I got to work in the World on the Square  prep kitchen for the first time this year, which I posted about today at Fatal Foodies. I had a great time, and disproved the notion that a cook is more likely to be cut with a dull knife than with a sharp one. I would show you my hurted place, but it’s already well.

Tomorrow, I’ll post pictures of most of the finished dishes. I was too busy prepping to remember to snap some of them.

Since I didn’t realize I was supposed to go from prep to serving, I thought I was off for the day at 3, when the food was done and the kitchen cleaned up. So, for the first time in years, I got to actually enjoy the festival.

Lots of people, lots of booths with information and articles from lots of countries, from Mali to Scotland. Visit the World on the Square site to learn more. Here’s a picture of some of the booths.

And here’s what I was really taking the picture of. Yes, many of the guys at the Scotland booth were all kilted up. They were all trim, too. Carrying those big bagpipes around must build up a boy’s muscles or something.

I didn’t get to hear the bagpiper, alas; I was doing kitchen prep at the time and missed him. I love bagpipes, and not just because of the hot talented men who play them. The skirl of the pipes (yes, skirl is a word — it means “a high, shrill, wailing tone. Used of bagpipes.” — doesn’t sound too flattering, though the word itself is beautiful) … I lost my place. Oh, yes: The skirl of the pipes gives me chills in a good way, not in a nails-on-a-blackboard way.

Here is a picture of the crowd.

And here is what they were watching.

The dancers are a little blurry, but that’s because they were moving. Well, parts of them were moving, anyway.

A good time was had by all.

Meanwhile, I’m also posting today at Echelon Explorations about dragons, including the one I bought at the festival.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character goes to an international festival.

MA