Tuesday, February 27, 2007

 

Oops!

Last night while watching the news, I came to a startling conclusion. Yes, it is time for me to step forward and take responsability.

I may be the father of Anna Nicole's child

I know it seems far fetched. However, lets look at all the evidence:
  1. I was in Nassau back in September.
OK, so maybe that's not quite a huge amount of evidence. I am sure you'll point out that with my Nassau trip being the end of September that the whole "9 months" thing just doesn't work out.
Let me just address that point. First of all, maybe I'm just really good. Second of all, it wouldn't take a very good lawyer to get that kind of evidence thrown out or at least tied up in court. After all, look at what the fruit cake lawyers have been able to do so far. Lets face it, she's been dead for a week and I am closer to being buried than she is, all because the lawyers want to prove a point.
Now here's the twist. I happen to know a LOT of lawyers. My father was a paralegal at one point so he knows a lot of lawyers. With Mercer having a Law School, I have many fraternity brothers who are also lawyers. They range from a JAG officer to the "I wrecked my car, now someone better pay me $300,000!" type of lawyers. I am sure between them we could make a good case, especially when the lawyer gets a tasty cut of that $400M.
For those who will say that Anna Nicole isn't "my type" I do have to point out that I was under the influence of the Bahamas. I didn't know it until recently, but I was in desperate need of a Bahamavention so it is likely I was delusional for much of the trip.
I know the odds of me being the father are pretty slim. After all, more people have been on Anna Nicole than have been on Myspace. The odds are still better than playing the Georgia Lottery and the payout is much bigger. Plus you don't have to buy a ticket, just give a little DNA. Something no one else seems to want to do.
So once the court finds for me, how will I spend my winnings? Well obviously I will build a Krystal a block from my parents house. Partly so my father can cure his Krystal Kravings, but also so I can visit without feeling "stranded."
Second, I will fund a "Krystal Kid Kombo." I don't know exactly what would be in that combo meal, but I like the sound of it:
"Welcome to Krystal, may I take your order please?"
"Yeah, gimme what the Krystal Kid is having."
Third, I would fund the construction of the Krystal Lovers Hall Of Fame. It would be a huge interactive multimedia extraveganza to rival the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. All of the current inductees would be flown in for the dedication ceremony. Every year there would be a huge party as we induct the new "cohort" of members. And we'll eat Krystals and party all night long, because we can!
Oh, and I suppose I should probably use some of the money to take care of the baby. Sad how everyone keeps forgetting about the baby in the whole mess, isn't it?
Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

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Sunday, February 25, 2007

 

Bunny on the run!

Here's an old knock knock joke I got out of my 101 Knock-Knock Jokes book when i was about 8 or 9:
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
Ether.
Ether who?
Ether Bunny!
I love that joke! But that's right, folks, it's that time of year. The bunny with the good stuff if lacing up the Nikes, and doing his warm up stretches. I don't need the calendar or my Catholic friends to know Easter is on its way. I just need to go to Kroger. They have an entire aisle that literally explodes with sugary goodness as the holiday approaches. Only one thing on that aisle matters, though:
You see, I have loved Cadbury Creme Eggs as long as I can remember since first finding them in about 1980. I have loved them longer than I have loved Krystals.
Sadly, starting around the time I left for college, the Easter Bunny stopped coming to visit me. I figured since I was away at school, he was dropping off my stuff at home and my parents were eating all my yummy sweets. But once I got my first apartment after graduation, the bunny never did show up. I am unsure what it was I did to upset the Easter Bunny, but if you're reading this Mr. Bunny, please come back! You have no idea how miserable an Easter egg hunt is when you have to hide your own eggs.
Over the years many companies have come up with their own twist to the Creme Eggs. One of the better tasting ones was by Dove chocolate (who happen to make perhaps the best chocolate on Earth). The problem though was the Dove "eggs" came in two halves, apparently because they felt no one could handle one whole egg by themselves.
Cadbury has also made several different versions over the years, including the chocolate creme egg, and the caramel egg (pictured above). I also discovered this year they have an orange creme eggs. I won't be messing with that one. I have never cared for orange creme flavored stuff. It always strikes me as the favor you get when you take a drink of OJ and follow it too closely with a drink of milk. Yuck!
My friend Penny used to always bring me the first Creme Eggs of the year. She'd track them down and then bring them to a hockey game. The reason, you see, is that I have a peculiar way I eat my first Creme Egg of the season: I eat it whole.
Penny seemed to enjoy the event of me unwrapping the egg with my excited shakey hands, and them popping the entire thing into my mouth to savor the chocolate creamy sweet goodness. I do not recomend this approach with the caramel eggs, though, as you'll likely choke on it. The Caramel is much thicker and doesn't melt in your mouth as easily.
They also make mini-creme eggs and those are good for a quick fix, but the whole unwrapping process just isn't worth it. Perhaps if they sold them unwrapped?
If you hop over to the Cadbury web site you'll see that the Eggs aren't really even mentioned on their main page. Ther eis however excitement over this new Cadbury "Flake." They claim it is the "crumbliest, flakiest chocolate." Call me crazy but who wants to eat crumbly flakey chocolate? Well sure, on top of ice cream or a dessert, but this is a chocolate bar. Whats worse they apparently have chosen a model to be the "Flake Girl." Yes that's right, there's a Miss Flakey.
As for the rest of the Easter treats, my roommate in college, Brian, got me hooked on peanut butter eggs. Sadly, the success of peanut butter eggs has now resulted in peanut butter pumpkins, Christmas trees, and other assorted peanut butter items. It all goes to show you, too much of a good thing is called capitalism.
And lets not forget the peeps and bunnies. In the old days it was yellow or pink. Take your pick. Now there is blue, purple, white. If you have never visited Peep Research.com then you're in for a treat. (Yes that was an untentional pun.) When I was growing up I was infamous for doing all sorts of fun experiments on peeps, in particular with the microwave. (Be sure your mother is not home prior to any and all peep and microwave experiements!)
So this Easter season, have a creme egg (or the 3-pack if you can find em). Don't microwave your peeps when your moth is home. And if you see the Bunny please send him to my house!
P.S. If you store your Creme Eggs in the freezer you can have them all year long! A frozen Cadbury is kind of tasty in July, but don't try and stick the whole frozen one in your mouth!
Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

 

