Friday, June 06, 2008
Pepperoni Pizza and Penguins
| When I lived in Macon, my typical Stanley Cup pre-game meal was a half-sack full of cheese Krystals. This year was my first year away from Krystal Kountry and of course as my luck would have it, the Red Wings went all the way. I tried various foods in an effort to find that right combination, but nothing seemed to really work out. Honestly, could someone tell me what "Classic Detroit Food" is? Sadly, from what I have heard from people who've visited Detroit, I think the classic Detroit meal is plate of dirt with a side of rust. For game seven I decided to go with pizza. Pepperoni and mushroom to be exact. There's a place around the corner that sells "by the slice" called Luciano's. They've been undergoing some changes lately, and I think they are under new ownership or new management. Every time I go in the "kid" from the back comes out and chit chats a bit, then the tall gentleman that I think is the new owner comes out and wants to know my opinions on the place, the food, etc. They really do seem to care about what their customers think, so I keep going back. The huge fantastic slices may also have something to do with that. Game sevens are a big night and I knew 2 slices wouldn't be enough. On a previous visit I'd been told by another customer that Luciano's chicken wings were excellent. I had a coupon so I figured what the heck. Yes, I know it seems like a BAD thing to be eating WINGS when you are rooting for the Red Wings. Give me a break. I tried to track down any place that sells penguin and no one does. There isn't any place for me to go hunt one down a penguin here either. Wilmington doesn't really have a zoo. And Tregembo Park just south of Wilmington doesn't have penguins. (The zoo was formerly the "Toe Em In Zoo," and the reason that area of town is called "Monkey Junction.") Maybe if I had been able to go to Clarks, instead. What is Clarks, you ask? Well ever since my Christmas trip to visit Courtney, she's been talking about going to some place called "Clark's Fish Camp." My first objection was "I don't eat fish." Courtney's reply was simple: "There's way more than fish on the menu." Courtney was quite certain I would enjoy Clarks. She assured me they had a rather unique menu and Courtney knows I have a rather unique taste in food. I think that's probably one of Courtney's best qualities. For the most part, she understands me. And on those occasions when she doesn't understand me, she tolerates me. At times she even humors me. So this past trip we made sure to squeeze in a trip to Clarks. Courtney didn't lie. The place is VERY interesting. I was immediately reminded of The Gourmet Club from The Freshman. You look around the room at all the taxidermy, trophies and heads on the wall and play the "extinct, endangered, edible" game. Looking over the menu I quickly passed on the ones I have had before: gator, rabbit, frog, ostrich, venison, buffalo, snake. (Keep in mind, I was a Boy Scout for a long time so I've also had squirrel, and earthworms, among other things.) It was a tough decision, but the waitress was very helpful. And dinner was quite delicious:  What's that? You can't identify what I had for dinner? Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe you recognize him better from Saturday Morning Cartoons:  So in the end, all I was left with was "regular" wings. I decided that I would eat one wing for each Detroit goal. I know it might seem like wishful thinking for me to buy 10 wings, but the way the playoffs had been going, you just can't be sure. In closing, for those that do choose to put a little roo in your dinner, I have a couple of pieces of advice: brush your teeth immediately afterwards, and chew a lot of gum. I swear I think they used the kangaroo's butt. And the next morning, beware the "Revenge of the Roo." Come to think of it, dinning on a Joey reminded me a bit of bulgogi. Now I am just wondering if I can sneak a grill into Tregembo. Cause now I have a real craving for a medium rare zebra steak. (The best part is they already have the "grill marks" on em!)   |
Labels: Hockey
Thursday, June 05, 2008
What is a Dynasty?
Officially, "Dynasty" refers to a single ruling family spanning several generations. I will pause for a moment for Jimmy and Chris to clean their computer screens after they both likely spewed Coke on them at seeing the "Die-Nasty." This is my Red Wings Dynasty:
What a finish: relieved Red Wings win Cup  Those who know me know that roughly 15 minutes after the above picture was taken, I was in the bathroom, beard trimmer in hand, trying to remove the Playoff Badger that had attached itself to my face over the past couple of weeks. He was a tough sucker, and it took a while to finally pry him off. For the next week or so, parts of my face that haven't gotten sunlight or fresh air for several years will be running around nekkid. (No pictures, please!) I also now need to find myself a new hat. My "Detroit Dynasty" hat with their 10 Cups is so... well, it's so 2002. I loved that hat, and frankly I am not fond of the current selection at shop.nhl.com. Of course the items that went up 8 seconds after the buzzer sounded were the items that were produced almost 2 weeks ago in a top secret sweat shop, and held in the shadows until the game ended, then handed to every player to put on immediately. I suspect if I wait a little while, a better selection and cheaper prices will eventually come available. In fact I have seen a hand full of new items come up on the web site since last night. The title defense begins in September. My goatee and I will be ready.  |
Labels: Hockey
Monday, June 02, 2008
The truth in sidewalk chalk.
