Food

Worst BBQ Ever

We went geocaching today in Crawfordville, GA and A.H. Stephens State Park. We took along a coworker and because the Miata does not seat 3 comfortably we took her car. Crawfordville is where Hollywood comes calling when it needs to film in a quintessential small southern town. There have been about a dozen films that have used this town as a bit player in them and there are 8 caches here with names that are the titles of those movies. We looked for 4 and found 2. The two we missed I don’t count as DNFs because they were in locations that made us very nervous searching which was only heightened by the fact that we were driving a car with New Jersey plates. There were 6 caches in the state park that you can get to by land and we found 5 of them.

Probably the most recognizable movie that was filmed in town was “Sweet Home Alabama” and for lunch we decided to eat at the BBQ place that was used in the bar scenes (Stella’s Roadhouse) of the movie. We were talked into getting the Plate by the almost surly woman behind the counter at Heavy’s as it included meat, brunswick stew and coleslaw. We opted for a rib plate and a chicken plate to split between the three of us. The coleslaw was too vinegary and had way too much pickle taste. The “stew” was run through a food processor for too long as it was kind of a sickly looking brown mush. The only thing remotely edible was the meat and that was overpowered by the amount of BBQ sauce it was covered in. Interesting place to visit, but you don’t want to eat there.

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Turkey Day In Aiken

We have had a nice big screened porch on the back of the house for a decade now and for at least 4 of them we have had Donna’s family gather here for Thanksgiving. We have always said, wouldn’t it be great if we could have Turkey Day Dinner out on the porch. But each time they were here the weather was always too cold. Too bad we didn’t host them this year because the temperatures were in the upper 70’s today and the porch was a delightful place to be this afternoon.

No one came here and we didn’t go anywhere, so instead of making a Thanksgiving meal for two and all that entails, we opted to go to Aiken’s One Table. It started 5 years ago and is basically a free Thanksgiving meal served in the Alley to anyone who shows up. Billed as “NOT a ‘hand-out’, but more of a ‘hand-shake’.” by the organizers, we have thought of going before, but never did. This was the year. They didn’t charge for the meal, but did ask for anyone who comes to bring some canned goods. Food would be served between the hours of 11 AM and 2 PM and we arrived at a little past eleven thirty and were greeted by a very long line. That didn’t move.

We have very little patience for waiting. For anything. After a couple of minutes of not getting any closer to food we hopped out of line to check out what was going on. The first thing we noticed after passing the music stage was another identical stationary line. Then about halfway down the block we cut into the alley and noticed that there were a lot of empty seats and a lot of volunteers walking around with trays of food. As we completed the loop we arrived back at the point we had left the line and the fireman who were standing behind us were still standing in approximately the same spot.

Plan B was implemented, Fatz Cafe. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, a slice of pumpkin pie and a drink for $11.99. As a bonus, the servings were large enough that we actually brought home some leftovers.

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Amazing Twinkie Diet

For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one Twinkie every three hours, instead of meals. His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most — not the nutritional value of the food. The premise held up: On his “convenience store diet,” he shed 27 pounds in two months.

Now that’s a diet I can get behind. Read the rest of the article on the CNN web site.

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114,000 Grains Of Rice

Tonight’s meeting of the MMC was hopefully the last at Little Mexico for a long time. When the President picked this place he had good intentions as it fit the requirements we were looking for in a “permanent” home for our meeting, i.e. central location and visibility of the parking lot from a high traffic street. Trouble was the food is Grade B Mexican, but it was only envisioned as a meeting place with sharing of a couple of hors d’oeuvres over business chat and unfortunately (or fortunately depending which side of the plan you were on) the drive to a restaurant for dinner after the meeting thing never caught on.

Donna had a chicken quesadilla and I had a carnitas dinner in which the pork was fattier and somehow drier than what we normally get at our local Mexican place. Along with the meat and tortillas it came with pico de gallo, refried beans and about 114,000 grains of “spanish” rice. Which is coincidentally, the mileage achievement the Emperor passed on the way there.

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No Longer California Dreamin’

I rarely speak of politics here, even around election time, but this year is an exception because I actually voted in a mid-term election. Usually only picking the Grand Poobah will make me leave my cave and high speed internet connection to mingle with the masses, but this year there was a local issue that I wanted to put my 2¢ into (literally.)

I had high hopes for being able to pick California as the state I wanted to retire in, but my hopes were quashed when the voters there defeated Prop. 19. Oh, well, there are 4 or 5 more elections between now and then. Also as a geocacher I was disappointed that the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco have banned giving away toys with “unhealthy meals.” Most of the cool schwag that I have found in ammo cans came from a kids meal at a fast food restaurant.

Closer to home South Carolina voted in its usual Republican manner and in doing so elected the state’s first woman Govenor (welcome to the 20th century SC) and defeated in the US Senate race, my favorite crackpot candidate, Alvin Greene. But the defeat was actually a victory of sorts, Alvin’s got a new job as a crackpot commentator on of all places, Fox News.

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Where’s The Cheese?

Where does your supermarket keep the grated parmesan cheese? We went grocery shopping this evening and that item was on the list. The most logical place to have it, we thought, would be on the same aisle as the pasta and spaghetti sauces, but it was nowhere to be found there. We did eventually find some, there was a display of the store brand stuff on an island near the refrigerated cheeses. Oddly enough there was another small display of parmesan cheese in the frozen food section on the aisle with the ice cream and frozen desserts.

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Your Breakfast Is Ready Sir

We got up early again today to go for a bike ride before it got too hot. We headed cross town to DD, so I could get some of their fabulous coffee. I headed inside while Donna walked next door to get the Sunday paper. For her I ordered one plain bagel toasted with butter on the side and a water to drink. I got a small coffee and a coffee cake muffin. By the time I had completed the transaction there was a person standing there handing me small bag with the toasted bagel. I sat at the table with Donna and we split up the paper and waited for the rest of the meal. And waited. After waiting a bit more, I went up to see what was taking so long to pour a coffee and take a muffin off the shelf. As I stood up and headed to the counter I heard Donna call my name. There was a tray sitting at the end of the counter with a water, a coffee and a muffin.

How long had it been there? Couldn’t have someone said, “Your breakfast is ready sir.”? We were the only people waiting for food…

The Emperor hasn’t moved all day.

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