Milestones

This is my 200th Blog post. Hurray! (I was shocked when I made it to 10, so you can only imagine how I feel at this point.) But there are plenty of other milestones coming in the next couple of weeks. In about 3 weeks we'll hit the birthday of when this officialy became a blog (March 5th). Though if you've been back in the archives you will learn that this originally started as just an email I sent out to friends on occasion, but kept growing. Sadly, I don't have the date of the original email, I know it was between Thanksgiving and new years of 2005. Since I can't track that exact date, I'll go with the March 5th date as the blog birthday. So, um, Happy Birthday!.
Also of note, my birthday is looming around the corner. That's not really a shocker or a coincidence, since it happens roughly every year and on average about 365 days after the previous one. This year though, it falls on, a Thursday! What will I do for my Super Fantastic Krystal Thursday Birthday Celebration Party? I don't know yet. I welcome any and all suggestions, though, if you wish to email them to me.
Now before you go for the obvious, I will not eat one Krystal for every year I have been alive. I would like to survive my birthday. I could probably eat one french freedom fry for every year I have been alive, but I don't know how I'd get the candles to stick in them without destroying them. ChickenBites? Maybe. But obviously I'll be eating at Krystal at some point.
How old will I be, you ask? Well I am sure Blogger will tell you somewhere if you look. Many years ago when I was 24 I'd tell people "If years were beers I'd be a case." Being a college fraternity guy, that was funny! Then when I was 33, I'd tell people "I'm as old as an LP spins!" The sad irony is that only people my age would KNOW how fast an LP spins. Heck only people my age know what an LP is in the first place. Next year, in the spirit of Krystal, I'll say "If years were Krystals, I'd be a sackfull and a steamer!" Now that's a party! Maybe not as funny and the year/beers one, but by the time I got done explaining I am six 6-packs or a case and a twelve pack they'll have lost interest.
This year, in an ironic twist (perhaps even a Krystal Koincidence) I'm making a road trip. Hockey is on the horizon. I had been planning this trip for a while, but then the Florida Seals team folded in early January, scrambling my plans. I knew quite a few of the players and the coach down there and they have all now scattered. So, just like they did, I restructured my plans and pushed forward. Instead of heading south, I am heading east: South Carolina.
Thursday and Friday I'll be watching games in Florence, SC, home of the Pee Dee Cyclones. The odd name is due to the Pee Dee River basin the city sits in. In the 25-30 years of travel back and forth from GA to NC I never fail to chuckle when I cross over the Great Pee Dee and the Little Pee Dee rivers.
From my years of hockey road trips, I always enjoyed "double headers" with two games in two days in the same city. The 2nd day affords time to roam the city and see the sites. When you follow one team (as I did with the Macon Whoopee, then the Macon Trax) you don't get too many double headers. The league liked to keep the teams moving. But since I don't hold any real allegiance to any (minor league) team, I can go anywhere at any time and see a "neutral" game.
While I am staying in Florence, I'll take the Friday to road trip further east, all the way to the coast. Murrell's Inlet to be exact. Why Murrell's Inlet, you ask? Well that's the eastern most Krystal in the US. The Krystal Koast, you might even say. It also happens to be the closest Krystal to my parents. And from the overhead images on Google Maps it appears to be quite an amazing location, not too far from the ocean. And oh how I do love the ocean! Obviously, while in Murrell's Inlet I'll be sure and click off plenty of pictures.
But then Saturday my birthday road trip continues north. I'll be heading to NC.
Fayetteville, NC to be precise. (or Fayettenam touse the local slang lingo) There I'll be meeting up with my parents and taking in a Fayetteville Fire Antz hockey game.
So by my count, that is about 900 miles round trip, 2 different Krystals, 3 hockey games, 1 birthday, 2 parents, and a whole truck load of fun! Along the way I may also drop by my friend Kim's house in Augusta, GA. It all sounds so exciting, I just can't wait!
I'm A Krystal Lover

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Saturday, February 17, 2007

 

Pull forward. (I dare you!)