While hanging out with Sean last week, we had the opportunity to hang out in the drive way, and have some in depth discussion over frosty a beverage.     Since the strike has ended, Gary's been flexing his muscle, forcing a salary cap on teams, and thus making it impossible for players to stay at one place for long. So no longer will you see great "franchise players" stay at one team their entire career like Steve Yzerman of Detroit. Thanks Gary! The problem the NHL is now facing is that ESPN, growing wearing of Gary's Games told the NHL to take a hike. In desperation for a TV deal, the NHL signed with the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Hockey? Outdoor Life? So the channel eventually changed their name to Vs. Yeah, that channel, Versus. The one with all the cage fighting. ESPN replaced hockey with poker. Hockey vs Poker? OLN vs ESPN. Well it was a no brainer, ESPN's poker killed OLN's hockey. Thanks Gary! There are literally thousands of incidents that have happened under Gary's rule that clearly show he has no respect for the game or for the fans. Yet he seems oblivious. He doesn't hear the deafening BOO's that follow him to every arena in the league. He has no clue, and everyone else has to live with it. Perhaps the most terrifying thing I have seen was on Saturday, the first finals game on national (non cable) TV. On one particular play, they did a replay and as a player shot the puck, imagine my shock and horror as a long black tail "grew" out of the puck like some cartoon. The reason it terrified me was that this is what used to be called The FoxTrax Glow Puck. You can see it in action here in the All Star game a few years back: If the video above doesn't work, click here Golf balls are smaller that hockey pucks, and travel up to 170mph. Do they put comet tails and colored dots on them? No! Pitches in baseball regularly travel faster that 70mph and hits even faster. Do they put comet tails on them to help the average fan? No! Comet tails on race cars? Nope. on racing horses? No way. How many comet tails do you expect to see in the upcoming Olympics? I'm putting my money on ZERO. The problem here is the NHL (Gary Bettman) thinks you are stupid. It's really that simple. He thinks you are stupid because you'd rather watch Poker than hockey. You are stupid and he has to draw little comet tails on hockey pucks so you can see them. It is only a matter of time before the old Batman and Robin "Blam!" and "Pow!" graphics start appearing when there is any kind of a check or fight on the ice. No wonder hockey's ratings are in the toilet. Players don't stay put because the salary cap makes it so teams can't afford them. The games are played on stations no one's ever heard of. You can't afford to ever go to a game so why bother even getting involved in the first place. Gary keeps tweaking the game trying to make it more "accessible to the non hockey fan" and in the process he destroys the game. Eventually, Gary will change the puck for a ball, the hockey stick for a bat, the ice for grass, and suddenly it will be baseball. Thanks Gary! So tonight, watch the Red Wings kill the Penguins (and I hope I didn't jinx it) and win the cup. Then Nick Lidstrom, the Captain of the Red Wings will come out to get the Stanely Cup from Gary Bettman. You will be able to see Gary the weasel himself. I bet Lidstrom will feel like spitting on Gary. Nick Lidstrom is one of the nicest hockey players ever, regularly winning awards for gentlemanly play. I suspect that is the ONLY reason he doesn't just cross check Gary Bettman in the teeth before he picks up the cup. The rest of the hockey world would love him up if he did, but sadly I don't have my hopes up. So just remember this as you watch hockey tonight:
 |
Labels: Hockey
Saturday, May 31, 2008
It's all about cup size
| With my recent quest to find the biggest cup to hold a tasty beverage, it occurred to me over the past week or so that, really, there's only one cup, and it holds about 168 ounces. It is, of course, If you have been following my advice and been watching the finals, you know that it has more or less played out like I said. The younger Penguins were absolutely stunned by the veteran Red Wings 4-0 and 3-0 in Detroit, but once arriving home the Penguins regained their composure to win 3-2. Game 4 is tonight. As a follow up to my post (linked to above) I do need to point out that upon arrival at Courtney's last week, one of her first questions was when exactly the first playoff game would be. I told her it would be Saturday night at 8 and she said that would be no problem. We could watch it, and if she got tired of it (GASP) she had other stuff she could be doing. She also said she'd TiVo it for me, just in case we were interrupted. (Remember that for tomorrow. It's important!) Have I mentioned lately that Courtney's awesome? And you don't even know the half of it. Ladies, I want you to prepare to go shopping. In a moment you will be able to go on a shopping spree completely paid for by your husband or boyfriend. I will distract him to the point you can take his credit card and buy whatever you like. You'll have over an hour. However, please include in your shopping either a hockey jersey (Red Wings preferred, please) or a catholic school girl outfit. It'll make sense later. Gentlemen, while reading the news coverage for the playoffs, I stumbled on this article about actress Kristen Bell's attraction to Detroit Goalie Chris Osgood, and her first "encounter" with The Cup. Oh yeah, she's a Red Wings fan of the highest order. Follow the link and then click on every single link from that site. You won't be sorry. (FYI: The link is kid safe, the sites linked to from that may not be.) Ladies, grab his credit card, go shopping, and we'll see you later on! Gentlemen, after you have clicked on all of the links you will finally make it to the bottom of the article where they mention that apparently Miss Kristen Bell got her picture taken in her Catholic High School uniform while hugging The Cup. When I read that, my jaw hit the floor, I got a bit woozy, and I fell out of my chair. I will freely admit that, at one point in my life, I would have worn a Catholic school girl outfit if it meant I got to see the Stanley Cup. Because, while it does travel a lot, let's face it, 5 years ago, the chances of us ever getting within 100 miles of each other were slim. The closest NHL teams (Carolina, Atlanta, Nashville, and Tampa) all sucked. Since then, of course Tampa and Carolina have won the cup. (They then returned to utterly sucking.) Atlanta sucks and probably won't win it any time soon, and Nashville may be forced out of town before they can win it. But I was amazingly lucky (as I always seem to be) and Stanley came to me. In 2005 when Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast, it actually pushed a few hockey teams out of their homes the following season. The NHL, being an amazingly charitable organization, sent its most recognizable ambassador, The Cup, to help. A fund raising tour was arranged across the country, visiting cities in the East Coast Hockey League. The stop on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 would be in Augusta, GA. My friend Kim lives in Augusta, and that is only about 2 hours away from Macon. As I said, I may be the luckiest man on Earth, since I didn't have to resort to wearing a Catholic school girl outfit. I chose to wear my Phil Valk Macon Whoopee jersey, and my Red Wings Dynasty (10 Cups) hat.  