Monday, January 12, 2009
Costco
J and I had brunch with friends, then went to Costco. I had never been but heard rumors. They were all true. It makes Sam's Club look like a truck stop swap meet. The produce was gorgeous and cheap, although I did feel bad for buying 2 lbs. of Chilean blueberries, they were only $4!
Their liquor store was pretty awesome too but they didn't have any of the comically huge bottles. They stopped at liter bottles and really wanted a massive 1.75 L bottler of Gran Marnier or Jagermeister. Oh well, guess I'll have to stick with regular liquor stores for those behemoths.
Of course then J reminded me of the Costco scene from Idiocracy and it made me sad.
For brunch however, I made (what we're calling and might actually be called) ho cakes. 2 cups of self-rising cornmeal, 1 cup of sugar (or less to taste), 1 cup of hot water. That's it. We played around a bit with the amount of water but it was all delicious. No syrup needed for these sweet cakes but our friends' fruit salad on top was just what it needed. And some bacon. Simple and delicious.
Then we threw down on some Mario Kart Wii. I did okay but there is definitely a learning curve. As soon as I'm done writing and defending, it will be mine.
Hope you have a great week!
Their liquor store was pretty awesome too but they didn't have any of the comically huge bottles. They stopped at liter bottles and really wanted a massive 1.75 L bottler of Gran Marnier or Jagermeister. Oh well, guess I'll have to stick with regular liquor stores for those behemoths.
Of course then J reminded me of the Costco scene from Idiocracy and it made me sad.
For brunch however, I made (what we're calling and might actually be called) ho cakes. 2 cups of self-rising cornmeal, 1 cup of sugar (or less to taste), 1 cup of hot water. That's it. We played around a bit with the amount of water but it was all delicious. No syrup needed for these sweet cakes but our friends' fruit salad on top was just what it needed. And some bacon. Simple and delicious.
Then we threw down on some Mario Kart Wii. I did okay but there is definitely a learning curve. As soon as I'm done writing and defending, it will be mine.
Hope you have a great week!
Labels: Breakfast, weekend, Wii
Monday, August 11, 2008
Chowder monkeys!
Sorry I wasn't around more last week. Writing and cleaning took priority. J leaves me to fly to Orlando today. I'll be joining her later this week. A friend is watching the cats while we're gone. I might be able to sneak in a post. Also I hope to sneak in at least one trip to the climbing gym in Orlando, Aiguille. I also just saw that UCF has a climbing wall, so maybe we'll give that wall a shot since it's about 4 minutes from J's parents house.
We will also be visiting Sea World's new waterpark, Aquatica, so expect a review of that next week. I'm looking forward to it. So far we're out $100 ($41.95 each ticket, $10 for parking) and we'll be doing the unlimited trip buffet deal for $20 each (one trip is $12.95), so that's a grand total of $140, oh and locker rental and figure another $20 or so for incidentals, so let's make it $170, but we'll be getting our money's worth since we get an hour early entry (so we get in at 8 when the park officially opens at 9) and with the unlimited food (lots of vegetables!) and drinks at the buffet, I figure we'll get there, snag a couple shady chairs, splash around, slide some slides, eat, sleep, maybe read during the crazy packed hot hours of early afternoon and then get back in the water once the crowds die down. I'm gonna try and milk every cent out of that 160ish dollars.
My brother's wedding in STL was a wacky whirlwind weekend. The flight up was fairly noneventful and we slept a lot considering we didn't sleep the previous night. I had originally planned to visit the local farmer's market in STL, Soulard Market, and maybe stop at the Arch and take a few pics, but we were tired and sleepy so we bailed and drove to Troy, MO but not before stopping at Bass Pro Shops (somebody tell Kevin!). I don't really know why Dad decided to stop there, maybe he just didn't want the trip to be straight Troy-airport-Troy, so we popped off the highway and wandered around, Dad, J, me and my grandmother. So many shotguns and rifles, ammo, shirts, mugs, tons of clothing, then we wandered over to the really fun section and looked at the boats and ATVs. I saw the biggest outboard motor I've ever laid my eyes upon, an Evinrude 300! Holy crap! It's a V6 and makes 300 hp! You could run down fish and catch them bare-handed with that! So J and I did some The Price Is Right work and did some boat pricing, pontoon boats are around $20,000 depending on accessories, they had a sparkly bass boat for $45,000! Yikes.
Back to the hotel to pick up Mom and Grandpa and then we got some lunch. Apparently the place was owned by someone vaguely related to my new sister-in-law, and it was a nice local diner type place. And they were still serving breakfast! Trying to keep the animals alive, I ordered an egg and cheese sandwich, green beans and fried okra. I also ordered "unsweet tea" and then wondered aloud if I had to make that distinction (this was the first time I'd ever spent real time in the MidWest - heartland of America). I was told no, there's no such thing as sweet tea in Missouri. I then pictured my US state map and realized we were above Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, distinctly out of the South (the accents helped me realize this too). But they outsmarted my vegetarianism as I apparently telepathically ordered a side of bacon with my green beans. Seriously, there had to have been at least 2 full strips of bacon in my small side of green beans. You win today Pork Producers of America. As I was finishing up my apple pie, I was informed that I would be helping move tables and chairs at the reception site. Wha? No nap? No shower? But I'm sleepy. Ah well, it'll give me a chance to meet new SIL and see Brother. We had to go pick them up at a local party rental place and I got to ride in a real live Midwestern truck, complete with loose shotgun shells and duckcalls in the cab. Ah, it's nice to know rednecks are everywhere. (Not that I'm against hunting or guns but, come on, loose shells? That's not helping anybody, at least I didn't see any empty beer cans)
I finally get a reprieve and head back to the hotel, shower and relax for a bit. Then we hit the road for the rehearsal (Bowling Green, MO) and dinner (Louisiana, Missouri and yes it was on the Mississippi River, being about a block or two from the restaurant). Brother's slideshow of baby pictures to college pictures was a lot of fun and I got to see my hair grown long, then shaved, then long again, as Brother experimented with his facial hair and hair colors.
A long ride back to the hotel, 4th meal at the Taco Bell in the hotel parking lot, and sleep knowing that I would wake up and get to watch qualifying for the Hungarian Gran Prix while eating the delicious breakfast of freshly made waffles, bagels and some fruit. I think I made one guy mad by changing the channel but I'm sure he watches the morning news everyday, F1 qualifying is only 16 or so times a year. I saw no one else even remotely interested in watching. Not shocking. I'm sure there are some places in St Louis to watch F1 races.
J and I went back to the room and caught a nap. I woke up and decided to work out a little. Did some weights and yoga and then it was time for lunch. 'Rents and g'rents were going to some roast beef place across the street but J and I wanted something different so we went against PETA's wishes and hit KFC. Their BBQ snacker sandwich thing was not good but that's what I get ordering non-chicken at a chicken place. J wanted some coffee, so we hit McDonalds and encountered mass chaos. If I hadn't been in such a good place mentally, this place would've pushed me over the edge. There was a huge puddle in front of the drinks, replete with warning sign and slowly mopping employee (added note, all employees were white which is another way to tell you're in the Midwest, I challenge you to find an all white staffed fast food place down here that isn't Chick-Fil-A), kids running around inside and outside on the playground. Lots of people as the lunch rush was winding down. The reason we went is I noticed they had a McCafe sign advertising Starbucks-like lattes and the sort. J ordered an iced vanilla latte with whole milk and whipped cream. It tasted just like those gas station cappuccinos. Cloyingly sweet and delicious. A sip or two was all I needed to make it back to the hotel (we walked to lunch). They even had a little espresso looking machine making the coffee. It wasn't bad but is more expensive than the gas station cappuccino.
Shower, get ready, drive, show up and wait. We were there 2.5 hours before the wedding to take family pics. It was nice but the wait was not. Books, magazines, ipods and a Nintendo DS all came in handy for killing time. The ceremony was in a smaller church and really lent a warm feeling to the ceremony. We hung around after and took some more pictures and then made our way back toward Troy and the reception. They didn't have a "wedding cake" but each table had its own cake and sharing was encouraged. Our table had a sugar free strawberry shortcake angel food whip cream cake that was a decent hit. I didn't try it. I did try the monkey bread (but was disappointed when I found out it was made by a chef who used biscuit dough in a can) and it was okay, the white-chocolate cake was a half and half vanilla-chocolate cake with fondant icing and it was pretty good. The raw apple cake was really good. It was baked so the apples start out raw. It was really sweet and cinnamony and really good. The red velvet cake was decent too. The carrotcake table hooked me up. I made a comment that I was really just in it for the icing and with one deft move of her wrist, she had cut away most of the cake leaving a glut of icing, nuts and carrots. Glorious. I hit the wall at this point and stopped eating cake.