For the record, I hate going through the drive thru window at any restaurant. Despite the fact that some places claim orders are "double checked" I still believe your chances of getting screwed at the drive through are astronomically higher than going in. I believe it is because the people working the drive through have an unhealthy lack of fear. Deep down they know, if they screw up, the customer won't know it til they're way down the road. They know the customer won't have time to come back and complain because if the customer had that kind of time they probably wouldn't be using the drive through. It's a sad but true fact that if the people taking and making your order know you're close enough to punch them, they pay closer attention to your order.
Fast food places know the drive throughs are a source of customer dis-satisfaction, that's why you see so many different approaches on how to do it. Checkers and Central Park have the "Double Drive Thru" which is 2 windows and 2 speakers. Two completely seperate lines. This works for them because really its just the original drive through concept of one speaker/menu and one window.
I have noticed a disturbing drive thru trend over the past few years and today I saw the latest evolution, and it left me stunned and speechless. I did not know it at the time I was working on it, but my Masters thesis was a study in logistics. I am fascinated by transportation problems, maps, and optomizing schedules. When I see the utterly stupid things companies are doing in the name of "efficiency" I wonder what 5 year old with a big box of Crayons is running their logistics department.
Obviously having you place your order at a menu/speaker several car lengths away from a single window allows time to prepare your order. That was a good innovation. Sadly, that was probably the last good innovation. The problem started when the restaurants started to depend on the "order delay" between when you place the order and pay and then they give you your food. They got slack. Customers had to sit and wait for their food anyway. How many drive throughs do you see now with timers measuring the wait time of your order? How many have space for double digit minutes? How many do you see where this timer has been disconnected or turned so the customer cannot see just how many minutes they're sitting and waiting?
In the old days, when they took your money and gave you the food at the same window, you would have the option of "pulling the rip cord" and swerving out of the line if the wait got to long. In the past 3 or 4 years I have noticed a lot of drive thrus being built where a curb is set up on both sides, preventing you from pulling out early. I have, on more than one occasion, gotten so tired of the wait, that I just drive right past the window and on my way. If they do not act like they want my business, I am more than happy to oblige them. Sure, I lost 5 or 10 minutes, but they lost a customer. They hate that.
Thus the evolution of the "Two window drive thru." Not to be confused with Checkers and Central Park, this is one line with two windows, plus a speaker/menu. The idea is you place your order at the speaker, pull up to the first window, and pay there, then get your food at the second window. In logistics this sounds good, as it will give them MORE time to prepare your order, and you don't sit idle as long pondering your poor dining decision. However, the real motivation is to get their grubby paws on your money as soon as possible. Then, even if there isn't a curb preventing it, you won't bail out of line on them. Crafty idea, isn't it?
How many times have you been to a two window drive through and placed your order and been told to "Pull forward." Sometimes they tell you the first window. Sometimes it's the second. Sometimes they never mention a window, and assume you'll figure it out. How many times have you pulled to the wrong window? Some places get smart enough to hang a sign in the 1st window if it is closed reminding you to "go to the next window." Sadly I have seen plenty of times the sign is up when it shouldn't be, or not up when it should be. Talk about confusing. I sort of figured evolution would cut down on us humans having to hunt so hard for our food.
Well, if two windows is good (it isn't) leave it to McDonalds to go one step further and go with three windows. That right, a McDonalds in Macon was built from the ground up with three windows, plus a menu. At first customers topped at the menu and speaker and placed their order to the firl in the first window, a whopping 15' in front of them. You feel stupid talking in a speaker to a girl at a register when you can see and read her name tag. Eventually they decided you could just pull forward and place your order live and face to face with the person at the first window. Oh yeah, but you had to have memorized your order from the menu that is now 15' behind you. She'd happily punch in your order for you. But then you're left sitting in the line that now takes longer than the 2 window drive through.
Apparently people were uncomfrotable with giving her their order and getting nothing in return, so they decided the first window would now be used for taking orders and giving you your napkins and straws. No drinks or food or anything. Just a hand full of napkins and straws. So now you have a hand full of stuff, while trying to fumble and find your money for window #2, while you sit in the astronomically long line that does the stop-and-go herky jerky between the three unevenly spaced windows.
Then you get to window 2, give them your money and they give you... a receipt. Apparently after a while people got tired of again getting "nothing" for their money, so window #2 became your drink stop. So now you're holding napkins and straws, paying money, getting change, and drinks. Window #2 also used to be where you got any ketchup you needed, adding to your growing juggling problem. And trying not to run into the car in front of you.
Finally you get to window #3. Usually they have your food ready, making you believe that it's been freshy prepared for you. Sadly, you've forgotten the 10 minutes you have actually spent in line since you first placed the order way back at window #1. Good luck shuffling the straws, drinks, napkins, change, ketchup, and money when they thrust that bag of food at you.
And when it gets slow (like 2pm) just try and figure out which window they want you to pull forward to! It felt like the old game show "Let's Make A Deal" with "Door Number 1, door number 2, or door number 3?" Well the 3rd window only lasted about 3 months before it was sealed up completely and is now used for storage inside the store. I bet the guy we'll affectionately called "Third Window Willie" is not only still employed at McDonalds, but hailed as a genius, and is probably a VP by now.
So let's see, we've had the simple drive thru. Then we got the double drive through. Then two windows, then three windows and a speaker, then three windows no speaker. Could it possibly get any worse? Well, sadly, yes. I saw it this morning. I'll have to go back later and take a picture or two, because you certainly won't believe it, and probably won't even understand it.
Yes, our McDonalds (yes, those drive thru wiz-kids are at it again) down on North Ave. has put in 2 menu/speakers and 2 windows. Lets not confuse this with Checkers and Central Park where each window has a dedicated menu and speaker. Now, there are two seperate lanes with speakers and menus that then merge into one lane to go through the two windows. (In circuits they'd say the two menus are in parallel and the windows are in series with the menus.) Picture a capital letter Y. OK well you don't have to picture it since I just put one right there. On each arm of the Y there is a speaker and menu, with it's own drive thru lane. Just past the menu you merge into one lane that then goes to the pay window then the food window. Of course it all bends completely around the building in the process.
I'd love to know how many wrecks they've had there, especially during the morning coffee mad dash, when tempers are short. Frankly, I just can't wrap my head around the guy who thought this was a good idea. First off it didn't go any faster, in fact it took just as long or longer than a normal 1 speaker 2 window set up would. The biggest problem I found was that I had to place my order 3 times. The first time at the menu, then I had to remind the lady I was giving my money to which order was mine, and lastly the guy giving out the food needed to know what I had ordered. I think for fun next weekend I am going to go back and place different orders at each window, and see how much havoc that creates:
Speaker: Big Mac, no speacial sauce, small fry, apple pie, and a Sprite.
Pay Window: 6 piece McNuggets, McFlurry, large fry.
Food Window: Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Hot Fudge Sunday, Fruit and walnut salad.
Now I am not really surprised at McDonald's utter incompetence at herding the masses thru their lines. It seems when I go inside to a McDonalds they all have a different way of doing things, and none of them really work. Most places the person who takes your order, then gathers your order and gives it to you. This works nice, but sadly, only serving one customer at a time is bad for business. So they will usually tell you to "step to the side" so they can take another order. This is where the chaos begins. In an effort to save space they squeeze registers in so there's no room to "step aside." You usually wind up at the register beside you, or bumping into someone in the next lane who "stepped to the side" the wrong way. (You always step to the left, people!)
There is a McDonalds just up the road from the main campus where I work that is a study in chaotic order handling. When you place an order, you get no receipt (even when using a credit card, which freaks me out). They also don't tell you an order number. This might not be so bad except ALL orders are given to customers at the other end of the counter. So during rush hours, there's 20 customers milling around waiting on their orders. Sometimes the person loading up the food will yell "Big Mac Combo!" and 5 people raise their hands. One time the person giving out the orders kept yelling out order numbers, and was frustrated when no one picked up the orders. Obviously it didn't seem to click that we were never given an order number. For that reason we actively encouraged our students to go "anywhere but McDonalds" for lunch. We sort of depend on our students coming back after lunch, but McDonalds apparently didn't seem to think that swift efficient service was their job.
One morning we saw a group of McDonalds big wigs in apparently going over staff training etc. They had their hugethree ring binders with official golden arches on the front. I was so tempted to stip up trouble by asking them when the restaurant would be open for real, or fully staffed, or if all the managers were out sick.
Now I know I have busted on McDonalds pretty heavily. Krystals may seems to have been left alone. But lest you accuse me of favorites, I am already on the record as having trouble with the Krystal drive through. When I order my chiks with no mayo, I get mayo about every 10 times anyway. That is why I never order chiks at the drive through anymore, I always go in. Perhaps when they know the customer is close enough to choke them, they pay closer attention to preparing the order.
My number one reason for going in to Krystal, though, is the smell. That delicious, unmistakable oniony steamy Krystal smell. If you're lucky and the wind is just right, you can occasionally get a whiff of that smell out of the drive thru window, but that's a gamble I'd rather not take. Sometimes it's best to just park the truck, go inside, enjoy the atmosphere, and get some delicious food. It's bound to be faster than the 3 window 2 menu disaster down on North Ave.
Krystal Lovers like it steamy.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

 

Did you just see that?

