went to pete's today. got some great news.

so we all know how much i love pete's lunch. honestly, its the best breakfast in utah, hands down. no one does it like pete. i took mel and grady this morning because i was off work and i'd been bugging mel to come hang out. since the snowstorm she'd been worried about driving grady around on the typically unplowed UT roads, understandably. so today was super nice, sunny, and a little warmer so we agreed to meet up at pete's for breakfast. we got there around 11 and got my normal table (#9) and ordered. mel got an omelette and i got eggs toast hashbrowns and bacon. grady got milk. i always love the reaction of first timers when they take the first bite, and its usually the same:
"OH MY GOD"
mel was no different. i've yet to find someone who isn't wholly impressed by pete's culinary prowess. so we were eating and today helena was our waitress, but julie happened to be there and walks by and says hello and we chat a bit, and she say, oh, here, you might be interested in this, we're going to be OPEN TIL 7:00 PM NOW, AND WE WILL DO TAKE OUT ORDERS, SO YOU CAN CALL US ANY TIME BEFORE 7:00 AND WE'LL DO IT TO GO.
i almost had a heart attack, not from the food, but fromthe news that now i can get PETE'S FOR DINNER.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm as happy as a little girl.
i'm still working on him to get sundays open.
i'd like to think that maybe in some small way i've helped get him a few more customers, enough to warrant this exhilarating news. even if it wasn't me, i'm still happy beyond belief.

HUH? I HAVE A BLOG?

howdy folks, seein as its been about 14 years since i wrote anything, i decided i'd take a break out of my busy schedule and "pen" a few words about some vittles i've had recently.
across from nicolitalia in that little shop that used to be hires big h, and the guanojuato mexican place and probably a few other forgettable restaurants, there is now a greek place, sadaf greek souvlaki. they gots the normal greek fare and big giant beef ribs. pretty damn good. i, of course, only got the gyro because lets be honest, its the benchmark food for small out of the way greek places. it did not fail to please. i'd take it over the other greek place on state street any day. for me its up there with greek souvlaki #1 up in salt lake. the dudes who run it are pretty ok dudes too, which is a plus, i hate goin to places where i can't talk to the owners.

i got made fun of by a girl i used to like for my grocery shopping decisions.

it was pretty humiliating. i had some mac and cheese, loaf of bread, bologna, some ground beef, assorted canned soups, and some cheap steaks. for my part, since i don't do much grocery shopping, i was pretty stoked on the deals i had found, and i got all my shit for under $25 bones. i stopped being stoked when this girl i knew, and liked, (and blew my chances with a few years ago) looked down in my basket and started laughing at my stuff. its pretty tough to play that off, and i'm not quick or cool enough to side step that. i did, however, snag a ride home from the grocery store with her and got a few laughs out of her. after i got home i looked at what i had and said to myself "fuck it" and made biscuits, steak and eggs. and washed it down with oj.

grief stroganoff

so, when i'm broke (which seems to be frequent these days) i need to be creative with the food i eat. i gotta make my dollar stretch like its elastic. the other night i whipped up a serious meal of rice, sage breakfast sausage, chicken tenders, and cream of mushroom soup. it was pretty tasty. tonight though, i had some ground beef and ramen, and i thought to myself, hey this might taste ok with some more cream of shroom.
i cooked the ramen, browned the beef, and mixed in the shroom soup, and well, came up with the title of this post. it isn't the best thing i've ever eaten, but it isn't the worst.

I.E.M. is a kuh..kunt...kkuh...a kuh kunt...

a continual source of inspiration. andy posted the companion videos for his latest piece on tortas and it again prompted me to go grab another torta. instead of making my way over to chungas, as i was inclined to do, i decided to try out taqueria vaquero. "where the hell is that?" you might be asking. it is in the same little strip mall place as laser assault across from the rc willey outlet on 1st west in provo. very nondescript place, but holy jeebus. i got a carnitas torta and like 6 bites in i got the itis. this may be the first time i got the itis from mexican food. usually it's brought on by ribs. i'm hoping mud butt is not a result of this round of the itis. any way, i'd really like to talk about inhuman eating machine some more. after seeing the clips of the session it made me realize what a pussy i really am. if i had tried to eat another bite of another torta i probably would have gone into a coma. even at the time of this writing, probably an hour after my ONE torta i'm feeling pretty sluggish and can't speak in complete sentences. andy is a god among men. like the videos coupled with the blog is like the goddam videodrome of gluttony.

grocery shopping

more often than not, i do not buy groceries. bad habit. at the time of my last paycheck, however, i decided i needed to be a bit more frugal with my $$ because i got too many things to pay for and not enough $$ to pay it with and i realized i spend all my $$ on foodz and recordz. so me and newlin went grocery shopping and i bought all kindsa great stuff:
velveeta
chips
frozed pizzas
rotel
loaf of bread
bell peppers
andioulle
rice
milk
b-fast sausage
cans of beans
cans of tomatoes
and more stuff
the idea was to be a little more domestic. i figured since i'm not in school this semester i can afford to waste time cooking all day. and listening to records. (i'm pretty proud of myself, i've only purchased one record since i've gotten paid: scat rag boosters st/lp)

since that shopping trip i've made:
brazillian fish stew
jambalaya
turnip greens/white beans/cornbread
a few sandwiches
handfulls of chips
ned drool

i kinda like doing this for a few reasons:
dishes are in heavier rotation
dishes get cleaned with more frequency
i'm saving a shit ton of dough

it doesn't mean i haven't gone out and bought food. erin is still my food partner in crime and so we still go grab stuff from time to time:
chungas torta
mahi mahi at mcgraths (splurge)

even still, i think i'm saving money.

singapore noodles

so, i was at rice king the other night with jesse and charley, after neighborhood zero practice, and charley ordered a dish called Singapore noodles, which she, apparently, always orders. i had never even seen it on the menu. she let me try them. i was hooked. imagine a sweeter type of curry (i think i tasted some egg and some cinnamon...). and the noodles are about the size of angelhair pasta. shredded snow peas, chicken, shrimp, maybe some beef? carrots? i can't remember everything that was in it, but i love it now. it isn't too heavy like a lot of their other stuff, but still pretty filling. i totally recommend this. it gets my fat ass seal of approval. just kidding, i don't have a fat ass. or do i...

cassie s has a blog

she likes to cook. yup. 'nother food blog.
http://egginthehole.blogspot.com/

got the munchies last night

here's what i had:
7-11 hotdog.
bag of cheetos.
corned beef sandwich.

i slept pretty good.

MADE SOME TURNIP GREENS THE OTHER NIGHT.

because i'm poor, i have no qualms about accepting charity. case in point, cassie said she found some turnip greens at the sunflower market in orem, and if you really know me, you also know i love turnip greens with just about everything i got. to me, there isn't much better than some greens with northern white beans and cornbread (yes, i use jiffy, fuck you). so i asked her if she wanted me to show her how to cook them right ( she was gonna saute them with butter or something. i know. heresy) and she said that she had plans that night but i could have them. and of course i accepted her generously charitable offer. she also let me use her stockpot.

here's some of the problems i encountered as i was cooking this shit up:
1. i didn't have an egg for the cornbread mix.
2. there ain't a damn ham hock in a 200 mile radius of my house. well, least none i know about.

here's how i solved said problems:
1. i talked april b. into letting me have one of her eggs (like chicken eggs, yall, not her personal ovary stash) with the promise of eating with me (who can actually resist my cooking? no one).
2. we found some pork neckbones at smiths. for like a dollar.

