Tag: food (Page 2 of 3)

Slump Buster

January 6, 2010 / DB

I’ll admit it: I’ve hit one of my periodic blogging funks. I’ve found it difficult to write over the past week.

I think most of that can be attributed to my sleep cycles getting all jacked up.* I’ll only say that I’ve been spoiling our youngest child at nap and bedtimes, and as a result I’m getting plenty of sleep, just at odd times.

(That is the proper medical term.)

So let’s bust out some quickies and hopefully that will prime the pump so I can complete a few of the longer posts I’ve put into the queue.

Speaking of L., we got her an official big girl bed this week. She had been sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor for almost a month. Costco finally got the twin mattress sets back in stock, so we upgraded her. She’s just on the mattress for now; we’ll save the box springs for later. She loves it! Well, at least she loves to climb onto it and yell “BED!” Sleeping is hit and miss, but we’re used to that. Today I asked her if it was her bed and she screamed “YEAH!” in a very Dave Chapelle doing Lil’ John voice. “WHAT?!”

As I mentioned, I received a smoker for Christmas. I took my first crack at a pork shoulder on Monday. I give myself a B. I didn’t have enough hickory, so I didn’t get the amount of smoke into the meat that I wanted. And I didn’t get it quite as tender as it should be. But I am grading on a curve; the high temperature was around 20 that day. The meat stalled out at around 140 in the smoker and I had to bring it inside to the crock pot to finish. It was good, there was just room for improvement. I was very pleased with my sauce, though. It was just something I found online but seems like a good base to do experimentation from.

Oh, so the other smokers know what kind of hardware I’m rocking, I have a Brinkman electric smoker. I know there are serious smokers who think electric is for losers, but I’m not sure I have time to hang out and monitor a fire for 12 hours. Maybe once I perfect the electric thing and all the girls are in school.

I was back to work tonight after three weeks off for the holidays. I covered perhaps the best team in the county against undoubtedly the worst. It was a 36-point win, and really not that close. The losers had 23 turnovers in the first half. The winners shot 79% in the second quarter. Their best player dropped 29 and had close to ten assists.* The winning coach is a super nice guy who is great to talk to. The losing coach has been coaching for years and it’s hard to ask him about yet another 30+ point loss. It’s not easy writing about a game that was effectively over two minutes after the opening tip.

(I don’t track assists. Someday I’ll write a super-meta post where I breakdown what all I do during a game I’m covering.)

As I texted by friend Billy the Poke, one of the girls had her shorts on backwards and had to flee to the locker room to turn them around. Unfortunately, there were no “Shorts on backwards!” chants.

So I’m filing my story around 10:00, and as the e-mail flies away, I notice a bunch of messages in my inbox referencing some strange goings-on at Allen Fieldhouse. What followed was ten minutes of frustration as I attempted to navigate a small, sleepy Indiana town in the dark while following the Yahoo play-by-play on my iPhone. Kids, don’t try this at home. Worse, Yahoo was having some serious issues. The score would change without any accounting of why. KU went from -1 to +4 and Yahoo only accounted for two of the points. I got worried that the score was wrong and it would suddenly show no time left and Cornell winning. That did not happen, thank goodness. But Yahoo does suck.

600+ words without too much effort. Perhaps that will get me back in the swing. I’m going to try to get some sleep now.

❖

KC Trippin’

October 26, 2009 / DB

The travel gods were with us, for the most part, and we had a successful trip to-and-from Kansas City over the girls’ fall break.

First, our biggest thanks to our many friends who cleared their schedules, opened their homes, and loaded up on Boulevard Wheat to spend time with us. While the large number of kids under six running around both Friday and Saturday nights meant our adult conversation to kid chasing ratio was approximately 1:3, we still enjoyed seeing everyone.

As I said, the traveling went pretty well. On the trip out, the girls were excellent. As tends to happen when we travel on I-70 with girls in the van, we ran into a one-hour delay due to an accident that blocked both sides of I-70 near Columbia, but the girls were troopers and were just slightly fussy by the time we rolled into the Plaza.