As I have been saying, there were many Krystal Koincidences on my recent tip to Chattanooga. Some will require a bit of back story.
About 3 weeks ago, I happened to be at my local Kroger minding my own business when I happen to run into Brian, one of my pledge brothers. For those who don't understand the whole fraternity thing, Brothers are members of the same fraternity, but Pledge brothers go thru the pledge period together and join at the same time, so they tend to be a bit closer with each other than with the rest of their brothers. Now with that said, I sadly have to fess up that I hadn't seen or spoke to brian in over a year despite the fact we live about 2 miles apart. OUr lives are going in different directions I suppose.
Anyway, we took 5 or 10 minutes to catch up and inevitably the whole Krystal thing came up. Brian then related to me his adventures to try and get my Krystal Kups to give as Christmas presents. he had much the same trouble I did in locating them in large (and affordable) quantities. I asked if he had gotten any boxes (which came out before the cups) and he said sadly he hadn't. I told him I could hook him up with a few, if neccessary. We haven't yet worked out those arrangements.
Well, last Friday, as I was packing to leave for Chattanooga, Brian called. Ironically he was going out of town and would be driving near one of our other pledge brothers, Alex. Alex was/is known as Boss Hogg due to his amazing white Cadillac El Dorado he drove when we were in school. Since Brian would be near Greenville, SC he felt he'd give Alex a shout. Brian, however, didn't have his number. (I guess I'm sort of blowing holes in what I said earlier about pledge brothers being close, eh?)
Well, I happen to have a fairly recent copy at the ATO national alumni directory, so I looked Alex up. Just to confirm, I also checked online and both addresses and phone numbers matched. I also have a current Mercer University alumni directory on CD, but I didn't need to dig that up. With Brian leaving very soon and my pulling out of town also, there wasn't enough time to get him Krystal boxes to take to Boss. Perhaps later.
Now Brian might be famous for many things, including costing me a fortune in Western Loganberry flavored Clearly Canadian bottle water back in college. (Yes *that* loganberry again!) But what almost everyone at Mercer probably remembers is that darn van, aka "Sweet Pickle." You see Brian had a green VW Van. And for various reasons it sat in the best parking place right outside the front door of the dorm for almost an entire year and never moved. It also didn't have a bumper. Needless to say Mercer and the Mercer Police considered it an eyesore and tried to find an excuse to tow it. As you might expect, they lost, sweet pickle won. So my thoughts were on Sweet Pickle and Boss Hogg as I pulled into Chattanooga. IMagine my surprise as I turned onto Brainerd Rd. right behind this:
While it wasn't the real Sweet Pickle, it certainly made me smile. I am unsure if Sweet Pickle is still around or not. It always appeared to be on it's last legs, yet somehow kept chugging along, so anything is possible. I think the real reason they called VW's "Bugs" is cause you just never could seem to kill them. I had a girlfriend once who drove one with no 1st gear or reverse gear. Parking was always an exercise in creativity.
Alrighty, so my last day in Chattanooga, I check out of my hotel and make one more trip to the new Krystal on Brainerd Rd. I don't get too far down the road before I notice a rather odd traffic pattern. There's a line of cars a half mile long on my side of the road and no traffic come towards me. To me this can only mean one thing: big accident ahead. Since I don't know my way around Chattanooga that well, I am forced to stay on Brainerd and wait it out. Slowly, we make our way forward. Locals, who obviously know the back roads, are peeling off on both sides while frustrated drivers are doing U turns ahead of me and going back the other way.
I keep thinking that Krystal is down the road in front of me with a few unconquered menu items. I can't turn back. Quitting is not an option. Failure is for the weak. but COME ON!!
As I approach the Krystal, I begin to get more and more excited. But since this traffic jam has gone on for almost 4 miles, I can't imagine the traffic accident ahead. Then, in the distance, I see the problem.
For the past 4 miles, I have been following a 3 bedroom HOUSE down Brainerd Rd.
While Brainerd is 2 lanes in each direction, there's a tight bridge that squeezes all of the lanes so tight you can reach out your window and turn down the radio in the car beside you. I can only imagine this house blocked the entire road. What's worse is every set of stoplights the house went under, it didn't quite make it under. Several shingles were left in the street and most of the stoplights were twisted at odd angles and every single one of them scraped across the roof of this house.
So let no one ever say I wouldn't go out of my way for a Krystal. While I may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, I can follow a slow moving house for 4 miles. Where's the Koincidence, you ask? Well the house turned left right before the Krystal In the picture above you'll see a CVS pharmacy on the right. Krystal is just on the other side of the CVS. Somehow this house had been teasing and taunting me all the way down Brainerd. Stupid house!
OK, so when I said I pulled out of my hotel and followed the house all the way down Brainerd, that wasn't exactly true. I did make one quick stop, since I apparently had the time. I stopped to take this picture:
This is Central Park Hamburgers. I love Central Park. Most people I went to school with in Macon know Central Park more affectionately as "The Burger Tower." Except, perhaps, for Boss Hogg, since no one was allowed to eat in the Caddy. We called it the Burger Tower because all the ones in Macon were 2 stories tall.
Central Park was the original double drive through. I loved to go get their double cheese burgers. Most of the time, you were also treated to "bonus fries." When they put your fries in the bag they usually just dumped an extra pile in with your hamburgers, too. It was almost like you got a free upside on your fries. You just had to dig them out of the bottom of the bag. And be sure the bag wasn't sitting on any important papers or the grease would get em.
Sadly, when Checkers moved in to Macon they ran Central Park out of town. It made me very sad. That seemed to be the case all over though, as Central Park basically disappeared from the face of the Earth. But last year when I was up in Chattanooga, I saw one and almost wrecked when I did. I have since discovered that they're making a comeback. Now, contrary to what the Central Park website says in their "about" section, there are not three Burger Towers in Macon. There are exactly 0. There used to be three in Macon. It has been at least 5 years ago since the last one closed. In that time they have ALL been occupied at least once by another restaurant, and all have failed. I contemplated taking pictures of all three (Shurling Drive, Pio Nono at Rocky Creek, and the one above, across from the mall) but then I realized, no one really cares THAT much.
Now the big Koincidence here is this: Central Park also started in Chattanooga, home of my beloved Krystal. It seems to me the folks in Chattanooga know something about making a good burger. But for sure the next time I get back to Chattanooga, I'll have to hit a Burger Tower at least once. Maybe I'll get lucky with some bonus fries.
Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

 

Meal 3: Just Chillin'

My last meal in Chattanooga wasn't the most exciting, since I had already plowed through almost all of the menu in my prior 2 meals. What was left was basically the frozen treats. Since my 3rd meal was at 10:30 am on a cold Saturday, I was facing a tough test.
In my prior meals I had done the drive thru and the dining room. That least the drive in for meal 3.