As I was clicking off tons of photos Mike pointed out that my flash wasn't working. The place was not well lit, so I knew I had problems. The gentleman beside me leaned over and offered to take a picture of me with his digital camera and then email it to me. He clicked one off, showed it to me on the camera display, and it looked good. So I wrote down my email address. I thanked him profusely. He just grinned and whispered "Red Wing Nation" and we bumped fists. This is THE picture.  The next day I bought my first digital camera. I think a review of some of Robert Ullman's latest blog posts here and here will give you some idea of a hockey fan's fixation. (Warning: Mr. Ullman's artwork is amazing, but tends towards the PG and R ratings!) Oh how I wish I could draw like that. If anyone happens to have an extra ticket stub of Miss Bell with the cup, or at least a picture of it, I really want to get my hands on And on that note, if any cute ladies feel the urge to send me pictures of themselves in nothing but a hockey jersey (Red Wings preferred) or even a Catholic school girl outfit (with or without The Cup) please feel free to email me here. I don't intend to repost any of them here, but please tell me if it would be Ok. (I'll assume it's not ok unless you say otherwise.) |
Labels: Hockey
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
And now it's time for Stanley
| Yes the Red Wings won last night, and they won huge to advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Therefore, this morning I shaved. Yes I know, I normally reserve the post-playoff shearing for after the ENTIRE playoffs are done. This year is special. Obviously the Red Wings are my favorite team, but many years back I picked the Penguins as my "backup." You have to carefully choose your secondary team so there's no chance they'll run into each other til the finals. This year it's the Wings and the Pens. And it's going to be awesome. The Pens are dominated by Sid "The Kid" Crosby, who is clearly on of the hottest hockey players to hit the ice in over a decade. He's teamed with Evgeni "Geno" Malkin who is almost as good. That one two offensive punch has allowed the Penguins to plow through their opponents this post-season. Until Now. While Detroit boasts another pair of amazing offensive weapons in Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, the biggest thing Detroit brings to the table is smothering defense, anchored by the greatest defenseman in the game today, Nicklas Lidstrom. Add to that the fact that Detroit has two of the best goalies in the game with Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek, and you can see the "unstoppable force" and "immovable object" situation forming. I am 51% rooting for the Red Wings and 49% rooting for the Penguins. Mainly I just want to watch this amazing series unfold. If you aren't a hockey fan, these games are still worth tuning in to see. If you are a casual or avid fan these are must watch games. The greatest players NOW against the greatest players of the future. With a sprinkling of the greatest players from a year ago. The games are all at 8pm on Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays from this weekend til the best of 7 series is decided. The first two games are on Versus and the rest on CBS. But that is where the problem comes in for me. I leave early tomorrow morning to head to Florida to visit Courtney and Sean. Plans have been in the works for us to go "camping" over the weekend. Now there will be an RV involved so normally I'd laugh when calling that "camping." But this time is different. I have one question: It would also be cruel to hook him on hockey at such a young age when Jacksonville just lost their pro hockey team, The Barracudas. He'd be a "hockey orphan" like me. Forced to survive on the meager doses of televised hockey supplied by Versus. There is talk that hockey may return to Jacksonville in the future, but until they, like Orlando, realize that Florida is already above their NHL team quota, and they embrace minor league hockey, they will continue to have great teams that can't sell tickets.  |
Labels: Hockey
Monday, May 05, 2008
Penny
For years when I went to the Macon Centreplex for a hockey game, I always got there an hour before game time. I would enter the arena with a mighty and unmistakable "WHOOP!" which was usually greeted by loud laughter from Penny who ushered the games for years and was often the only other person there that early. Penny loved hockey as much as I do. Penny and Andrew Rodgers, Feb, 2000 I put on my Phil Valk Whoopee Jersey and walked into the Medical Center. I have had one person tell me that since Penny was in a coma she wouldn't be able to see that I was wearing "Valkie's" jersey. Tell me that again and I'll punch you in the mouth. Trust me, Penny knows. Carol Ann greeted me and walked me back to Penny's room. I managed to stand there for about 17 seconds before I had to step outside and break down for a minute. I don't deal well with hospitals. Period. Penny died Sunday morning. Molly, one of Penny's (and my) favorite student worker, forwarded me this email this afternoon: I am glad you got to see Penny as well. I know you are not supposed to do this over email, and I apologize, but I have never had to do this. Penny passed away Sunday morning. Dr. Digh called me yesterday to tell me. I am forwarding you an email her sister-in-law sent me on Saturday. Molly, I wanted to e-mail you because I know you were very important to Penny. I have some really bad news...Penny has had more strokes and they said it is beyond repair. They are going to turn off the machines tomorrow (Sunday) that were sustaining her to this point. They have put up signs that only immediate family can see her now at the NICU until the end. We will keep everyone up to date on the plans that are being made. I really wanted you to know how much she appreciated you and cared for you. Thank you so much for everything you did for her. Please let me know if you need anything. Be blessed... thankfully i only had one final exam to give at 3pm. I have found that I am an emotional shark. As long as I keep moving and talking, the AngerFearSadnessDepressionFrustrationPain doesn't have a chance to sink its claws in. But now I am home. I am quiet. and I am still. All of my emotions are sitting just outside in the hallway waiting for me to join them. And it is finally time. Visitation - Tuesday, May 6th 5-7 pm at Macon Memorial Park on Mercer Univ. Dr. Funeral - Wednesday, May 7th 3 pm at Macon Memorial Park Donations in lieu of flowers to: The Penny Cato Memorial Fund 1670 Rivoli Drive Macon, GA 31210 Penny J. Cato, Administrative Secretary in the Computer Science Department of the College of Liberal Arts died Sunday after a brief illness. She was a member of our Mercer family for over 15 years and was loved by the faculty and students she served. She was a giver known for thinking and doing for others before she thought of herself. She walked among us with joy and with a firm spiritual foundation. She deeply loved her children, Amber and Ricky, and was a committed friend. She loved the South, The Braves, hockey, John Wayne, country music, and butterflies. If you go and visit the offices in the Computer Science building, you catch a glimpse of the person Penny was - sassy, spiritual, opinionated, loving. Hugs were her signature. Several of her faculty have called her the Mother Hen. She pushed to get her work done, always doing so with grace. One of the quotes on the bulletin board says, 'Laughter is God's Sunshine, Take time to Laugh for it is the music of the soul.' With her passing, some of our joy is gone. But, as she would say, you have work to do and smile! Love, Penny |
