Busy Beaver!

Queen Ginger has been a busy, busy beaver this week, and she can't believe she's just now getting a chance to catch up with all of her adorable GingerSnaps!! 


This crazy week started with Houston's annual "Bunnies on the Bayou" party in the downtown Theater District. For the past few years, Queen Ginger has been a donor to this philanthropic event at the "Camp Bunny" level, so she gets a tent to shade her delicate pate, resplendent with a private "sal de bain" lest she have to stand in line behind the 3,000 other guests to do her "lady business"!  Yes, there were over 3,000 beautiful people at this year's record breaking event! 

Queen Ginger and King Tony, clever Royals that they be, re-used some of the elements from their reveal backpieces to create a stunning place to "let them eat cake"!  Captain Bill provided cakes, crumpets, and tidbits for the masses as Queen Ginger and King Tony greeted, meeted, and otherwise hobnobbed with the hottest guys in Houston!  Don't believe me?  Check out the pics! 


















Next up, Boy G co-hosted the unveiling of his newest pet project, the "Pathway to our Legacy" campaign, benefiting Legacy Community Health Services. 

Boy G is excited, proud, and honored to co-chair this campaign with Ben Montalbano,  a good friend and a great contributor to our community.  The event Thursday night took place at the gorgeous post-modern home of Ben and his partner Jim,  and included leaders from virtually every organization active in Houston's GLBT community and the Montrose neighborhood where the new building resides.  Most exciting is that the campaign allows individuals and groups to leave a lasting impression on our healthcare legacy for a little as $100, with a donation at the Sidewalk level.  Folks are already stepping up in droves to contribute to the campaign in memory of friends, partners, and family members who have died from or are living with HIV/AIDS, or have otherwise been helped by Legacy's services.  The Pathway and Plaza levels are $250 and $500, respectively, and there are also 8 lighted benches to be sponsored, at a donation of $5,000. Better hurry, though, because 2 have already been claimed- one by Miss Ginger, and one by Boy Ginger's generous employer!! There's only 6 left, and they will go quickly!

Friday night, Queen Ginger and King Tony were invited to perform at "Marty, the Montrose Art Party" benefiting the Healing Arts Program at Art League Houston. Although Miss G can barely draw a straight line with a ruler, she LOVES what the Healing Arts Program offers its clients, and she had a great time meeting them, seeing their work, and entertaining the crowd! 


Saturday is "errands" day at Chez Ginger, and Sunday has become "cook for the week" day, so the rest of the weekend is kinda shot. Then, all of next week will be a blur as Miss Ginger prepares for one of her most important events of the season, "Derby Day", her signature event benefiting Legacy! 

With all the interest in hats generated by the Royal wedding,  the Big Hat Contest is bound to be a major hoot!  Queen Ginger promises there will be lots of pics next weekend- but until then,  she may be a little scarce as she prepares herself and others for this big shindig!

Maybe This Goes A Bit Too Far?

Loyal readers of TFBOMQGG already know Miss Ginger has a hard time with the whole Jesus thing.  It's a great story, but she just doesn't think it ever really happened. Folklore, really.

It DOES leave our gurl a bit bored around Easter.  Really, with no eggs to dye and hide, and no worshiping and praising to be done,  there's not a whole lot left to do, once the Peep art masterpiece is finished!

So, as she searched the internet from one end to the other trying to answer the question:

she discovered a site that may even be too tasteless for her!

Using critical thinking that is too weird even for Miss Ginger,  this site surmises that:

Everything that rises from the dead is a zombie.

Jesus Christ arose from the dead.

Therefore, Jesus must be a zombie!

Well, Miss Ginger doesn't believe in Jesus, but she certainly doesn't think he's a zombie.  And, while she does  believe that the teachings of the bible are  great stories used for ages to help people learn right from wrong, she would never insult her christian friends by implying that she thinks that Jesus is a zombie.

She does, however, enjoy turning her Peeps into zombies by biting their tiny little heads off! 

BTW, what's your favorite color Peep?  Have you been able to find them this year?  If not, try using the PeepFinder to locate your favorite Peep Product by Zipcode!

Hoppy Easter, everybunny!

Someone's in the Kitchen with Ginger!!!

It's been a while since Miss Ginger shared one of her favorite childhood recipes from Momma G's repertoire, so she's going to show you how Momma G made stuffed artichokes!  These were a favorite of Baby Ginger, and he didn't get them very often for a couple of reasons.  First, Momma G would only make them when artichokes were in season. Even though you can find them year round, they often have been sitting and drying out for a long time, and Momma G said she wasn't going to go to the trouble to make them if they weren't going to be good!  There's the second reason we didn't get them very often- it takes a long time time to stuff all of that stuffing into each artichoke leaf!  Really, it's not a complicated process, but since Momma G was usually cooking for a least 5 hungry boys, plus a hungry husband and often some hungry old ladies,  stuffing a whole bunch of these could become quite an ordeal.  Momma had an old enamelware roaster that she used only for cooking artichokes, her "artichoke pot".  There wasn't anything special about it except that it was too shallow to cook a turkey, but it was big and flat and could hold a lot of artichokes.  You don't need a special pot, and if you're not cooking for an army, they aren't hard to make!

To find nice, fresh 'chokes at your grocer or farmer's market, look at the flesh inside the outer leaves, near the stem.  It should be bright green, and tender enough to yield to pressure from your fingernail.  If the insides of the leaves don't seem "meaty", skip them and wait for a fresher crop!  If the artichokes are too dry, you might as well make stuffed pine cones!