even though it wasn't fatback or a jowl or a ham hock it seemed to do the trick. i can't believe they don't sell salt pork around here. well, i take it back. i do believe it. buncha crackers runnin shit. (health food is dumb BTW, tho, the irony is, you can really only find greens at health food stores. wtf. i really miss "easy way produce". god bless you, barry carter).
so we got back and i already had the greens going, yes, without the neckbones in, and the house was starting to smell good. poor ned was going out of his mind. the trick with turnip greens, and i can't remember who i learned it from, possibly my great-grandmother, is to soak the greens in super cold water with a buncha sugar dumped in over the greens. not sure why this works, but it definitely makes them way less bitter. but not sweet. after they soak for a good hour or so you toss them in the pot, i always throw a bit more sugar on when i throw them in. now, if anyone in my family reads this next part i'm probably gonna get in some trouble, but, i like to dump a whole bunch of onion powder, garlic powder, salt, some butter, a tiny bit of black and crushed red pepper, and some celery flakes into the pot with the greens. i was kinda bummed because all i had was turnip greens and no curly mustards. thats always a good mix, also i didn't have any turnip to throw in, but hey, i'm not picky, this shit was free. this whole time april b was hanging out but had forgotten about some plans she had made, so she had to bail, good news for me, i get all them greens. once the greens had boiled down i started making the other stuff, open a can of white beans and make the cornbread. heat them beans up with a little water, salt and onion powder (can you tell i'm addicted?) and bring it to a slow boil. i'm not talking about the cornbread because its a box mix. you don't need me for that. but i do squirt in a good amount of honey in. after all this stuff was done i sat to eat. and filled myself up. twice. i wish i had more because it rules.
from my understanding of southern culinary traditions, this meal would constitute as "soul food". i'm not quite sure how to explain that concept to you, dear reader, except that if you don't like food like this, i probably don't like you.

the poor man's h-is-for-hungry: FOOD FEED

just kidding, i'm shit ass broke right now, so i think i'm the poor man's food feed. its meg (not wiemer) and jared (not soper) doing a similar thing to what i like to do, but they have a little ratings system and they like presentation and ambience and stuff like that.
if i ever stop doing this i guess they can have my spot in your heart.
http://thefoodfeed.wordpress.com/

the night before payday

and all i had was a head of newlins cabbage, one of newlins potatoes, and some fresh bratwurst cassie s brought me. i decided to cook it all up. i cut up about half the cabbage and started boiling it with a bunch of salt/pepper/onionpowder/garlic/celery flakes threw in the potatoes also put a sprinkle of some crappy cajun seasoning. not a fan of that shit anymore. i let this stuff boil down for a while. as it was boiling i listened to the tards blood visions lp. still one of my favs. anywho, i cut up the bratwurst and basically made bratwurst meatballs and threw them in withthe cabbage and potatoes. kind of a tasty broth i had going. i accidentally put too much pepper in, but cabbage is pretty sweet so it wasn't too bad. when everything was cooked down i squeezed a buncha mustard on top of everything. very tasty. i'm kinda tempted to figure out a way to make like a cabbage mustard soup with bratwurst balls. i think i would have to shred the cabbage and have more broth than solid items. i think any way i did it would taste pretty good. those ingredients are kinda hard to screw up. super simple, super tasty. who knows, it may end up in someones little diner or donut shop sometime.

way to go ABG's!

so last night at around 11:30 or so i got a craving for a cheeseburger. and as per usual, nothing was open so i kinda felt like a cheeseburger wasn't going to happen. like,i kinda avoid sammys as it is now overrun with the worst sorts of people. you know, the kind who you've never met and who say things like this to you "so, how have you been lately". scumbags. its also way too bright in there, and i usually have to listen to top 40 BS. too many negatives. so i was complaining to johnny k and he was like, "dude, try ABG's. their burger is pretty good". so i went to go over, and i'd heard that they get pissy if you order too late (misinformation BTW) so i walked quickly. i showed up and ther were a few folks playing pool, and goth jason was working, nice dude. very nice dude. and i told him i'd like the double cheeseburger with fries ($6!) and that newlie was heading over and we;d be staying. so newlie got there, we chatted for a bit and jason brought the burgers over. super flavory burgers baby. fries were kinda spicy but not in a shitty way. so me and dave hung out there a while and had a few, and some drunk fool was offering to buy everyone int he bar a drink, so i looked up and asked the other bartender to grab me a harp lager. will probably never see that guy again, but i will get another burger. maybe even tonight.

one thing

the mahi mahi coconut korma at india palace is out of this world. i made myself sick eating it last night.

found a decent little bbq shop in springville

its called charlie boy's pit bbq. its a carolina style bbq, but the sauce is a little more tomato-y than normal carolina vinegar stuff. pretty good. saw the pit in the back. the slaw is ok and the beans are pretty good too. me and bryan, erin and dave benson went and checked it out after a little skate session at the sprinville skatepark. fun day. charlie boys is where brand x burgers used to be.

oh beto's, or: how the mighty have fallen

so, as i like to do sometimes, i went to betos around 1:30 am to grab a texano last week, bret, johnny, jut and sean were there (sean actually put ketchup on a burrito. wtf) and we all ate our burritos and like since beto's usually uses dark meat for their chicken i didn't think anything of what i was eating. well i should have. i'm pretty sure i ingested quite a bit of uncooked chicken that night. what followed the next day i won't really go into, but you can imagine. funny thing is, i've never heard people tell of body aches from food poisoning. and also i've never actually felt my kidneys throb before. and i have to agree with jesse rex that since changing their name and moving to a new location the quality of beto's has changed, or dropped off the face of the planet. i have no other choice but to call beto's the only thing i can think of. rancherito's. a new, lesser version of beto's. sorry dudes. that burrito ended like a 7 year love affair. you can take your new name and shove it up your ass with that raw chicken i spewed. i don't know what i'm going to do. i still may have to get the breakfast burrito from time to time. there isn't much chance of raw chicken in that one. still. i need to warn brimstone howl because beto's, er, rancherito's is one of the main reasons they come to town. i guess i'll have to go to the hospital for late night snacks from now on. bummer.

shameless plug for a new blog

today as i was gnawing on my fingernails and chatting online with cassie s. i realized i need to make a music blog. so i did. thanks to blogger for making it easy for numbnuts like me to make as many blogs as possible:
http://compoundearwax.blogspot.com/

a few things have become apparent lately

1. i still really like hot dogs
2. a lot of people have me on their google readers*
3. ned needs a bath
4. morning star garden patties left in my freezer are handy when i'm poor.
5. i'm not afraid of charity. take me out to breakfast dinner or lunch.


*dear google reader fans, please like make me aware of who you are. i was mentioning to my buddy alicia today that if i thought i had more readers i'd probably be more faithful at posting. i know you are all pretty busy and don't really look at the blog per se, but click the link (http://h-is-for-hungry.blogspot.com/) and follow the blog so i can have a better idea of how many folks are actually reading.
thanks!

woops...

looks like i've forgotten about my blog again. sorry. i'm sure there;s things i've eaten that have blown me away recently, just can't remember what they are.
i do know that elsalvadorans's breakfast (served all day) kicks ass. huevos rancheros with beans, crema and plantains for like $5.50 is one of my fav breakfasts right now, tho i'm really too poor to eat out.
unless you decide you want to spend a meal with me and pay. which i doubt.