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Checking in and checking out
| Sorry its been so quiet around here lately. With dealing with Penny's situation (she's been put into a coma to allow her brain time to heal from the trauma of 15+ hours of surgery.) To job stress (finals started today). To late nights of watching the Detroit Red Wings kick the ever loving snot out of the Colorado Avalanche. To a double handful of other things keeping me emotionally stirred up and off balance. I really just had "nothing left in the tank" to be posting here. In fat I am not really sure I have anything now either. But I have finally decided it's time to get up off the floor, put on my big boy pants, and take my life back. The Red Wings finished sweeping the Avalanche tonight with a crushing 8-2 win in Colorado. I am more or less half way through with giving my exams, and everythings graded and submitted so far. I leave tomorrow for a weekend getaway in Cordele, GA for my fraternity's bi-annual reunion. A weekend in the great outdoors with my brothers (and Andrea) should help me clear my head. But most importantly, I have worked in a side trip to go by and visit Penny in the hospital on my way down. I can only believe that a visit would be good for Penny and good for me. I don't think it's at all disrespectful to also pick up some Krystals while in Macon. Penny would probably be upset if I didn't. And I don't have to worry about Andrea stealing any of my Krystals, since she's a vegetarian. Maybe I'll buy her a MilkQuake and an apple pie, if she's good. Or maybe I'll buy myself one of the new Peanut Butter or Banana Pudding MilkQuakes and just not tell her. It'll be our secret! |
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Don't forget the 10¢ deposit in Michigan!
| During a recent run through eBay I stumbled on something that shocked me. A Krystal Coke bottle for over $100? Actually, that isn't outrageous, as a few bottles have gone for astronomical amounts of late: A 65th birthday (1997) bottle with the cardboard tube sold for $200.00. I think this may have simply been another eBay Sniper-fight, but GEEZE! A 70th birthday (2002) bottle for $74.99 and another for $133.63 both with the red velvet bags. I've seen these two different bottles go for big money in the past. The big thing is for them to have the tube or bag. Occasionally you'll see one pop up with a certificate as well. Those bring bigger money, of course. The bottle I saw the other day wasn't a 1997 or 2002 bottle, though. It was a 2007, 75th birthday bottle. Like these:  You can get the bottles on eBay now, and prices have stabilized at roughly $10 a set plus postage: $9.99 currently, plus $12 postage or $9.99 currently, plus $7.70 postage. Postage rates may vary as these are likely calculated to ship them to me. Of course you'll still find people trying to get rick off the clueless masses who don't know how to shop on eBay and insist on charging outlandish amounts like $25.99 plus $10 shipping. Anyway, this clearly shows you why a 6 month old bottle listed at over $100 raised an eyebrow. Then I Clicked On It. The first thing I noticed was the red bag. 75th bottles didn't come with a bag. Then I noticed the contact name in the listing. That's Tiffany that you've heard many a mention of here at Krystal Adventure. Suddenly it started to make sense. (Yeah, so I am a bit slow some days.) This is a special bottle. A very special bottle. Signed by the Krystal King, James F. Exum Jr., number 75 out of limited run of 500. With a red bag and a certificate also signed by the King. Oh yes, this was special indeed. The newest and hottest (coolest?) Krystal Blog on the block, Krystalist.com had the scoop, of course. This is a charity auction with proceeds going to Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I am unsure if this is an "official charity" of Krystal or not, but you may have noticed if you go to the Krystal Lovers Lounge at Krystal.com on the right side on the "bulletin board" is a link to FCA's website. It's been there for a long long time, too. While I would certainly love to own this exceptionally rare piece of Krystal memorabilia, the current price is sitting at $510.00, and it ends tomorrow around 11:21am (eastern time zone). What is likely driving the price so insanely high is that it is not only a Krystal Kollectible, but it is a Coke collectible. I know a couple of Coke collectors and those people are crazy. All in all I think it's a great idea. I am only sorry I never got around to giving a link and props to it sooner. If you think that the price is a bit too rich for you, don't let that discourage you. I am quite sure FCA would love for you to contribute even if you don't get a Coke bottle. And then you won't have to drive all the way to Michigan to get that 10¢ deposit back! And speaking of Michigan. The Red Wings finished stomping on Nashville today to move into the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. What may have been their undoing was the loss of their captain, Jason Arnott, in what I think will go down in history as the first celebratory concussion on sports history. After scoring a big goal 2 games ago, he got mobbed in the corner by his team mates, getting slammed to the glass, then piled up while he lay on the ice. He was slow to get up, and didn't play any more. The camera caught moments of him sitting on the bench in obvious pain, screaming about something. They announced he didn't play the last two games due to a concussion, haven't officially said what caused it. I'd bet a $510 Coke bottle, his team mates gave him a concussion celebrating his goal, and thus indirectly knocked themselves out of the playoffs. It was fun to see that after Nashville had beaten on Detroit for 3 straight games, they started beating on each other instead. Go Red Wings! |
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Summer plans
