed watching his shows on PBS and bought several of his books. He dropped out of the public eye in the late 90's after a scandal involving sexual assault charges brought against him by several men who had worked for him in the past. I have no idea whether the accusations were valid, but the man could write a damn good cookbook.

My favorite Frugal Gourmet recipe collection is The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors. The tabouli recipe is the best one I've found, and I've made it countless times. His Chicken Paprikas is to die for; the Hungarian Dumplings with Paprika Gravy are also amazing and well worth the preparation time. At one point we even tried his recipe for Kibbe (raw freshly ground lamb mixed with soaked bulgar wheat and spices and served in a mound with onion petals as scoops). It actually wasn't bad, just a bit fatty and bland.

The Irish stew recipe from this book is another that I've used more times than I can remember. It starts out with diced bacon, which is fried and removed from the pan so the cubes of flour-dredged lamb can be browned in the fat. Onions and garlic go in next, and then the the pan is deglazed with some good stout (the "Frug" recommended water, but I think stout adds a lot of flavor and makes a good dark gravy). The bacon goes back in, and the mixture simmers on its own for about an hour before additional water and root vegetables are added. I went a little crazy at Harris Teeter and ended up adding leeks to the onions, plus some parsnips and turnips along with the usual carrots and potatoes in the second stage.

Add some soda bread, and you're all set.

In crafty news, I have the main part of the tote bag for Grandma sewn up. I've quilted the bottom of the bag as well; now I need to decide what fabric to use for the handles and binding. I have some tone-on-tone black fabric that would make a good neutral, but I may try something different this time.

I'm also more than half done with the main part of The Secret Mom Project. I'll take some more pictures when there's been some more significant progress from the last ones.

Picky picky

I'm having the hardest time lately finding decent fantasy novels to read. Either my tolerances have reached an all-time low, or there's a flood of absolute crap out there. I'm not particularly fond of the crossover supernatural fantasy/horror/romance genre that's become popular recently, and I was seriously annoyed to see that Harlequin has its own fantasy imprint now ("Luna"). I like trashy romance novels, but trashy romance novels masquerading as fantasy because they involve a half-assed magic system and a couple werewolves just piss me off.

I tend to get a stack of novels at the library these days rather than invest $7 in something that will probably just end up sucking and only get me a few dollars of trade credit at Edward McKay. On occasion I'll find something actually worth finishing, but generally it's a losing battle. For example, I just picked up Trudi Canavan's Priestess of the White (aka Age of the Five: Book One). Two of my peeviest pet peeves are ridiculous fantasy names and Unnecessary Capitalization. On Page 4, this bit of dialogue appeared: "I am Bal, Talm of Mirrim, Ka-Lem of the Leven-ark". Once The Porkk-Chop of Marklar appears in a novel, it's pretty much time to put it down and try again with something else.

Lois McMaster Bujold's latest books are well-written and entertaining, if starting to blur together a bit, but that's about the only memorable fantasy I've read in months. Maybe publishers should consider having aspiring writers pass The Fantasy Novelist's Exam before their manuscripts are allowed to emerge from the slush pile.

No knitting updates, because showing pictures of how I knit another 2" on the Mom Mystery Project just isn't that compelling. I did cut out all the pieces for a quilted bag for my Grandma's Christmas gift. She went through my fabric stash on a recent visit and liked several of the fabrics in this batch, which I think will go well together.

Germs ahoy

I've caught my first cold of the fall season, which is really annoying since I have no sick time at the moment. I've been taking it easy all weekend and eating a lot of comfort food, including some butternut squash soup I made last night.

I'm not a fan of sweet winter squash dishes; the idea of putting brown sugar on acorn or butternut grosses me out (this makes no sense because they're basically the same thing as pumpkin). My favorite way to cook winter squash for soup or any other dish is roasting. It's a heck of a lot easier than trying to peel a raw squash for boiling in chunks, which I used to do (peeling an acorn squash is a particular pain in the butt), and the roasting really brings out the flavor. I split a butternut squash in half, scooped the seeds out and rolled it around in olive oil and some dried herbs along with some leeks, shallots, parsnips (the cashiers at HT never have any idea what those are) and carrots. About 45 minutes later, it was all soft and roasty.