The meal preceding the cake was sparse but good. The watermelon slices were sweet and yummy. The ranch (I think) seasoned pasta salad was really good and both J and my favorite. The cole slaw was a vinegar based slaw and a welcome change from the mayo based, of course helped by the fact that I like vinegar. The pork burgers were the worst of a burger and a pulled pork sandwich put together. Maybe it's because I was raised on Southern BBQ, or maybe my Southern blood is addicted to sugar, so the sauce is a very important part of BBQ. And with the pulled pork (pork that is slow cooked and literally pulled apart into shreds with a fork) you get every inch of your pork covered in delicious sauce. With the pork burger, you only get sauce on the top and bottom, decidedly less sauce than is possible. They also didn't have any extra sauce to add. Maybe I'm a sauce junkie. Also with cow burgers, the flavor of the meat and cooking method can shine and then you can enhance that flavor with sauce. Pork doesn't have that quality (unless it's smoked, and then droooooool) so it needs lots of spice and sauce help. Maybe it was this place's pork burgers, I'm willing to try them again, but I wasn't impressed, at least it wasn't dry. I even tried putting the slaw on the pork burger (that might be a Carolina thing, cole slaw on BBQ, but it might occur in other parts) and that helped but couldn't save the bland pork burger.
We danced the night away and noticed that not all guests were created equal. I noticed one table had Guinness and Bud Light. Another had a bottle of wine. The bridal party had a sparkling blueberry lemonade that looked really good (as did the Guinness). J and I also noticed people coming from the house (the reception happened in the large side yard under a tent) had large pink looking drinks that didn't look like the yellow lemonade available to all wedding guests. I suppose that's how you save money but I would've liked a Guinness or a pink cocktail, or at least been offered one. It would've been nice to know it was BYOB.
Brother told us they weren't doing the bouquet toss or the leaving in the slightly messed up car. I love those parts! Fine, well we're leaving, be safe in Africa, said goodbye to the few friends and SIL's family and then went back to the hotel. Breakfast the next morning was F1 free because with the central time, the race started at 7 am and I missed the start so I didn't want to watch any of the race. We got to STL in time to catch our plane, boarded and then are told that they need to change a tire. No problem, those F1 and NASCAR guys can change a tire in 3 seconds, but I wonder what an airplane jack looks like? They inform us that it's both tires and the brake assembly which locked up cooking itself and the tires after the last landing and it's going to be a couple hours and get off the plane. They had someone at the desk helping to reschedule people's connecting flights but also handed out a phone number you could call if you had a cell phone (I do!). So I called that number and in 5 minutes had our connecting flight from Detroit to Greenville rescheduled. Bam! No lines, no yelling, so simple. Thanks to Northwest for offering that service. They then offered a $10 voucher good for some airmiles, a meal in the airport or a drink on the plane. J was eyeing some nachos next to our gate so we beat the crowd in and ordered. They hit the spot and were actually pretty good. Back on the plane, off to Detroit, over to the gate and finally make it into GSP not at 3:30 pm, but 9:30 pm. Ugh.
I wish we had a chance to rendezvous with Brad and the Princess of Power, but I'm sure there will be other trips to St. Louis, especially since it sounds like Brother has already resigned himself to living in St. Louis to be near SIL's family who aren't happy that she's teaching in Africa (where Brother and SIL met). And in response to PoP's comment on the last post, has your Canadian friend ever been to the Carolinas? There is no way she could confuse the almost unintelligible Southern drawl with the fairly normal except for a few vowel sounds Midwestern accent. Does she say aboot, ootside, hoser and eh? Everyone has a funny accent to somebody. I didn't make it to Southern MO but imagine it's a hybrid of the Southern/Midwest accent. I love accents and languages. I should've been a linguist. If I were good enough, I would obviously be a cunning linguist.
We will also be visiting Sea World's new waterpark, Aquatica, so expect a review of that next week. I'm looking forward to it. So far we're out $100 ($41.95 each ticket, $10 for parking) and we'll be doing the unlimited trip buffet deal for $20 each (one trip is $12.95), so that's a grand total of $140, oh and locker rental and figure another $20 or so for incidentals, so let's make it $170, but we'll be getting our money's worth since we get an hour early entry (so we get in at 8 when the park officially opens at 9) and with the unlimited food (lots of vegetables!) and drinks at the buffet, I figure we'll get there, snag a couple shady chairs, splash around, slide some slides, eat, sleep, maybe read during the crazy packed hot hours of early afternoon and then get back in the water once the crowds die down. I'm gonna try and milk every cent out of that 160ish dollars.
My brother's wedding in STL was a wacky whirlwind weekend. The flight up was fairly noneventful and we slept a lot considering we didn't sleep the previous night. I had originally planned to visit the local farmer's market in STL, Soulard Market, and maybe stop at the Arch and take a few pics, but we were tired and sleepy so we bailed and drove to Troy, MO but not before stopping at Bass Pro Shops (somebody tell Kevin!). I don't really know why Dad decided to stop there, maybe he just didn't want the trip to be straight Troy-airport-Troy, so we popped off the highway and wandered around, Dad, J, me and my grandmother. So many shotguns and rifles, ammo, shirts, mugs, tons of clothing, then we wandered over to the really fun section and looked at the boats and ATVs. I saw the biggest outboard motor I've ever laid my eyes upon, an Evinrude 300! Holy crap! It's a V6 and makes 300 hp! You could run down fish and catch them bare-handed with that! So J and I did some The Price Is Right work and did some boat pricing, pontoon boats are around $20,000 depending on accessories, they had a sparkly bass boat for $45,000! Yikes.
Back to the hotel to pick up Mom and Grandpa and then we got some lunch. Apparently the place was owned by someone vaguely related to my new sister-in-law, and it was a nice local diner type place. And they were still serving breakfast! Trying to keep the animals alive, I ordered an egg and cheese sandwich, green beans and fried okra. I also ordered "unsweet tea" and then wondered aloud if I had to make that distinction (this was the first time I'd ever spent real time in the MidWest - heartland of America). I was told no, there's no such thing as sweet tea in Missouri. I then pictured my US state map and realized we were above Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, distinctly out of the South (the accents helped me realize this too). But they outsmarted my vegetarianism as I apparently telepathically ordered a side of bacon with my green beans. Seriously, there had to have been at least 2 full strips of bacon in my small side of green beans. You win today Pork Producers of America. As I was finishing up my apple pie, I was informed that I would be helping move tables and chairs at the reception site. Wha? No nap? No shower? But I'm sleepy. Ah well, it'll give me a chance to meet new SIL and see Brother. We had to go pick them up at a local party rental place and I got to ride in a real live Midwestern truck, complete with loose shotgun shells and duckcalls in the cab. Ah, it's nice to know rednecks are everywhere. (Not that I'm against hunting or guns but, come on, loose shells? That's not helping anybody, at least I didn't see any empty beer cans)
I finally get a reprieve and head back to the hotel, shower and relax for a bit. Then we hit the road for the rehearsal (Bowling Green, MO) and dinner (Louisiana, Missouri and yes it was on the Mississippi River, being about a block or two from the restaurant). Brother's slideshow of baby pictures to college pictures was a lot of fun and I got to see my hair grown long, then shaved, then long again, as Brother experimented with his facial hair and hair colors.
A long ride back to the hotel, 4th meal at the Taco Bell in the hotel parking lot, and sleep knowing that I would wake up and get to watch qualifying for the Hungarian Gran Prix while eating the delicious breakfast of freshly made waffles, bagels and some fruit. I think I made one guy mad by changing the channel but I'm sure he watches the morning news everyday, F1 qualifying is only 16 or so times a year. I saw no one else even remotely interested in watching. Not shocking. I'm sure there are some places in St Louis to watch F1 races.
J and I went back to the room and caught a nap. I woke up and decided to work out a little. Did some weights and yoga and then it was time for lunch. 'Rents and g'rents were going to some roast beef place across the street but J and I wanted something different so we went against PETA's wishes and hit KFC. Their BBQ snacker sandwich thing was not good but that's what I get ordering non-chicken at a chicken place. J wanted some coffee, so we hit McDonalds and encountered mass chaos. If I hadn't been in such a good place mentally, this place would've pushed me over the edge. There was a huge puddle in front of the drinks, replete with warning sign and slowly mopping employee (added note, all employees were white which is another way to tell you're in the Midwest, I challenge you to find an all white staffed fast food place down here that isn't Chick-Fil-A), kids running around inside and outside on the playground. Lots of people as the lunch rush was winding down. The reason we went is I noticed they had a McCafe sign advertising Starbucks-like lattes and the sort. J ordered an iced vanilla latte with whole milk and whipped cream. It tasted just like those gas station cappuccinos. Cloyingly sweet and delicious. A sip or two was all I needed to make it back to the hotel (we walked to lunch). They even had a little espresso looking machine making the coffee. It wasn't bad but is more expensive than the gas station cappuccino.
