Place: Burger King
Lunch: Bacon Cheddar Topper, onion rings (with Zesty sauce), Coke
I am a SERIOUS fan of this sandwich. Where previously I might go to BK a few times a year, this sandwich has become a weekly thing.
Super Bowl Whatever Number They're Up To is this weekend. And that means Super Graze is here.
Super Graze is what I call the day-long meal that has become tradition at the Townhouse of Solitude. No main course...just snack foods that one can graze on throughout the day. Put it all together Saturday and spend Sunday...grazing.
Yes.
So what's on the menu this year?
Little Smokies in Barbecue Sauce - These are a must-have for any Super Bowl party. You can't not have these. Even if you're vegan. HA HA HA HA HA! Vegans. I have this little mini crock pot that's perfect for keeping these stewing all day.
Deviled Eggs - It will take me roughly three days, but I'll eat every last one.
Chilled Jumbo Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce - The best cocktail sauce is Heinz Original Cocktail Sauce. Not Heinz Zesty...the original already has a bit of a kick. Walmart carries it, but they don't put it near the seafood freezer like they do all the other cocktail sauces, so head for the condiment aisle.
Cheese Curds - Stick a bunch on a plate and microwave until they're just squeaky, which is about 10-15 seconds. They should look partially...but not fully...melted for cheese curd perfection.
Chicken Fries - Tyson "Any'tizer", specifically, deep-fried just enough to make them crispy without being overly crispy. If you briefly microwave them to thaw them, then drop them in the deep fryer for one minute, they should be perfect. Serve with Hidden Valley Ranch Sauce for dipping. But do NOT buy a bottle of pre-made Hidden Valley. Get a season packet and mix your own. THIS is the difference between restaurant-quality dipping ranch and 'something tastes funny and oily' ranch.
Chili - Found a new Steak n Shake knockoff recipe on the web to try. I've been big on chili this past football season, making up batches of various seasoning packets since my favorite...Ortega...is no longer available. French's "Chili-O" is a bit odd, but has been a standout favorite. Can't say the same about their taco seasoning.
Smoked Salmon - "Changing Seas" smoked salmon from Whole Foods, specifically. It's ruined all other smoked salmons for me. It has a nice mellowness to it.
Chips - And dip or queso, if you want. I have forgone dip because Pringles came out with an incredible "French Onion" seasoned chip this year that has made dip completely unnecessary. Plus for some stupid reason I have FOUR bags of Doritos on hand (the limited time Sour Cream & Onion, plus Spicy Nacho, Taco, and Sweet Chili), plus a bag of crunchy Cheetos. It's entirely plausible that some of these chips will still be around when the next football season starts.
And for dessert...
Edy's/Dreyer's Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Ice Cream - Because it's girl scout cookie season, kids.
So get your snack foods together and enjoy spending the entire day watching talking heads over-analyze the game to death before the actual game and the even more important lavish commercials air.
Then watch them too.
Friday, February 03, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!
Place: Which Wich
Lunch: Italian Grinder (toasted on white with mozzarella, yellow mustard, spicy mayo, pickles, red onions, mushrooms, and olives), Pibb XTRA (with super awesome pebble ice)
Ohhh I'm serious this is the best sandwich ever you have to have one or two or three...
I started last week with a cold. Seriously congested. Completely wiped me out on Thursday, and largely over the weekend. I hate it when that happens. I suppose I was due...I can't remember the last time I was major league sick.
So I took some Ny-Quil and a decongestant, and tried to sleep. Usually, I either can't sleep and think about very odd things, or I DO sleep and dream about very odd things.
I'm not sure if I slept or not, but the dreams/thoughts ultimately reared a completely out-of-the-blue subject from my childhood that I haven't thought of in years...
Mary Hartman.
Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!
For the uninitated, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was a Norman Lear-produced syndicated daily half-hour series intended as a satire on soap operas. Over a period of roughly eighteen months in the mid-1970's, they produced an astonishing 325 episodes before star Louise Lasser (an ex-wife of Woody Allen) quit the show citing exhaustion. The remainder of the cast (which included Mary Kay Place as neighbor/singer Loretta...probably the most memorable character besides Mary herself...Debralee Scott, Dody Goodman, and Claudia Lamb) continued on without her under the name "Forever Fernwood" for awhile longer (the show was set in the fictional Fernwood, Ohio), and it prompted a talk show satire spinoff called "Fernwood 2-Nite" starring Martin Mull and Fred Willard.
The show was highly controversial and usually aired late at night due to its content, mostly due to very frank discussions about sex and sexual-related topics, not to mention women's health. You didn't hear the word 'cramps' on regular soaps. You did here. And while the primary women on the cast would adjust their dresses so as to not reveal anything to other characters, they acted like the camera wasn't even there. Mary would adjust the right side of her dress as she turned to face another character while giving a full underwear shot to the camera. Just one of those subtle jokes within the show. Product placement and real brand name-dropping was another...we knew just from the script that Fernwood was home to a Safeway, Jack in the Box, Thrify Drug, and a Levitz. (For being set in Ohio, Fernwood was awfully Californian.) Mary regularly acted as if she were in a domestic product commercial. Her very first dilemna in the first episode was about "waxy yellow build-up" on her kitchen floor.