The trip back was not quite as good; C. was suffering from the funk that comes with sleeping in a bed other than your own for three nights. She was a bit of a beast for the eight hours we were in the van, but the other two girls were excellent. Again we ran into an accident just east of Columbia, but fortunately this one was minor and only delayed us about 15 minutes. And we drive through 45 minutes of rain rather than four hours as we did on Thursday.

As for the eats, I have to admit, 2009 was not a good eating year for me in Kansas City. I spent parts of seven days in the city this year, and only had real Kansas City barbecue twice. What the hell is wrong with me? Our obstacle this time was the lack of kid food options at most barbecue joints. Our girls are opening up their palates a bit, but I think pulled pork or ribs is still a bit of a stretch for them. Thanks to the N’s, we had Gates for dinner on Friday (And a President’s Platter at that! Memories of Royals O’Bashes past…) Our other best shot for barbecue was Friday at lunch. I was going to run out and grab something to bring back to the hotel, but given that it was already noon, I figured it would be a quicker trip to Planet Sub* than to Oklahoma Joe’s. Since the girls were hungry and cranky, speed was paramount.

(I realized that this fall is the 20th anniversary of my first trip to Yello Sub in Lawrence, and thus my first every Yello Sub sans dijon, my regular order for these past 20 years. Although I’m pretty sure my first ever had dijon on it. I don’t think I strayed from that order until 2001 or 2002, when Planet Sub opened on the Plaza and I was able to eat it more frequently, and thus try new things. I did eat a Creamy Crab once in college when a roommate ordered one and didn’t like it, but I never actually ordered something other than the Yello (Planet) Sub for 12-13 years.)

Friday day kind of sucked. It was nasty cold and windy. We tried walking the three blocks from our hotel to Barnes and Noble and the girls did not tolerate it very well. My step-dad drove up to meet us and we ended up driving over to the Starbucks rather than walk. So one day of Plaza strolling eliminated.

We stayed at the Sheraton Suites, which I highly recommend. The girls did pretty well at night. M. and C. slept on the pull-out, usually with S. or I needing to lay between them until they drifted off to eliminate “C./M. stop touching me!” type comments. L. slept with us, which she adored. All the girls loved looking out our windows, which from our 15th floor perch, offered a nice view of the Plaza. We could see my old apartment building, as well, which the girls thought was cool. I enjoyed looking down on the hill I used to stroll down to go out on weekend, to go to S.’s, or just take on my path over to the Trolley Trail when I was running.

I made the mistake of telling M. to get away from the windows when we were in the process of changing her clothes Friday afternoon. Naturally she took that as a challenge and spent the next five minutes flashing the people in the office building opposite our room. Is it child porn if you don’t stop your kid from showing her who-ha to the world?

Our girls joined with Caroline N. and Meredith M. to form a girls club Friday night. No boys allowed! The four of them seemed to hit it off, although C., as is her current default, was a but aloof from the group, playing in parallel but not necessarily with all the time.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, perfect for walking around and taking in all the Plaza fountains, which the girls loved. We met my dad for lunch, then went back to hotel, where everyone proceeded to crash for the next two-plus hours. By the time we were all awake, the KU game had started and we needed to begin getting ready for our evening commitments.

For old-time sake, we cruised over to the Hen House in Fairway to pick up some items for breakfast and van snacking on Sunday. If we went to Hen House, that means we had to go to BerbigL. on the way back to the hotel, just like every Sunday grocery shopping trip from 2000-2003. I carefully placed a 20-pack of Unfiltered Wheat in the back of the van to carry home.

Saturday evening we met many friends at the B’s home. Lots of kids running around, and I think they all did remarkably well. I don’t remember any tantrums; no need to correct me if I’m wrong. It was funny watching L. jet around and check everything out. I think this was her first big social gathering since she started walking, and she seemed to enjoy it.

When we left, I was a bit bummed that I had such brief conversations with all my KC friends. I realized, though, that in only a few more years, we’ll be able to do this again and ignore the kids and talk all we want. So it will get better as the kids get older.

That’s 1000 words, probably more than any of you care to read. As always, it was fantastic being back in KC. The visits are always bittersweet, but I’m fortunate that I get to make them often and see both my best friends and the city I grew up in regularly. It’s good to be home, but I’m looking forward to 2010, which promises several trips to KC, thanks to weddings and whatnot.