| Krystal Adventure has been working on a research project this past week and details should start coming out tomorrow. Before we leap into that I wanted to give a bit of public service info. Blogger (host of Krystal Adventure) is always coming up with new things and testing them out on a "Beta" site. I stroll by every so often and see what's up. Frankly I am happy with this blog as it is, so I have passed on many of the newer features. There is one new feature, though, that I have been waiting on and it has made it to Beta. Currently, when you hit "post" on a blog article it gets assigned a date and time and gets added to your blog. You have the option of putting it in "draft" where it will not be published but stay on blogger. I regularly have 2 or three posts in draft mode as I tinker with them before they go live. The problem is that you still have to manually push the publish button when you want them to go live. There have been many occasions where I knew a busy week was coming and I would be unable to get a post in, but I had plenty of time in advance to work on the blog. Rather than post 4 or 5 posts in a 2 days span, I choose to wait until I return to post. Sadly this has caused countless posts to never make it since they become "stale" before I get time to post them. Blogger is working on allowing you to schedule a post to appear at a set date/time in the future. I have every belief that feature will eventually be adopted as I have seen plenty of people begging for it. I will certainly take advantage of it as well, and the end result should be lest of the "feast or famine" posting around here. I do worry that the change will force me to upgrade to the "newer" Blogger templates (which are actually over a year old). There will certainly be benefits to upgrading, but I worry about the effect it will have on my current set up and customizations. (Links and pictures on the left, as well as the folks who get this blog via email.) I do know that in the newer templates, the archives are MUCH easier to navigate, and that's the biggest issue pushing me to upgrade. So as it stands right now, one of the many things on my summer "To Do List" is to go ahead and tinker with the template and bring KrystalAdventure up to date. Obviously, details will be forthcoming and I'll be certain to let you know what the plans are as soon as I know them. As for me and today, the Red Wings play at 2, so I plan to be glued to the sofa watching the boys in Red and White in the playoffs. |
Labels: Hockey
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I prefer food without a face, please.
| After our Smithsonian adventures Heidi and I started making plans to do dinner on Friday night. We had originally discussed going to Philly to get a cheese steak, but since Heidi had been ill recently, she wasn't up for the trip. Instead she asked if I had ever been to a Korean barbecue. As you know, the mere mention of barbecue makes my ears perk up. Since I am from southeastern NC I think barbecue is clearly a gift from God. Sadly, my years of barbecue exile in Georgia has left me wary of what most people call "barbecue." I have had Mongolian barbecue. I like it, but it doesn't like me. I've had Chinese and Japanese "barbecue" as well. So I figured what the heck, lets go for it! Prior to leaving to join up with Heidi I asked my sis-in-law if she'd ever been to a Korean barbecue. She's been to culinary school and is my "go to girl" when it comes to food. She replied she'd never been but wanted to go and was a full recap of my adventure. I then turned to my brother who has lived and/or visited countries all over the world. He didn't have a vast amount of details but simply advised me that if I stick with beef, I should be OK. In particular a dish called "bulgogi." Armed with this valuable information, I went to meet Heidi and off we went. She had already picked out the place we were going. Heidi then explained that I was the first white person she'd ever invited to Korean barbecue who actually said yes. Apparently it's a top notch Korean barbecue named Yechon.  After consulting with Heidi on the menu. I told her I basically had 2 rules for what to get:
After we placed our order, since we were having the barbecue, a "grill" was then placed on our table. I use the term grill loosely, as it appeared to me to be a car hub cap on a Coleman camping stove. Then minutes later, another waitress came to cover our table front to back and end to end with small white dishes fill with what can be best described as things recovered from last night's trash.  It was at that point the Russian Roulette began. I would point at something and ask what it was. I was usually greeted with a blank stare, a shrug , or the occasional "I don't know, go for it!" Deep down I knew the red pile of stuff would be hot. Red is the universal color of hot. I decided to start there and hopefully have enough time to recover from the heat. After stuffing down a mouthful of what I now know was kim chi. Heidi informed me what it was and that it was "the hottest thing on the table." Rather than waving me off, she decided to let me dive in. At least now I know it can't get any worse. I also have a great deal of difficulty comprehending "worse." Another dish I had decided was either some kind of mushrooms or fish so I was avoiding it. Heidi also said she didn't know what it was. It was only later, after she'd coaxed me into trying it, that she informed me she didn't know what it was but she didn't like it. Again she suckered me in. It had the texture of thin shoe leather. The best we can figure is that it was skate (the manta-ray looking fish). One dish I swear looked as if someone had made Jello with dirty dishwater. It tasted as if someone had made Jello with dirty dishwater. There was a fluffy egg type dish, served cold. Come to think of it I believe all of the banchan was served cold. In hindsight this meal was about what I might expect out of Heidi: always an adventure. Next time I get up in that direction we've agreed that it's Philly Cheese Steak time and it might also be Philly Cheesecake time, to, if I get up there with enough time to make one. I will resist the urge to put fermented cabbage or fish eyeballs in her slice of cheesecake. Maybe as a garnish or on the side? While dining at a Korean barbecue was an adventure, it was nothing compared to the adventure that awaited me the next morning. My best advice, if you choose to go for Korean barbecue is this: pepto before, pepto after, and stay near a bathroom the next day. |
Friday, March 14, 2008
Cherry Blossom Battle
