Eat at Joe's!

Resurrecting both my blog & Twitter account for the holidays always, hopefully.  Feedback appreciated if you have the time?  Thankye, & have a *good* Xmas & holiday season.  Luv, Joe. :)

Resurrecting both my blog & Twitter account for the holidays always, hopefully.  Feedback appreciated if you have the time?  Thankye, & have a *good* Xmas & holiday season.  Luv, Joe. :)

Ugh II, maybe

Gods, this thing is ugly after I went to the free version of Typepad.  Oh well.  I asked for it, I guess.

New World Man

I seem to have recovered most everything of interest.  Good.  :)  👍 🤘

Ten Years

Kinda hard to believe:

First post, ten years ago

Lost And Found

Long-time readers of this blog will remember when I occasionally used to post a comic or three, often from Chris Onstad's Achewood.  Chris's output has fallen off, unfortunately, but I still check by occasionally to see what's going on.  Still no Achewood, but further searching revealed a couple things:  Chris and his wife have apparently split up, which is enough to screw up anyone's creative juices.  But Chris's have oozed out in another direction, as he's now the resident food critic for the Portland Mercury.  This is good: those of you who keep up with the guy know of his increasing interest in food, and of course understand that he writes well and is funny.  This all collides pleasingly in his reviews.  Even though I'm probably not going to be going to Portland any time soon, I still enjoy the reviews, and see the humor and agile mind behind the words.  Thanks, Chris.  Good to hear from you.  :)

De-Polled

Vizu has decided to stop offering its free web-based polls.  So everything under the link for polls, as well as the polls themselves, is no more.  

If anyone has a suggestion on a similar service I could start using as a replacement, I'd appreciate hearing it.  

It's Magic

Click on the image to see the comic at a reasonable size.

At Least There's Not Much Cholesterol

Blacked Out

I'll be blacked out tomorrow. 

My Next Big Career Change Angle

CNN: "Blog your way to a better career"

Wow, this is how to get out of ditch-digging?  I guess I better start blogging more. ;) But n. b. : "Trying to earn money from your blog is a lost cause."

Durham Historic Restaurant Hunt

Gary Kueber at Endangered Durham is going to be doing a sort of treasure hunt of historic restaurants.  He'll be posting clues on his Facebook and Twitter sites, as well as on the ED post above.  I won't be able to attend the dénouement/tour due to prior ditch digging commitments, but I think I'd really enjoy it.  Gary is also giving away small prizes as part of the treasure hunt.  

By the way, this activity is in part to publicize Open Durham, Gary's new project to re-work ED while adding a bunch of neat stuff.  

Looks cool.  Y'all have fun.  

More Crazy Food

For your viewing pleasure: an assortment of science-themed cookies.  

To Boldly Go Where No, Er, Cold Cuts Have Gone Before

Behold: Starship Meaterprise.

State of The Blog, Or De-Kvetching — An Addendum

Despite my occasional flatulent complaint, I still enjoy writing this damn thing.  I hope you, my Gentle Readers, still enjoy reading it on occasion.  As always, thank you for your support.  This is not intended to be a diary; occasionally it may turn into one, but after almost seven years and around 741 posts, it's the ones like these that keep me going.  Again, thanks for your readership.  Enjoy your holiday season, and cook a little if you can.  It's good for you.  :)

Twitter! I Hardly....

So Typepad allows a automatic Tweet when I post here.  I'm doing it semi-automatically; Tweeting posts that seem substantial (like the previous corn post), but not for, say, the typical one-liner or repost of an article found elsewhere.  I don't want to drown my few followers in Tweets, but I would like to point out the substantial stuff.  Any opinions, O Gentle Readers?  (I'll Tweet this post too.)

Wow.

Cook’s Source: When The Source is Plagiarized, The Source Should Feel Grateful - and Guilty

I believe "asshattery" is exactly the right word there. 

Edit: The source of the complaint.

Dinner? WTF

Via T.Rev: WTF Should I Make For Dinner. 

The site is so stark that it took me a few minutes to realize it gave one different choices upon reloading pages. 

"Slow roasted ribs. From Children"

Via my friend st_rev:

Please do click through for the full-size version.  And read every delightful menu item and description.

From Elsewhere In The Blogosphere...

• from Bull City Rising: "Shaw, Eno team to take reins at Piedmont"

I can't say I'm horribly surprised at this.  The core of people who initially started Piedmont four years ago (Really?  Has it been that long?) has gradually diminished, some of which had nothing to do with any failure of the restaurant itself.  Meanwhile, Eno Restaurant has been hanging fire for a long time.  I hope that Andy Magowan and Drew Brown can now pursue some new ventures with renewed relish; I also hope the Eno Restaurant people can now get something going again.  I wish everyone the best of luck.  Andy, Drew -- please let us know what you're up to.