Shower, get ready, drive, show up and wait. We were there 2.5 hours before the wedding to take family pics. It was nice but the wait was not. Books, magazines, ipods and a Nintendo DS all came in handy for killing time. The ceremony was in a smaller church and really lent a warm feeling to the ceremony. We hung around after and took some more pictures and then made our way back toward Troy and the reception. They didn't have a "wedding cake" but each table had its own cake and sharing was encouraged. Our table had a sugar free strawberry shortcake angel food whip cream cake that was a decent hit. I didn't try it. I did try the monkey bread (but was disappointed when I found out it was made by a chef who used biscuit dough in a can) and it was okay, the white-chocolate cake was a half and half vanilla-chocolate cake with fondant icing and it was pretty good. The raw apple cake was really good. It was baked so the apples start out raw. It was really sweet and cinnamony and really good. The red velvet cake was decent too. The carrotcake table hooked me up. I made a comment that I was really just in it for the icing and with one deft move of her wrist, she had cut away most of the cake leaving a glut of icing, nuts and carrots. Glorious. I hit the wall at this point and stopped eating cake.
The meal preceding the cake was sparse but good. The watermelon slices were sweet and yummy. The ranch (I think) seasoned pasta salad was really good and both J and my favorite. The cole slaw was a vinegar based slaw and a welcome change from the mayo based, of course helped by the fact that I like vinegar. The pork burgers were the worst of a burger and a pulled pork sandwich put together. Maybe it's because I was raised on Southern BBQ, or maybe my Southern blood is addicted to sugar, so the sauce is a very important part of BBQ. And with the pulled pork (pork that is slow cooked and literally pulled apart into shreds with a fork) you get every inch of your pork covered in delicious sauce. With the pork burger, you only get sauce on the top and bottom, decidedly less sauce than is possible. They also didn't have any extra sauce to add. Maybe I'm a sauce junkie. Also with cow burgers, the flavor of the meat and cooking method can shine and then you can enhance that flavor with sauce. Pork doesn't have that quality (unless it's smoked, and then droooooool) so it needs lots of spice and sauce help. Maybe it was this place's pork burgers, I'm willing to try them again, but I wasn't impressed, at least it wasn't dry. I even tried putting the slaw on the pork burger (that might be a Carolina thing, cole slaw on BBQ, but it might occur in other parts) and that helped but couldn't save the bland pork burger.
We danced the night away and noticed that not all guests were created equal. I noticed one table had Guinness and Bud Light. Another had a bottle of wine. The bridal party had a sparkling blueberry lemonade that looked really good (as did the Guinness). J and I also noticed people coming from the house (the reception happened in the large side yard under a tent) had large pink looking drinks that didn't look like the yellow lemonade available to all wedding guests. I suppose that's how you save money but I would've liked a Guinness or a pink cocktail, or at least been offered one. It would've been nice to know it was BYOB.
Brother told us they weren't doing the bouquet toss or the leaving in the slightly messed up car. I love those parts! Fine, well we're leaving, be safe in Africa, said goodbye to the few friends and SIL's family and then went back to the hotel. Breakfast the next morning was F1 free because with the central time, the race started at 7 am and I missed the start so I didn't want to watch any of the race. We got to STL in time to catch our plane, boarded and then are told that they need to change a tire. No problem, those F1 and NASCAR guys can change a tire in 3 seconds, but I wonder what an airplane jack looks like? They inform us that it's both tires and the brake assembly which locked up cooking itself and the tires after the last landing and it's going to be a couple hours and get off the plane. They had someone at the desk helping to reschedule people's connecting flights but also handed out a phone number you could call if you had a cell phone (I do!). So I called that number and in 5 minutes had our connecting flight from Detroit to Greenville rescheduled. Bam! No lines, no yelling, so simple. Thanks to Northwest for offering that service. They then offered a $10 voucher good for some airmiles, a meal in the airport or a drink on the plane. J was eyeing some nachos next to our gate so we beat the crowd in and ordered. They hit the spot and were actually pretty good. Back on the plane, off to Detroit, over to the gate and finally make it into GSP not at 3:30 pm, but 9:30 pm. Ugh.
I wish we had a chance to rendezvous with Brad and the Princess of Power, but I'm sure there will be other trips to St. Louis, especially since it sounds like Brother has already resigned himself to living in St. Louis to be near SIL's family who aren't happy that she's teaching in Africa (where Brother and SIL met). And in response to PoP's comment on the last post, has your Canadian friend ever been to the Carolinas? There is no way she could confuse the almost unintelligible Southern drawl with the fairly normal except for a few vowel sounds Midwestern accent. Does she say aboot, ootside, hoser and eh? Everyone has a funny accent to somebody. I didn't make it to Southern MO but imagine it's a hybrid of the Southern/Midwest accent. I love accents and languages. I should've been a linguist. If I were good enough, I would obviously be a cunning linguist.
Labels: Allegiant Air, Breakfast, family vacation, J, Mom and Dad, wedding
Monday, August 04, 2008
Let me tell you about TPS reports.
My brother's wedding was nice and festive.
Quick and dirty version for the impatient:
Flight from Greenville left at 6 am which meant leaving the house at 3:45 am which meant we didn't start packing until midnight and sleep is for the weak. Detroit, St. Louis, lunch with parents and grandparents, suckered into helping move tables and chairs, wishing I was taking a nap at the hotel with J, rehearsal, dinner in Louisiana, Missouri, drive to the wedding, wait around, they "do", clap, drive to reception, eat a pork burger, try 4 types of cake, dance, sleep, St. Louis, wait 3 hours for new tire and brakes, Detroit, Greenville, home, cats, sleep
Favorite parts:
Seeing my brother and meeting my new Sister-in-law and her family.
Hanging out with J my parents and grandparents.
The nicest Super 8 Motel EVER! It's in Troy, Missouri and they have a salt water pool (the manager told us it's more eco-friendly because it needs less chemicals), a Continental breakfast to put all other continental breakfasts to SHAME! Make-your-own-waffle with syrup, blueberry preserves/syrup, strawberry syrup/preserves, 2 types of bagels, donuts, danishes, cereal, orange grape and apple juices, coffee, milk, fresh fruit, AND I got to enjoy all of that while watching Formula 1 qualifying in Hungary (Great job Mark Webber in 8th, and Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovaleinen for making it a Benz front row). Glorious racing and then got to watch my grandfather makes friends with the sweet old lady who was cleaning up the breakfast area named Ruby.
Hearing the mid-west accents with their super nasal "a" sounds. Bag, lack, hat, cat, all sound very funny and strange to my deep South drawl trained ears. There might be an "o" that sounds like that but further research is needed (or that might just be Wisconsin or Minnesota). If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch that new Denise Richard's show on E for a few minutes, you can hear her midwest accent shining through (she's from Illinois). Most of the time you can't tell, but ask them to say something with lots of "a"s and you'll hear it. "Do I have an accent?" would be a pretty good one.
Meeting another guy at the wedding sporting a handlebar mustache. His was awesome and white. Very cool. Nice guy. I wanted to get a picture of us both but he didn't go to the reception. Blast! Lost my chance.
More later. Happy Monday!
Quick and dirty version for the impatient:
Flight from Greenville left at 6 am which meant leaving the house at 3:45 am which meant we didn't start packing until midnight and sleep is for the weak. Detroit, St. Louis, lunch with parents and grandparents, suckered into helping move tables and chairs, wishing I was taking a nap at the hotel with J, rehearsal, dinner in Louisiana, Missouri, drive to the wedding, wait around, they "do", clap, drive to reception, eat a pork burger, try 4 types of cake, dance, sleep, St. Louis, wait 3 hours for new tire and brakes, Detroit, Greenville, home, cats, sleep
Favorite parts:
Seeing my brother and meeting my new Sister-in-law and her family.
Hanging out with J my parents and grandparents.
The nicest Super 8 Motel EVER! It's in Troy, Missouri and they have a salt water pool (the manager told us it's more eco-friendly because it needs less chemicals), a Continental breakfast to put all other continental breakfasts to SHAME! Make-your-own-waffle with syrup, blueberry preserves/syrup, strawberry syrup/preserves, 2 types of bagels, donuts, danishes, cereal, orange grape and apple juices, coffee, milk, fresh fruit, AND I got to enjoy all of that while watching Formula 1 qualifying in Hungary (Great job Mark Webber in 8th, and Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovaleinen for making it a Benz front row). Glorious racing and then got to watch my grandfather makes friends with the sweet old lady who was cleaning up the breakfast area named Ruby.
Hearing the mid-west accents with their super nasal "a" sounds. Bag, lack, hat, cat, all sound very funny and strange to my deep South drawl trained ears. There might be an "o" that sounds like that but further research is needed (or that might just be Wisconsin or Minnesota). If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch that new Denise Richard's show on E for a few minutes, you can hear her midwest accent shining through (she's from Illinois). Most of the time you can't tell, but ask them to say something with lots of "a"s and you'll hear it. "Do I have an accent?" would be a pretty good one.
Meeting another guy at the wedding sporting a handlebar mustache. His was awesome and white. Very cool. Nice guy. I wanted to get a picture of us both but he didn't go to the reception. Blast! Lost my chance.
More later. Happy Monday!
Labels: Breakfast, F1, family vacation, mustache
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Welcome to the Smokeys!
Gatlinburg, Tennessee is a bustling little tourist destination nestled about 40 yards from the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. There is one main road in and out of the park and if you drive it on the weekend, especially in the summer, you will hit traffic, traffic will be slow, you might go crazy.
