Night Skiing Deserves a Quiet Night

Did you know that North Carolina has skiing? Did you know that North Carolina has skiing in late March? Well, I think I'd heard about the first one, but skiing has sort of skipped my mind my mind since I got here. I like to ski enough, but I also like to take a disparaging view of East Coast "mountains." In any case, Austin presented the fine idea of going night-skiing last Saturday, in what I have to only imagine was quite possibly the last ski weekend of the season, and so we headed off to Sugar Mountain.

True to its name, the snow felt like sugar -- you know the kind that you get when it's been sitting out in the humidity for too long? And to get it out of the container you have to start chipping at it with a butter knife or something? Yeah, that kind. Staying on top of my skis as I blithely flew down the mountain at top speeds anyway was thus a bit of a challenge. I also went out of my way to hit any little jumps I could find and get as much air as possible, and I'm proud to say that this resulted in at least four wipeouts, with skis and poles flying every which way. I told Austin that if you don't wipe out at least once, you're just not trying hard enough.

Solice from a Prawn

Well, in the end I didn't make it out to Mexico. This made me very sad, although a couple friends thought I had made the right choice after hearing on NPR that border towns around Mexico (Chihuahua was named in their little list) had witnessed 200 murders in the past... what was it? Oh yes, week.

I figured the only way to relieve my disappointment was to head to the Spanish restaurants on Waughtown street, this time joined by my friend Feisty. We happened to go to El Paisano on a Friday, which so happens to be one of the few days that they serve caldo de camarones (shrimp broth soup). Feisty and I ordered a couple bowls of this and loved diving through the broth to get to all the yummy jumbo shrimp and chunks of whitefish found within. Mmmmm....

Postscript: Another friend Pat who had joined me on a previous Waughtown excursion heard about my failed attempt to get down to Mexico, and this conversation ensued:

Pat: "I've heard your Spanish down on Waughtown street."

DW: "Yes?"

Pat: "Not impressed."

Oh really? Well, I got some choice words for you in English then, my friend.

Prawn says: Don't be sad, DW, there will be other trips to Mexico.

Goodbye, Breakfast Club

Despite the timely title, the title is hardly a tribute to the late John Hughes (although plans for a Breakfast Club party are percolating). No, this post is actually intended as a way to pay my respects to the passing of my own Breakfast Club -- a group that I regularly did brunch with here in Winston for the past two years. With JaryMane leaving town on Saturday for the bright lights of Chicago, and DJ Dan heading to the West Coast only weeks before, I have suddenly found myself the only Breakfast Club member left to roam our old stomping grounds in Winston.

Below I detail -- In Memoriam -- the members of my Breakfast Club. RIP.

	DJ Dan. AKA, "the Athlete" Earned his nickname through keeping a ridiculous pace during hikes to South Mountain or the Profile Trail around Grandfather Mountain and never breaking a sweat. Jerk.
	J.P. AKA, "the Princess" Earned her nickname through the fact that she was obviously worshipped by DJ Dan. Molly Ringwald had nothing on J.P.
	"GED", AKA, "the Brain" The ironically-named GED was the first one to leave, moving on to the rarified lands of New York City law schools, where she has already started her inevitable march to the US Supreme Court.
	DW, AKA "the Criminal" Oh yes, recently I got all my hair cut off. Arrrgh! I'm a pirate.
	JaryMane, AKA "the Basketcase" Earned her nickname through the fact that she is a vegan who kills rats (true! trying figuring that one out...) and the fact that she left Winston-Salem for Chicago. What is she thinking? That's right, she's crazy. But she will be missed.

My closing tribute to the Breakfast Club:

We accepted the fact that we had to sacrifice whole Sunday mornings eating brunch with one another for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think its crazy to write an essay telling you who we think we are. You may see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions: We found that each one of us is a brain, an athlete, a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal.

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Bee Startup

"Lookit -- some bees are trying to make a hive right on my garage. They're just getting started."

"How do you know it's bees?"

"There's a bee right there."

"Oh. Weird."

"Yeah."

"You should take a picture of the hive and then kill it."

Pickles the Cat Theme Song

Several weeks ago, I posted a heart-warming story about the cat that often hangs out in my yard, and asked readers to give the cat a name.

The winner was JaryMane, who suggested the name "Pickles", which somehow seemed to fit to me given that the "Pickle Man" is one of my favorite starting hands to play in Texas Hold'Em (**privileged insider information). In any case, I subsequently commissioned JaryMane to write a song in honor of Pickles the Cat, to be sung to the tune of Winnie the Pooh -- this is what she came with:

Pickles the cat
Pickles the cat
Furry little feline I'll make you fat
it's Pickles the cat
Pickles the cat
DW's sorta kinda maybe pet....