Again, huge thanks to everyone who spent time with us over the weekend. We loved seeing you and all of you are welcome here in Indy any time.

❖

Trippin’

July 1, 2008 / DB

Another outstanding trip back to the motherland of Kansas City. My thanks to all of those who hosted me, dined with me, provided Royals tickets, etc. Chris N., John and Christie N., Erick and Ann R., Sean and Sarah M., Dave V., Omar E., Billy and Stacey B., Steve and Jennifer B., Mary and Derek Y. I think that’s everyone. Forgive me if I left your name out.

We’ll run through some details quickly.

I did quite well dining.

Friday lunch: Ted’s Montana Grill. I know it’s not a local place – we have one here in Carmel that I’ve managed not to visit in four years – but it did allow me to check out the Power & Light district for the first time.

Friday dinner before Royals game – Gates. After being denied on my last two visits, they finally had some burnt ends for me. Worth the wait. Although our party did learn that you shouldn’t order the turkey leg and yam dinner until the fall, despite it being on the menu.

Lunch Saturday – Oklahoma Joe’s. Carolina Style and Fries. Classic.

Dinner Saturday at Royals game – Sheboygan brat. I thought about doing Gates again, but figured I needed a little real ballpark food.

Lunch Sunday – Jack’s Stack. Martin City Mayor and beans.

Dinner Sunday – My step-dad and I went to a little, quick Italian place near his home that is owned by one of the Cascones, so I got some authentic KC Italian food as well.

And at least 11 Boulevard Unfiltered Wheats, at least eight of which game Saturday.

Speaking of Boulevard, one of the highlights of my visit was getting the worst hangover I’ve had in years. I thought my guys’ weekend at the lake in May prepared me for a busy night at the K and on the Plaza afterwards. Not true. I think I was still hanging on Monday. I know I’ve had one bad hangover since moving here. The last time I remember feeling as crappy as I did Sunday was December 1998, after the first Sinatra Party.

I got to see the Royals extend their winning streak on Friday with a fine win over the Cardinals, then I saw the streak end Saturday night with a bad loss. I liked the changes to the ballpark and will be eager to see it again when everything has been completed.

I’m sure a certain segment of my friends is annoyed by having to deal with this every day, but I enjoyed all the KU fans who are walking around with their chests puffed up a little while wearing their crimson and blue gear. I made a purchase for the girls so they can show off when preschool begins in the spring.

I think normally in these posts I say a little something about what it’s like to return to KC and how things have changed since my most recent visit, since I lived there, and so on. I’m not sure if I’ve had this revelation before, but I really noticed this time that I can’t always have the trip I planned before my visit. I think I still expect for my experience to be like living there again. Here’s the best way I can explain it: since I came without the wife and kids this time, I thought I would have lots of free time to do the little things I used to do when I was a resident. I figured I’d walk around the Plaza each day, maybe take a walk on the Trolley Trail one morning (since I don’t run anymore), etc. The small things I took for granted when I could just walk out my door and do them. Even with the extra time that comes with traveling alone, I wasn’t able to do those things. I was busy visiting with friends, commuting, and nursing my hangover (admittedly that’s my own fault). But as with every vacation, time just flies too fast. I can’t complain, because I spent a lot of quality time with friends and family, which is the most important reason for making the visit. I guess this is the final element of coming to terms with the fact I’ve moved, five years later. While I can cram in a lot of fun stuff on a visit, there will always be things that I just can’t get to.

I have a couple fun travel stories. I flew through Chicago O’Hare both ways. I expected to have a lengthy lay-over coming back, but when I landed I saw there was an earlier flight to Indy. I got on the stand-by list and I was listed as fourth on the screens at the gate. The screens also said the flight was full, but I hung around just in case. At the last moment, they started calling stand-by names and hustling people on-board. They called my name, gave me a new boarding pass, and basically ran me down the jet-way. I got on and saw the flight attendant was blocking the path to where my seat was, which I assumed meant all the seats behind her were full. Great, I thought, they made a mistake. She checked and saw someone had decided to switch seats on their own and was refusing to move, so she asked me if I would take his seat. No problem. I sit down, send a quick text message to let the people in Indy know I’d be early, and look up to see the gate agent is running by me, back to where I was supposed to be sitting, calling my name. I got his attention and he said they had to take me off the flight. I made a noise of disappointment and he began apologizing loudly and profusely. Turned out one of the people who didn’t show up was an unattended minor. Since United agents were bringing her from her earlier flight, and she was their responsibility, they had to let her on. Understandable. But the guy apologized about four times once we got back out to the gate. I think he thought I was really pissed. I kept telling him it was no problem and that I’d just go eat some lunch. Other than that, my flights were uneventful.