(Sorry for the glare!)
Now when I first heard of the Krystal Drive in, I pictured a Sonic drive in. Well let me just say that while Sonic may have a lot more items on their menu, Krystal's drive in menu kicks the snot out of Sonic's drive in menu. At Sonic you have one red button. At Krystal you get three buttons:
Read that close. Yup it says TV! The large screen to the right is a wide screen TV, and it gets cable. (I was watching SpongeBob SquarePants while I ate.) You tune your radio to 101.1FM to listen through your car stero. On the right side of the TV screen is a video menu showing different menu selections. By pushing the button on the box outside your window you can scroll through them one at a time.
Now while at Sonic you push the red button and wait for some faceless person to take your order. This person MIGHT be in India for all you know. You also wind up yelling into the speaker several times to make sure they got your order, and then you HOPE you get what you wanted. At Krystal, you push the button and a human walks up to your car to take your order. Oddly enough it's the same idea as going inside to order. They also have these hand held menu/cash register things they take your order on. It's about the size of an Etch=A=Sketch but oh so much more powerful!
As I said, there wasn't much left on the menu so I went for another Slushie (grape) and the Rockslide, with butterfinger chunks in it. The Slushie was fantastic but again it was so cold it made my teeth hurt. This time all I had to "warm me up" was my frozen Rockslide. Brrrr!

With my third meal done and half a slushie left, I made my way back home from Chattanooga. I know there are still a few items left on the menu, and plenty of things left in Chattanooga for me to see. I have yet to hit Rock City, the Incline Railroad, and Ruby Falls. Perhaps later this year I'll get back up there for another un at the Mega-Krystal and these fun adventures as well.
Though I have finished with the meal-by-meal recap of my Chattanooga trip, the story is not over. Tomorrow I'll be posting the odd and coincidental things I saw along the way, and there were MANY of them. Also tomorrow I am volunteering with MATHCOUNTS here in Macon. It's a nation wide middle school math contest. I'll be one of the test proctors and if needed a scorer. And since I have spent portions of the past 3 months teaching sheet metal math (fractions, decimals, and prime numbers) it will be good to get a taste of "higher math" for a change!
I'm A Krystal Lover

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

 

Meal 2: Chattanooga Chicken

After a brief retreat to my hotel room I felt up to another assault on the miracle menu at the Krystal on Brainerd Rd. In hindsight I should have waited longer. But I had a full list of the menu items and had planned out my next attack. I was eager to get it on! I decided this meal would be drive through so I could get back to the hotel to catch Take Home Chef. The second meal would also be the meal of chicken!
Left to right we have: Chik'n Stik'ns, Chicken Wings, a Lemon Slushie, and a Grilled Chik. Lets start with the Chik.
My first bite of the Grilled Chik was enough to make me overlook the fact it had mayo on it. There is also another sauce or seasoning on it that gave it a bit of a kick. It was quite amazing. Since I specialize in cooking chicken, I assure you I could come up with some amazing recipes and add ons if we had Grilled Chiks in Macon. The crispy grilled parts had excellent flavor and it was juicy and hot. Simply amazing!
I recall Krystal once had Buffalo Wings in Macon a long time ago, but I honestly don't recall if they had sauce of them or not. These didn't have sauce on them, but the heat was built in. They were good and meaty, too, but that heat sneaks up on you and smacks you in the back of the head when you're not looking. The Ranch dressing on the side helps for sure. Now if only Krystal could get celery and "Karrots" to go with it.
Now for those who have Buffalo connections (Amy and Chris) don't get your hopes up on these. These are the southern version of Buffalo Wings. The same goes for people from Philadelphia who want to complain that the Krystal Philly Toaster isn't a "real" Philly Cheesesteak. If you wanna get all grabby about who "owns" certain foods you can give back Coke, Pepsi, and RC Cola while you're at it. Of course I'll have to fight ya to the death over the Loganberry. Now where was I? Oh yeah.
The Chik'n Stik'ns are a fairly simple idea, based on a sound concept: food on a stick is better than food not on a stick (see also kabobs, corn pups, popsicles, etc). Basically it's a chicken tenderloin on a stick, battered and fried. Very crispy and yummy. You also get a side of dip (I, of course, went with Ranch!).
I did run into a problem though. Picture with me, if you will: long skinny chicken tender, shallow container of sauce. Much like jumping off a high dive into a wading pool, you only get one good shot at it. I wound up pouring the ranch onto the chicken instead of dipping the chicken in the ranch. It was still very good, but I think driving and dipping might not work so well.
Perhaps to make up for the dipping difficulties, you are rewarded with this greeting once you clean your plate stick:
Lastly, the slushie. I went with the Lemon. (there's also grape and cherry.) It is absolutely amazing. Its cold, very sweet and tart and lemony. All of this, of course, makes you start suckin it down as fast as you can. And as you might expect, brain freeze sets in. So I spend my meal freezing my skull with the slushie and defrosting with the powerful hot wings. I hope the repeated freezing and defrosting hasn't caused permanent damage to my brain. Even so, it was worth it.
I passed on a dessert for this meal. With a Milkquake under my belt from earlier, I didn't feel I'd be able to handle a Sundae or a Rock Slide. (I was right, I would later find out).
So completely full and utterly satisfied, I curled up in bed with a book and drifted off to sleep. With visions of chicken and toasters dancing in my head.
Krystal Lovers like it steamy.

