And a wheelbarrow to get me home

Today was the Taste of the North Country Festival, the annual Glens Falls event designed to distend Adam's torso as far as is humanly possible without resorting to miraculous pregnancy. The TotNC is like the Taste of Chicago or hundreds of other events, in which a bunch of local restaurants set up tables hawking samples of their wares to attendees who buy 50¢ tickets to pay for the privelege (food items cost anywhere from 2 to 7 tickets each). I set myself a budget, grabbed a handful of quarters out of the change bucket when rafaela wasn't looking, and dashed off to what's left of City Park. Overflowing garbage cans, some balding guy on stage murdering Neil Young songs with a guitar, murderous hordes elbowing little old ladies out of the way to get their paws on that last crab cake—yup, this was the place!

I made the mistake of showing up after 1 p.m., which meant that quite a few items had already sold out, but all in all I was not disappointed, especially after a woman handed me a fistful of tickets she wasn't planning on using. Here was my culinary intake for the afternoon, in order:

1) Horseradish-Encrusted Salmon: Purchased on the theory that it's hard to completely screw up salmon. I needn't have worried, as it was simply gorgeous. Also, the longest line I waited in all afternoon.

2) Porch Suite Chicken: Nope, I'd never heard of it either, but the description included some hard-wired happy buttons for me ("Garlic oil," "mushrooms," "boursin cream sauce"). Not spectacular, but quite tasty.

3) Homemade Kielbasa: I'd spent the last year bemoaning the fact that Taste of Poland restaurant had gone under, which meant no more homemade kielbasa at TotNC. This was until I spotted the table at 1:20 and freakin' lunged for it. I think the guy at the table sensed somehow that I was a Chicagoan in need as he ladled out the sausage-and-kraut that the kielbasa was to be placed upon. "I give you little extra, yes?" Yes. Please, God, yes. I needed a few minutes to recover before I could even think of carrying on.

4) Cocoa Herbal Encrusted Tenderloin of Beef with Cranberry and Apricot Chutney: Oh. My. God. This was right after I got those extra tickets I mentioned above, so I decided to go for broke. And, as I said: Oh. My. God. Melt-in-your-mouth beef, fruit chutney I'd sell a kidney for.... It took a while for the orgasms to slow to a tolerable-enough rate to allow walking. I actually asked some stranger if it would be uncouth of me to lick my plate right then and there.

5) Chocolate Kahlua Oreo Mousse: First plan was to go light on the dessert. Second plan was to say "screw it" and die happy. I did. I most certainly did.

6) Banana and Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce: I am an adult, and as an adult I hereby decree that I can have two desserts if I frickin' well want to. So there.

So, no, no plans to move from this chair any time soon, unless rafaela needs the computer, in which case I'll roll politely to the carpet and stay there. Cheers!

Feed a fever, light-switch-rave a cold

Poor rafaela has the hacking crud, complete with head congestion, aches, pains and abject misery. She's been taking as much bed-rest as possible, reading and slamming orange juice and DayQuil like there's no tomorrow, but she's still an unhappy little pilgrim. So naturally, I've been doing what I can to help, in addition to the usual pouring fluids for her and giving lots of hugs.

Right now, for instance? I'm attempting to recreate a gay bar in the living room.

It's mostly been the music selections so far: Dead or Alive, Eiffel 65, "Girls and Boys"-era Blur, that sort of thing. Strangely, she hasn't gotten around to thanking me yet, probably because she's on the phone with chris_walsh at the moment, and the music is "too loud." Hmph. I figure the addition of a few well-chosen shooters and some glow sticks will help the ambience. Oh, and tighter clothing.