gorblivians reunion weekend in memphis and the road trip there and back

so as you may or may not know, i went to memphis last weekend. it was for the oblivians and gories reunion show at the hi-tone. i really dig both bands. both bands for me are good reference points as to where someone would look as a way to get into the garage rock revival of the late 80's-90's. not to mention they're both good resources for finding out about great garage punk from the '60's. since this was a trip to memphis it was also a trip to eat. sorry, but the two (rocknroll & food) are intrinsically intertwined. dunno why, just are. so, on this trip my good buddymarni went with. she's gonna sing for me, jesse and charleys new project : neighborhood zero. we set out kinda late on june 18th because i had some setbacks with cashflow. i decided since i was going to be bombarding my body with crap for 3 days i needed to eat kinda health on the way there. so at gas stations i only ate like bananas and granola bars etc. road food and truck stop food is a killer, and it makes eating good food a little less pleasureable. i think we hit a dairy queen or two (inbetween memphis and provo there are about 45 million dairy queens.) and some other unmemorable places. it took us about 26 hours of driving to get there. i love doing this trip. any way, we got in to memphis at about 8:30 pm on the 19th, shot the bull with my greandmother for a bit, rested up for a bit, then headed out. we were half trying to get in the show for friday night (we only had tix for sat) and kinda got tired of waiting around in the heat. oh, yeah,last weekend in memphis sucked. i don't remember ever being hotter in my life. and i heard a few folks say that exact phrase. sucked. so we decided to grab some food. we hit up the lamplighter. if you've been to memphis and haven't gotten a cheeseburger there, you're probably an idiot. or an asshole. i defy anyone to find a better burger made in a bar in the mid-south. alex's tavern on may be close. they're always perfect., i've never had a bad experience eating one of miss shirleys burgers. oh, and when you go, don't swear or she'll kick you out. for drinkers, they have pabst in a can, bottle, or pitcher. your pick. oh, and don't forget fries. her fries kick ass too. while we were there we ran into a few friends form the goner-board, dutch hercules, and useless eater. we chatted them up for a while and then we all went over to murphys to see some crappy hardcore bands play. i mentioned them in my previous post (you know, the inspiration for the logo). it was only fun because the bands blew so hard and there was a bunch of idiot skinhead/ sXe wannabe shovematching going on. after that we went on home and crashed. got some good sleep and decided to get out kinda early (read: noon thirty) and we headed over to bryants breakfast. i have to admit., i was kinda let down. everyone talks up bryants. it was good, don't get me wrong. very tasty food, but you know, i have a tough time finding breakfast thats better than pete's. this is saying alot for me. i will more often than not privelege a southern resturant over most of what i find in provo. pete's is the exception. so after we were done at petes we headed over to the goner record store to see what was doing there. i only spent about $100. i'm patting myself on the back for having more restraint than normal. got some good stuff, passed on some good stuff. marni grabbed a few records too. i dunno why it is lately (the past year), but i've mostly been buying 45s. i like them. while we were at goner, i ran into joe dixon, another goner board amigo and he was saying he and his friend elspeth were thinking about going to gus's or payne's. can't remember, but the mention of food didn't sit well after just having a bunch of greasy breakfast food, so we passed, but we did head over to murphys to check out the day show that was going on. get this: $10 to see twinkle van winkle, magic kids, lover, perfect fits, and the mighty cococoma. all the bands killed it. one of the more fun shows i've been to in a while. got to see a bunch of memphis folk and out of towners as well. and once again, it was hotter than hell. we found a coupla cool spots in the bar to hang out so it wasnt too bad. we hung out a little more with joe and elspeth, billisa, scott and gina, joe and heathurr, and more folks i cant remember now. afterwards marni and i made the trek out to my dad's BBQ resturant and picked up my mom along the way. it was good, marni got the brisket and i got some ribs. i can always count on a good meal there. the ribs were way good, fell right off the bone. and as usual, the brisket was perfect. oh,. i also had a salad. i figured i needed some vegetation in my body. afterwards we headed bck to my gradnams for a bit to "unload" and grab cameras and stuff for the big event. we showed up about 10 minutes before the gories went on. so cool to see them play. i'm with a lot of folks, reunion shows are kinda dumb, but theres always exceptions. they were pretty faithful to what i've heard were gories shows. and then the oblivians, of course, brought the house down. one of the most fun bands i've ever seen play. its all about fun for those guys and everyone should take note. its my main goal anytime i play a show. make it a party for everyone. if people are bored, we quit. if they're into it, we keep playing. after the show, we were allfeeling good and danced to the dj's and got all sweaty all over again. we met back up with joe and elspeth and decided to hit up the pancake shop for a late "snack". it usually the place i like to go after a show. me and joe got bacon chip pancakes and marni and elspeth watched us. none of us were tired so we decided to find somewhere else to go hangout. so we got jack stands to take us over to alex's tavern and we ended up staying there the rest of the night. haha, when we walked out the sun was up. such a good time. we said our goodbyes because joe and elspeth were headed back to chicago and me and marni went home and crashed. this was the 20th. fathers day. so somehow we ended up hanging out at my momshouse laterin the day waiting around for a few hours for my dad to get ready to eat. we went to this crazy buffet called grand pacific. i'm pretty sure its based on the same model as the "i"buffet in provo. (coconut shrimp). i ended up eating mostly sushi. nothing else really looked that good. we then went back to the folks place and hung out with the folks, my sis her husband and her kids. we decided to get in kinda early so we could get a good start on the trip back. after a pretty good night's sleep we got up around 6:30 and were out by 7:30. not too much to talk about except we stopped at the cadillac ranch in amarillo. we ate at this one dairy queen in texas. i promise this was th wierdest dairy queen on earth. the kid running the register was half crazy and talked to himself while he took the orders. he also probably hadn't washed his hair in a good week. kinda killed my appetite. and i found a good little diner in new mexico called the kiva cafe. really good breakfast food there. it in a little town called grants. theres clouds painted on the ceiling with wolves and owls and horses and snakes painted into the clouds. pretty hilarious. there wasn't anything really notable until we went to rays tavern in green river. they got pretty good cheeseburgers there. after that we were basically home. can't wait to go back to memphis in sept for goner-fest and have more time to eat a bunch more delicious food.

a logo?

so on the drive back from memphis (i promise i'll post something soon) i kinda thought up a little logo. its kinda like the old straight-edge thing, the big x with the first letter of the scene name inside the x. i got the idea after seeing this really bad band in memphis and one of the kids at the show was wearing some crappy straight-edge band shirt and on the back was a crossed monkey wrench and like a hammer or something. when i saw it, i thought to myself, woah, straight edgers are really starting to fix things. that absurd image (really, how many straight-edgers are really workers? like, worker workers? unionized pipefitters or framers or carpenters or plumbers or electricians or machinists or any other real unionized labor force. record store employees don't count) got stuck in my head and i was like, there is nothing more absurd than my blog. so i decided to exploit that old tried and true scene identifier. i feel honest about this because i work in the foodservice industry and i write a blog about eating. and just like any straight edge scene (or even productive hardcore scene) theres only about 15-20 people who are part of the h-is-for-hungry crew. in due time i'm going tmake some shirts. i'll probably make a stencil and spray paint them on white shirts, because lets be honest, they're cheap and you can see your food battle stains better. i may make some stickers to put up at the places i eat and talk about. the first one is definitely going up at pete's. the 2nd one is going up at nicolitalia. hope you like it.

a dude who can eat more and write better than any of you

the inhuman eating machine

pizza overload?

it didn't seem possible, but i think i overdid it yesterday. for lunch i made myself a pizza with alfredo, chicken, ham and broccoli, then later last night me and marni, jesse, charley jared, and marnis crazy ass friend went back up to nicolitalia and i got the same thing again. i also helped marni eat her cannoli. nick was experimenting with a new pizza, like a mandarin orange chicken sesame sauce pizza. he of course didn't listen to our protests that we were all pretty full so we got a free pizza that way, it was pretty tasty, but i wish i hadn't been so full. it probably would have tasted waay better. any way, i'm feeling 50 pounds heavier as a result of last night. i dunno if i want pizza again for a day or two.

i drink my smokes

i've posted this everywhere else, so i may as well post it here too. so last night after a full day of watching season two of lost i decided to go grab some food, i was hoping BK was still open so i could get a whopper but they weren't so i went through wendys drive through, after the manager was kinda short with me (i realize his job blows, but who's doesn't) taking the order i got my food, held my tongue and drove home. i ate my crispy chicken sandwich and my double stack and my baked potato no problem but my drink kinda tasted funny. i chalked it up to a bad mix, it happens, but it wasn't like there was too much syrup in the coke or not enough, just a strange flavor i couldn't put my tongue on. almost minty, yet bitter. so after a bit i decided to take the lid off and i see all kinds of little black bits on the ice and on the straw and was like wtf are these coffee grounds? nooly juliette and dave moore were standing around while i did this and they all looked in too and were just as skeezed out as i was. so i shook the cup around a little to get a better view of the bottom and to my genuine surprise (shock, disbelief etc) THERE WAS A FRIGGIN CIGARETTE BUTT IN THE BOTTOM OF MY CUP. sick sick sick. i don't smoke, never have, so i feel it was a natural response to feel sick. how does this slip by? i mean he manager took my order? aren't they the folks who get hired to check over shit like that? so i called the wendys and the mangaer answered and i told him what happened, and yelled a little. he said none of his workers smoke, and they may not, but whatever, what i want to know is how someone missed an entire butt?he said he was going to buy me lunch today. i don't really know if i want to go back. i wonder if i can get him to buy me lunch somewhere else.

