many vaguely dirty words...and where's the vineyard?

el chapala

there's a mexican place in asheville where the waiters are fast & friendly and call you 'amigos.'

it's hidden behind a steinmart and there are no signs to find it.

the food is what you would expect. the tacos a la parilla are an amazing deal for $2 you get 2 white corn tortillas and meat and a big bowl of fresh pico de gallo.

the best part is they really know how to "celabrate." with 34 oz dos equis mugs and a half a bottle of wine in each goblet.

viva!

nicest beach i've ever seen

i was back in the so-called redneck riviera this week.

i was there last year exactly when the deepwater oil spill started. there were no visible effects whatsoever.

in fact, i said it's the most beautiful beach i've ever been to. i've been to many beaches in

rhode island
long island
palm beach
puerto rico
outer banks
wrighstville
down to
kiawah
key west
los cabos
sea island
nice
marbella
kaikura
bondi
ventura
san diego
santa barbara
santa cruz
kauai
cadaqués

and the powder sugar sand and clear coke bottle glass green water and uncrowdedness of the beach at watersound on the gulf of mexico in the florida panhandle makes it my favorite.

we caught some relatively big fish variously referred to as whiting and ladyfish. saw a shark and some rays. dolphins playing because all dolphins do is play. somebody saw a killer whale but he was only 4 so...

it's a fantastic place to have a fantastic vacation.

i flew back to asheville direct on vision airlines. my ticket cost $59, but if you book early enough fares are $39 one way. the plane had relatively big leather seats, and two rows of three. it left on time and they gave us big bags of pretzels. full size bags like at supermarket cash registers. i was impressed and would fly with them again in a second.

crazy people lined up down the block for pieces of fried dough at cafe du monde

cafe du monde.

i mean really! they're little donuts! all hours of the day there was a block-long line.
we went at midnight and walked right up.

new orleans

we left the house at 230AM thursday night (or friday morning depending how you count), drove an hour and a half to the greenville, SC amtrak station, and at 5AM boarded the crescent bound for new orleans. i woke up 4 hours later pulling out of the atlanta station.

we had a roomette which was nice because you can lower the seats and put on a bedroll they provide and completely lie down, also can close the door and curtain. there's a toilet in there, which is too close for comfort for me.

in the dining car they sat you with strangers if you didn't have a party of 4. they ran out of things like nobody's business. the service took forever. the coffee was piping hot. the salad had dark green lettuce not just iceberg. the meals were extremely overpriced, but free for those who were traveling in the roomettes.

the train slowed way down through tuscaloosa alabama. there were neighborhoods completely leveled by the tornadoes 2 days before. so many snapped trees and then 100 year old trees on their sides - their red roots unnaturally perpendicular. factories a heap of twisted steel and cinder blocks. people in neon yellow shirts handing out water. old men in their backyards surrounded by shredded belongings watching the train go by. (slide show of the destruction)

there is no open container law in new orleans and no last call. (or seemingly). there's a casino. where you can't take pictures of the blackjack table. you can take bloody marys and walk down by the mississippi river while an old lady plays the pipes on top of the natchez paddle boat, it's so windy the pipe steam cloud is blowing right back in her face.

tipitinas uptown is a legendary venue and i loved seeing two of my alltime favorite bands share the stage there and also some old friends on the dancefloor. the show was supposed to start at 1, but instead doors opened at 2 and it was sunrise when we stumbled out. my time's coming but it's not tonight.

the food at the fairgrounds of jazz fest is worth the price of admission alone. ingested included: giant strawberry lemonade with chunks of real strawberries, chicken fricassee, fried plantains, and 'jama jama' (spinach) from the african food court. to die for. a bowl of shrimp and grits. perfection.

old timers playing the blues and some mardi gras indians. sunday morning. can you beat it? no.

as a last hurrah, later that night mr. b's had the best dining experience of my life. perfect service and timing and not too stuffy and awesome AWESOME food.

the floor of the blue nile has the arabic patterned tile. waiting for the show to start a man asked us "did they find his body?" which is how i found out they killed bin laden. the hippie next to me said super sarcastic "a trillion in war debt and how many thousands killed? mission accomplished! yay america! are the troops on their way home?" i tend to agree. watching teenagers rejoice in front of the white house on tv later i didn't feel like celebrating and i didn't feel any safer.

the train left new orleans at 7am. we got to the station in a cab whose driver had lived in the city for 4 days and had to plug the train station into the gps. he moved to new orleans from charlotte where his wife and kids still live because he couldn't find work in charlotte.

we got back to greenville at 1130 monday night, back home at 1. we got mooned in mississippi.

wait your turno

i love this time of year!

it's warm. and green. and gold. and growing.

we are taking a train from south carolina to louisiana for jazzfest this weekend.

ALO and Tea Leaf Green are playing a show at Tipitina's that starts at 1AM on my birthday.

i can barely wait my turno!

satchel paige's incredible business card

saw an episode of 'auction kings' last night with one of satchel paige's old business cards. he printed this on the back:

1. Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
2. If you stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain't restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.

i googled it & found he called this "How to Keep Young."
pretty fucking badass!

eat the puppy

i would eat that dog's head in one bite.