Once you get them home, slice off the stems near the base, creating a flat surface on which the 'choke will balance.  Next, lay each artichoke on it's side, and slice off the top third. Rub the cut areas with half a lemon to prevent browning, and trim the tips of the remaining leaves if they are sharp.

To prepare the stuffing, use fresh white bread crumbs- Momma G usually used leftover hamburger or hot dog buns, which have a perfect "brown" to "white" ratio.  You can use dried bread crumbs from the store, but your stuffing will be dryer.  Create enough mixture of half bread crumbs and half grated parmesan to fill the amount of artichokes you're making, and season the crumb mixture with italian herb seasoning and garlic- lots of garlic!! Use fresh garlic, garlic powder, or garlic juice, depending on you taste and comfort level.  Momma G loved her some garlic powder (she said it didn't leave an aftertaste), but Miss G uses fresh garlic, and LOTS of it!


To stuff the artichokes, place it in a large bowl and work from the outside in, pulling out each leaf and stuffing in the garlicky goodness with your fingers.  It's kind of like glittering: you spill as much as you use, so using a big bowl allows you to keep "recycling" until the chokes are all stuffed! Stuff them as full as you can get them!!

Once they are stuffed, you can cook them however you like!  As I said, Momma G used a big roaster pan, but any pot with a tight fitting lid will do.  Miss Ginger likes to use a pressure cooker when she does just a few.  Place the artichokes, bottom down, in about an inch of water, cover, and steam for about 45 minutes.  Toward the end, check for doneness by tugging an outer leaf... if it comes loose, it's ready!


You can cook them on top of the stove or in the oven, as long as they are in a constant steam bath for the 45 minute cooking time. Miss G sets her pressure cooker for 30 minutes, and uses a natural release which gives about 45 minutes total.  


They are also good cold, and you can reheat them in the microwave, so make plenty!  You can serve them as a heavy appetizer, or just eat one as a light meal!!

Four Queens Standing!

With the second auf'ing of Carmen Carrera, we are finally down to the last 4 Queens on RuPaul's Drag Race!  After Ru's nasty twist to allow the judges to bring back one of the eliminated girls, Ru stuck to her guns and sent her away again on the very next challenge.  She and Raja ended up in the bottom 2, and they both deserved to be there.

What Carmen did to her boy was just cruel! Granted, Alexis, the winner of the mini-challenge, and therefore the Testosterone Assignment tech for this challenge, gave her one of the butchest looking guys with Chevy. However, rather than trying to conceal the muscles and disguise the tummy, she dressed him up in 2 sparkled pasties and and a pair of rhinestone panties and made him stand next to the like of her!

While it was kind of nice to get to see Chevy's stocky little body, Miss Ginger would much rather have seen it in a jock strap and not much else!

This hot mess was Raja's work, which just goes to prove what Miss Ginger has said all along:  Raja is more genderfuck than drag queen!  Poor Chris looked like an Eastern European washerwoman who was injured while training for the East German Olympic Team, and upon shattering her ankle was cast to the ashes and cinders to scrape by on what she could earn beating clothes against rocks alongside the Volga!  And she walked like her ankle was shattered, too, partially because Raja put her in a pair of spiked mules!  WTF?!  Every drag queen knows it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to walk in a backless shoe when you are wearing pantyhose!  What was she thinking?! And don't even get me started on the styling!

Alexis thought she had it in the bag when she chose Slava for herself, and this pretty boy made a very pretty girl, as well.  Slava himself commented that his Europeaness made him particularly "Metro", and he flirted shamelessly with both boy and girl Alexis.  Miss Ginger is pretty sure this show represents some sort of turning point in Slavas life.....    Just sayin.   And to that, Miss Ginger says: "Call me, sweetie!  I'll turn you every which way but loose!"

So, Manila and Matt won the challenge, and each get a cruise to the Bahamas.  I can't hate on Manila- she did what she knows, and she took one of the most rugged looking jocks and dressed him appropriately to meet her theme while still covering his boy-looking parts. The first rule of drag: decorate the parts that look like a girl, and cover the parts that look like a boy!!

So,GIngerSnaps:  who do you think will win RpDR?  What do you think of Raja? And where do you think Ru found all of those (a-hem) "straight" jocks?

A Sad, Sad Day for Dust Bunnies...

As a dyed-in-the-wool Dust Bunny, you know Queen Ginger has pledged her allegiance to 3 things:  kittehs, papis, and Arby's.  For years now, she has visited the Temple of the Curly Fry at least twice a month on her visits to West Oaks Mall here in Houston, where she has a store.  Even though West Oaks is a decrepit wreck of a shopping mall with few stores and even fewer customers,  the dream of curly fries and delicious, tender roast beast make her trips way out west much more bearable. It's the only shopping mall in Houston with an Arby's so that makes it worth the trip!




And now for the sad news. I hope you are all sitting down.

In an email dated April 1, 2011,  the Vice President and Store Manager informed Queen Ginger that the Arby's at West Oaks Mall (see photo) has been permanently closed.  This has reduced the food court offerings at West Oaks to a McDonalds, a random pizza place (it's not even a Sbarro's!) and a mom and pop food of questionable Asian influence.


This is a sad day for Queen Ginger, as I'm sure it is for Dust Bunnies across the nation.


I'm sure you will all understand if posting is a bit light during this period of profound mourning....