• from Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity: "Farewell Taverna Nikos"

I'm not horribly surprised here either, but for different reasons.  I gave up going to Taverna Nikos a long time ago, and decided to hold my tongue on a review that would have used words one doesn't like to see associated with food.  I know they still did some things well, and I should have tried them again after they were closed for several months a little while back.  But it really seemed to me that the restaurant had no soul anymore, only the ghosts of departed chefs and owners.  I felt that, with respect to the food, menu, and kitchen, no one really cared anymore.  So I hope that any reborn restaurant will again have the pleasant food and atmosphere that Taverna Nikos used to have.  And again, good luck to everyone.

Chris Onstad Fries Testicles

The Portland Mercury was kind enough to report on author Chris Onstad's cooking experiments with yak and buffalo testicles: "Testicle... It's What's for Dinner."  

Aficionados of mountain oysters and the like might enjoy reading Offal Good, which I have listed in the sidebar.  

Guns, Grub, & Guzzling

I'm really not sure what to say about this Easter meal:  

"My First Dinner Pic" at AR15.com, "Home of The Black Rifle"

but I would certainly scarf it, and feel relatively safe while doing so.  :)

"International vegetarianism is spreading!"

A short, um, film for your amusement:

[~60 sec., opens in new window — Thanks, Michael!]

Finally, Someone Else Who Writes "&c."

It's amazing the things that will slip past you for years:  

Piedmont Review of Food in Carrboro, N. C.

I've added them to the "Occasionally Food, Occasionally Local" list in the sidebar.  Bon appétit.

Dooky Chase

There's a nice story this morning in Michael Bauer's Between Meals about a restaurant in New Orleans called "Dooky Chase."  Its proprietress, Leah Chase, is 86; she's still rebuilding her restaurant after Katrina, and has a wing named after her at New Orleans's Southern Food and Beverage Museum.  She wants another 10 years to build her restaurant back up so she can pass it on to her grandchildren.  Go Ms. Chase, go.  :)

Sometimes I Can't Help Myself

As part of our continuing recent campaign to bring you a minimum of real posts:

see more Epic Fails

"Truth" In "Advertising"

Since I understand I've hooked some of you on Achewood, I thought I'd drag in another web.comic:

[If you need further assistance: xkcd and Achewood articles at Wikipedia.]

toiletry

....

---

... spilled milkshake in back alley.  tire tread on strawberry ice cream.  this In-N-Out Burger is afraid of me.  i know its secret menu.

---

need non-food item.  think "supermarket."  wait several days.

get in crappy, nondescript car, choose supermarket.  drive 2+ miles, passing at least 2 closer groceries.  park outside non-grocery.  walk through non-grocery, seeing about 5 examples of item, plus number of foodstuffs.  resist all.  leave non-grocery.  

enter supermarket.  walk through, resisting items not of reason for trip.  locate area for items.  choose cheapest per-unit price for item meeting criteria: 1 2-pack for $2.  walk through more of supermarket.  resist.  resist cheap beer.  go to register.  present item.

"$3.98"

"Um, the tag says $2."  present discount card.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter."

"Take it off, please?" and let next customer check out.  return to shelf.  inspect item, shelf, and price tag.  correct tag definitely says $2.  date on tag says July something.  inspect other sale tags.  some say as early as May.  realize reason for date is not clear.  go to customer service.  "Hi, this item rings up for too much."

"Yeah, it says $3.72."  Register repeats $3.72.

"Do you want to see the shelf tag?"

"Yeah."  walk to shelf tag.

"See? $2."

return to customer service.  item is marked down.  

"$2.37"

no offer of free or discounted item.  "Uh, that's not right either."

"I'm sorry."  additional markdown subtracted.  "$2.18." aside to other customer service person:  "Can you go over to [area of store]?  A bunch are wrong."

give up on remaining money due; pay $2.20.  get 2¢ change.  wonder why didn't drive 6 miles down highway to über-evil not-necessarily-food Ninja-death-chain of death.  or why didn't go in back yard and make substitute item from handy tree.

[thank End :( Happy for use of quotation.]

I Always Wondered What "Regional Cuisine" Meant

Artwork: "Number of Residents per Waffle House" by Cat and Girl.  Edward Tufte, eat your heart out.  ;)

Edit for my Canadian friends: Not as neat as being by population, but this map let me know we had Tim Hortons in the US.  

It's Squirrely Bacon!

Because I'm trying to be hip:

Bacon and squirrels!  How hip is that!  :)

Edit: Squirrelizer.  Bacon.