QueerBomb and Kitchen Antics

Let's get started, friends! It's been a hell of a weekend!

Friday night, dear Bryan and I got to know the streets of Austin intimately by marching with Queer Bomb, "an assembly of LGBTQIA with the community who have found the current strategy and structure of Austin pride to be non-inclusive, capitalist, heteronormative, safe, and unchallenging." Whew. As our Texas marriage license suggests, Bryan and I are not gay, but we both believe strongly in gay marriage, hospital visitation rights, and just basic equality. Seems like a no-brainer to us. Our friend Michael invited us to the event, and we went to lend to our voices to the cause. And he and several hundred others were letting their freak flag fly. Your average QueerBomber might be sporting a simple diva wig, a strap-on, or just their God-given boobs. (Evidently, it is not illegal for women to be bare-breasted in Austin.) I'll be honest. I felt uncomfortable at times, but this was my own doing. While I supported whole heartedly Queer Bomb's message of balls out inclusivity, I felt that I stuck out like a sore thumb in my contrasting squareness, and that my somewhat preppy straightness might be symbolic of the culture against which they were rebelling. But that wasn't the case at all. I was welcomed happily as a supporter, and I was proud to support. Plus, I got a lot of education, starting with the alphabet soup that is LGBTQIA. The QIA is a new addition for me: Q standing for Queer or Questioning, I standing for Intersex, and A standing for Asexual or Ally. Ally. That's me! Many thanks to QueerBomb for spreading a message of love and inclusion.

I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend, friends. For dinner Saturday, we enjoyed summer squash casserole, buffalo sliders on fresh biscuits with rosemary and caramelized onions, and for dessert, cupcake-sized blueberry pies. Then, for dinner tonight, turkey-stuffed cabbage rolls. If you're like Bryan, you may not have been salivating at the phrase "cabbage roll," but honey, you should be. They turned out divine. As part of my revolution, I've turned into an aspiring Iron Chef. Since moving to Austin, we have become members of Farmhouse Delivery, a delivery service that brings us local, farm fresh veggies, fruit, and meat every other week. It's a great way to support local farms and try out foods I wouldn't normally buy... such as cabbage. The Farmhouse Delivery offerings are pre-set, so it's up to me to make sure nothing goes to waste (like summer squash). And if I'm lucky, transform the mystery ingredients into a non-gag-worthy dish (like summer squash casserole). Sadly, a lot has gone to waste, but it's a learning process. So far I've learned that if you don't know what to do with it, put it in chicken soup. Everything tastes good after soaking in salt and stock. But probably not cabbage, thus the rolls... stuffed with poultry... so I suppose this advice holds to some extent. Now if I could only figure out how to enjoy beets. Evidently, Austin is home to a couple thousand beet farmers as they consistently plague our otherwise tasty basket of offerings. To borrow from Stewie Griffin's jihad on broccoli, "The answer is simple: the beets must die."

Tomorrow:
Basil: It's what's for dinner! and Chefery: Putting your ADD to work