When I dropped off my car at KCI, the young man helping me noticed the Jayhawk on my shirt and made a joke about how he doesn’t see too many North Carolina shirts since the Final Four. We talked about that for a few minutes and then he asked me if I went to KU and when I graduated. I said yes. He then asked me if I had a Master’s degree and where I got it. He told me he was attending Park University but wanted to transfer to KU. He asked me, “Please give me your honest opinion: would that be a good idea?” I should point out the young man was from Kenya and had a lovely east African accent. We talked through that a bit and I asked what part of Kenya he was from. He is from Nairobi and I told him my wife spent some time in Eldoret when she was in medical school. He got really excited about that and we talked about that for a few moments. Finally, sensing he needed to get back to work, he said, “I have enjoyed our conversation. Thank you.” I forget his name (Ronald? Roland?), but if any of you encounter a nice Kenyan lad at the Kansas City Avis office, tell him hello for me.

Thanks again to all who adjusted their weekend plans to hang out with me. It was great seeing you all and I hope we can do it again soon.

Feeding The Kids

May 30, 2008 / DB

Like all parents, we struggle at times to ensure that our girls are eating a well-balanced diet. Not just making sure we’re hitting all the food groups in the proper ratios each day, but also just in variety of foods. We could serve mac & cheese with some kind of fruit at every meal and the girls would happily gulp it down.

In an effort to branch out, I picked up Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook at the library last week. It’s one of those “hide the vegetables” books, in which you puree the hell out of some veggies and blend them into recipes so your kids are, in theory, being tricked into eating them. Eating veggies isn’t a huge problem for us; C. would eat green beans all day if allowed, and both girls will kill some corn on the cob. But, again, I was searching for some variety. We’ve tried a couple recipes so far. A muffin recipe has been a big hit. The other two got mixed responses.

So I’m going to throw it to the group, since I imagine most parents of toddlers have gone/are going through this. How have you mixed up your menus to get your kids to eat new and different things? Again, I’m looking more for variety in main menu items than ways to get more fruits and veggies into our diets. Post your ideas in the comments, or e-mail them directly to me. I’ll share the most interesting ideas with the entire Brannan Blog nation later.

BTW, perhaps the best part of the Seinfeld book is her line in the acknowledgements that, right after she married Jerry, Chris Rock told her that it was inevitable that she was going to write a cookbook now that she was married to a celebrity.

KC Trip Summary

July 31, 2006 / DB

I made it back to Indy as scheduled, and as tired as expected, yesterday. C. gave us a pretty good night, which was much appreciated all around. My step-dad seems to be doing pretty good, and when I talked to him this morning, the plan is still to release him sometime tomorrow. I think he’s still got some work to do in areas unrelated to his heart, but I’m encouraged by how quickly his body is coming around.

Despite the weighty family issues going on, I was able to drop in on some of my favorite KC spots. Here’s a quick list:

Lunch at Houlihan’s. Yeah, a chain, but a KC-based chain at least, and even after they got booted off of the Plaza, it’s still a quintessential KC spot.
Dinner (and leftovers the next day) at Garrozzo’s. I chose much better this time as compared to my selection in April (Capelli D’Angelo vs. Three Way Pasta).
A Sheboygan brat at a Royals game.
Lunch at D’Bronx, my old stand-by the Wild Bill. Mmmmm, pastrami! First trip there in well over three years.
Dinner from Oklahoma Joe’s.
Lunch at Gates.
Take-out wings from The Peanut for dinner.
A stop into the Gran Falloon along the way.
Seven Boulevard Wheats, three Boulevard Pale Ales, and five Fat Tires.
Pretty good eating and drinking, all things considered.