We left Clemson around 9 am Fri. morning since J had the 4th off and I wasn't going in to work that day (yes technically the university was closed but that doesn't stop grad students!). So we set off towards Greenville, which is the wrong way but J had to stop by work for a second, we ate lunch at Jersey Mike's (non-vegetarian, sorry animals!) and then headed out! I'll spare you the details but we went through some gorgeous scenery and followed some incredibly slow cars, SUVs, and motorcycles. Coasting downhill, I would usually put it in 3rd and literally only use the brakes. I had no need for the accelerator, gravity was my accelerator! I would normally use the gas but traffic prevented any of that nonsense.
Up through South Carolina, past Caesar's Head State Park, into North Carolina through lonely Cruso, NC and stopped for lunch and snacks in Waynesville, NC at their Bi-Lo. The downtown area was packed with pedestrians and shoppers! I suppose it was July 4th related but as soon as we set foot in Zaxby's for lunch, the bottom fell out and it rained pretty hard; not for very long but long enough to spoil a few people's day.
Back on the road and the last town we went through was Cherokee, NC. It was bumper to bumper traffic. It was nice though getting to see what the modern day Cherokee Indians have done with their land and town. We just saw the main strip but they have decided to allow Harrah's to open a casino on their land and it seemed to be doing well.
As we passed through the Smokeys, we detoured and hiked the half mile up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smokeys. Lovely views and the Appalachian Trail goes right past it, so we hiked about 80 feet of the 2000 miles of the AT. Hooray for us! We didn't see any thru-hikers on their way up or down but they were out there somewhere.
We made it without me going crazy or smashing into the rear end of a car in front of us and check into the Americana Gazebo Inn, which was just bought by the Super 8 Motel (a quick google makes it seem like this is a new Super 8 location, but the one we stayed at is by traffic light #8). We missed the turn but luckily had their number in my recent calls list and got directions to turn at traffic light #8. Huh? #8? Oh wait, this traffic light has a number, #6, so I turn right and whip a u-turn real quick. I really liked the numbering of the traffic lights. More towns with one main road should do that. Driving on the main road in Gatlinburg is pretty crazy. It's slow bumper to bumper with no turn lanes, so you have to get a little nuts to turn across traffic. I expertly threaded through traffic and pedestrians to make the turn.
We checked in and since the 3 hour drive took at least 5 1/2 hours with traffic, I decided to hop in the pool to cool off. J grabbed some local attractions books and I grabbed my beach towel and we enjoyed the cool mountain weather for a while. We changed clothes and walked around G'burg checking out the sights and shops and people. A healthy mix of white trash, foreigners and they all looked like tourists, as were we. We walked down to the aquarium (traffic light #5 if you're wondering) because we heard rumors of a fireworks show. We weren't really sure where they were happening so the bench we picked out didn't feel right to us so we kept walking down (east I think). We stopped near a big group of people and it turned out that we had a pretty good view! Some of the lower ones were blocked by a building so we went to the sidewalk in front of that building and it seemed like the entire sky would light up! Their display put Clemson's to shame. So many colors and shapes and late cracklers and random spark directions and the smoke during the grand finale was so thick, we couldn't even make out the last few. Wonderful! Great job Gatlinburg! With all the hotels emptied of occupants for the fireworks, the walk to dinner and back to the hotel reminded me of New Orleans, lots of people moving slowly, but less nudity, vomiting and public urination. We found a wonderful little pizzeria to grab dinner. We ordered a large half cheese, half pineapple to go and carried it back. Blast! I can't remember the name, Julian's? I think it was Julian's Pizza in an out of the way, but still right off the strip, plaza. It's actually for sale if you've ever wanted to own a pizza place in a popular tourist destination right next to a national park. Ha! It was Julian's pizza! Don't be swayed by the $3.99/slice. It's literally a quarter of a pizza.
We walked back to the hotel, up the stairs, through the sickly sweet cloud emanating from a room about 7 down from us (get 'em DEA!) and into our room for some rest and pizza. The hotel only had double bed rooms left so J and I actually slept in separate beds for that night. It was weird but we both enjoyed the extra room to sprawl out.
When checking in I asked the desk clerk if they had Speed. He said they did! I didn't really believe him but there it was! You know what that means right? Yes, I woke up about 7:30 am (my natural alarm goes off around then), I throw on some shorts, shirt, and flip-flops and make my way to the continental breakfast! Woo-hoo! Big money bagels! And they had bagels! The smorgasbord entailed donuts, bagels with cream cheese, mini muffins (blueberry and chocolate), 2 types of cereal, OJ, apple juice and coffee! Hooray! So I popped 2 bagels in the toaster and made some coffee while I waited patiently. Grabbed a couple mini muffins and an apple (they had apples too), a couple knives, 2 packets of cream cheese, DING!, grabbed my toasted bagels and went back to the room because.... Qualifying for the British Gran Prix at Silverstone! F1 on vacation! With bagels!
J woke up when she heard me come in and grabbed her bagel and a muffin and went back to sleep. I watched Heikki Kovaleinen of Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes nab pole, but even better Mark Webber of Red Bull Renault was second! That's incredible! Kimi Raikkonen sealed up 3rd in his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa had some car issues so they qualified their BMW Sauber 10th and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 9th. Full qualifying results.
After that I got some work done and then shared a couple Marlboros with our Harley Davidson riding neighbors. They had already ridden 1400 miles through 5 states and had another 400 or so to get back home to Ohio. Nice guys. We chatted about motorcycles, why people ride trikes (for stability but they're much slower in turns because they can't tilt), what kind of gas mileage they get (around mid 40s to low 50s depending on how giddy they get with their right hand). As it neared 10:30, I bid them farewell and went inside to take a shower and pack up. And wake J up too. If you didn't know J was a sleeper, she is, I put her sleeping ability up against anyone. I used to be able to sleep like that but just can't do it anymore.
We moved Focus from the hotel to the Aquarium of the Smokies parking deck, behind traffic light #5 but instead of the packed main strip I took the super secret parallel road and saved a few minutes. We parked and then walked around some more and had brunch at Shoney's. There is also some Pancake Cabin or something but I heard it gets a bit crowded. A little more shopping and then to the aquarium! Hooray! It was really cool and I'll share more once we get pictures uploaded but the one with me and the horseshoe crab is pretty cool.
The drive home was straight toward Clemson so we stayed on 441 all the way and once you get past Cherokee, it's 4 lane pretty much all the way, which was nice for making good time but lame for driving pleasure.
We should've hiked in the Smokies but didn't because we're lame. Next time though.
We left Clemson around 9 am Fri. morning since J had the 4th off and I wasn't going in to work that day (yes technically the university was closed but that doesn't stop grad students!). So we set off towards Greenville, which is the wrong way but J had to stop by work for a second, we ate lunch at Jersey Mike's (non-vegetarian, sorry animals!) and then headed out! I'll spare you the details but we went through some gorgeous scenery and followed some incredibly slow cars, SUVs, and motorcycles. Coasting downhill, I would usually put it in 3rd and literally only use the brakes. I had no need for the accelerator, gravity was my accelerator! I would normally use the gas but traffic prevented any of that nonsense.
Up through South Carolina, past Caesar's Head State Park, into North Carolina through lonely Cruso, NC and stopped for lunch and snacks in Waynesville, NC at their Bi-Lo. The downtown area was packed with pedestrians and shoppers! I suppose it was July 4th related but as soon as we set foot in Zaxby's for lunch, the bottom fell out and it rained pretty hard; not for very long but long enough to spoil a few people's day.
Back on the road and the last town we went through was Cherokee, NC. It was bumper to bumper traffic. It was nice though getting to see what the modern day Cherokee Indians have done with their land and town. We just saw the main strip but they have decided to allow Harrah's to open a casino on their land and it seemed to be doing well.
As we passed through the Smokeys, we detoured and hiked the half mile up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smokeys. Lovely views and the Appalachian Trail goes right past it, so we hiked about 80 feet of the 2000 miles of the AT. Hooray for us! We didn't see any thru-hikers on their way up or down but they were out there somewhere.
We made it without me going crazy or smashing into the rear end of a car in front of us and check into the Americana Gazebo Inn, which was just bought by the Super 8 Motel (a quick google makes it seem like this is a new Super 8 location, but the one we stayed at is by traffic light #8). We missed the turn but luckily had their number in my recent calls list and got directions to turn at traffic light #8. Huh? #8? Oh wait, this traffic light has a number, #6, so I turn right and whip a u-turn real quick. I really liked the numbering of the traffic lights. More towns with one main road should do that. Driving on the main road in Gatlinburg is pretty crazy. It's slow bumper to bumper with no turn lanes, so you have to get a little nuts to turn across traffic. I expertly threaded through traffic and pedestrians to make the turn.