But it wasn't all comedy. Lasser delivered some incredibly emotional performances, particularly when fighting with her husband.
"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was one of the most brilliant dark comedies ever devised and I knew it when it originally aired, even though I was ten at the time and a lot of the stuff went over my head. From the debut episode with the mass murder of the Lombardi family ("all five of them...plus two goats and eight chickens") to Mary's nervous breakdown at the end of the first season, this was simply amazing television.
So I just had to see it again as an adult to see how well it held up. It turns out just one DVD collection with just the first 25 episodes exists (don't think the fan base isn't peeved about that), so I picked it up.
Honestly, I expected to be disappointed. I thought it wouldn't hold up as well as I remembered, especially with the cough medicine having worn off.
I was wrong.
I was SERIOUSLY wrong.
What I thought would take a few weeks of spare time viewing to watch was done in three days.
I couldn't stop watching until I was out of shows to watch. It didn't help that Sony left the DVD set off at a seemingly random place. They probably should have left it at eighteen episodes (where the Lombardi murders were resolved) if at all.
Listen to the fans, Sony. We NEED the complete series.
We NEED it.
AND the spin-offs.
(YEARS LATER: Shout! Factory has come to the rescue and released the complete series on DVD. YES.)
Lunch: Italian Grinder (toasted on white with mozzarella, yellow mustard, spicy mayo, pickles, red onions, mushrooms, and olives), Pibb XTRA (with super awesome pebble ice)
Ohhh I'm serious this is the best sandwich ever you have to have one or two or three...
I started last week with a cold. Seriously congested. Completely wiped me out on Thursday, and largely over the weekend. I hate it when that happens. I suppose I was due...I can't remember the last time I was major league sick.
So I took some Ny-Quil and a decongestant, and tried to sleep. Usually, I either can't sleep and think about very odd things, or I DO sleep and dream about very odd things.
I'm not sure if I slept or not, but the dreams/thoughts ultimately reared a completely out-of-the-blue subject from my childhood that I haven't thought of in years...
Mary Hartman.
Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!
For the uninitated, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was a Norman Lear-produced syndicated daily half-hour series intended as a satire on soap operas. Over a period of roughly eighteen months in the mid-1970's, they produced an astonishing 325 episodes before star Louise Lasser (an ex-wife of Woody Allen) quit the show citing exhaustion. The remainder of the cast (which included Mary Kay Place as neighbor/singer Loretta...probably the most memorable character besides Mary herself...Debralee Scott, Dody Goodman, and Claudia Lamb) continued on without her under the name "Forever Fernwood" for awhile longer (the show was set in the fictional Fernwood, Ohio), and it prompted a talk show satire spinoff called "Fernwood 2-Nite" starring Martin Mull and Fred Willard.
The show was highly controversial and usually aired late at night due to its content, mostly due to very frank discussions about sex and sexual-related topics, not to mention women's health. You didn't hear the word 'cramps' on regular soaps. You did here. And while the primary women on the cast would adjust their dresses so as to not reveal anything to other characters, they acted like the camera wasn't even there. Mary would adjust the right side of her dress as she turned to face another character while giving a full underwear shot to the camera. Just one of those subtle jokes within the show. Product placement and real brand name-dropping was another...we knew just from the script that Fernwood was home to a Safeway, Jack in the Box, Thrify Drug, and a Levitz. (For being set in Ohio, Fernwood was awfully Californian.) Mary regularly acted as if she were in a domestic product commercial. Her very first dilemna in the first episode was about "waxy yellow build-up" on her kitchen floor.
But it wasn't all comedy. Lasser delivered some incredibly emotional performances, particularly when fighting with her husband.
"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was one of the most brilliant dark comedies ever devised and I knew it when it originally aired, even though I was ten at the time and a lot of the stuff went over my head. From the debut episode with the mass murder of the Lombardi family ("all five of them...plus two goats and eight chickens") to Mary's nervous breakdown at the end of the first season, this was simply amazing television.
So I just had to see it again as an adult to see how well it held up. It turns out just one DVD collection with just the first 25 episodes exists (don't think the fan base isn't peeved about that), so I picked it up.
Honestly, I expected to be disappointed. I thought it wouldn't hold up as well as I remembered, especially with the cough medicine having worn off.
I was wrong.
I was SERIOUSLY wrong.
What I thought would take a few weeks of spare time viewing to watch was done in three days.
I couldn't stop watching until I was out of shows to watch. It didn't help that Sony left the DVD set off at a seemingly random place. They probably should have left it at eighteen episodes (where the Lombardi murders were resolved) if at all.
Listen to the fans, Sony. We NEED the complete series.
We NEED it.
AND the spin-offs.
(YEARS LATER: Shout! Factory has come to the rescue and released the complete series on DVD. YES.)
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