The following two pictures were taken at the Smithsonia for the sole purpose of annoying the crap out of my friends in Macon. Heidi checks out the Cherry Blossom swag.  Both Macon and Washington have Cherry Blossom trees (Yochinos to be exact) and they both have festivals. But because Washington, DC is u>Washington, DC they get to call theirs The National Cherry Blossom Festival. Macon is simply The Cherry Blossom Festival or sometimes just "Macon's Cherry Blossom Festival." In recent years, though, Macon has begun calling their festival "The International Cherry Blossom Festival." I'll be honest, I didn't know Washington had Cherry trees and a festival until someone told me about it while explaining why Macon's was so much better. Now that I am away from macon, though, I have found that most folks know of Washington's Cherry trees but few have heard of Macon's. If you review the web sites you'll quickly find that Washington got the Cherry tree ball rolling with a donation from Japan. (And that's my Asian reference for today.) While Macon certainly gets attention from Japan due to the trees and festival, the original Cherry Trees were all from a local, Mr. Ficklin and his "odd tree" on his farm. Further review will show that while Washington has a longer festival (by a week) Macon has FAR more trees that Washington and the number grows dramatically year after year and they give away and plant thousands of them suckers each year. I have yet to experience a DC Cherry Blossom Festival, but I have survived plenty of them in Macon. When they tell you the whole city turns pink, they are not kidding.  Sadly, one year they even made the Macon Whoopee hockey team put on horrid white jerseys with big pink flowers and lettering and dubbed them "The Macon Cherry Blossoms." Thankfully, the objections of EVERYONE forced the team to only wear them for warm ups. With this Cherry Blossom controversy surrounding me, there's really only one thought going through my head: So far this year I have had the itchy eyes once or twice but nothing full blown yet. I think here in NC, on the coast, I am just out of the reach of the cursed Cherry pollen. But I can't help but wonder if there's something else out there, just about to bloom, and ruin my nirvana. |
Friday, January 11, 2008
What I expect to find in Heaven
I love Ashley Judd. It's not about her acting ability. Frankly I couldn't name more than 3 of her movies of the top of my head. I can trace my love of Ashley Judd back to one very important moment in my life. The moment I first saw this: They caused such a stir that UK has kept putting out schedules with famous start wearing only a hockey jersey. You can see the list (but not buy them) here. And for the record, I am now falling in love with Rebecca Gayheart, too. As I said previously, my local cable provider has a few channels on it that I really have no use for. one of which is LMN which obviously is the "Lemon Network" right? Well, no, it's the "Lifetime Movie Network." From the people who bring you the Lifetime Channel, aka "Chick-Channel" where all men are either bad or gay. It is, however, on the way to other more important channels to me so I occasionally slide through. A week or so ago I was headed to the higher channels and caught a glimpse of Jeffrey Donovan who I first noticed in the (extremely manly) show Burn notice on USA. I paused briefly and caught about 3 or 5 minutes of a movie and saw Ashley Judd was also in it. I then realized it was a "Lifetime Movie" so I went on about my business. Nothing to see here. Tonight as I was again looking for manly TV shows like Ultimate Fighting Championship or Guys Blowing Things Up, I swung through LMN (accidentally). And there she was: Ashley Judd. But now I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks, like the half naked hockey poster. Ashley Judd was stuffing down a Cheese Krystal. How did I know it was a Cheese Krystal? The big beautiful yellow box (Red for Regular, Yellow for Cheese, and Orange for Specials). She also had a Krystal cup I'd never seen before, it may have been a coffee cup. (I don't drink coffee.) I froze. I stared at the screen. I may have licked the screen. I looked at Ashely. I looked at the Krystal. Ashley. Krystal. Ashley. Krystal. I think I may have blacked out at some point. Apparently the movie Come Early Morning was a huge hit at Sundance. That's why you have probably never heard of it. It was written by Joey Lauren Adams, who you may know from Chasing Amy or Big Daddy. I checked to see if it would be on again, figuring I could tape it and skip through the "chick parts" but it doesn't show anytime soon on my TV listings. My advice is to keep your eyes open, but unless you're a chik, don't spend too much time on LMN waiting for it to come back on or you might turn gay. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) As for me, I now know: When I get to heaven, all I really need is Ashley Judd with nothing but a hockey jersey and a sack full of cheese Krystals. (Bonus points if it's a Red Wings jersey and if I can get fries and a MilkQuake too.) |
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
At least my job ain't dirty!
| Here I sit at work. yes I am at work and have been since about 11am. I finished one class at 3ish and I get to sit around here until my next class at 6pm. It goes until 8pm. I get to come in late but I have to stay late. Not a bad trade, I figured. I figured wrong. Tonight is a Detroit Red Wings game against the Colorado Avalanche. I hate Colorado, and so does every other Red Wings fan. While their games have not been as intense the past few years as they were in in the late 90's, I happen to have most of those games on VHS tape and have been copying them to DVD the past few weeks. So they're fresh in my mind, and now I really hate Colorado. But I'll be stuck at work when the game starts at 7pm. DANG IT! Also, there's a newer cooking show, Just Cook This with a guy named Sam Zein. This is the kind of cooking show I'd like to do. And I have had lots of people tell me I should do a cooking show. I am quite confident that Chris and Colby and I could combine our culinary and creative talents to put together a show like this one. Its basically 3 guys, 1 camera, a couple of dogs, and a kitchen. They stand around, crack jokes, cook, and eat. It's on Discovery Health channel so they try to do healthy stuff. But it's still fun. But sadly I can't watch it now. It only comes on Tuesday afternoons at 4pm. I'll be at work. Dang it! Whats worse is that I'll be missing Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel. And tonight of all nights! Who gives a rat's butt that Oprah went to Macon? Mike Rowe went to Macon and that's a big deal. Actually Mike was just outside of Macon, very close to Brian in a small town called Clinton, GA. I've driven thru there a billion times over the years. Mike's Dirty Job? Cleaning up at Old Clinton Bar-B-Q. (Yes they spell it wrong but lets ignore that for now.) I have eaten at Old Clinton once. It was alright, until they put their sauce on it. Their website gives you the scoop on their food. I did find it funny that they included some reviews one of which is not at all flattering. (Click the About link on their web page.) It should be a good show. Heck it features MEAT! (Go Meat!) And not just any old meat, it features the best one: PORK!! Thankfully I *can* be home in time to watch that show. But I'll probably be buried in books prepping for classes tomorrow morning. ARGH! As aside note, while I was digging out the article from the Macon Telegraph about the show I found this:  Then again, ignorant people mean job security. I just wish they would take daytime classes. Or at least bring me some barbeque. (Yes that IS the correct spelling!) |
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Tur-duck-duck-goose!
