Bar-Bay-Q 2012

The love-eat relationship I have with animals took a turn towards the carnal last weekend.  Why?

Bar-Bay-Q, baby.

A veritable smorgasbord of chicken, pig, and cow platters, all served up with a side of potato salad.

I'd never been to the Anne Arundel County fairgrounds before last weekend, though I've traveled many times to its nearby neighbor, the grounds of the Maryland Renaissance Festival (I love me some hard cider, sword-swallowers, and jousting).  I was delighted that Paul Bunyan was on hand to greet us as we arrived:

Okay, I don't know if that's actually supposed to be Paul Bunyan, but tell me, how many other ginormous lumberjacks can you think of?

We made a quick circuit of the twenty or so food vendors, plus the dozens of arts and crafts booths.  I got myself a glass (plastic cup, actually) of wine from the good people at the Barefoot Wine & Bubbly tent, and the Sous Chef helped himself to a beer.  Some of the lines were outrageous - I had no desire to wait for an hour to get some barbecue, no matter how good it was supposed to be.  Instead, we decided to wait in the much more reasonable line at the Branded '72 truck.  It was quite fun imagining what it must look like behind those harsh, black metal doors:

Actually, I'd rather not think about it.

Regardless of how it was prepared, the barbecue looked and tasted delicious.  The Sous Chef and I took our platters down to the hillside and parked our cabooses on the lawn.  We happened to sit down as The Rovers were playing their show on the main stage.  Great band - I love some good Irish music.  They'll be playing the Annapolis Irish Festival in July - we might just have to stop by!

I have to confess, we weren't just there for the food and kilt-wearing entertainment.  We were also there to support - try to keep up - my dad's wife's nephew's band, 9 Mile Roots.  Dave (that's the dad's wife's nephew) is the band's drummer - they are a self-proclaimed "roots rock reggae" band.  I'm not sure what that means, but it was a fun show!

All in all, it was a great day - good music, good people, good pig.

Oink well.