Dream with Our Eyes Open

So usually I have enjoyed Ren Fairs in a low-key sort of way. They're like cons, albeit not quite as good: the ratio of geeks to mundanes is not as favorable. Today I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with the Mr., and it just didn't work for me.

The weather was pretty good, although Saturday's soaking rain meant that the ground was still fairly (ha!) muddy. And the amount of smoking seems to have gone down (I get painful sinus headaches when I get a good snort of tobacco smoke).

But I didn't feel inclined to watch any of the performances, I was uninspired by most of the handicrafts (I think I've become spoiled by works like those from Global Odyssey Design), and the food was mostly cho-hostile.

I do let myself go a bit at events like a Ren Fair, in term of eating carbs. My type II diabetes is under good enough control to allow me to do thing like share a Fryed Peasant Bread (OMT) or an apple dumpling with ice cream. But I swear that in past years, the offerings have included at least a couple of vegetable things that I could use to cut the carb + fat that makes up the typical Ren Fair culinary offering (proteins are easy - I ate steamed spiced shrimp, but I could have also had a turkey leg or Steak on a Stake). I think the moment that I lost all my reasons for being in the Towne of Revel Grove was after waiting in a longish line in the sun for Thai Fried Green Beans with Curry Peanut Sauce, only to discover that the poor little things were not only fried, but also breaded.

:-(

Maybe a larger group of friends would have helped. But the Mr. didn't seem all that inspired either. He's usually an enthusiastic patron of handicrafts, but the only thing we bought between the two of us (aside from consumables) wa a single paperback book.

27 years and still ticking!

Thanks to everyone who sent snowflakes!!! Also, I received my first f-list holiday card in the mail over the weekend, and the Mr. bought me Photoshop CS4 (we were in the Apple store to get the Young Lady a new external drive to help move a massive school project along).

The Mr. purchased 3+ lbs of skinless, boneless chicken thighs last night. "Because the price was really good!" (Well, he's right - it was, and there weren't any smaller packages.)

There are only three of us.

We're gonna be eating leftover chicken for a while ... I'm just grilling/baking it all, because that's easiest.

Fried ham, fried ham, cheese and baloney,
And after the macaroni,
We'll have pickles, onions, and pretzels -
And then we'll have some more fried ham!
FRIED HAM FRIED HAM FRIED HA-AM !!!

    - traditional Scout camp ditty

So the Mr. celebrated Father's Day by going down to the farmer's market on his ownsome (I was glued to my work laptop, testing some systems that had to be successfully "failed over" to back-up in time for work tomorrow because of power system issues at the main data center) and coming back with fresh beefsteak tomatoes, basil, - and sugar-cured fresh ham. Which he proceeded to fry up and turn into panini-ish sandwiches of ham, cheese (cheddar for him, campo de montalban for me), tomatoe, and basil leaves. MMMMmM!

I don't believe in rice cookers. I know how to make rice, dammit. But I scorch it maybe 4 to 6 times per year, so the Mr. bought me a rice cooker to prevent this calamity. To put this statistic in perspective, you should note that I make rice an average of twice a week ... . He was tactful enough, at least, not to buy it as a Mother's Day or birthday gift - but enough of a guy to proudly point out that he hadn't bought it for that sort of occasion.

But I digress.

Anyway, tonight, because our stove is dead (it's a sordid tale involving mice, and a socket wrench, and old wiring ... don't ask), I was forced to use the rice cooker.

I managed to scorch the rice.

I think the problem was that I left it on "warm" too long - the manual didn't give any estimates for how long it would take the rice to cook, so I ended up having to let it sit while the meat finished cooking. But let me tell you, I felt a really bizarre sort of triumph in pointing out to the Mr. that rice cookers do not prevent scorched rice ... .