wondering why its been so dead at nicolitalia

i don't get it. every one i talk to or run into has really good things to say about the pizza there. we just one an award for best in state. so i'm pretty sure it isn't the pizza. i wouldn't work there if it wasn't amazing pizza. so what is it? i know we aren't the best at advertising and promotion, but usually a place with food this good (elsewhere) can get by on reputation alone. i don't get it. it really bums me out to see this happen. nick is saying he may close down before the summer is out. i hope this doesn't happen, A) because i'll be out of a job, B) because utah valley will lose one of the best pizza joints around. with the exception of a place like pizzeria 712, all the other pizza joints are trash (IMO). go ahead and shout conflict of interest. doesn't bother me. i applied to get a job here because i love nick and i love his pizza. so, if anyone has any suggestions (we're pretty serious, no joking aorund) we'd love to know. nick doesn't want to go out of business. please read and repost wherever you can. one of the better businesses in utah valley could use the help.

coons on the wall

so, there's yet another little burger joint on center street in provo. this one is called stumpy burger. i guess these folks hail from missouri (southerwestern) and they are raccoon themed. like, coons everywhere. there's even a real dead coon on the wall. the staff all have a coon tail on the back of their aprons. pretty funny. me and dave went the other day and tried it out. pretty damn tasty. they have fresh strawberry pie, though they had run out by the time we got there. so, logically, we went back the next day. this time with charley, and we hapened to show up at the same time as dj kidd widd and katie G. we all basically got the same thing (quarter lb chbrgr), except dave, who got the fish sliders. the only two people who would regularly buy fish sandwiches are dave and jesse rex. i don't get it. anyway, everyone agreed stumpys was a pretty damn good little spot. they got these huge fresh cut fries that have the best potato flavor i've had in a while. i dig stumpys and give it four thumbs up.
also get their strawberry pie.

demae-space

i went today. i don't usually go there or any sushi place really, i usually like to go to osaka if i'm downtown to get sushi, but jared and jesse were already there so i walked over. i wasn't too hungry, so i got some philly rolls and some crispy rolls. i digg the crispy rolls the most. FRIED SUSHI. duh, its a no brainer. i may hafta go back for some more of those.

DON'T COOK CABBAGE OR IT'LL MAKE THE HOUSE STANK

or so says king louie.
i'm gonna do it soon.
also, me and nooly are trying to cook at home more. last week i made some turnip greens and white northern beans and cornbread. super delicious. i'm gonna keep making more stuff like this. only problem is i gotta find a good source for greens. i found some canned stuff that wasn't too bad, but i'd rather have fresh ones. also, i gotta find a good source for ham hocks.
come on out to joey's soul food kitchen.

fancy pants pizza

my and yet another new food buddy cari went up to slut lake the other day because we had the day off. she wanted to take me to this pizzeria called settebelo. i'm usually against fancy pants pizzeria places because i'm a giant fan of joe schmoe pizzerias and snotty people in nice clothes eating pizza is kind of a joke to me. however. this was really good pizza and i can completely appreciate the high end gourmand stuff. i got a pizza with prosciutto and kalmata olives and basil and a crushed tomato sauce. it didn't seem like the sauce was seasoned with anything more than a bit of salt, which may have come from the prosciutto, and the saltiness was balanced very well by the tang of the olives and the sweetness of the basil. they had a pretty tasty crust too. they use a wood fired oven there that i can also appreciate. surprisingly it wasn't too expensive, i was expecting to pay more than i did, but for what we ate it was more than reasonable. service was fine, nothing to complain or rave about. all the dudes working the oven seemed to be italians, which is a plus. i think its always a good idea to have the folks cooking be from the place where the food comes from, i.e., mexicans cooking indian food is always a bad idea. after we ate we had a bit of time to kill so we headed over to randys records for a sec, i met cari because she buys records too, so we spent about 45 mins in randys (and about 60 bux) and headed back to the brovo. was a pretty good outing.

sonic

the other night after dave's hippie show at the girl house, he and me and juliette went to sonic to grab some foodz. i ain't been to sonic in a while but we were all stoked on it so we rolled up to that sonic and got some eats. me and dave got the chicken toaster thing and juliette got some breakfast whatnots with no meat. dave decided to get an order of the cheese bites. and i decidded to partake of a few of them. goodness gracious. those little fried cheesy bits of heaven were delicious. i could eat probably a gallon and a half of those. without any kind of dipping sauce. they were that good. it isn't often a fast food joint can make a lil treat like that that tastes so good. i'm gonna go again soon and get some of my own.

why i sometimes like downtown provo a lot.

so last sunday i woke up around 11:00 or so and wanted to get out of the house. i couldn't decide if i wanted to eat, but i was getting stir crazy and needed to get out. i also wanted a little bit of a wake up. so i took a shower and wandered over to juice and java. on the way i saw big dane outside ABG's opening shop so i walked over to say hi, we chatted for a bit, dane's always good for a chat, and since i knew i wouldn't be at juice and java too long i offered to grab him a cup of coffee. when i got to juice and java there was a small group of folks outside and no one inside. i felt like reading and it was kinda breezy so i stayed inside. got me a lil cup and sat down to read an old slug mag. not my fav mag. they try to hard to be tough. after i finished off my cup, i grabbed anotherone for dane and walked back over to ABG's and dane was still hanging out in the shade. he thanked me for the coffee and we chatted a bit more. i decided i was hungry so i walked down to el salvadoran, which is always open sundays (i got my fingers crossed that pete will come through and start opening on sundays), to grab my usual 2 loroco pupusas and chicken tamale. when i walked in the door there were 2 customers. most of the crew were on break, but when i walked in, i got some big smiles, and a "hey amigo!". i had to chuckle. i don't know if they really were excited to see me or just bored with a slow day and excited to see anyone. either way, i got my food in record time and chatted withthe big guy who works there. the food was good as always and in the course of my meal a few more folks walked in and got about the same reception, but they weren't white folks. they were regular salvadorans. here's my point. that little diner is such a great model for how a marginal group can exist in a very entitlement oriented place like provo. i hesitate calling it a hub for salvadorans, but it does serve as a place for salvadorans to exist as salvadorans, on their terms, without any sort of pressure from outsiders to "be" salvadoran. since i'm always there, usually by myself, the staff recognize me and i get the kinds of hellos not usually reserved for white people. don't think i haven't noticed how they treat larger groups of white kids. and don't think i haven't noticed how larger groups of white kids treat them. the thing going on at the salvadoran is indicitave of the successes and the failures of downtown provo. when i can go in and (on a very tiny level) be seen by the staff as something other than a paying customer it opens an entirely new level for the possiblity of erasing some kind of boundary. those boundaries are the failures of downtown provo. and they are everywhere. simply taking interest in buying food isn't enough. the successes that happen downtown usually aren't based in economics, they are a result of people finding ways to disrupt and re-orient the things that are ideologically given. when i'm in the salvadoran on a sunday, i'm usually the only white guy, i'm the outsider, i'm marginal in that space. but not for long. people recognize people. when people recognize you they talk to you. when people talk, boundaries are blurred. when boundaries blur the world gets a tiny bit better for somebody. this may be getting more touchy feely for me, but i really love alot of the people i run into downtown. victor from rice king, usually has a wave and a hi, pete will usually stop and chat about business or the weather or whatever, dane will always stop and chat. there needs to be more of this thing going on. it bugs me how much of a huge disparity the city has created by trying to bring in big corporations downtown. those people don't communicate with the "locals". downtown doesn't need that. put that stuff somewhere else. it kills what little vibe downtown has. and you can put your money on provo choosing a big corporation over the little shops and diners that make provo charming. i'd bet my free speech provo would rather tear down all those buldings and put in a slew of chain resturants and shops. fuck that. its soulless. but its nearly inevitable with the way things have been going lately. and if/when it does happen, it will be the biggest failure of all. if anyone from provo city sees this, take note: someone is paying attention.