| After sleeping off my Turkey induced hangover, I am alive and well. Just in time to recap my turducken adventure. My Thanksgiving adventures with complete Corned Ham coverage will follow later this week. When last we left left our friendly Turducken it had just been tossed into the oven for a slow roast. The preperation of the Turducken was quite easy as it had already been assembled and frozen. All I had to do was thaw it, cut open the package and shove it in the oven. Two hours later, the down side of this prepared turducken began to show.  This net was not string. It was some sort of elastic net. My first thought was how does the elastic survive in the oven for 2 hours without melting or breaking down. I still do not have an answer for that. I wasn't allowed to ponder it too long. In removing the netting from the turducken, the elastic provided a nice "slingshot" effect, throwing hot crusty season poultry shrapnel all over my kitchen. Floor, ceiling, wall, shirt, countertop. On many occasions I have had a meal (usually wings or ribs) where I felt I needed a bath after the meal. This was the first one I felt I needed a bath after serving the meal! Once the netting was removed it was time for the magical moment of carving the turducken. Traditional turducken carving is to cut it down the middle to expose all three layers.  The turkey is easily identified as the largest chunks of meat with a slightly gray color. I can only assume the darkest meat is duck, as duck meat tends to be very dark in color. The problem is, from what I can tell, the duck meat is INSIDE the remaining meat, which must be chicken. While digging thru this mound of meat, I was never able to positivly ID any of the "sausage stuffing" advertised on the box. Sadly we may need a special holiday episode of CSI to help with this one. You may also notice a lot of red on the outside and inside of the turducken. Apparently the fake-cajuns who make these turduckens feel that as long as you coat everything with cayenne pepper then it is suddenly "cajun." So they put pepper on every layer of the turducken leading to an overspiced hardly edible chunk of meat. I'm no sissy when it comes to hot food. I love hot wings as much as the next guy, but I also am smart enough to know you don't turn up a bottle of Texas Pete when you're feeling a bit thirsty. one nice thing about the turducken was that there were plenty of drippings for making gravy. This is due to the extra juicy duck. However once you've had your fill of duck fat gravy you probably don't want to see what happens with the rest of the duck fat. Sitting on the counter, not in the fridge, the duck fat still managed to form a jello consistency block in my gravy seperator while I was eating my dinner. It also required HOT water and my heavy duty cleaning chemicals to get off my counter top. Duck fat is powerful stuff! Perhaps there's some sort of military application for this sticky, fatty, and yet so tasty substance?  |
Labels: Hockey
Monday, November 19, 2007
Grab Bag
| Tomorrow I leave after work to head up to my parents for Thanksgiving. For the past 12 years or so that meant an 8 hour drive each way. I am very happy to say that this year that will be about a 2 hour drive. I do have a slight detour to make on the way. Since the entire clan is gathering at my parents it has become clear that there may not be any corned ham. (Yes, I said Corned Ham, not Corned Beef or Canned Ham. Search my blog's archives and catch up. We'll wait right here for you.) Almost as happy as it is to say my parents are 90 miles north instead of 400 miles north, I get to say we have a place that makes corned hams only 30 miles north of me. So tomorrow I leave work at 3, head north to Well's Pork Products in Burgaw, NC to pick up a corned ham. I know it's not listed among their huge assortment of meat products but we called and confirmed today that they have them. I also plan to ask them what the heck a "Tom's Thumb" is. Expect pictures if they let me take any. I will be leaving Burgaw headed west to my parents house. My grandmother should arrive on Thursday as well and my brother and his crowd arrive later this week. I don't know exactly when I'll be back to Wilmington, but most likely Saturday. You can expect Krystal Adventures to go dark for a few days. I may get one last post (no pictures) from work tomorrow afternoon before I leave. I hope you take that time off, as I plan to, to spend it with friends and family and delicious food. Speaking of delicious food, I am sure you are wondering about my Turducken experience from this past weekend. Well, I'll give a longer recap after Thanksgiving, with pictures as well. But for right now lets just go with this: Tur-yuck-enPut down the cayenne pepper and step away from the turducken! The big news out of Macon comes from Penny. (And Penny is feeling better and back at work, thank goodness!) You may have seen or heard on the news lately that Oprah was making a visit to Macon. Apparently Macon is Oprah's #1 city based on the percentage of viewers in the city. Of course that doesn't surprise me since the CBS Station 13 WMAZ dominates the airwaves some folks are left with no other choice. Some astronomical number of people in Macon watch Oprah so she decided to come visit the city. It's been in the Macon Telegraph constantly for like 3 weeks. Personally I was wondering if she'd take the time to ask the outgoing Mayor about some of his recent (idiotic) actions. Alas that's not Oprah's style. Perhaps we can get Dr. Phil to come to Macon next and slap Jack Ellis up side the head a few times. Anyway, the Oprah show from Macon was taped and will broadcast tomorrow. I will not be able to tune in as I will be on the road to my parents (weren't you paying attention about 10 paragraphs up?). I will however tape it for later viewing, so no one ruin it by telling me all the details. Penny did however give me a little scoop, though some of it was in the paper. This is one of the shows where Oprah