The lyrics appear to be largely inspired by JaryMane's sense that it was horrible that I wasn't actually feeding the cat (Line 3 in particular seems to be wishful thinking). In fact, JaryMane even decided to forgo her payment for the song (which was going to be SUBSTANTIAL, btw) under the condition that "you have to make Pickles a bowl now. That was part of the deal."

Make Pickles into a bowl? That's gross! But OK JaryMane, whatever you say...

My Dog Annie: 1993-2008

Today our family decided to put our dog Annie to sleep after the vet told us that she was suffering from kidney failure and ulcers, and that she was no longer eating or drinking.

Annie was a wonderful dog... she was a big fan of running and bird-hunting. Many a pheasant met their match through Annie's dedicated and skillful sleuthing in the fields. Until the last year or two of her life, Annie only had two speeds: stop, and sprint. She also had an impressive talent for taking off on short hikes, getting lost for hours on end, and then nonchalantly showing up back home after successfully eluding the search parties sent out to find her.

Annie lived a long happy life, and she will be missed.

New Post

I finally bumped into our wonderful local blogger (and fellow A.U. alum!) Esbee on today's trip to Simply Yummy. She chastised me for not blogging at all in over a week, and said that she was thinking of posting a comment somewhere on my blog to register a formal complaint.

FINE. I'LL WRITE A NEW POST ALREADY!! Geez... give me a break...

Thanksgiving? Yes We Can!

I had a couple people over for Thanksgiving this year, marking the first time that I have ever hosted a Thanksgiving dinner ever! And they said it couldn't be done. Or shouldn't be done.

All the guests chipped in to help out, and it was amazing. As is my way, I threw pretty much every course onto the plate at once. And then I snapped a photo:
On the menu:

1. Cranberry Ginger Compote (courtesy of K.C. Recipe unknown. Delicious!)
2. Roasted Root Vegetables (courtesy of K.C. Featuring carrots, sweet potatoes, and... parsnips huh? I didn't know they still made those...)
3. Salmon steaks (courtesy of Little John*)
4. Turkey (I cooked it... And it was still edible, too!)
5. Rolls (I got $2 off the $2.99 rolls at Harris Teeter on Thanksgiving Day. Awesome...)
6. Herbed Oyster Stuffing (Recipe from Epicurious.com. Delicious! Also led to my first ever attempts at shucking oysters. Comic.)
7. Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes (recipe from 101Cookbooks.com. Possibly too garlicky. I never thought I would say that.)

... And of course everything was thoroughly drenched in turkey gravy, as it should be.

I love Thanksgiving!

Is it just me or is Little John enjoying his slicing/dicing of the turkey a little too much?

* Sorry buddy. But when you work with Big John, you're gonna get stuck with Little John. Dems da breaks.

Water Sports

I attended a Fourth of July party in D.C. last Friday, and the guests did much to stay cool through the summer heat (let's forget the fact that it rained much of the day). Here's the prescription:

Step 1: Get a Slip-N-Slide.

Step 2: Set up Slip-N-Slide so that it ends about 3 feet from a hard wooden porch.

Step 3: Make sure to drink several cups from keg before attempting to use Slip-N-Slide.

Step 4: Participants should get a running start, and then launch themselves toward porch headfirst at top speed.

What could be safer! We went to a water park the next day, where we got endlessly whistled at by the life guards for unsafe use of inner-tubes at the Lazy River. I was tempted to explain to the guards that we were professionals. After all, we had just survived hurling ourselves at a porch on a Slip-N-Slide while drunk.

Amateurs...

Pre:

Post:

Matt knows: The only way to Slip-N-Slide is Superman-style.

Guac-Off Home Run!

After winning the 54th Annual Ardmore Chili Cook-Off last weekend (true!), I turned my attention to the First Annual Brookwood Guac-Off. In my grad school days, I had become a bit of a self-styled expert at guacamole, and figured I stood a good shot at taking this competition down. As I drove M.J. and myself over to the competition, however, I received nothing but smack-talk. She even threw down a "Snap!" after a particularly vicious put-down. (Really? Who does that?)



In any case, when the dust settled, I had received second place in the competition. You can see me and Shannon holding up our prestigious prizes after the guacamole competition. Truth be told, if I wasn't voting for my own guac as a matter of principle, I would have voted for hers on taste and merit. But I still have my principles, so I voted for my own. And Shannon taught me a couple good tricks: her main ingredients (beyond the avocado) included tomato, onion, and jalapeño (all diced very fine), and some lemon juice. I had these ingredients (though lime instead of lemon), but then made the additional decision to add onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to the mix, where Shannon only added a little salt. As a result, her guac was the freshest tasting. I am gradually arriving at the conclusion that garlic and most other spices in guacamole are over-rated... let the ingredients speak for themselves.



Final vote tallies: Shannon received 6 votes, I received 4 votes, a couple other people got 2 votes. How many votes did smack-talker M.J. get? I don't think it would be prudent to say, except to note the interesting fact that before the Moors came around, it was debatable as to whether the number she received was even a number...