cheap ass pastries

so, i walked over to diegos tonight to hang out with marni and kamyrn and connie and some dudes they know and got some delicious carnitas tacos and one shredded beef taco. with a mexi-coke. duh. if they sell it, i buy it. so i chomped those tacos quickly and sat around til everyone left on their bikes, and i was still hungry and i had contemplated cooking up a frozen tombstone pizza with sausage and pepperoni, (i think i'm in love. tombstone is the king of shitty frozen pizza. totino's? suck it.) but i wasn't sure i could handle a whole frozen pizza after the tacos. as i was walking back to my house i passed the lazer assault and i saw that juanitas was still open. newlin had brought some of that stuff home before and it was good, but newlin has the ability to pick out the wierdest thing on the menu. i usually work the opposite way, i'll go for the standards and see how they stack up and if i trust those i'll take a chance on the not so popular stuff. well, i walked in and the cute little latina lady (maybe this was juanita? she can be my god-grandma) smiled at me and i wanted to buy everything. yes, ok? i'm a sucker for little old ladies. i don't really know the names of the pastries i got so i'll approximate what i got to what i know:
1 wierd pineapple sundae topping turnover
1 puffy air pastry with like a apple butter creamish filling (mostly air though, but still very tasty)
1 raspberry zinger cake roll without twinkie filling.

all three were good. and i got all three for under 2 bucks. and they were all pretty good sized pastries. thank you latino for not trying to rip everyone off during these times of woe and want. i really want to go back every day and buy something different. some of it looked really sketchy, though i recognized it because it was the shit newlin had brought home before but i still may buy it because of that little old lady.
the downside is that when i got home i realized my milk was past date. can't do it. even if its a day or so.
now i'm hungry again, and i think i'm gonna bust out one of those tombstones now.

zagat?

so someone posted a review for nicolitalia pizzeria on the zagat user site, and if enough people put user reviews up, zagat will send out an actual reviewer, so, if anyone likes nicolitalia to write a tiny review, go here:
http://www.zagat.com/Verticals/PropertyDetails.aspx?VID=8&R=100485970#reviews

Testing? Testing? Testing? Check? I wish the bus had complementary continental breakfasts.

why the deerhunter is better than any other bar on earth

first off, when broken spells and burnt reynolds play there, they let us do whatever the hell we want. which is pretty good. like last night was kind of a mess in terms of how shows are supposed to go, like our stuff kept coming unplugged. it was pretty funny, but it isn't too much fun when you're into a song and all the amps turn off. we thought like the owner would get bugged at us but he was laughing and had a blast with the other 8 people that were there. after burnt reynolds i had a chance to work some magic with duct tape and keep everything working. i found some zingers previous to the show at johnny's house and stole a box, for the express purpose of "sharing" them with the DH crowd. like most times the broken spells set devolved into me dropping my guitar and falling into the drums or the crowd, this time it was the drums. i don't know how many songs we screwed up, but it didn't matter, know why? because that shit doesn't matter. us having a good time with everyone, regardless of dropping things or stuff cutting out or screwing up songs completely, everybody was there to party, and we had a party. then, james, the owner, made us dinner. wtf? nobody has ever made our bands dinner for playing the show. he felt bad there wasn't a bigger crowd, but we didn't care, we had a good time. still it was great, he made spaghetti and garlic bread and some salads. such a cool vibe, we got a chance to BS about shows and stuff. was really a good night. i'm stoked about the folks that came out, and especially jared for helping us take gear since my van broke.

good BBQ in UT valley??

remember a few weeks back when i was talking about that BBQ place up in lindon? well, i've decided to finally write about it. its called the smoking apple.
first lets start by me outlining a few things that bother me about the BBQ i've found here so far:
1. we aren't in memphis.
2. no one knows how to make a rub or a wash
3. no one know that to make brisket correctly it needs to be cured (very quickly)
4. no one knows that chopped shoulder is much better than "pulled pork"
5. no one know that to make a shoulder right it needs a good bark (like a tree, not a dog)
6. no one has figured out ho to make a decent sauce. argue all you want, i won't listen.
smoke house BBQ blows. lons blows. wanna know why? because their sauce blows. and they don't offer their sandwiches with cole slaw. both places are making MIM style BBQ but neither are making the sauce correct. it tastes either like ketchup or sugar. lame.
its different at the smoking apple. they have close to what i would consider good sauce, and mind you, memphis style vinegar based sauce isn't my fav. i'm kind of more into the southern arkansas east texas molasses/vinegar combo. and these dudes are the closest so far. when we ate there the shoulder was chopped (even though they called it pulled) but was a little dry, but it didn't bother me so much because it had a good flavor, they apparently know what a rub is, and it had what looked to be about a 1/2 inch smoke ring on the inside of the bark, which means the introduced smoke about an hour after they started cooking. to make a shoulder look that way takes a lot of practice, and these guy know what they're doing. they've only been open now for about a month and a half, but just by looking at the presentation of the meat i can tell these guys have been smoking for a while, maybe even competitively. i didn't see or smell smoke when we first walked up but the smell was strong once we got inside it was present, this also leads me to believe these guy are using pellet cookers, which is a good move since pellets are cheap and, depending on the wood type, you get a very good smoke flavor with them. the pellets themselves are basically swept up wood shaings and compressed. best recycling ever.
so. go check out smoking apple. i'd reccomend going earlier in the evening to make sure you get a fresher cut. also get their fries. those are pretty good too.

i ate a 1/2 lb burger last night

and i shouldn't have. this new little diner opened on center street and i been dying to get down to it. me an bret finally went last night, or i guess yesterday evening. they close at seven, which blows. its called cape may grill. they got greasy burgers and cheesesteaks, i haven't really memprized the menu just yet, but those seem to bee the main atractions. i think i also saw a turkey melt and steak sandwich (which is totally different than a cheese steak). so, we ordered from a kid wearing a goofy hawaiian shirt that we were sure he didn't choose to wear. poor kid. oh well, i tipped him good. so yeah, this 1/2 lb burger was great. it had 2 slices of cheese a buncha bacon grilled mushroom and tomatoes letuce and onions, i opted out on the onions...and the fries, holy shit, were seasoned fries. that they make there (i think). the only problem i had with this burger (aside from being a dumbass and eating a 1/2 lb of beef) is the same problem i usually have with burgers around here. they cook the beef straight. no salt, no onion powder, no garlic, no pepper. i'm telling you, the first place that realizes its worth the extra few bucks a month to cover the price of onion powder will have the best burgers in the state. otherwise its one of the best burgers i've had in a while. its easily up there with petes and joe vera's. i've taken sammys out of the running because its a pretty bland burger. i don't know wht kind of cheese cape may uses, but its some kinda crazy american cheddar hybrid that was almost fake. i dig it. the bacon they used wasn't too thick and wasn't wimpy, wasn't over cooked. brets cheese steak was covered in what looked like cheesewiz, score for authenticity if so. it smelled really good and i wanted a bite but bret is a dick and doesn't share. i didn't even bother asking. another good thing abut cape may is they have breakfast all day. me and juliet went this morning and i grabbed a breakfast burrito, southwestern style. it was tasty. they used what seemed like pace picante as their heat source in the burrito. it also had hashbrowns in it which was good. it was cheesy and eggy and salsa-y. wasn't too bad. juliets breakfast looked good and i had a piece of her toast. i'm definitely going back. its pretty reasonably priced. its open later than pete's but not as late as betos or sammys. i talked to whoat seemed to be the owner this morning and he seemd keen on the idea of staying open later once business gets going. which is good because they're right next door to shitty limits and those drunks need a place to get a burger after drinking buckets of beer. i'm eventually going to try most of what they have on the menu but i need to space out my visits because i'm still suffering from the burger.
this place is right across from that crappy covey arts place on center street, and you can sit out on cape may's patio and make fun the shitty design while you eat one of the better burgers in provo.