It was great to see everyone I saw last week, and I appreciate the kind thoughts and prayers from those of you who expressed them. They’ve helped tremendously.

My Wife Rocks

February 16, 2005 / DB

Arriving in today’s FedEx shipment, my Valentine’s Day gift from my wife: The Jack Stack Barbecue BIG Taste of Kansas City package. Included:
A bottle of Jack Stack sauce
Hickory Pit Beans
Barbecue Sausage
Chopped Beef Brisket
Pork Burnt Ends
Cheesy Corn Bake

Yum!

Chili And Fenway

October 24, 2004 / DB

I busted out the sacred chili pot Friday night. I have to say, for the first time ever, I disappointed myself. I went with my chicken-white bean recipe which I perfected last year. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I got a rather bland concoction rather than the tangy, slightly spicy treat I expected. It’s most concerning and something I’m going to spend many hours rectifying. We’re hosting a get-together the day of the Kansas-Missouri and Indiana-Purdue games at which I’m supposed to produce both versions of my near-legendary chili. I’m feeling some pressure, in other words.
Sox up 2-0 despite committing four errors in each game. Ordinarily, I would say Cards fans would be seriously upset, but we all know the Cards can’t win on the road and don’t lose at home in the World Series. Why don’t we just make it 3-3 and fast-forward to game seven?
My two favorite people in the world right now: the old lady Chris Myers interviewed Sunday night during the game. 80ish, been going to games at Fenway for 40 years, keeping score, and breaking down pitching moves. She’s the stereotypical Sox fan. I also loved the guy who was at both games in his full Red Sox pimp outfit. I bet that guy gets wicked amounts of play from the ladies.
There are a few friends in KC who I’m worried about. This small band supports the professional sports franchises of St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri. I fear after the weekend’s games, they may be in danger. Please check on them and give them a pat on the back for me. They’re just games, my friends, they’re just games. (Please save this for March/April when I traditionally need a kick in the ass to put athletic events back in their proper perspective.)
Your Sunday night genius music lyric:
In a fast German car, I’m amazed that I survived
An airbag saved my life
An interstellar burst
I’m back to save the universe.

Damn

October 15, 2004 / DB

1:00 AM, my night home alone with M., and I can’t sleep. I don’t get it. I’m basically off the caffeine. It’s not like I did anything this evening that got me hyped up so that I couldn’t sleep. Perhaps, though, this is how I get her to sleep when S.’s working. Of the last five nights, M. has slept for at least seven hours during four of those nights. The other night, she slept only four hours then had a two hour fit. If you guessed the night she didn’t sleep was the night S. was working, you just won yourself a duck. The 8 1/2 hour sleep is the shit, though. There’s nothing like getting up at 4:00 to make the preemptive bottle because you hear some noise coming from the baby’s room, and then getting to sleep 3+ hours before you actually have to use the bottle.
I praised the virtues of watching the St. Louis Cardinals play earlier this week. Allow me to break it down a little and say Albert Pujols might be the most enjoyable hitter to watch in the game right now. It’s absolutely sick how good that guy is. Fox is using some funky camera angle at Busch so I have no idea where pitches are, but he crushed a pitch that appeared to be up and away tonight to left field. In modern baseball, you send that same pitch to right. No way do you pull it. But Albert did. Sure he grew up elsewhere, but it’s pretty cool that his US roots are in Kansas City and there’s a small claim to him.
If you look up prick in the dictionary, will you find Jeff Kent’s picture there? To parrot Jim Rome’s line, this is the guy that made Barry Bonds seem like a decent guy. Kent always looks like he’s ready to whine about something, and generally does anytime someone gives him an opportunity. He didn’t even look happy after he hit a home run in game one; he was too busy bitching about something Mike Matheny said to him once he got back to the dugout.
Speaking of Kansas City, I caught a portion of A&E’s More American Eats yesterday that had a lengthy section on barbecue that was truly fascinating. I had no idea that barbecue was often used as a social event by politicians in the pre and post-revolution days. Kind of an old school Get Out The Vote effort. The bigger barbecue you threw, the higher your social status was. I need to really go all out when I finally buy a smoker, I guess. The program went into a little detail on the different styles of barbecue, but rather smartly focused on Kansas City, stating it was the capital of corporate barbecue. Here’s one for you KC residents to put into your caps: the old Penny’s barbecue, which became Arthur Bryant’s, is in many ways credited with speeding integration in Kansas City. It was so good that even affluent whites went into the heart of black KC to purchase fine smoked meats. Noted food historian Calvin Trillin painted the lovely picture of troops coming over from Fort Riley in integrated groups and “walking into the greatest restaurant in the world” and seeing whites and blacks dining in the same room. The message of integration that had been drummed into their heads in basic training was validated in the real world. See, barbecue isn’t just tasty, it’s helped bring us together as a people. So take that Memphis, Texas, and Carolina! Bonus points to A&E for making sure KC specialty burnt ends got some air time.

