Recently in Good Eats Category

Deb and I had a night out, something we don't have very often considering our conflicting work schedules.

In this case we had a chance to eat out at one of our favorite local pubs, something that's pleasurable this time of year because the only patrons are locals now that the tourists are gone until the ski season starts next month. We didn't have to wait to be seated and the food was delivered to our table not too long after we placed our order. In fact, we were in the pub for less than 45 minutes, yet we didn't feel rushed.

From the pub we returned home briefly before heading back out to see our high school's drama department put on their rendition of The Sound Of Music.

Yes, I can see your eyes rolling at the mention of one of the most performed musicals in history. Between Deb and I we've probably seen it in one form or another dozens of times. (I must make full disclosure at this point: BeezleBub was the crew manager for this musical, did most of the set design, and headed the set construction crew. The sets were awesome. No prejudice showing there. None.)

I wish I could say the performance we saw was superior, but it would be a lie. (Sound of "play critic hat" being put on my head.)

The biggest problem was the casting of the female lead (Maria): she couldn't sing very well. And because of her register, the male lead - someone who we know can sing quite well - was forced to sing outside his register, which made anything he sang sound forced. The singing of the two leads were difficult to listen to and I cringed with every flat note sung by the female lead.

There were a number of others in the cast who would have been right for that role which would have made the performance so much better.

(Sound of "play critic hat" being removed from my head.)

Still, Deb and I had a good night out.

And so goes another fall evening in small town America.

Very cool.

I was working on something profound but realized I wouldn't have it done tonight, so I haven't tried to rush it. In its stead I give you some food for thought, literally.

Let me introduce you to a true culinary masterpiece, found courtesy of my missus.

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Handmade ground beef patties, topped with sharp cheddar cheese, wrapped in a bacon weave, then the next step, add hotdogs as the heads, legs and tail. Next step?

Place on an oven rack, covered loosely with foil and baked for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.  A little crispy, not too crunchy...just how a turtle should be, no?


Mmm! Bacon!!

While looking for blog fodder I came across a number of interesting videos. Some of you may have already seen them. Some of you haven't. It doesn't matter since they because they're good enough to see more than once.

First, there's this from Arizona Governor Brewer, calling President Obama on the carpet for his failure to fulfill one of his primary duties as president: Protecting our borders.


Then there's this, made by an unknown author, that brings the problems with the 111^th Congress and the President into focus. Some have called it a new Republican campaign ad. I think it's a warning to those in power that we, the American people, are not to be trifled with, condescended to, or ignored.


America will indeed rise on November 2, 2010. We "shall not go quietly into that goodnight."

Last, but not least, is this video from Penn & Teller's cable show, calling "Bulls**t!" about health food and the scare tactics used by shallow, holier-than-thou racists willing to let millions upon millions starve to death just so they can feel good about eating expensive organically grown, not-available-to-the-Third-World food. (Sorry, you'll have to follow the link as I couldn't find any embed code to add it here.)

Today was Deb's birthday and BeezleBub and I took her out to our all time favorite restaurant to celebrate. (In case you're wondering she had a great time and we had great meals...but that isn't entirely germane to the story.)

One thing that can make or break the dining experience is the person waiting upon you. Some are merely adequate. Others are not in any way, shape, or form. And yet others can be exceptional. In our case, the waitress serving us tonight, Alicia, was one of the exceptional ones. On a scale of one to five Wes's, she scored a four and three-quarters!

That being said I should explain our rating system to you. The "Wes Scale" is named in honor of our dear friend Wes. Other than being a good friend and an excellent real estate agent, he was also known for being a heck of a waiter in his day. He knows the trade inside and out and is far less forgiving of poorly performing waitstaff than either Deb or I. Hence, we decided that if we were going to rate our dining experiences, we would use Wes as the standard to measure against.

The fact that Alicia rated 4 and three-quarters on the Wes scale means she is indeed exceptional. I believe even Wes would agree with us on our assessment.

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Sometimes it's easy to forget that New Hampshire is a multi-season tourist destinations.

On our way back to The Manse after the wonderful repast we experienced, we noticed the heavy traffic on the northbound side of Interstate 93. The skiers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York were heading to the White Mountains for three days of skiing over the Martin Luther King Day weekend. I'd forgotten what it was like on the highway during ski season weekends, having moved from the foothills of the White Mountains to the heart of the Lakes Region of New Hampshire some eight years ago. Living within a stone's throw of one of New Hampshire's fine ski areas, it's easy to overlook the other, much larger ski resorts like Waterville Valley, Loon Mountain, Attitash/Bear, Cannon, Wildcat, and Bretton Woods, just to name a few. The heavy traffic seen heading north at 8PM on a Friday night is testament enough to the popularity of skiing in New Hampshire.