burrito adventure kids

last night after nobunny destroyed the compound me and bryan and cassie and bill from rocknroll adventure kids went to betos and scored some tasty burritos. hit the spot. i puked in betos grass to make room for my burrito. too much sangria. anyway, last night was one of the best nights of my life because broken spells kicked ass johnny and bret and steve and bens new band kicked ass, rocknroll adventure kids warmed everyone up nicely and kicked ass and nobunny came down from heaven and blessed us with his love. and by love i mean he kicked ass. never before has the compound rocked so hard. hopefully we can keep up the pace. get ready.

i'll be your pastor

just kidding, you really don't want that, but, you should go to chungas and eat their al pastor. perfect mix of salty sweet and hot. like al pastor should be. they're on freedom blvd in brovo next to the 5 buck pizza where swagat used to be. i'm really glad swagat went out of business for two reasons.
1). they sucked at making indian food.
2). so chungas could open and make me the best al pastor i've had in a long itme.
i also got some fried bananas with sweetened condensed milk that is gonna put me in a coma here pretty soon.
newlin got something that resembled a torta but wasn't, but was really really tasty. i;'m gonna get one the next time i go in, which will be very soon.
also the folks working were nice beyond comparison. they need your business, so go give it to them. don't let another really good mom n pop place go under just because it isn't a chain.

the good thing about a sick day

you can usually con someone into bringing you soup. cassie brought me some chicken/carrot/pea/dumpling/celery coup. mighty tasty. i' gonna have another bowl soon. also i got the forbidden tigers lp and demons claws first lp in the mail. ripping into that right now.

my body and its strange ways

so i'm sleeping soundly and dreaming a nyquil induced bliss dream last ninght when all the sudden i look out of the window and i see a giant nuclear bomb drop and theres a huge explosion, and i think to myself, oh man, thats a really big bomb. so i try to go back to sleep, but then i see three more gigantic nuclear bombs dropping and i say to myself, hey, it might be a good idea for you to get out of bed and get the hell out of here. then i really wake up and wonder to myself why i was having dreams of a nuclear holocaust and i suddenly realize i'm about to piss all over myself.
point: i hate getting out of bed to go pee.
moral: don't force your body to scare the shit out of you with dreams of nyquil induced nuclear holocaust before you'll heed your body's natural functions. and don't drink so much water before bed.
and if there is ever a nuclear holocaust, don't take time to pack up your records. that was in my dreams too...

i don't know what it means to be hungry lately

i'm copying corrine when i say this. i've been eating so much food that my body hasn't been able to keep up. i need to take a break, but it seems i've always got somewhere to go and theres usually food and i can't resist eating. last night erin and bryan and me decided on the spur of the moment to go try that BBQ place that just opened in lindon. i'm not saying anything about it just yet because i'm gonna do a formal write up on it. after that i went to the DH and there was bowls of pretzels. couldn't not eat them. then of course, i had to have betos at 2 am. this morning i went with marnie on a little walk with ned and i got some gelato (roasted almond) and then i had a slice of pizza that dave left from little caesars. this has all been within less than 24 hours. the hell.

preventative maintenance

wanna avoid a hangover? eat a betos steak and potatoes and eggs breakfast burrito at 2:00 am.

pokizza

so last night, me, jut, johnny k, and sev had a poker nite with a $5 buy in. ton of fun. we got some pizzas from nicolitalia. i got tired after about 45 hands and went all in with a pair of 3's on texas hold 'em. totally lost my $5. i ended up staying up til about 2:30. i should be tired, but i'm not. wierd.

osaka nosucky

so me and grabs and cassie s went to osaka last night after watching inauguration of the pleasure dome and simon of the desert at beat nite, both films together kicked more ass than i've seen and thought about in a while. grabz and me debated the necessity of rhetoric and hated on lame ass "philosophers" we don't like. cassie shook her head at us most of the time. so, i got some sort of fried pork and curry dish that ruled. the curry warn't too hot and it had some sweetness in it. i totally dug it. their miso salad was tasty too. i kinda like that place because its dark and was mostly empty aside from two dudes who were wanking on all the pop culture/avant-garde words they knew. that was pretty annoying. all their dilemmas and questions were answered by benjamin years ago. why can't anyone read around here?

ho-made bread

c. made some bread yesterday and left a loaf in the van. i swiped it and made a sandwich at midnight. peppered turkey and corned beef and provolone with grey poupon. i polished it off with a few episodes of battlestar galactica. good midnight snack.

i changed the name of my band

we used to be called split reactions. now we're called The broken spells. i did this while eating some delicious tamales and pupusas from the salvadoran. we had some big lineup changes and are sounding a lil different lately. we thought it made sense. we'll put up some new songs soon.

the hot dog king is a queen

i'm sorry, i can't get behind that place anymore. like the food is ok but way overpriced and you gotta wait over 10 minutes for a damn hot dog. like i dig local businesses, but give me a break. i went tonight for brittni b's b-day party and it was cool to kick it with peeps i know. too bad that guy can't have better service. if the food was super good i wouldn't mind the wait or the price, but it isn't. sadly, ikea and 7-11 still get my hot-dog business.

village-in

kinda like a sit in, but at village inn. we held court last night after the burnt reynolds show at kilby. kind of a wierd show, burnt went on first, and i think our brand of dip-shit-core was confusing to all the xpunkHCpunkx that were there for the other bands. we did win a few heads tho, couple of folks took tapes and dropped them in the parking lot. so after the show we tried to find dee's, but google kept failing and we settled for villiage inn. someone spotted a new menu item called the chicken and biscuit. i had to try it. because it came with gravy. so we all got our food and when mine came i was sure how i was supposed to eat it. it was like 2 lil chicken sandwiches on biscuits and a bowl of gravy. do i dip the sandwiches in gravy? i mean i like the idea of gravy as a dipping sauce but it was wierd tasting, so i gave up and dumped the gravy on the biscuits. it was marginally better. i kept trying to drink enough water to keep up with how dry the chicken was too. the plastic carafe gave out after about 5 minutes so i started drinking other people's water. i don't think i've ever had chicken that dry. or biscuits that hard. and gravy that flavorless. jesse's french toast looked good though.

lasagna of the masters

had this last night. no idea if it exists outside of cassie. pretty friggin good lasagna. totally veggie too.

wendell berry

is doing a reading this thrusday in salt lake at the masonic temple. dude loves to talk about food. he's got a reception at ken sanders from like 5-6 as well. if you dig food and are in salt lake that night go check him out.

burger shots

so apparently the fine folks at burger king think we're all dummies. THE BURGER SHOTS ARE NOTHING NEW. when i was in 7th grade they were called burger buddies. you had to tear them apart so it was kinda like how cinnamon rolls were, you know, you pull them apart, or like jut's monkey bread, they're connected so you pull them apart. i haven't had the burger shots yet so i don't know if they are the same, but the old burger buddies you had to pull them apart. if they aren't in the pull apart style i guess its fine if they call is something else, but if you do have to pull them apart, then THEY NEED TO BE CALLED BURGER BUDDIES. please burger king, don't be stupid. because we, your loyal customers, are not.

i'm a proud glutton

though not an epicurian one. yesterday i think i had about 10 slices of pizza. six at erins house that abi made and then like 4 at home that dave made. well, dave didn't make them, the red baron made them. we ate the shit out of them though. abis pizza's were all homeade, crust etc. first one had pear and gorgonzola, muy tasty. had about 2 slices of that, the next had a bunch of like broccoli and onions and green peppers, the next has spinach and lil grape tomatoes and stuff and the last had atrichike haerts and peppers and onions and shrooms. come to think of it , i need to up the count. i probably ate 10 slices just at abis and annother 6 or 7 at home. so probably had 16-17 slices of pizza yesterday. this is good because its supposed to get cold and i need a better layer of blubber. after we ate pizza at erin and abi's we watched the oscars. there isn't much to talk about. fancy people trying to be funny. sadly enough jack black was the funniest person on the show last night. i know, right? he really isn't that funny! will smith made a joke about av nerds and then called benjamin button a garden gnome. wolverine and etta james really screwed up a musical number and the sound guy for the whole show should be fired. and the saddest part was for half the show we watched it in non HD and it ruled because all the women were curvy and had had nice nornal wide hips. i was so excited and started having some faith in hollywood. then someone remembered we could watch it in HD. lame, all the women went back to being bony and skinny. i'd rather have non HD curves.