We checked in and since the 3 hour drive took at least 5 1/2 hours with traffic, I decided to hop in the pool to cool off. J grabbed some local attractions books and I grabbed my beach towel and we enjoyed the cool mountain weather for a while. We changed clothes and walked around G'burg checking out the sights and shops and people. A healthy mix of white trash, foreigners and they all looked like tourists, as were we. We walked down to the aquarium (traffic light #5 if you're wondering) because we heard rumors of a fireworks show. We weren't really sure where they were happening so the bench we picked out didn't feel right to us so we kept walking down (east I think). We stopped near a big group of people and it turned out that we had a pretty good view! Some of the lower ones were blocked by a building so we went to the sidewalk in front of that building and it seemed like the entire sky would light up! Their display put Clemson's to shame. So many colors and shapes and late cracklers and random spark directions and the smoke during the grand finale was so thick, we couldn't even make out the last few. Wonderful! Great job Gatlinburg! With all the hotels emptied of occupants for the fireworks, the walk to dinner and back to the hotel reminded me of New Orleans, lots of people moving slowly, but less nudity, vomiting and public urination. We found a wonderful little pizzeria to grab dinner. We ordered a large half cheese, half pineapple to go and carried it back. Blast! I can't remember the name, Julian's? I think it was Julian's Pizza in an out of the way, but still right off the strip, plaza. It's actually for sale if you've ever wanted to own a pizza place in a popular tourist destination right next to a national park. Ha! It was Julian's pizza! Don't be swayed by the $3.99/slice. It's literally a quarter of a pizza.
We walked back to the hotel, up the stairs, through the sickly sweet cloud emanating from a room about 7 down from us (get 'em DEA!) and into our room for some rest and pizza. The hotel only had double bed rooms left so J and I actually slept in separate beds for that night. It was weird but we both enjoyed the extra room to sprawl out.
When checking in I asked the desk clerk if they had Speed. He said they did! I didn't really believe him but there it was! You know what that means right? Yes, I woke up about 7:30 am (my natural alarm goes off around then), I throw on some shorts, shirt, and flip-flops and make my way to the continental breakfast! Woo-hoo! Big money bagels! And they had bagels! The smorgasbord entailed donuts, bagels with cream cheese, mini muffins (blueberry and chocolate), 2 types of cereal, OJ, apple juice and coffee! Hooray! So I popped 2 bagels in the toaster and made some coffee while I waited patiently. Grabbed a couple mini muffins and an apple (they had apples too), a couple knives, 2 packets of cream cheese, DING!, grabbed my toasted bagels and went back to the room because.... Qualifying for the British Gran Prix at Silverstone! F1 on vacation! With bagels!
J woke up when she heard me come in and grabbed her bagel and a muffin and went back to sleep. I watched Heikki Kovaleinen of Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes nab pole, but even better Mark Webber of Red Bull Renault was second! That's incredible! Kimi Raikkonen sealed up 3rd in his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa had some car issues so they qualified their BMW Sauber 10th and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 9th. Full qualifying results.
After that I got some work done and then shared a couple Marlboros with our Harley Davidson riding neighbors. They had already ridden 1400 miles through 5 states and had another 400 or so to get back home to Ohio. Nice guys. We chatted about motorcycles, why people ride trikes (for stability but they're much slower in turns because they can't tilt), what kind of gas mileage they get (around mid 40s to low 50s depending on how giddy they get with their right hand). As it neared 10:30, I bid them farewell and went inside to take a shower and pack up. And wake J up too. If you didn't know J was a sleeper, she is, I put her sleeping ability up against anyone. I used to be able to sleep like that but just can't do it anymore.
We moved Focus from the hotel to the Aquarium of the Smokies parking deck, behind traffic light #5 but instead of the packed main strip I took the super secret parallel road and saved a few minutes. We parked and then walked around some more and had brunch at Shoney's. There is also some Pancake Cabin or something but I heard it gets a bit crowded. A little more shopping and then to the aquarium! Hooray! It was really cool and I'll share more once we get pictures uploaded but the one with me and the horseshoe crab is pretty cool.
The drive home was straight toward Clemson so we stayed on 441 all the way and once you get past Cherokee, it's 4 lane pretty much all the way, which was nice for making good time but lame for driving pleasure.
We should've hiked in the Smokies but didn't because we're lame. Next time though.
Labels: Breakfast, F1, family vacation, motorcycle, restaurant reviews
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Large kickle; hold the tickle!
- Bender as he's being trained by Leela to fight Destructor in the Ultimate Robot Fighting League, from the "Raging Bender" episode of Futurama. I love that episode because Bender and Leela are great and Hermes gets a brain slug and speaks in monotone the whole episode.
This weekend was amazing! Friday was spent packing and straightening the house and then hanging out with Drs. Protege and Acura and their parents who were in town for graduation. Yes it kinda sucked celebrating something that I was also supposed to be partaking in but it will still happen. PERSEVERANCE! NEVER GIVE UP! It was cool seeing their parents again since the last time was their wedding last year. We're taking care of their cats while they're up in CT revisiting their folks after the 'rents were down here last week. Apparently lots of golf is on the schedule for Dr. Protege, I'm not sure what Dr. Acura will be doing but I'm sure she'll enjoy it.
Then woke up early Sat. and drove to Greenville to get J a haircut and I ate breakfast and walked around and realized that there isn't much open in the West End of G'ville before 10 am. I guess Starbucks but they can't scramble an egg and put it on a nice bagel for me, nor do I want them too. T'would be nice but more work for Barista Brat and her fellow baristas. (She runs a good blog and her archives are great but she doesn't update much) We'll revisit the breakfast theme later. Yes I LOVE breakfast and can eat it whenever, therefore I love any place that serves breakfast all the time, or at least past 11 am.
Enjoyed the Reedy River Park(Falls Park apparently) and learned some interesting facts about Greenville and the river thanks to some educational plaques scattered around the park. There were some walkers and joggers and kids but not many people at all. I can see why morning people like the mornings so much, all the night people are asleep and everything is so tranquil. As I sat on a bench, river adjacent, I got to see a robin root for a worm and then fed it to his lady bird who was sitting on the nest and presumably some eggs too.
Walked back to the car and listened to some tunes while I waited for J. Back in the car we made our way back to Clemson to load up the car and head off to Drift Atlanta! Well after eating lunch, we both took an impromptu nap and didn't leave at 1 like I wanted but 2:15 was good enough. We show up at 3:30 and there's tire smoke a-plenty. We drop off the car, grab the camera and go watch the slideways smokey action for awhile. Then we head down to the pits for some freebies, info and the spectacle. Also this is when you get a good chance to meet and talk to the drivers. After qualifying, all the cars came back to the pits to get some new rubber and get some food and liquid into the drivers. I finally got to meet Tanner Foust! Hooray! I've been a fan of his ever since I started following rally and got to watch him progress from the Production GT class where he battled Matt Johnson up to the big HP Open class cars and battle Matt again and take on the Subaru Rally Team's Ken Block and Travis Pastrana. Unfortunately Rally America doesn't have a rally in the SouthEast so Drift Atlanta is the closest they get to Clemson, so it's a great chance for me to meet some great rally drivers, Tanner Foust, Stephan Verdier and Rhys Millen, and then get to watch them drift like mad. Congrats to Rhys for winning the 2008 Drift Atlanta stop also! That Kiwi can drive!
Tanner told me he started ice driving and then moved on to rallying. Ice? Oh, right ice, on the roads and not just in the freezer. I need to experience a real winter one of these days and see what people are talking about with snow for months on end and freezing weather on a regular basis.
To save a bit of money, J and I decided to camp in front of Road Atlanta after all the drifting. It's such a clusterfuck leaving Road Atlanta with all those people. If you show up late you have to park far away and they let the lots closer to the gate out first and there's only one exit for all these cars. So instead of sitting in the car for no less than 30 minutes, we hung out by the car, snacked some and watched all the cars sit in traffic.
After all that we found a nice tree to park under and camp for the night. I put the tarp down and thanks to this event, I learned to fold the edges of the tarp UNDERNEATH the tent. Since this was car camping, we went all out. First went my sleeping pad, then a thick sleeping bag, then both our nice backpacking sleeping bags, then our 3 pillows and then a lovely purple fleece sleeping bag. It was very plush and comfy. We got ready for bed and were talking and then it started raining. Then there was lightening and thunder. I counted and it was roughly 5 miles away assuming my weather math was correct. It was nice sleeping in a tent in the rain and not waking up with a wet sleeping bag and wet pillow. The mud when we woke up was epic. And this was not regular mud. It was red Georgia clay mud that stains whatever it gets near. My flip flops were not up to the job of keeping my feet clean and after loading the car and luckily having enough plastic bags for all the nasty wet, muddy gear, I set off in search of a water faucet or spigot. I did not find one, so I proceeded to channel my inner hippie/homeless guy and washed my feet and flip flops in a relatively clean puddle. Then it was off to Atlanta!