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Monday, February 12, 2007

 

Chattanooga: The big meal

My first meal at the new Krystal in Chattanooga and I decided to dine inside. The dining room is rather smallish since they assume most folks will stay in their cars. Those who choose their cars will miss out on the flat screen TV and interactive video juke-box on the wall. The layout is a bit odd since they have to service a drive through, dining room, as well as the car hops. There's only 2 or 3 steps from the registers to the door and the dining room goes off to the side. Sadly, I didn't get any photos of the inside. Once I got inside, I was overwhelmed with hunger and made a bee-line to the register. Having intentionally not eaten since a light breakfast, I loaded up for lunch:
From left to right we have three of the Krystal Toaster sandwiches: Grilled Bacon and Cheese, BLT, and Philly Cheese Steak. Back left is the Mac & Cheese bites and back right is my chocolate Milkquake.
First the Mac & Cheese bites. I was ordered by my friend Liisa to check them out. She simply had to know what they were and how they tasted. You see Liisa is stuck so far in burgatory they don't have any decent fast food places. She's in Michigan. They do however have Pasties which I have occasional cravings for. If you haven't heard of a Pasty/Pastie before, it's basically the original Hot Pocket. It's a hand held meat pie.
So with that said, let me assure you Liisa, the Mac & Cheese bites were AWESOME. From what I can tell they make a batch of Mac & Cheese then scoop it into round molds, then the rounds are cut into fourths, and these are then fried. Crispy on the outside, cheesy on the inside, and delicious all over. For some odd reason I was contemplating putting ketchup on them, but decided that would be too weird so I skipped it. Maybe next time.
As Tiffany had previously said, the Milkquake was fantastic. I'm not a fan of strawberry like she is, so I went with Chocolate. Let me just say that even the biggest straw they have is almost useless in the face of this ultra thick shake. While you may get severe pucker-face cramping, you likely wont have to deal with brain freeze. It's simply impossible to gulp it down fast enough with a straw. And if you try to go topless you may wind up with a face full if whipped cream!
Now for the sandwiches.
As you can see the grilled bacon and cheese (on the left) is a double decker. From the ground up (or top down?) it's toast, cheese, bacon, toast, cheese, toast. Or more specifically it's yum, yum, YUM, yum, yum yum. Warm, cheese, bacony, crispy, toasty. For a tiny sandwich it's really quite filling! I'm not sure I could handle the combo meal with three of them.
Next up was the BLT. Of course there's the obvious problem in that I don't eat tomatos. The girl at the register didn't know how to "hold the T on the BLT" so I told her to just go with it and I'd pluck them off. Sadly, I completely overlooked the predictable addition of Mayo. I detest mayo. So, prior to eating the BLT, I had to preform surgery and scrap the tomatos and mayo off. Once that was done, though it was really quite good. Again the crispy bacon and the cool crisp lettuce. Yummy!
Lastly was the Philly Cheese Steak. Apparently my order took longer to get to me because they have to cook the philly from scratch. It got to me super hot and super melty. It was good and messy, too. I was digging melted cheese out of the bottom of the box. (Haven't we all done that with our cheese Krystals?) So Philly Cheese Toaster gets two thumbs up for sure!
Perhaps one of the best part of the toaster sandwiches, however, is the box they come in. It takes a second to figure it out, and its easier to see when the box isn't flat, but see if you can figure it out:

As I mentioned, the dining room is a bit on the smallish side. In a Krystal Koincidence this put me very near a group of people hunched over some laptops at one table. It didn't take long for me to realize that these guys were techno-wizards working on the digital menus that were having problems outside. From the sounds of it, it sounded like they'd been struggling with it off and on for a while but had made a breakthrough. It was about that time the "manager" came around and asked them "Is there any particular reason our entire system just went down?"
This was followed by a long, uncomfortable silence, followed by a lot of frantic typing and scrambling. Apparently someone "out there" had rebooted a computer, and cause havoc with the store's computers. I chuckled silently to myself as I heard the age old reply "It's a software problem." Those hardware guys always say that. Then again, us software guys always blame hardware. And those network weenies get blamed by everyone (of course that's because it's usually their fault in the first place).
One interesting tidbit I did overhear was that they were discussing the next location to get the digital menus and drive ins and such. Now, without approval from Krystal HQ it is probably not appropriate for me to announce something like that here. (Jarrett and Jennifer, keep your eyes open!)
As I was leaving the store, I ran into a gentleman, I assumed was a store manager. He'd been the one talking to the techno-crats inside most of the time, and people kept coming to him with questions. I introduced myself and he told me his name was Michael Jordan. (No, not THAT Michael Jordan.)
I talked with Michael for a while about the new store and how things were going, and the menus and drive in and such. For me it was educational and a little exciting to hear how things work from the inside. Michael did tell me he wasn't the store manager, but I have forgotten exactly what his title is. He knows Tiffany, so perhaps she'll shed some light on it later (if she doesn't first slap me around for letting the cat out of the bag on the next high-tech Krystal).
At this point my tummy was quite full, and my hotel room simply HAD to be ready so I drove off to my hotel room to unpack, relax, and digest. But I knew it wouldn't be long until I returned for round 2. But that's for tomorrow.
Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

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Sunday, February 11, 2007

 

Jason takes Chattanooga (part 1)

With a week of planning I was eager to hit the road on Friday morning. I had a few phone calls and some business to take care of, but managed to roll out of here about noon. I purposely ate a very light breakfast, knowing I would need plenty of room for the next 2 or 3 meals once I got to the new Krystal in Chattanooga.
I had chosen a hotel based on price, distance, and amenities. In that order of priority. My first difficulty was in the realization that the new Krystal is not yet listed in the Krystal.com store locator. A little more digging on the web and I found the correct address: 5401 Brainerd Rd. I centered my hotel search on that and found a cheap hotel 4 miles away with a fridge and microwave. I felt I'd probably be taking leftovers home and those would be essential.
In hindsight, I chose poorly. I never used the fridge or microwave. In addition I was across the interstate from one Krystal and had to drive past another Krystal en route to the Brainerd Rd store. Click here My hotel was right across the interstate from location F. I had to drive past the krystal at location C. Koincidentally enough, that's where Linda showed me the Krystal Kruiser last April. The new Krystal is obviously at location A on the map.
I tried to check into my hotel upon arrival. I stress the word "tried." The lobby was locked and a sign on one door in the entry way said to "ring the bell for service." There was no bell but there was a buzzer. That didn't work. Then I noticed another sign on the other locked door saying "dial 0 for service." There was a rather beat up phone on the wall so I picked it up and dialed 0. I heard a phone inside the office, 3 feet away, ring, and then I was greeted with a busy signal. I am unsure why I would need to call someone 3 feet away from me, but then again, I have never managed a hotel.
After waiting 5 minutes, I started getting creative. I noticed the phone would allow me to call an outside number, so I dialed the full 7 digit number for the hotel. essentially calling the front desk from the entry way. It rang for 5 minutes. I was preparing to use the phone to call the national chain's 800 number when someone finally arrived. She said she was "in the back." How far "back" you can go in a hotel office I don't know. She then told me my room would be ready in 15 minutes. I decided it was a good time to head to the Krystal for lunch, and I was on my way.
Four miles and a lot of traffic later and I see it:
Click the pictures for larger views)