gives everyone in the audience a ton of stuff. What they get is a big big secret, but Penny tells me that two people who were there were Gretchen Suk and Gayle Stewart. Those from Macon may recognize those names as the wives of two former Macon Whoopee/Trax players, Joe Suk and Tommy Stewart. In another twist, Tommy Stewart (aka "Stewy") is now the coach for the hockey team up here in Fayetteville. Penny also passed along some other details. Oprah stayed at the famous 1842 Inn which is a quaint little bed and breakfast right near downtown. She ate at H&H as well as Nu Way. Of course I beat Oprah to both of those and you can search the blog archives to see pictures and reviews of both place. (Take THAT, Oprah!) Sadly, I don't think Oprah got by Krystal, which is a shame, to come all that way and miss out on the real taste of the south. I bet Bernida and the folks at the Vineville Krystal coulda set Oprah up just fine. One last thing. It is unlikely that Krystal Stuffing will make a return appearance this year as the only Krystals I have have been in the freezer for a while. I will take a few with me for Thursday, but perhaps it's best to keep them to myself. But don't let that stop you! The following posts give you all you need to make your own stuffing, just remember you have to buy your Krystals on Wednesday as they're close on Thursday! Stuffing FAQ You Thanksgiving eve Krystal order And of course the recipe itself Don't forget to dab a little cranberry sauce on your Krystal Chik this holiday season. The Cran-Chik rocks! I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving this year. I have so many things to be thankful for this year I an sure I'll forget some. I hope your life is as blessed as mine. Lastly don't forget those who must go hungry, and those who may be overseas and unable to be with their families. We live in the greatest country in the world and should be thankful for that everyday, not just one day late in November. |
Labels: Chiks, Hockey, Macon, Recipe, Wilmington
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Hot Cold, Baby!
| The new KLHOF Inductees are rolling in. Some are gettign announced at Krystal Lovers Blog some are being sent out via the Krystal Lover's Lounge over at www.krystal.com and some you just have to know where to look (like the email Jennifer sent me last week). Well we now have another KLHOF member in the Macon-Warner Robins area: The article is once again by the excellent Macon Telegraph writer, Ed Grisamore. And he mentions me as well as Johnny Solomon, the rest of the Macon area Hall of Famers. (If you follow the link right quick and scroll down he mentions Bill Buckley, who helped Ed write a book titled "Once Upon a Whoopee" about the first macon hockey team in the early 70's. Great book, good stories.) I also got an email yesterday fro Michael in Augusta whos son, Bailey (age 7) was inducted recently. Bailey is inductee #43 and loves Krystal's french fries! (I can't argue with that, Bailey!) Michael found me thru this web site. He also sent along a few nice pictures from his son's induction. Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Bailey!  And that leads me right into my main purpose of today's post. It's all about temperature. I know Krystal always leans on their small hot steamy burgers and buns. But some times, cold is good, too. Here's my example:  Now the main thing to pay attention to in the picture is...(yes it has been a long lead up, and I hope it's worth it) The Ketchup. You'll notice packets of ketchup from Krystal, as well as my big bottle of ketchup from the fridge. If you're paying attention you'll know the Krystals do not have ketchup (that would be in an orange "special" box. See my Krystal Box collection web page, linked to the left.) The way I see it, if you want ketchup in your Krystal, you have 3 choices:
My friend Brian goes with the "dunk" method. He empties a bunch of packets on his tray then dunks his Krystals. I have done that on occasion, too. It gives you maximum control over the ketchup koverage, but tends to leave a mess behind. Once I found out Krystals would add ketchup for you, I went "all the way" for years. It's just easier like that. Though on one occasion someone interpreted "All the way" to mean "Mayo." That scarred me for life. I never said "All the way" again. The down side of "all the way" is that if you don't eat them soon, the ketchup gets warm and not so tasty. When my Krystal Box came out, it had to be a cheese Krystal, so no more "add ketchup." It was once again "packet time." These days I have them add ketchup sometimes or I grab my own packets. I never put much thought into it anymore. When I first started working on the base way back in 2002, my co-worker Jarrett and I discovered the wonder that is: Kold Ketchup. We had Jarrett's big fridge (that you may have seen back in Sept. as I returned it to him in Florida) in the office and it was convenient to keep a bottle of ketchup in it. We were delighting in our chilled ketchupy goodness. On our fries, on our burgers, on ice cream sandwiches. Ok, well maybe not the ice cream. But there was cold ketchup everywhere. This past week, when I saw the new boxes at Krystal, I decided to forgo the "add ketchup" so I could get the new KLHOF boxes. I picked up my packs of ketchup as usual. But then once I arrived home, it hit me. I had a big frosty bottle of ketchup in the fridge. And oh what a good night it was. Hot steamy Krystals, cold delicious ketchup. Heaven. Absolute heaven. Now hopefully you will have the opportunity to apply my hot/cold technology to your next batch of Krystals (or Chiks) and you'll understand what I mean. I don't advise bringing your own cold bottle of ketchup to Krystal, however. Not that they would kick you out. No, other patrons will be trying to mooch some kold ketchup off of you and you'll have nothing left to enjoy on your hot apple pie. If you like it that way, I mean. |
Labels: Cheese, Chiks, Hockey, KLHOF, Macon, Warner Robins