pizza diet

kinda back on it. 3 times this week so far. no signs of slowing.

salmon wednesdays

so ryan cason gets this deal on salmon somewhere up in alpine. he brings it, i cook it, everyone eats it. the salmon club has begun. wednesday nights. if you wanna come bring some extra food. get in touch if you wanna know what to bring. i'm gonna try to change up the way i cook it every week. i think this coming wednesday its going to be indian. (dot not feather)

jambalaya

about 20 feet to my left is a pot of jambalaya of my own make. i haven't made it in a while. i think its about time. and i made it with shrimp this time, because, certain whiny people wouldn't eat shrimp when i used to make it. those people can kiss my ass now.

travelling chef

from time to time i turn my house into a makeshift venue. we host bands of all sorts from all different places. it gives me an excuse to have a band and it gives other local bands a place to play in an unpretentious forum. a few days ago some dudes from omaha nebraska rolled through town on their way to california. they're called the box elders. this is the second tme they've played at my house. they came back because apparently they had a good time. the night of the show we all went out for pizza at nicolitalia, which is always a treat for any band. nick loves travelling bands and hams it up a little more than usual. we got some pizza and wings and breadsticks and salad and pasta. everyone loves nicks. so we get back and everyone is happy and full and we get everything set up for the show. from start to finish the show was a blast. all good vibes and everyone had a party. and those who wanted to party harder did. and it ruled. after the show we had a low scale dance party and everyone hung out all night. the next day the dudes kicked it at the compund resting up from the show and long drive from NEB and gettng ready to head out to sacramento. i called them around 3:00 that next day to see if they had left, but to my surprise they'd decided to hang around one more night. it was cool with me so i was like, yo dudes, lets make dinner, and i started thinking of things i could make that the box elders would dig. so i got home and dave, the drummer/keyboardist was, like , hey , i'm making dinner for everyone. wordz. so we hit up many lands market and got fixins for pad thai. and the box elders got to talk to the crazy man who runs the place. i love that guy. he's so wierd. he was complaining about james taylor, wondering why he kept being a singer since he was so horrible. we then went to smiths to get the veggies etc we needed. after we got back dave goldberg got to work on some appetizers: spring rolls. delicious. everyone dug on them. even ned. then he went to work on the pad thai. my house hasn't smelled that good in a while. and it tasted just as good as it smelled. everyone got enough and we all set up to chill the rest of the night. the dudes left this morning and i can't wait to kick it with them again soon. best dudes ever.

taking back the kitchen

so i got this little roomate kid who is always making food. he doesn't know how to cook, always making like ramen and soup and stuff you only make when you can't figure out how to put a few things together in a pot or skillet and make it taste good with your favorite spices and seasonings. one of his favorite things to make is eggs. apparently no one has ever told him about what happens when a raw egg hits hot metal. to be able to eat most of the egg when its cooked requires some sort of lubricant, which he never found out about. so, we usually end up with about 5 or 6 skillets with a few eggs worth of crusty leftover egg. i don't know if he keeps cooking new eggs over the old eggs or what, but me and dave got tired of it. so, we cleaned the kitchen and washed dishes, in the past we didn't care, but after a while we kinda gave up because his dirty dishes were so overwhelming, but now we're taking the kitchen back with a vengeance. if he leaves dirty egg crust in any more skillets, hes sleeping with them. hopefully he'll get the message. for his sake. so as part of our reclamation project, i decided to start cooking again.
sunday i decided i wantd to break out the old crock pot and make apot roast, which i did. but as i was buying the stuff for the roast i realized my crock pot wasn't big enough so i upgraded. now i gots two crock pots. dual crocking. i found a pretty good marbly roast on sale and got some red potatoes because russets are flavorless and bland. i also threw in an onion and some carrots. i was gonna use celery too but smiths decided not to have any, so celery flakes were used instead. also included were some of my staples:
red wine vinegar, fresh garlic, granulated garlic, onion powder, bay leaves, greek seasoning, and rosemary in varying porportions.
it was super tasty. i ate it with dave and jesse and charley and bryan and jen and cath. fun time.
i decided i was on a roll and i that i needed to cook again, and for anyone who doesn't know, the only question i have about food is this:
DOES IT TASTE GOOD?
i could really care less where it came or who made it or what, none of that matters. if it doesn't taste good i don't wanna eat it.
so, my buddy ryan was telling me he had gotten a hold of some fresh salmon and wanted to cook it up, and we planned to meet on monday and cook that shit up. which we did. and guess what, it tasted good. marni came over too and ate some with us. on the salmon, i grilled it in my kick-ass cast iron skillett (which i had to re-season because some dumbass don't know how to use a cast iron skillett).
most people really like salmon with lemons, but guess what, lemons on salmon suck. i use lime. lime on salmon is good because it doesn't have the shitty lemon aftertaste and it still kills the fishy taste that seems to turn most people off to salmon. so i start by taking a fork to the salmon fillets (no steaks, the steaks usually got bones in 'em and i don't do fishbones) and poking a ton of holes in it then squeezing the lime in and rubbing the juice and pulp down into the meat fibers, then i seal it off with some olive oil (which blends pretty well with the lime juice). after that i hit it with my favorite spice blends, usually some basil and greek seasoning (its my seasonall) and black pepper garlic and onion powder. i pretty much use the same compliment on every thing i eat. but guess what? it all tastes good. so by this time my cast iron skillet was piping hot and it was oiled nicely and i put the salmon scale side down, get the nice salmon fat hot and let it hang out for a bit then flip it. after i flip it i get the butter i'm gonna put on it all melted. once i flip it, the seasonings are nice and crusted and then i brush butter over the top and let the butter hang out with the crustieez and the lime and olive oil. by this time the fillets is pretty much done. if you over cook salmon it gets mushy and no one likes a mushy salmon fillet. when you eat this salmon you can pull the fibers apart layer by layer and while the outside is grilled and buttery, the inside is steamed with lime. so tasty.
i even tried some of the scale. it was pretty good too.
so later on monday night i was getting hungry again, and dave was around, so we decided to hit up smiths and find some snacks. we decided that for our late night snack we needed some bacon cheeseburgers. so we got some black angus patties and some pepper bacon, cheddar and a tomato and i bought some sweet bread and butter pickles. dave thinks he knows whats up, but he don't like sweet bread and butter pickles. sucker. so we busted the cast iron skillet back out and whipped them cheeseburgers up. talk about a winner. hit the damn spot y'all.
i guess what i'm trying to say is that i'm gonna be cooking all the time and if you suckers want some of it get your ass to my house and eat up.

dear burger king

tonight i had to stop by and say hi, and i'm glad i did because i love you. alotta folks call you murder king. well, if murder is what it takes to keep the flames broiling, then murder away. you slay my taste buds every time. one thing though, on my double whopper with cheese/no onions, the lettuce javier used tonight tasted like shit. please wash it better.
all my love,
joey

hmm

i haven't posted in a while, because i haven't been eating any food thats been too exciting because i was sick. like, here and there i had things that were ok, but nothing i'd care to write about. hopefully in the coming days i'll be back to my normal eating habits. i'm still kinda off. i will be back on soon.

gandolfos is on a slippery slope

the one downtown in the basement, i mean. i got a meatball sub and the last few bites are looking up at me sadly because they know i'm not gonna eat them. lame. when did gandolfos start sucking? i swear i was there about a month ago and everything was fine. maybe its just that i shouldn't get the meatball sub any longer. dave got the bridgehampton and he said his wasn' that good either. maybe it was the kids working that just can't make sandwiches. i dunno. i'm kinda bummed and i don't want to go there for a while.