Our first stop was the West Egg Cafe for brunch. It's next to a construction site so they offer free valet parking, which was really nice. So here J and I are in the clothes we wore yesterday and with fresh tent hair and head inside. It's full of bright colored walls and pipes and lovely works of art scattered around the space. I felt we actually fit in a little bit even if we were a tad stinky. The place was packed too! It was a 45 minute wait (closer to 30 min. probably) and we showed up at 11:15ish. We scoped out the dessert case, their cookies are big enough to feed a ravenous badger and only $1.75! We did not try their $2 Coca-Cola cupcakes which are award-winning I'm told. The host took our name and told us we could hang out in the garage around the corner. Wha? Garage? We walk past all the free ATL literature (Creative Loafing, etc...) and find ourselves in a garage complete with huge sliding bay door that has been converted into a waiting room with comfy chairs and stools. The only thing it needed was a small bookshelf with some books to read while you wait. The guy with the Falcons polo shirt and black Crocs complete with Atlanta Falcon and skull trinkets made me laugh.
Our table for two was ready and we sat down and ordered a chai latte for J and a cappuccino for me. Both were delicious and ready fairly quickly for how busy they were. I ordered the Peachtree Platter, two eggs any way (scrambled), cheddar monterey jack grits, a biscuit, fried green tomatoes and brown sugar bacon. J had the Westside Turkey Club, sweet tea basted turkey, swiss, bacon, cranberry dijon mustard on freshly baked white bread. Hers was very good and I will attempt to baste some turkey in tea in the future. Mine was good but the menu didn't state "roasted garlic grits" and my taste buds were quite offended at that surprise. I don't usually like garlic in my breakfast foods but they were good after I realized what I was eating. The tomatoes and eggs were very good, but let me tell you about the biscuit and the bacon. The biscuit was warm, light and sooooo good. I tossed some egg and bacon in there and had one of the best bacon, egg & cheese biscuits ever. I don't know how they make the brown sugar bacon (I'm guessing, and will attempt, they dredge the bacon in brown sugar before frying) but it was deliciously fatty and sweet and ooey gooey. It wasn't crisp so I used a fork and knife but the flavor more than made up for not being able to solidly pick it up. It was smokey and sweet and I want some more. NOW! Next time we go there, I might get the eggs again but biscuits and bacon will definitely be on my plate. A huge thanks to Jennifer Johnson and chef Patric Bell for the fun and funky atmosphere and delicious hearty breakfast! They open at 7 am on the weekdays, 8 am on the weekends and close at 4 pm, so don't be late!
With full sated bellies, we drove up Howell Mill Rd. to Atlanta Rocks! Intown. After a quick belay test and 2 daily passes, we were free to climb their 12,000 square feet of climbing awesomeness. A big main bouldering area was complemented by two hidden bouldering caves, and those were surrounded by over 50 ropes and auto-belayers covering the walls. Flat surfaces to faux rock outcroppings will keep any climber of any skill level entertained for a long time. If you need to give your fingers a rest, but still want to work out, they also have a nice gym with weights and treadmills and more (I just glanced over there but didn't go upstairs). After a few hours there, and realizing I'm a solid 5.8 climber and J is a solid 5.7 climber, we exchanged some pants at REI and then made our way home.
Thanks to Formula Drift, Mother Nature, the West Egg Cafe and Atlanta Rocks for a great weekend. Thanks to you for reading, and thanks to Ford and the gas companies for getting us there and back.
This weekend was amazing! Friday was spent packing and straightening the house and then hanging out with Drs. Protege and Acura and their parents who were in town for graduation. Yes it kinda sucked celebrating something that I was also supposed to be partaking in but it will still happen. PERSEVERANCE! NEVER GIVE UP! It was cool seeing their parents again since the last time was their wedding last year. We're taking care of their cats while they're up in CT revisiting their folks after the 'rents were down here last week. Apparently lots of golf is on the schedule for Dr. Protege, I'm not sure what Dr. Acura will be doing but I'm sure she'll enjoy it.
Then woke up early Sat. and drove to Greenville to get J a haircut and I ate breakfast and walked around and realized that there isn't much open in the West End of G'ville before 10 am. I guess Starbucks but they can't scramble an egg and put it on a nice bagel for me, nor do I want them too. T'would be nice but more work for Barista Brat and her fellow baristas. (She runs a good blog and her archives are great but she doesn't update much) We'll revisit the breakfast theme later. Yes I LOVE breakfast and can eat it whenever, therefore I love any place that serves breakfast all the time, or at least past 11 am.
Enjoyed the Reedy River Park(Falls Park apparently) and learned some interesting facts about Greenville and the river thanks to some educational plaques scattered around the park. There were some walkers and joggers and kids but not many people at all. I can see why morning people like the mornings so much, all the night people are asleep and everything is so tranquil. As I sat on a bench, river adjacent, I got to see a robin root for a worm and then fed it to his lady bird who was sitting on the nest and presumably some eggs too.
Walked back to the car and listened to some tunes while I waited for J. Back in the car we made our way back to Clemson to load up the car and head off to Drift Atlanta! Well after eating lunch, we both took an impromptu nap and didn't leave at 1 like I wanted but 2:15 was good enough. We show up at 3:30 and there's tire smoke a-plenty. We drop off the car, grab the camera and go watch the slideways smokey action for awhile. Then we head down to the pits for some freebies, info and the spectacle. Also this is when you get a good chance to meet and talk to the drivers. After qualifying, all the cars came back to the pits to get some new rubber and get some food and liquid into the drivers. I finally got to meet Tanner Foust! Hooray! I've been a fan of his ever since I started following rally and got to watch him progress from the Production GT class where he battled Matt Johnson up to the big HP Open class cars and battle Matt again and take on the Subaru Rally Team's Ken Block and Travis Pastrana. Unfortunately Rally America doesn't have a rally in the SouthEast so Drift Atlanta is the closest they get to Clemson, so it's a great chance for me to meet some great rally drivers, Tanner Foust, Stephan Verdier and Rhys Millen, and then get to watch them drift like mad. Congrats to Rhys for winning the 2008 Drift Atlanta stop also! That Kiwi can drive!
Tanner told me he started ice driving and then moved on to rallying. Ice? Oh, right ice, on the roads and not just in the freezer. I need to experience a real winter one of these days and see what people are talking about with snow for months on end and freezing weather on a regular basis.
To save a bit of money, J and I decided to camp in front of Road Atlanta after all the drifting. It's such a clusterfuck leaving Road Atlanta with all those people. If you show up late you have to park far away and they let the lots closer to the gate out first and there's only one exit for all these cars. So instead of sitting in the car for no less than 30 minutes, we hung out by the car, snacked some and watched all the cars sit in traffic.
After all that we found a nice tree to park under and camp for the night. I put the tarp down and thanks to this event, I learned to fold the edges of the tarp UNDERNEATH the tent. Since this was car camping, we went all out. First went my sleeping pad, then a thick sleeping bag, then both our nice backpacking sleeping bags, then our 3 pillows and then a lovely purple fleece sleeping bag. It was very plush and comfy. We got ready for bed and were talking and then it started raining. Then there was lightening and thunder. I counted and it was roughly 5 miles away assuming my weather math was correct. It was nice sleeping in a tent in the rain and not waking up with a wet sleeping bag and wet pillow. The mud when we woke up was epic. And this was not regular mud. It was red Georgia clay mud that stains whatever it gets near. My flip flops were not up to the job of keeping my feet clean and after loading the car and luckily having enough plastic bags for all the nasty wet, muddy gear, I set off in search of a water faucet or spigot. I did not find one, so I proceeded to channel my inner hippie/homeless guy and washed my feet and flip flops in a relatively clean puddle. Then it was off to Atlanta!
Our first stop was the West Egg Cafe for brunch. It's next to a construction site so they offer free valet parking, which was really nice. So here J and I are in the clothes we wore yesterday and with fresh tent hair and head inside. It's full of bright colored walls and pipes and lovely works of art scattered around the space. I felt we actually fit in a little bit even if we were a tad stinky. The place was packed too! It was a 45 minute wait (closer to 30 min. probably) and we showed up at 11:15ish. We scoped out the dessert case, their cookies are big enough to feed a ravenous badger and only $1.75! We did not try their $2 Coca-Cola cupcakes which are award-winning I'm told. The host took our name and told us we could hang out in the garage around the corner. Wha? Garage? We walk past all the free ATL literature (Creative Loafing, etc...) and find ourselves in a garage complete with huge sliding bay door that has been converted into a waiting room with comfy chairs and stools. The only thing it needed was a small bookshelf with some books to read while you wait. The guy with the Falcons polo shirt and black Crocs complete with Atlanta Falcon and skull trinkets made me laugh.
Our table for two was ready and we sat down and ordered a chai latte for J and a cappuccino for me. Both were delicious and ready fairly quickly for how busy they were. I ordered the Peachtree Platter, two eggs any way (scrambled), cheddar monterey jack grits, a biscuit, fried green tomatoes and brown sugar bacon. J had the Westside Turkey Club, sweet tea basted turkey, swiss, bacon, cranberry dijon mustard on freshly baked white bread. Hers was very good and I will attempt to baste some turkey in tea in the future. Mine was good but the menu didn't state "roasted garlic grits" and my taste buds were quite offended at that surprise. I don't usually like garlic in my breakfast foods but they were good after I realized what I was eating. The tomatoes and eggs were very good, but let me tell you about the biscuit and the bacon. The biscuit was warm, light and sooooo good. I tossed some egg and bacon in there and had one of the best bacon, egg & cheese biscuits ever. I don't know how they make the brown sugar bacon (I'm guessing, and will attempt, they dredge the bacon in brown sugar before frying) but it was deliciously fatty and sweet and ooey gooey. It wasn't crisp so I used a fork and knife but the flavor more than made up for not being able to solidly pick it up. It was smokey and sweet and I want some more. NOW! Next time we go there, I might get the eggs again but biscuits and bacon will definitely be on my plate. A huge thanks to Jennifer Johnson and chef Patric Bell for the fun and funky atmosphere and delicious hearty breakfast! They open at 7 am on the weekdays, 8 am on the weekends and close at 4 pm, so don't be late!