Now you might notice one side of the drive in has no cars. Basically that side was shut down for "repairs." Tiffany had remarked earlier that the tech guys were having problems with all the new equipment at this store. Apparently they didn't have it worked out yet. (More on that later!)
Taking advantage of the situation, I pulled my truck right up to one of the "closed" spots to take some photos:

I know you can't really read the menu. Don't worry, though, because I took the time to write it all down. I needed to plan my attack. So here's what is on the menu, organized by how I planned to approach them:
Friday late lunch:
The toasters: BLT, Grilled Cheese and bacon, Philly. (I passed on the reuben and corned beef and swiss), Mac and Cheese bites (bottom of the middle section), and a Chocolate Milkquake. They had Saurkraut listed in a way it appeared you added it to the Mac and Cheese bites. I discovered later it was to add to your chili pups.
Friday dinner (aka the chicken meal):
Grilled Chik, Chik'n Stick'ns, Chicken Wings. Three flavors of slushie (Lemon, Grape and Cherry) I tried Lemon at this meal.
Saturday early lunch:
Rockslides (with oreos, reeses, M&Ms or butterfingers), I went with Butterfinger, two Saucy Chiks (simply because I'd run out of new non-dessert items), and a grape Slushie.
Also on the menu were several things I never got around to because my lactose intolerant stomach veto'd them:
Smoothies (orange, berry, citrus, mango) Ice cream cups and cones (with toppings) Orange Sherbet freeze, Coke or Rootbeer float. Apple pie or brownie bites Sunday.
You can aslo get "favor shots" added to your soft drink.
All this in addition to the regular Krystal menu. I did notice a lack of new breakfast items, and an amazing abundance of dessert items. Since I was unable to try everything on the menu, I suppose another trip will be in order in the future.
For those who wish to have their very own "Krystal experience" please Email me and I can give you advice. For example, there is a Quality Inn at 5505 Brainerd Rd. that is walking distance from the Krystal. There is a CVS between the Krystal and Quality Inn, just in case you need Tums. My next trip up, I will probably be staying there. The Quality Inn, not the CVS.
So the next few days will feature a meal by meal recap, along with pictures. Then the special follow up of odd and interesting things seen along the way. Let me assure you the Krystal Koincidences abound!
Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

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Saturday, February 10, 2007

 

I'm back (like it or not)

I am home from my Chattanooga Krystal Trip. I haven't yet recovered though. I believe now is when the big bear is supposed to hibernate, after eating so much!
I brought home great pictures, wonderful stories, and was ready to start posting them up. However, news has come in that trumps mine. My friend Jarrett and his wife Jaime have had their second daughter. Actually it was last Monday. They forwarded a picture along to me and I must say she;s quite the cutie.
Sadly, they didn't go with my suggestion of naming her Chili Cheese Pup, But Allison Rae works, too! I'll be back on later tonight to start recapping my trip, but for now I think I will just leave it with this:

Welcome to the world, Allison!
And congrats, Jarrett and Jaime!

I'm A Krystal Lover

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

 

Travelin Man

I have tomorrow off from work, giving me a three day weekend. Back a couple of months ago when I requested the day off, I had planned to go to Huntsville for a couple of hockey games. I love Huntsville (the city) and their fans are actually very knowledgable, though a bit obnoxious on occasion. Their local university, UAH, has a very good college team, so they get plenty of hockey up there.
I have decided, though, to pass up the hockey in favor of something a bit more tasty. I have decided once and for all that I will make the trip to Chattanooga to try out this new Krystal I have read about on the Krystal Blog. I figured it would be a quick up and back trip until I started to see what was on the menu. I don't think I could eat that much at one sitting, so my trip has turned into an overnight. I plan to head up tomorrow afternoon and have dinner there. I have my room hotel reserved down the road so the next morning, bright and early I can hop back over for the new breakfast items. I am hopefully can get one last stop in prior to heading back home. I think between a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner, I can work my way thru the menu. I will of course skip anything I can get here in Macon.
I emailed Tiffany to see if she could give me any insight on what's on the menu and here is her reply:
Rockslides - Ice cream with Reeses, Oreo or Snickers
Ice cream cones
Mikquakes - Milkshakes (Vanilla, Strawberry and Chocolate) These have real ice cream and are awesome. Best is Strawberry
Toaster Sandwiches - Grilled Cheese and Bacon, Philly Cheesteak, Corned Beef, Reuben (small little sandwiches)
Smoothies - Too many flavors to count
Slushies - Same as above
Apple Turnover Sundae
Brownie bites sundae
Chicken wings
Chikn Stikn's
Grilled Chiks
She also said this wasn't even close to the full assortment. So you see I have my work cut out for me! I guess it goes without saying I will have my camera and will photograph EVERYTHING. A few items will likely go untested as I do not care for reubens or corned beef. (Corned ham, yes. But we've already been over that.)
I was at Krystal tonight, obviously. (Saucy Chik combo, upsized Coke, in case you were wondering) Chef and Sonya were there and we were talking of the new stuff on the menu. Sonya already knew about the MilkQuakes. They got a flyer about them a while back. She said they get TONS of people who come in asking for milkshakes, so she cant WAIT to get them in.
Chef on the other hand was asking me if he could go with me to Chattanooga. He wants to see this cool new Krystal. Sadly, he's got a shift to work tomorrow. I did promise to bring my pictures by next Thursday for him and Sonya to see.
While the main purpose of my trip is to visit the new Krystal, that isnt ALL I plan to do, of course. There's plenty of stuff in Chattanooga I have yet to see. I just dont yet know what I will have time for, so I am playing it by ear.
I am once again getting way behind in my posts, I have a rather large backlog I need to address. I have a few recipes waiting in the wings. I have one big one I am trying to work on, but I have been having serious problems finding ground veal here in Macon. Apparently veal isn't a big seller around here.
Tomorrow before I leave I should be able to post a recap of my Superbowl weekend. Here's a preview: I saw a total of 5 minutes of the game and 2 commercials. I also saw a lot of food, especially beef and ribs. It could all be summed up in three words:

Dee Lish Us

Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

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Friday, February 02, 2007

 

