30 Minutes of Fame

Well, we finally did it! Acrasjia played at The Worcester Palladium. We got there bright and early to snag a merch table. It turns out there were plenty to go around. Most of the bands didn't even set up any merch.



Our merch section was looking kinda dull, other than the awesome posters Mikey made up for us.

We got laminates, so it felt like the real deal. We had three for crew and merch as well. I must admit, it was kinda fun being able to hold them up for security to see every time we re-entered or went back stage.



Unfortunately, we could only hang our banner on the bottom of the stage for some of the crowd to see because The Misfits had a huge curtain hanging in front of their set up, getting in the way. To say the least, we are upset because we spent good money on that.

Well, we got to stand on the side of the stage as The Misfits did their soundcheck and I had no idea it was them. I thought it was a bunch of roadies who knew the music. Mike had to say, 'Yeah, that's the actual band.' Haha I had no idea. That just goes to show how oblivious I am.

There was so much awesomeness going on, it was unbelievable. All of our family and some friends were there to support us. We were on the main stage. Being Worcester, the crowd started filing in bright and early!

A couple of downsides would be that the sound guy was a jerk (as per usual) and wouldn't let me plug in my in-ear transmitter. I guess I'm not good enough to be able to hear myself sing over the loud, distorted guitars. He smiled at me like I was a damn fool for asking. I was kinda walking around, yelling about it and swearing about it. Next thing I knew, we had five minutes to get on the side stage. So I just dropped everything, mumbling and muttering to myself like a madwoman, and stood on side stage with the band.

Let me tell you- the very second the first band said, 'thank you' we were flying up on stage, scrambling to get ready. I had the stage manager repeatedly saying, 'Three minutes. Two minutes. One minute. Let's go, let's go! Guys, you go on now!' in my ear. Mike didn't get a chance to tune before hand, so he was frantically trying to rush his tuning. He ended up not completely finishing, but he was able to sneak some tweaking in during the first song.

You know what? The second the music started all my fears began to disappear. I was into it from the word 'go'! We had a very nice crowd and from what I could see, all eyes in the place were on us, even the other bands and crew that were just hanging out. One thing I'll never forget is all the people in the front row, looking up at us with wide eyes and awe. It was an amazing feeling. We got great rounds of applause and countless compliments after our set. Even a promoter wanted our info. I'll never forget that feeling. Hopefully I won't have to. Bigger and better shows are to come. That's the plan!

Since we couldn't have our own photographers and we had to pay NEPGM hired photographers, there are no pictures as of yet. They will be sending them to us within the next coupla weeks. By the way, when I emailed the photographer our info, she said, 'You guys were awesome!' I love it! Now we just need to record an EP, or at least a demo, so we can give people something more tangible to remember us by.

Anywho, for now, I leave you with silly pictures of us at the merch table:





Now, for the part you've all been waiting for- food!

As I said in a previous post, Michael and I always pack a lunch when we're going to be out and about for long periods of time with no wholesome food in sight. Even though there is an abundance of 'warm food' recipes out there, there doesn't seem to be a lot of substantial cold salad or sandwich recipes like I'm fond of. At least not in any of my cookbooks! But I've found a handful and I am happy.



To start, I made good, ol' potato salad. It's the usual recipe: soy mayonnaise, green onions, celery and, of course, potatoes. I leave the skin on because not only do I like the grainy texture, it is also very healthy for your body- a good source of fiber. I then threw in some crumbled firmed tofu for the 'egg', celery seed and dijon mustard. Mustard is definitely the happenin' ingredient in all potato dishes, in my opinion. If you just give it the 'dashiest dash', it can make it such an amazing flavour.

Then, to to try something different, I whipped up some couscous edamame. I always buy my couscous organic and by the bulk because boxed couscous has a lot of junk in it. What I love so much about couscous is its ability to absorb water in a very short amount of time. It requires no cooking, really.