WTF ingles?

amazing pizza invention

 

1 metal rod, bent in 6 places. so simple, so MINDBLOWING.

reminds me of these bauhaus chairs

skewering shrimp pierre

these shrimp are HUGE. they're under 8's which means there are 8 or fewer per pound. they are like mini lobster tails.

they were marinated over night in the simple and delicious shrimp pierre recipe.

recipe here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skippyhaha/4655632269/

OM NOM NOM

1 yummy inedible sample

i order more nuts than i care to admit from nutsonline.com

their peanuts are cheap & shipping isn't too much when you buy a bunch of them

they usually send a little sample of something extra which i usually appreciate. chocolate covered sunflower seeds, goji berries, walnuts...something like that.

yesterday this was the "1 Yummy Sample" in the box. look at the list - i don't think there is one edible ingredient. they look like gummy cough drops.

mochi rice cakes? not fit for human consumption. if i were in the movie 9 to 5, i would give these to my boss to poison him to death.

burned eats

speaking of alton brown...his suggestion to grill chicken thighs on high heat to sear them and then move them to low heat might need a little tweaking

nacho and eli like them this way though.

alton brown ginger ale carrots

alton brown is awesome. he is as passionate as a person can get without being thrown in a straight jacket. it's clear he loves teaching and loves food and is enthusiastic about his work. it's inspiring to watch.

this recipe is easy* and DELICIOUS. i could eat these carrots all day.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/glazed-carrots-recipe/index.html

*disclaimer: i say the recipe is easy, but i've never made them. it seemed easy for kevin to make them. i did help by peeling the carrots.

holiday advice from charles-pierre baudelaire

Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
Get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock,
ask everything that flees,
everything that groans
or rolls
or sings,
everything that speaks,
ask what time it is;
and the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock
will answer you:
"Time to get drunk!
Don't be martyred slaves of Time,
Get drunk!
Stay drunk!
On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"

-Charles-Pierre Baudelaire

wine country

it's noon on a saturday.

you're in an SUV limo with 15 people you just met, going from winery to winery in temecula, california.

you start making out with one of the people in the back seat.

this is the reaction.

skedaddling

highlights of the past week include:

- tea and crumpets (okay coffee and chocolate) with friends and their chubby babies

- a chubby 1 year old who slaps his legs instead of clapping

- a chubby 1 year old who tumbled gracefully head first into a diaper pail and didn't even cry

- corn pudding and collared greens from 12 bones

- for 4 meals in a row

- behind the scenes after hours tour of a fantastic brewery in the woods with fun friends old and new

- lap sitting in the back of a cab down the interstate

- finding a stray lace thong at our house after a party, for the second party in a row

- finger painting a mannequin flesh color

- sub-zero wind chills forcing me to stay inside

- for 4 days in a row

million dollar soup bowl idea

i would love to have soup bowls with spouts. then i could drink the soup dregs straight out of the bowl without spilling on myself or needing a bib.

you are free to take this idea and run, just please send me one.

eating while driving

Faster Food, originally uploaded by FaceMePLS.

i started a group on flickr called "Eating while Driving" and there are 25 pictures added already from people all over the globe.

click to see: Eating while Driving

apple cider vinegar

i think apple cider vinegar is a miracle elixir.

i had a sore throat swollen gland the size of a golf ball and achy feeling starting wednesday night. i drank apple cider vinegar yesterday and today my throat is 95% perfect.

1-2 Tablespoons raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar
squeeze of honey
cup of hot water
mix and drink 2-4 times a day

as soon as i start to feel even the slightest twinge of getting sick i do this.

eat as much garlic (raw) as i can, along with local raw honey, ginger, and lemons. all day long i drink combinations of these 4 things mixed with hot water.

yesterday i got chicken noodle soup and added a few cloves of chopped raw garlic.

i squeeze lemon on everything.

i dip a q-tip in rubbing alcohol and clean my ears.

i haven't had a full blown cold or flu in 3 years. knock on wood. i get the swollen glands and kill the bugs with apple cider vinegar, and feel better in a day.

acv will also remove a wart. dip a q-tip in acv, cut off the end of the qtip and put it on the wart and cover it with a bandaid. air it out when you sleep, replace with a new acv qtip tip in the morning. within 3 days the wart will turn black. within a week it will fall off like a scab. poof! gone!

here comes nacho cottontail

went down to tallahassee florida for a wonderful thanksgiving this weekend. it was 60-80 degrees and sunny 90% of the time. glorious!

we went to the florida-florida state football game saturday afternoon. we bought tickets outside from a referee (he was in his uniform) who said they were on the 50 yard line, but they were really on the goal line. the pregame was amazing. pomp and pageantry. chief osceola- a fake seminole on a palomino with a flaming spear.

people were serious about the tailgating. the only jacket i had with me happened to be gator blue and i got some unwanted attention from that. friendly drunken gator fans tried to get me to cheer with them but i didn't know the words. but now i do.

IT'S GREAT

TO BE

A FLORIDA GATOR!

it was cold in the shade and we left during the first quarter.

we ate at shell oyster bar downtown tallahassee.

best raw oysters i've had maybe ever. they were so cold and salty and fresh. there are no windows in the restaurant but it's AWESOME. my dad would love it.

nacho and eli were pretty good. nacho was scared of the two year old. she is very sweet and did nothing to antagonize him - he's never been around toddlers and didn't know what to do. so he jumped in place and barked. bad dog. eli pushed himself too hard chasing tennis balls and hurt his leg which had him hobbling badly one night, but it miraculously healed by the next morning. he's taking it easy.  they spent time with rosie, the black lab who would have been a great bitch for holden. this picture captures their personalities pretty well.

good times!

i hope everybody had warm safe bountiful weekends.