The last of the Loganberry

Well it is one last post about that tasty yet elusive Buffalo beverage called Loganberry. If you've been around here for a little while you followed me thru my misadventures and attempts to find a regular supply of Aunt Rosie's Loganberry. You can browse some of the posts here.
When we left off last, I was heartbroken when I heard that Aunt Rosie's had, in fact, stopped selling their beverage syrup to the general public. You can still get it packaged for soda fountains, but sadly I don't have a soda fountain at home. I had found, perhaps, an inside line on Cronfelts, who also makes Loganberry, and claims to be the "Original" Loganberry.
While trying to track down leads and in fact speaking to someone at Vitality Foodservice who makes Cronfelt's I decided it was time to take my fate in my own hands. I'm a smart guy. I'm not too bad in the kitchen. I'm crazy enough to try outlandish ideas. And I had done some research.
Loganberries are a cross of blackberries and raspberries. Sadly they are also very hard to find in their natural or frozen state here in Georgia. However, we do have fairly easy access to fresh raspberries and blackberries:
Thanks to my countless hours watching Food Network, I know where to go next. Add in a cup of simple syrup (sugar water) and blammo!
The resulting mixtures was the right color but rather thick. So it was time to strain out the seeds.
What was left was absolutely the right color and had the right flavor, but it was not nearly sweet or tart enough and was certainly too thick. So the next step was to add water.
I was on to something, but still not sweet or tart enough. I knew how to fix the sweet side but tart? I did a little research and found many fruity drinks use acetic acid to add tart. A bit more research led me to: vinegar. No way would I add vinegar to my new creation.
So I made a quick call to Amy, my sister in law, who is a real chef (diploma on the wall, jacket and hat in the closet, and supersharp knives at the ready.) We kicked some ideas around. She suggested perhaps increasing the raspberry content (the tarter of the two berries). I also thought perhaps adding in some cranberries. They're super tart and shouldn't offset the flavor too much. Amy suggested perhaps a cranberry juice concentrate. With that it was off to the store.
I started with Ocean Spray since it was like 27% juice. It helped but just didn't have enough zing to it. I had almost given up hope when I remember Amy saying maybe a natural foods place. I zipped over to the health foods aisle of my grocery store and there it was:
Yes you read the label right: pure cranberry juice, not from concentrate. It says that and "100% pure cranberry juice" like 8 times on the label. Let me assure you this stuff is not meant to be swallowed as-is. This stuff will probably remove paint, mildew, and any dental work you might have. BUt it did the trick. I had finally made my own version of Loganberry. And since Aunt Rosie had been the one to let me down, I dubbed this: Uncle Jason's Loganberry. (I really am an uncle, so it's not really a joke).
While I was wrapped up in my excitement, though, my Cronfelt's connection came through:
So now I don't have any real need for Uncle Jason's Loganberry. But I may continue to tinker with the recipe later on. I think perhaps I'll try using frozen berries instead of fresh and see if that makes a difference.
I did notice one thing though that made me laugh a bit:
I know it's hard to read but it says that Cronfelt's contains 0% juice. Maybe that was my problem all along, trying to actually put berries into loganberry. For the record, Aunt Rosie's did use actual loganberries. But aunt Rosie is dead to me now. Long live Cronfelts out of Barrie, Ontario, Canada (and yet somehow owned by a company from Tamp Florida?)
Oh my goodness it's still sooo good!
Krystal Lovers get more in the sack!.

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Thursday, February 01, 2007

 

K-Peps

People often ask me if there are any failed Krystal Adventure recipes. Sadly, the answer is yes. You now will get a taste of one of the must frustrating recipes that's been in and out of the test kitchen for almost 3 months. I am releasing it, not because I am proud of it, nor do I consider it "finished." Quite frankly I am tired of eating the mutant foods than result.
I feel an explaination of the name is in. I had hoped to find a cool Mexican sounding Krystal-like name for this like Krystal-Diablo. But in the end I failed at finding a good name almost as bad as I failed at finding a good recipe. But in that brief moment of sadness and shame it hit me: K-Fed (aka Kevin Federline, aka Mr. Brittany Spears.
It is comforting to know that no matter how bad I possibly screw up a recipe, including burning down an entire city block in a Mrs. O'Leary's cow fashion, I can never come close to the level of failure of Mr. Federline. Once I had made that connection the similarities began to grow:
No matter how many times I tried to listen to K-Fed or make a tasty K-Pep, they both left me with a nasty feeling deep down inside.
If I never see either of them ever again, I would be happy.
You may love one or both of them, and you may try to tell me of the virtues of either, but deep down I will think you're nuts, and likely have no taste.
So with that less than flattering introduction, here's the background (for the recipe not the man who single handedly created a huge sucking black whole in the modern musical universe.)
I have been trying to come up with a good Mexican inspired recipe to match the Italian inspired Krystal Pizza recipe. I figured stuffed peppers would be cool and got to work. There was, however, one very important point I overlooked early on and refused to accept later: I hate stuffed peppers.
So I release this incomplete recipe to the world and perhaps you can make something of it. However if you hate it, don't blame me. You'll note I haven't put my picture of blog address on the recipe in hopes no one will ever figure out where this actually came from.
Download both versions of the recipe Here
See the step by step pictures Here
In the first recipe I took a true stuffed pepper recipe and worked the Krystals into it. I did particularly like how the red and yellow peppers matched nicely with the red and yellow of the Krystal box. Sadly, that was the point where things started to go downhill.
I went with a Double Cheese Krystals to increase the meat to bread ratio. I figured the cheese would add nice flavor. Sadly the other spices cranked the heat to a painful level. It was also entirely too moist inside the peppers after cooking. I decided maybe I was overthinking things. So I scrapped that plan and started over.
Recipe #2 I decided to go with with the minimalist approach. I also swapped out the salsa with taco sauce in an effort to reduce the moisture in the recipe. I switched to bell peppers since the sweetness of the red and yellow peppers just didnt work well with the Krystal flavor. (Once again proving my theory that Sweet and Krystal do not go together.)
My last ditch effort to save the recipe was the addition of bacon. As you may have gathered from prior posts, I hold bacon in high regard. Bacon can save a lot of dishes in danger. Sadly, not even this recipe could be saved by the power of pork.
At this point I started to contemplate stuffing other thing. When Vidalia Onions come back in season later this year I will try to stuff an onion. I also thought of stuffing an artichoke. It was that single thought that snapped me into reality and brought us to this point. Krystals and artichokes do not belong in the same sentence. When you contemplate something like that it is time to throw in the towel.
Krystal Lovers like it steamy.

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