With full sated bellies, we drove up Howell Mill Rd. to Atlanta Rocks! Intown. After a quick belay test and 2 daily passes, we were free to climb their 12,000 square feet of climbing awesomeness. A big main bouldering area was complemented by two hidden bouldering caves, and those were surrounded by over 50 ropes and auto-belayers covering the walls. Flat surfaces to faux rock outcroppings will keep any climber of any skill level entertained for a long time. If you need to give your fingers a rest, but still want to work out, they also have a nice gym with weights and treadmills and more (I just glanced over there but didn't go upstairs). After a few hours there, and realizing I'm a solid 5.8 climber and J is a solid 5.7 climber, we exchanged some pants at REI and then made our way home.
Thanks to Formula Drift, Mother Nature, the West Egg Cafe and Atlanta Rocks for a great weekend. Thanks to you for reading, and thanks to Ford and the gas companies for getting us there and back.
Labels: Breakfast, climbing, drift, Drift Atlanta, Focus, Futurama, restaurant reviews
Friday, November 09, 2007
Hello!
I hope you're having a glorious Friday. I know mine is going pretty well so far. J has finally decided to start climbing with me and has shown enough commitment to warrant getting her shoes, a harness, chalk bag, the works. This will be part of her Christmas presents. Since we don't have internet at our house, we haven't been able to order or even look around yet to see what's out there. Climbing shoes aren't cheap. They range from $60-$150. I need a new pair also. I'll be sure to post up the cute items she picks out. They will be cute, I guarantee.
I stumbled across the United Hollywood Blog while watching a video of some of the cast and writers of "The Office" as they were striking. I knew "Ryan" was a writer but didn't know that "Tobey" was one also. It's nice to see some of the actors supporting their writers by joining them on the picket lines. If anyone in SoCal is reading this and wants to join in the fun, THE picket line today will be at the Fox Plaza, but you better hurry. It starts at 10 am Pacific which is 1 pm Eastern. Fight the Power!
In delicious breakfast news, Jennifer "Jen" Causey runs a blog, Simply Breakfast, that is pictures of her breakfast. On October 18th, she enjoyed this:
Yum! Who doesn't love a bagel and coffee?
It looks to be updated most weekdays with a few missed days here and there. This is a really good idea. If only I could get my photos to look like hers. Lots of natural lighting. I'll see if we have a window that could make my breakfasts look that good.
What's that? You wish she had a book that showed her love of photography and all things breakfast? Ask and ye shall receive!
I stumbled across the United Hollywood Blog while watching a video of some of the cast and writers of "The Office" as they were striking. I knew "Ryan" was a writer but didn't know that "Tobey" was one also. It's nice to see some of the actors supporting their writers by joining them on the picket lines. If anyone in SoCal is reading this and wants to join in the fun, THE picket line today will be at the Fox Plaza, but you better hurry. It starts at 10 am Pacific which is 1 pm Eastern. Fight the Power!
In delicious breakfast news, Jennifer "Jen" Causey runs a blog, Simply Breakfast, that is pictures of her breakfast. On October 18th, she enjoyed this:
Yum! Who doesn't love a bagel and coffee?
It looks to be updated most weekdays with a few missed days here and there. This is a really good idea. If only I could get my photos to look like hers. Lots of natural lighting. I'll see if we have a window that could make my breakfasts look that good.
What's that? You wish she had a book that showed her love of photography and all things breakfast? Ask and ye shall receive!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
You want fries with that?
For breakfast I had a delicious egg and cheese bagel. I'm nominally trying to lose weight and exercise. What I'm really doing is trying to avoid diabetes and heart problems as long as freakin' possible. I wanted breakfast though. Some would say "it's the most important meal of the day". I don't know about all that but I do know that most breakfast foods are utterly delicious and should not be restricted to being served from 6 to 11 am. Waffles for dinner! Omelettes for lunch! Those are my battle cries.
I also knew that Ray Kroc's favorite restaurant was having a special on bacon, egg and cheese biscuits at the low low price of 2 for $2.22. They're practically giving them away. And at 440 calories, 25 g of fat, and a full 1.34 g of Na (g = grams, Na = Sodium). So that's roughly a fifth of your daily calories, 38% of your daily fat, and a cool 56% of your daily Na. And you just bought 2 so double all of that. Wow. Haha! Missed that little nugget. One also contains 245 mg of cholesterol which is 82% of your daily intake. I assume these are all the government standard of what a "healthy person" is supposed to eat. Yikes.
But I'm trying to stay away from all fast food and we went to the store on Mon. so I have plenty of breakfast things to eat. I decided to make my own egg and cheese breakfast. No biscuits but I had some Lender's Mini Bagels. I can't remember its stats offhand and ye olde internet isn't coming up with any answers so we'll just assume it was a regular 3 oz. bagel for 220 calories and 1.5 g of fat. I of course added cheese so assuming a 26 g serving size (which I think is about twice what I used) 110 calories, 9 g of fat, 0.18 g of Na and only 25 mg of cholesterol. The egg weighs in with 75 calories, 5 g of fat, 213 mg of cholesterol (damn!).
I'm sick of all these numbers. I saved some money and didn't eat 2 of them like I would have if I went with McD's. And eggs have lots of cholesterol in them. Hmmm, maybe it's time to start tossing a yolk or two since that's what contains all that cholesterol and fat. Anyone ever used Egg Beaters? Are they any good?
I just did this as an experiment and would go insane if I kept track of every little thing that went into my body. I've always wanted to try keeping track and weighing all portions of food, but that takes all the fun out of food. It becomes work at that point.
Did I mention that I'm a TB carrier? Yes I was exposed to someone who had tuberculosis and now I'm carrying around TB bacteria. I have known this fact since before I came to Clemson and never really thought about it. We had a small TB scare in the department. He's back at work and isn't contagious but I have been caught up in the web of DHEC (dept. of health and environment class? Ah, control) I had my X-ray, they wanted a better angle at it, so I had to go back the following week. It was nothing and now all I have to do to get rid of those TB bacteria is take INH aka isozianid once a day for 6 to 9 months. And to counteract some of the harmful side effects, like liver damage, I get to take a B6 vitamin aka pyridoxine twice a day for as long as I have to take the Zid (INH is too close to NIH in my book so it's getting a new name).
All the pills are free, or I wouldn't be taking them, but I have to go get blood work done every so often to make sure my liver is still livering and functioning properly.
Off to work! I decided to autocross in Atlanta this Saturday at Turner Field instead of in Asheville, NC at Bele Chere. While the Bele Chere autocross sounds cool and it's the only autocross in the country on public streets during a festival, it's only on a 5 lane wide street and they only get a block, so it's basically down and back for a 30 second run, and you only get 3 of them for an entry fee of $25. In Atlanta, the lot is HUGE and I'll be getting 6 50 seconds runs for $30 and the distance to either event is almost the same, so my decision was pretty easy. Almost 3 times as much seat time for almost the same price and almost the same driving distance.
For any new readers who don't know what I autocross, it's my 2004 black Ford Focus ZX3. Check it:
I also knew that Ray Kroc's favorite restaurant was having a special on bacon, egg and cheese biscuits at the low low price of 2 for $2.22. They're practically giving them away. And at 440 calories, 25 g of fat, and a full 1.34 g of Na (g = grams, Na = Sodium). So that's roughly a fifth of your daily calories, 38% of your daily fat, and a cool 56% of your daily Na. And you just bought 2 so double all of that. Wow. Haha! Missed that little nugget. One also contains 245 mg of cholesterol which is 82% of your daily intake. I assume these are all the government standard of what a "healthy person" is supposed to eat. Yikes.
But I'm trying to stay away from all fast food and we went to the store on Mon. so I have plenty of breakfast things to eat. I decided to make my own egg and cheese breakfast. No biscuits but I had some Lender's Mini Bagels. I can't remember its stats offhand and ye olde internet isn't coming up with any answers so we'll just assume it was a regular 3 oz. bagel for 220 calories and 1.5 g of fat. I of course added cheese so assuming a 26 g serving size (which I think is about twice what I used) 110 calories, 9 g of fat, 0.18 g of Na and only 25 mg of cholesterol. The egg weighs in with 75 calories, 5 g of fat, 213 mg of cholesterol (damn!).
I'm sick of all these numbers. I saved some money and didn't eat 2 of them like I would have if I went with McD's. And eggs have lots of cholesterol in them. Hmmm, maybe it's time to start tossing a yolk or two since that's what contains all that cholesterol and fat. Anyone ever used Egg Beaters? Are they any good?