I chopped up some asparagus, red onion and a shallot, threw it all in a pan and sauteed in some olive oil. I then added tamari sauce, balsalmic vinegar and a bit of maple syrup for a little sweetness. Mike wanted me to mention this, too- we could not find 'pre-shucked' edamame beans, so he had to sit there shucking them all by himself. He's such a good, little helper. :)

After having tried some of this dish hot and then cold at the venue, I think I actually prefer the dish warm. I don't know what it was about it chilled that didn't tickle my fancy. Mikey liked it, though, and that's good. :)

Finally, when we got home, I did some more cookin'. Of course! Being utterly exhausted from all the stress and excitement, I didn't want to prepare anything that was tedious or would take much effort, so I made potato cucumber salad! I just can't get enough potatoes (I also like to cook the whole bag before it starts growing sprouts)!



You'd be surprised how tasty this dish is, despite how easy it is to make. While you boil some potatoes, you chop up some cucumber, mix together Braggs sauce, red wine vinegar, flax seed oil, dill, horseradish mustard and dijon mustard. Oh mustard, how I love thee with my 'taters!

The food is so scrumptious and takes under an hour to prepare.

Then, as a snack to un-wind and reward for such awesome hardwork, I made some popcorn. I popped it right from the raw kernel (is there any other way?) in 2 tbsp of canola oil. But this wasn't just any ORDINARY popcorn. Nope! I happened upon a cajun recipe for a popcorn topping. You melt soy margarine, of course, and mix a tsp of lime juice. The spice itself is a concotion of paprika, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper and a pinch of salt. I actually didn't have any garlic powder, so I substituted with onion powder and chopped up some garlic to mix around in the melted butter.

The result?



HEAVEN! I love popcorn as it is, but this topping made it so much better. It was definitely flavourful and that bit of lime really puts it over the top with that added burst of goodness.

The popcorn container was actually purchased at an Iparty store. While I was in there looking for other party items, Mike and I found the container and thought it looked like too much fun to pass by. Normally I stay as far away from junk and spending money on crap as I can, but these were only 60 cents and they were just too cute.

So after modeling and photographing the popcorn, it was eaten in front of the tv, which was playing 'Children of the Corn', both in honor of Halloween and, of course, the popcorn itself.

Now, to go backwards in time a little bit... In September we decided to say, 'au revoir!' to summer by sipping on some tropical smoothies.



All it contained were these special ingredients:



The smoothie recipe called for any 'tropical fruit juice'. Instead, I grabbed a whole mango, chopped it up, mixed it with water and threw it in the blender with the rest of the ingredients. There's your fruit juice for ya! It was very tangy and sweet. Being one of the warm fall days, it was just perfect.

Ah, but then the realization that autumn was here:



Apple spirulina energy drink! I bought my apple juice from Wild Oats and you can't get any more organic than that. It looked like cider! Spirulina is a microalgae that comes in supplement form. It's 60% all-vegetable protein, rich in beta carotene, iron, vitamin B-12 and the rare essential fatty acid, GLA. It's chock-full of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrents. You can get this at any health food or vitamin store.

Though some of you may be frightened by green smoothies, fear not! It tasted just like yummy, safe, familiar apple juice while the spirulina offered a slightly, I wanna say almost citrus taste. It was yummy and extremely nutritious!



Later, I made some lentil soup. It was a simple recipe. Using my homemade broth, I simmered green lentils, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, celery, onions and tomatoes in one big pot. After adding a little bit of seasonings (pepper, cayenne, basil), the soup was complete! The recipe called for diced tomatoes, but I like to chop up my own and soak them in water. The fresher, the better.



As an addition to the soup, I made some biscuits- just flour, water, baking powder and soy margarine- with a VERY delicious miso mushroom gravy. Upon reading the recipe, I thought it might taste a little on the not-that-great side, but I couldn't have been more wrong! It was so delicious!

I sauteed some red onions and mushrooms in oil, then added veggie stock, Braggs sauce, cayenee, basil, dill and pepper. As a thickening agent, I stirred some unbleached flour into the pot. After it was thick and creamy, I quickly tossed in the miso before serving. Miso has many nutritional qualities, so it is best to put it in last before all the good stuff is cooked away!

I have a ton more foodie pics that need posting, but for now I will leave you with this. I know long, long blogs can get tiring after a while (for some). 'Tis much better when sprinkled with goodies than cramped with them! :)

Oh, yes...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!