for what its worth

i haven't followed the israel/ palestine thing very closely, but, i agree with old man jut: if jesus were to come back today he'd probably save the palestinians. and they'd all sit down and have a pork chop together.

the seemingly eternal fight

i feel like i'm losing the battle to this cold. after a few advil cold/sinus pills i feel a little better, but my throat still feels dry and i know in a few hours my face is gonna feel all puffy. i imagine myself with enlarged nostrils and bloated cheeks (not unlike a butt) and i can't breathe right. i decided a soupish liquidy diet is probably best for me right now. so all i've been eating the past coupla days, well i guess lunch yesterday doesn't count, but after lunch yesterday all i've been eating is ramen and soup and drinking naked juice and lots of water. ok i lied. i had some more of daves crumb top coffee cake and a glass of milk. i can't resist it. when i get better i'm probably going to subsist on crumb top coffee cake. i don't know why i love it so much, but i do. basically anything crumb top i love. i had some "homestyle" chicken noodle soup for lunch today. i don't know whose home this was developed in but the developer sucks. and the soup sucked. way too salty. and not enough chucken and noodles and vegetables. i decided the soups at school are hit and miss, some days they're amazing and its all i wanna eat, then days like today i want to dump it out all over the floor and piss in the pot i just emptied. please can we find a happy medium? i doubt the health department wants UVU to serve my urine in place of soup. i mean my urine is fine and since i've been drinking so much water and juice its basically water. we could call it hot sausage water.

the best ways to avoid getting a cold

1st, don't let your sick room mate snag a bite of your pizza and leave his infested mouth juice on your slice.
2nd, hole up in a warm room.
3rd, fuck winter.
i'm not sure how me consummating my hate of winter with an act of love is going to do anything, but i'll try if i have to.
today i tried a few things that i hope will alleviate this lame cold i got.
1st, i sucked on a cepacol on the bus on the way to school
2nd, i spit the cepacol out as soon as i was at school because it tasted like shit.
3rd, ate a hearty meal of meatloaf, veg-all and mashed potatoes, washed down with a naked juice intended for well being.
4th, snagged a few ibuprofen and alleve from errin.
5th, drank a latte with vanilla with meg at the museum
6th, had half a steak pizziola and some hot wings from nicolitalia.
7th, stole one of daves airborne tablets.
in a while, after some of this pizza digests, i/m gonna take a few night time cold gelcaps.
if i wake up tomorrow still feeling like crap i'm gonna cry.

CONGRESSMAN CHAFFETZ, what the fuck?!

as i was walking through the doors to brets house i could hear the colbert report from hiro's laptop. there was a clips playing from the show with our "tolerantly challenged" congressman chaffetz. guess what, i'm not a fan of concentration camps. and guess what, neither are any marginal group. guess what else? nazi's did this. and guess what else? its ethically and morally wrong, even to suggest such an ignoble thing. to suggest its good policy to round up humans as if some arbitrary boundary between races and borders actually exists is to buy your own rose smelling shit. i have no idea what i'm saying because i'm so pissed. i'm constantly appalled by the intolerant attitudes people have in this state towards the ethnically marginal. especially this state. most of the ancestors of the people here were hounded all over the country for years until they decided to move to the desert so no one could chase them. what a bunch of hypocritical clods. not to mention the fact thatmost of the poeple here believe we're all children of god, and we need to love each other, but seemingly its conditioned upon everyone cordoning off their own little section and keeping everyon else who doesn't look the same out. i realize this is very sophmoric and a little juvenalian but i'm more concerned with making a lot of noise with the hopes someone will get annoyed and tell me to shut up. i keep thinking somone around here willbe ignorant enough to prove my point. i mean, lets be honest. i went on an LDS mission to Utah and when people found out i was from the south invariably the topic of racism would come up and everyone assured me they weren't racist. fat lie that is. i've met some of the most blatantly racist people i've ever met here. sorry, a few bigots ruin it for everyone. i can't trust Utahns to not eventually come out as racists. this whole immigration issue is bullshit to begin with. the rhetoric about jobs and the economy and how undocumented workers are making these huge impacts on the economy here negatively is another pile. THE ECONOMY HERE IS BASED ON UNDOCUMENTED LABOR. if the latinos left do you really think the kids here and the other unskilled laborers (and there are tons, i've had to work with a few of them. no skills at all) would be able to pick up the slack? hell no. i've never encountered a more inept workforce. the latino community is THE vital force in the economic base in utah. i'm sure its the same in most other western states. and what have we decided to do? a fucking witch hunt! then we put them in concentration camps. word to the wise: if you're brown, leave town. i doubt the fine congressman and his deputies can discern the difference between a salvadoran, guatemalan, peruvian, brazillian, columbian, andean, mexican, venezuelan or any other central or South american. and i'm willing to bet even if you have a visa or a work permit theres gonna be alot of revocation and hold-ups if this bullshit actually happens.
these were my thoughts as i was leaving brets house. i grabbed a handful of cashews on my way out.

cold.

i don't have one, but the outside does. i've been making hot chocolate alot the past day or two and i've found i like it more if i swipe some of daves creme de menthe and put a few drops. never thought i'd be a monty hot chocolate guy. its also cinnamon flavored hot chocolate. i had some peanut butter flavored hot chocolate not too long ago and it was killer.

the international and a BLT

so i've been bugging nick for months to make a BLT pizza but nick never has time for my zany ideas. yesterday i took the law into my ownhands and tried it out for myself. the dilemma i was facing was how the hell do you cook lettuce on a pizza without it gettin all nasty. well folks, i think spinach is an excellent substitute for lettuce. and instead of mayo, i used nicks house dressing. and instead of a pizza i made a calzone. so:
8" dough
3 ounces of mozzarella
handful of bacon
tomatoes
2 ounces of nicolitalia house dressing
hand full of spinach
nicks spice blend and some parmesean cheese

i folded it and threw it in the oven.
best calzone i've had in a while.
the bacon and the dressing mix well and the spinach and tomatoes are good together.
it couldn't fail. nick wouldn't try it because the dressing has mayo and he woun't touch mayo.
if he ever puts it on the menu, you can thank me.
now, secondly, i went to the international buffet with a whole bunch of folks last night; erin flynn, kiren, jesus, bret, phil, greg, abby, brooklyn and some girl named stouf. you walk in that place and it kinda smells wierd, don't let the smell fool you cuz the foods is really good. mostly asian, ther were some other "international" delights such as pizza and cheesy broccoli. the biggest surprise was the coconut shrimp. actually its a toss up between that and the steamed dumplings. i'm definitely going again because i hear the choices change all the time. and they have a $6.99 lunch buffet. lets just say i'll be frequenting the international buffet. come say hello from time to time.

starting the new year off right

so last night burnt reynolds and his hot bones played a show in salt lake. in the days previous to the show i've eaten:
indian food
salad
gumbo
chocolate covered strawberries
alot of pizza
more pizza
and right before the show we all went to este pizza in salt lake, the new version, and dave benson and i shared a vegan meatball pizza, and everyone else got alot of other stuff. i was quite impressed with este's abilities in veganizing one of my favorite foods. after abot 4 slices, ie my half, i got taken by the dump spirit and unleashed a furious demon upon the world. the demon kept haunting me the rest of the night. i'm not sure exactly what created this demon, it could have been anything in the list above. it didn't help that the basement we played in smelled like stale puke, or that there were tons of fake hippies everywhere. it did help, however, that there was a ginat hole in the floor of the basement where we played.
lets think about this:

new years eve+stoned/drunk hippies+rock and roll+big hole in the middle of the floor= party for the sober kids.

i'm pretty sure theres a few peeps out there waking up this morning wondering how the hell their shins and knees got all bruised up.
it didn't help that the last band, the furs, had a fog machine. actually, it helped me laugh a lot.
happy new year to all those folks with bruised shins and knees.