I just did this as an experiment and would go insane if I kept track of every little thing that went into my body. I've always wanted to try keeping track and weighing all portions of food, but that takes all the fun out of food. It becomes work at that point.
Did I mention that I'm a TB carrier? Yes I was exposed to someone who had tuberculosis and now I'm carrying around TB bacteria. I have known this fact since before I came to Clemson and never really thought about it. We had a small TB scare in the department. He's back at work and isn't contagious but I have been caught up in the web of DHEC (dept. of health and environment class? Ah, control) I had my X-ray, they wanted a better angle at it, so I had to go back the following week. It was nothing and now all I have to do to get rid of those TB bacteria is take INH aka isozianid once a day for 6 to 9 months. And to counteract some of the harmful side effects, like liver damage, I get to take a B6 vitamin aka pyridoxine twice a day for as long as I have to take the Zid (INH is too close to NIH in my book so it's getting a new name).
All the pills are free, or I wouldn't be taking them, but I have to go get blood work done every so often to make sure my liver is still livering and functioning properly.
Off to work! I decided to autocross in Atlanta this Saturday at Turner Field instead of in Asheville, NC at Bele Chere. While the Bele Chere autocross sounds cool and it's the only autocross in the country on public streets during a festival, it's only on a 5 lane wide street and they only get a block, so it's basically down and back for a 30 second run, and you only get 3 of them for an entry fee of $25. In Atlanta, the lot is HUGE and I'll be getting 6 50 seconds runs for $30 and the distance to either event is almost the same, so my decision was pretty easy. Almost 3 times as much seat time for almost the same price and almost the same driving distance.
For any new readers who don't know what I autocross, it's my 2004 black Ford Focus ZX3. Check it:
Labels: autocross, Breakfast, disease
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Pop pop gets Grisham?
- George Bluth, played by the marvelous Jeffrey Tambor, while hiding in the model home attic, from Arrested Development
Yes I'm a little freaked out, but I still have 34 days left to prepare and that's what I'm doing. Days, nights, weekends, all the time. I will be taking some study breaks this weekend for St. Paddy's Day because dammit, it's March 17 and you have to enjoy your or someone else's Irish heritage. They've given us so much over the years: U2, Guinness, Potatoes, Corned Beef and Cabbage, and the Gaelic language. So wear your green, raise your pint and toast to the Emerald Isle and all she stands for!
I had Total for breakfast. It tastes sweet. It's probably because I'm trying to completely eliminate all sugar from my diet, except for fruits, vegetable and the sugar that is in some of the processed foods I still eat, but it does. I'm sure the kid who is adding extra sugar to his Frosted Flakes isn't going to believe me, but it is. Or what did Calvin eat? Frosted Sugar Bombs? Ah, of course. Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs!
I have reduced myself to only getting tea at coffeeshops, or espresso if it's after dinner or I'm on the road. It saves money and tea is delicious! There is a new one at Greenville's Barnes and Noble that is called Bangkok. It has ginger, lemongrass and coconut, so J hates it but it's so good. And I'm so proud of myself. I honestly can't remember what brand of coffeeshop is in B&N. I assume it's Starbucks but can't remember. The free-standing Starbucks is down the street though. I would love to be immune to marketing and advertising. That would be a good day, so I wouldn't be tempted to try the new cool chip or colored ketchup. Not that I tried that crazy ass colored ketchup. I would be willing to try it though, but alas, it's off the shelves and gone forever.
Big Pharma, the pharmaceutical industry, currently one of the massive industries running our government. Don't even try and deny it. It's everywhere. TV, magazines, buses, billboards, you're friends are talking about it, your grandparents depend on it. Like most things, it has good points and bad points.
Good:
Helps people with serious problems.
Makes vaccines that save lives and prevent expensive and debilitating diseases.
Um, sponsor racing and other spectator sports.
Provide many jobs for chemists, pharmacists and others.
Bad:
Ridiculous profit margins (this would be in the "good" category depending on who you are and whose stock you own)
Why cure a disease when you can make billions treating it for years?
Won't develop some treatments because it isn't patented and someone else could steal it.
Sure they sell drugs cheaper in other countries, but you rich Americans can afford to pay what we tell you.
Kickbacks and other incentives to doctors so they'll prescribe a certain drug, whether you need it or not!
Buy influence in government instead of letting politicians do the work of the people (obviously not isolated to the pharmaceutical industry)
As an example of the influence of Big Pharma, J was at the doctor the other day. She said that she's been feeling tired and wanted some "speed". She actually used the street name for amphetamines, commonly prescribed as Adderall. And the doctor said, sure, let's get some bloodwork and then see about getting you your "speed". Wow. Maybe I'm too naive or haven't been to the doctor enough, but is it really that easy? Or maybe he's not concerned about the potential abuse of amphetamines. I wonder if J would've said "My elbow hurts. How bout some OCs doc?" if he would've been as forthcoming with his prescription pad. OCs are slang for oxycontin, which is synthetic heroin. Ok, now that I look at it, it isn't exactly heroin, but it is in the opiate family. Heroin: diacetylmorphine, Oxycontin: (5a)-4,5-epoxy-14-hydroxy-3-methoxy-17- methylmorphinan-6-one
The bottom line is, just because your doctor says you should take it, doesn't mean you should just take his word for it. Be a smart consumer, do your research. Odds are the doc is right, but not all the time. That's why they have to pay exorbitant malpractice insurance fees. That and because slick lawyers and slick assholes sue them alot.
Yes I'm a little freaked out, but I still have 34 days left to prepare and that's what I'm doing. Days, nights, weekends, all the time. I will be taking some study breaks this weekend for St. Paddy's Day because dammit, it's March 17 and you have to enjoy your or someone else's Irish heritage. They've given us so much over the years: U2, Guinness, Potatoes, Corned Beef and Cabbage, and the Gaelic language. So wear your green, raise your pint and toast to the Emerald Isle and all she stands for!
I had Total for breakfast. It tastes sweet. It's probably because I'm trying to completely eliminate all sugar from my diet, except for fruits, vegetable and the sugar that is in some of the processed foods I still eat, but it does. I'm sure the kid who is adding extra sugar to his Frosted Flakes isn't going to believe me, but it is. Or what did Calvin eat? Frosted Sugar Bombs? Ah, of course. Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs!
I have reduced myself to only getting tea at coffeeshops, or espresso if it's after dinner or I'm on the road. It saves money and tea is delicious! There is a new one at Greenville's Barnes and Noble that is called Bangkok. It has ginger, lemongrass and coconut, so J hates it but it's so good. And I'm so proud of myself. I honestly can't remember what brand of coffeeshop is in B&N. I assume it's Starbucks but can't remember. The free-standing Starbucks is down the street though. I would love to be immune to marketing and advertising. That would be a good day, so I wouldn't be tempted to try the new cool chip or colored ketchup. Not that I tried that crazy ass colored ketchup. I would be willing to try it though, but alas, it's off the shelves and gone forever.
Big Pharma, the pharmaceutical industry, currently one of the massive industries running our government. Don't even try and deny it. It's everywhere. TV, magazines, buses, billboards, you're friends are talking about it, your grandparents depend on it. Like most things, it has good points and bad points.
Good:
Helps people with serious problems.
Makes vaccines that save lives and prevent expensive and debilitating diseases.
Um, sponsor racing and other spectator sports.
Provide many jobs for chemists, pharmacists and others.
Bad:
Ridiculous profit margins (this would be in the "good" category depending on who you are and whose stock you own)
Why cure a disease when you can make billions treating it for years?
Won't develop some treatments because it isn't patented and someone else could steal it.
Sure they sell drugs cheaper in other countries, but you rich Americans can afford to pay what we tell you.
Kickbacks and other incentives to doctors so they'll prescribe a certain drug, whether you need it or not!
Buy influence in government instead of letting politicians do the work of the people (obviously not isolated to the pharmaceutical industry)
As an example of the influence of Big Pharma, J was at the doctor the other day. She said that she's been feeling tired and wanted some "speed". She actually used the street name for amphetamines, commonly prescribed as Adderall. And the doctor said, sure, let's get some bloodwork and then see about getting you your "speed". Wow. Maybe I'm too naive or haven't been to the doctor enough, but is it really that easy? Or maybe he's not concerned about the potential abuse of amphetamines. I wonder if J would've said "My elbow hurts. How bout some OCs doc?" if he would've been as forthcoming with his prescription pad. OCs are slang for oxycontin, which is synthetic heroin. Ok, now that I look at it, it isn't exactly heroin, but it is in the opiate family. Heroin: diacetylmorphine, Oxycontin: (5a)-4,5-epoxy-14-hydroxy-3-methoxy-17- methylmorphinan-6-one
The bottom line is, just because your doctor says you should take it, doesn't mean you should just take his word for it. Be a smart consumer, do your research. Odds are the doc is right, but not all the time. That's why they have to pay exorbitant malpractice insurance fees. That and because slick lawyers and slick assholes sue them alot.
Labels: Big Pharma, Breakfast, doctors
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