KC Summary

September 27, 2004 / DB

It was a truly outstanding week in Kansas City in almost every way. I had the chance to spend time with many of you, which was tremendous. I got to show off my daughter. I got to eat a huge amount of great food. The Chiefs had a total meltdown which was fun for me. And there was actually a week of hope for the KU football program before it all came crashing down in the second half Saturday. Some highlights worth noting:
My dining agenda included the following:
Lunch at Papa Keno’s in Lawrence followed by a $2.75 Oatmeal Stout at Free State.
Dinner at Rudy’s in Westport.
Lunch at Jack’s Stack.
Dinner at the B’s residence (If you get Stacey to cook for you, it ranks right up there with the finest of KC dining experiences).
Lunch at the Classic Cup.
Dining on Waldo Pizza at the N’s residence.
Lunch at Arthur Bryant’s.
Dinner at Jalapeno’s in Brookside followed by a Guinness at O’Dowd’s.
Lunch at Jim G’s in Raytown.
Rehearsal dinner consisting of some of Jack Stack’s finest offerings.
Lunch at Oklahoma Joe’s.
Completed by a fine reception dinner at the Muehlbach.
About the only thing I missed was a stop at Taco John’s so I could scarf down some Potato Oles. We also stopped in Columbia for lunch Sunday on the way home, however in the interest of eating as quickly as possible, we went to Wendy’s rather than one of that fair city’s finest eateries. Pretty solid work, in my opinion. I think it rivals my week in KC last October, although that week was so epic that I don’t believe it can ever be topped.
Kudos to the government of the state of Missouri. I-70 was actually in halfway decent shape for the much of the drive, a nice change from the traditional moonscape you have had to navigate in recent years.
M. did wonderfully in the car. On the way out, she slept almost the entire ride. She was a little more fussy on the way home, but still made the trip with only one stop on her behalf. She also did quite well when we drug her out and about. I’m sure she’ll make up for all of this once she turns two.
I was quite impressed with the radio offerings in Kansas City. Well, I was impressed with the music 96.5 was playing all week. I can’t say the rest of the FM dial was any different than it has been in the past 4-5 years. The Buzz was coming strong with some excellent tunes every chance I had to listen. They wasted no time in getting U2’s new single into high rotation, which was nice. Have you heard “Vertigo” yet? Good grief, U2 is bringing it strong this time around.
One big downer to the trip was all the shitty political ads that pollute the airwaves in KC. I think the argument can be made that the KC media market is one of the worst for ads in the country. You’ve got two states in the market, and one of those states is traditionally one of the most evenly split between the parties. I found the mute button on the remote rather quickly so I didn’t attempt to rupture my eardrums to avoid all that crap. It was fun to critique the ads of the former associate of mine who is running for Congress. I found some of her assertions curious, to say the least. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about voting for or against her so I won’t get into it too much.
Lying on my office floor are two large boxes of old cassette tapes that were stored away in my step-dad’s basement. I am eager to work my way through them in the coming weeks and share with you what I purchased between 1986 and 1990.
I’ve probably got more I’ll think of later, but that should get you started.