I pureed it all together in the food processor, added a can of Great Northern beans, 3 slices of crumbled bacon, about 2 cups of leftover fat-free chicken stock from the fridge, a dollop of half and half, and some extra herbs and spices. The result was not photogenic, but it was really good.

I also have a secret Mom knitting progress report for the non-Mom persons in the reading public.

There's a new man in my life

There's a new man in my life. A man who's helpful around the house. A man with a sense of purpose. A man who isn't concerned about a little cholesterol and who likes my cooking.

Just arrived from the San Franciso area (where his friends Heather and Bennett graciously arranged for his cross-country transportation, with Bill Rankin acting as a chaperone on the flight to RDU) meet....Butter Boy.

Butter Boy arrived in style.

"Let's glide across some warm corn," Butter Boy suggested with a smile. How could I resist?

I was embarrassed that I didn't have any Kerrygold, Plugra or even Land O' Lakes to offer Butter Boy, but he seemed satisfied with my pound of Harris Teeter salted.

Butter Boy came with some helpful instructions. Luckily, he showed them to me just as I was about to try pounding in a whole stick with my meat tenderizing mallet.

Lock 'n' load, Butter Boy!

Due to corn on the cob availability problems, Butter Boy agreed to try buttering something a little....different. A little...outside his comfort zone.

Stay on target....stay on target...

Mission accomplished!

Hey, Butter Boy, you've, uh, got a little something...over by your mouth...here, take this napkin.

After a hot, buttery morning's work, Butter Boy retired to the refrigerator, where he quickly made new friends among even the most sour of the dairy products.

Let us not say goodbye, but au revoir, Butter Boy.

I smell nice

My order from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab came in and I smell mighty fine, according to Pikacthulhu. I got 2 scents:

Arcana The essence of magickal enigmas and long-forgotten esoteric mysteries. Frankincense, rosemary, lavender, neroli, and verbena.

Brisingamen The amber necklace of Freyja, Norse Goddess of Love, Sex, Attraction and Fruitfulness. Her magnificent necklace was bough from four Dwarves [Alfrik, Berling, Dvalin and Grer] at the price of four nights of her passion. When Brisingamen graces your throat, no man can resist your charms. A glittering mantle of rich golden notes: five ambers, soft myrtle and apple blossom, myrtle, and carnation.

The Brisingamen seemed a little strong a first, but it's growing on me. The Arcana is definitely more sweet and low-key. I can't stop sniffing myself.

In addition, I got 5 free samples in little tubes with plenty of oil to test out: Love Lies Bleeding, Hades, Aureus, Dracul and Midnight Kiss. Aside from having one of the coolest web sites on the planet, their prices are reasonable and it's just so darn fun to order a bottle of "Jazz Funeral" or "Penny Dreadful" or "Nyarlathotep". The Gaiman themed scents are very cool too. Listen to Bauhaus and do some gothy perfume shopping.

Peer Pressure

cec and etselec made me take the Brainworks Left/Right Brain Test.

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 50%

Visual : 50%

Left : 58%

Right : 41%

heathbar, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant with a balanced preference for auditory and visual inputs. Because of your "centrist" tendencies, the distinctions between various types of brain usage are somewhat blurred.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most.

Having given sufficient attention to detail, you can readily perceive the larger aspects and implications of a situation or of learning. You are functional and practical, but can blend abstraction and theory into your framework readily.

The equivalence of your auditory and visual learning orientation gives you two equally effective sensory input systems, each with distinctive features. You can process both unidimensionally and multidimen- sionally with equal facility. When needed, you sequence material while at other times you "intake it all" and store it for processing later.

Your natural ability to use your senses is also synthesized in your way of learning. You can be reflective in your approach, absorbing material in a non-aggressive manner, and at other times voracious in seeking out stimulation and experience.

Overall you tend to be somewhat more critical of yourself than is necessary and avoid enjoying life too much because of a sense of duty. You feel somewhat constrained and tend to sometimes restrict your expressiveness. In any given situation, you will opt for the rational, and learning of almost any type should be easy for you. You might need certain ideas explained to you in order to fit them into your scheme of things, but you're at least open to that!