Weekend Roundup

July 7, 2004 / DB

Thanks to some Blogger downtime on Tuesday, an extra day off for the blog. It was an exciting holiday weekend in the Blog household, though. As mentioned Friday, the Johnson County Belfords paid us a visit. I’m afraid our fast paced lifestyle wore them down quickly, but they were troopers to stick to our rigorous schedule. Friday evening, we took them to the wife’s favorite pizza place, Bazbeaux’s in Broad Ripple. While dining under the stars, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle strode past us to pick up some carry out. It’s always a little frustrating to me to see former professional athletes who are not physically imposing. I imagine Carlisle had more talent than I could ever have hoped to posses, but his legs were near mirrors of the twigs I bump around town on. Very disappointing.
Saturday, we went to Bub’s, which is short for Big Ugly Burger, here in Carmel. If you eat the full pound (after cooking) burger, you get your picture on the wall. No one was man, or woman, enough to attempt more than the half pounder. But I was encouraged by the ease at which I threw that and about 2/3 of a basket of onion rings down. The next time I run a weekend race, I may have to give the true Big Ugly a shot. While dining, we were accosted by a waitress who is a student at K-State and no doubt spit in my Diet Coke, and later by a fellow KU alum that was sporting a Trolley Run shirt. Seeing my Kansas shirt, he came over and asked, “Do you go to KU?” I know I look young, but come on! Or perhaps my reputation for an extended academic career had preceded me. Anyway, I’ve now been to Bub’s three times, and on two occasions run into people from Kansas City. Weird.
That evening, we continued our run of eating out with a trip to Yat’s, a local Cajun eatery. I threw down a combo plate of red beans & sausage and their famous chili cheese etoufee. Excellent stuff! Following dinner, we retired to the Rathskeller for German styled beverages and conversation with friends. Rain squalls drove us in from the beer garden, but I enjoyed finally experiencing this downtown Indy landmark. First time I’ve been drunk in awhile, which is fun.
Sunday was the H family day to shine (it should be noted they accompanied us throughout the weekend). We used their backyard for lawn games including whiffle ball, whiffle golf, and bocce. John added to his reputation as a smoking savant by providing us with smoked chicken wings, followed by pork shoulder. I tried out a new recipe for barbecue baked beans which seemed to go over well.
Finally, on Monday, we ate lunch at Plump’s Last Shot, named after the player who Jimmy Chitwood’s character in Hoosiers was patterned after. Believe it or not, I had my first breaded pork tenderloin sandwich since moving to Indy. It was good, but I’m told there are places around town with much better offerings.
So it was an eventful weekend, from a food and beverage standpoint. I shudder to think what my total caloric intake was, though.

I consider myself to be in fairly good shape. I run 3-4 times a week, enough to go out and run a race in 8:30/mile pace. I’ve been going to the gym twice a week for months. Yet somehow my meager attempts to play whiffle ball just destroyed my hamstrings and glutes. I was still sore Tuesday morning and all we did was pitch and hit. There was no running involved.

We missed the cicada infestation of May-June but are finally getting some of the smaller broods in our woods. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: nothing says summer like the sound of cicadas on a warm evening.

I discovered last week if you squirt a squirrel on your bird feeder in just the right way with your Super Soaker, they scream. It’s fun. I nearly made one fall Tuesday. Some of the squirrels are smart and leap to safety as soon as I approach the door. But others wait far too long and get a good soaking, only to return in a couple minutes. Tuesday afternoon, after chasing a squirrel away, I watched some Carolina Chickadees float in to eat. Three Cardinals were eyeing me suspiciously from some low branches. And I could hear the House Finches I saw for the first time earlier in the day chatting in the leaves. While taking it all in, I looked up and saw the offending squirrel lying out on a branch, its front paws hanging below it, stomach resting on the limb, just staring at me. I blasted the hell out of that little varmint!

T-minus two days until Anchorman hits the big screens. I’ve already read one three star review on a reputable movie web site. I read somewhere last week that Will Ferrell has ten movies in some stage of production, including Anchorman. If Ferrell hadn’t called him an idiot in 2000, George W. Bush should really have thought about using the fact there are so many Ferrell movies as a sign the country is in better shape now than it was when he took office. That little tidbit just might get his approval ratings back up over 50% again. I recommend finding the Ron Burgundy audition for ESPN. I caught it on ESPNews last night. I’m sure it will be featured prominently on every ESPN program over the next three days.