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Foodapalooza - the longest food draft of all time - The beef finally arrives in rounds 51 & 52 (2 Viewers)

i've eaten at V&T's a hundred times!! It's next to one of my favorite ridiculous places in the world, St John the Divine. 

Dunno if you know, but my director cousin, after my helping him work out his approach to turning Memoirs of a Geisha into a movie, told me he'd walk any script i thought to write down the hall @ CAA as a thank you. I wrote what i call my "Irish Annie Hall", a comic tribute to all the people who hold showbiz together in Manhattan - the production assistants, comedy writers, makeup artists, dance captains etc etc, that i got to know while i was pitching my work in the early 80s. In my cousin's favorite line, the people who have "great views of the people with great views".

I lived in Soho (when that meant nothing) during my comedy writer year but that had been done to death already. The hangout for my colloquy of "showbiz or nuthin'" pals was the rent-controlled palace of a segment-producer daughter of a Columbia prof on 109th St. and, even though everyone now knew the Upper West Side vibe from Seinfeld, nobody knew from Morningside Heights so i named it that. My CAA interview went poorly (altho i pitched GLASS - then not a musical - as my followup) and they didnt rep me but, when you name a work after a place, that place is kinda yours...


:hifive:   Nice!  I mean the V&T's part, not the CAA dummies.  St. John the Divine is a special place to me, too.

You probably noticed my typo on V&T's address, which should have been 111th and Amsterdam.  What I put in there, 122nd and Amsterdam, is actually where I lived, which was even sketchier, but we paid about $660 for a Columbia-subsidized two-BR, which was a good deal despite the cockroaches.  I haven't been back to Morningside Heights since...well, it might be since I graduated, 30 years ago.  Would be interesting to see the gentrification.  Just put my old address in to see what's around, and it's more like this now.  

 
Round 47/48

Dinner main course - Meatless - LAST CHANCE
Cookie - LAST CHANCE
Soup or stew

 


Rd 47, wikkid's Halloween chili, soup or stew.

sometimes food is sustenance, sometimes food is delight, sometimes food is joy...

my last serious girlfriend was a mess, but she was barely 30 when i was in my early 50s, so....though she was prone to misery, her life had kind of helped her toward it. she grew up on the rez in Tahlequah OK, went to school in Albq, met a nice fella with a good job (lineman for the phone company), married quickly and had a baby. but hubby got zapped on the job, leaving him a little crippled and a little brain-damaged and a LOT a bitter, drunken burden. she stuck with him for several years til his body quit.

she sucked it up and went to dealer's school, came to work at my casino, met a scumbag who knocked her up and wouldnt follow up and, after all that, she was worn down to the point where hookin' up with a paunchy but charming ol' weirdo didnt seem like such a bad idea.

her then-10yo son was very much a product of his circumstance, but was a lovely boy, though almost as sad as his mom. we hit it off right away and i hung around longer than i should only because of him. if i could manage it, i wasnt leaving til Michael could see life for the opportunities more than the burdens.

and part of this was social. while his father was alive, they never went anywhere and it was a bad idea to have anybody over and, almost as soon as he was out of that, everything was about his baby sister. so i immediately began taking him places, even to with-Dad functions waaaay too soon. Michael immediately perked up from his shyness and showed the same hidden brightness his mother possessed when we'd read animatedly together.

the payoff would be to have a big party and i could tell that the Halloween upcoming would be a great way to celebrate some hopefulness. his mother - who always busted her hump the way Mom's do, no matter how impossibly sad she was - outdid herself with the prep, Michael loved his costume but i sensed his was unsatisfied with sumn. turns out that, other than manipulations of frosting & such, he was disappointed that there was no honest orange&black food to serve his guests.

paunchy, charming weirdo to the rescue! i thought & thought, went out and bought some ground turkey, several cans of Liddy's unsweetened pumpkin, ancho chiles and black beans and some other aromatics (including traditional reddener, anato seed, tho it turns out the ancho was oranger than i thought) and tried a few batches (for some reason, dried black beans come out more purpley than black, so canned it was) until i had a pot of Halloween chili for his guests that fit Michael's party the way he dreamed it. i've been absentee father to two boys, so it was this that is the #1 Dad moment of my life. She moved back to the rez the next year, and all i get is a Christmas card from Michael now, but he's in his 20s, successful and happy by all accounts and i hope a perfect Halloween food had sumn to do widdat. nufced

 
RD 47: COOKIES - FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE-WALNUT COOKIES FROM FRANCOIS PAYARD

pic/recipe

my wife loves to bake and every Christmas we all get to pick 2 types of cookies - but one of them have to be a new one.

I tried these one year - they always get a call back. 

There’s the glossy, maple-brown top, bumped and cracked like parched earth. The taste memory of a thin, crackly shell caving into fudge-brownie middles with toasted walnut studs. 

 
Round 47 - Cookie - Nutter Butter directly off the assembly line so it was still warm in the middle

When I was a muckety-muck for the company that makes these, as part of the "due diligence" tour for a zilliion-dollar financing, I went to a factory where they were made and had one straight off the line so that the middle was still warm and gooey.  Never had a better cookie experience, and that includes also having another warm cookie straight off the line of the type that I can't believe hasn't been drafted and rhymes with Schmoreo.

 
Rd 48, Almond biscotti, dessert - cookie

me Ma drank a LOT of tea. she always had a smoker's energy (as did i - 2 packs for 40 yrs) but Mama Puleo wouldnt let her smoke and you did not #### with Mama Puleo. never punished nor raised a hand, but her care would instantly escalate until it simply overwhelmed. early in her work career, me Ma called in sick with a cold. upon hearing this, my nonni immediately launched into a thorough under-the-nightie physical of her foster child - a highly shocking thing to an Irish girl - palpating where others hands had never been, not even the nuns in the orphanage, then swaddled her in mountainous covers and noxious steam, adding insult to injury by tying a dirty sock stuffed with garlic around her neck. me Ma didnt call sick again til her late 80s.

my mother was orphaned at 15yo, the oldest of the kids. her Irish-twin brother hit the road - this was just before the war - her little sister was taken in by her best friend's fam and her 4yo brother was adopted by family friends. no one called for Gladys, tho - she was taken to a Catholic orphanage and if she wasnt claimed in 30 days, like lost & found, she would become a ward of the State. the other kids stole all her keepsakes from the old country in the first week and she had already begun counting the days til she was 18 when up the ward stormed a Sicilian dustdevil, lawyer in tow (she had a thing for making fusses at City Hall, so was well practiced at this) demanding to see "her Glada".

well, her Glada only kinda knew who she was. Mama Puleo was a neighbor lady whose dog me Ma had chased down for her when it ran away. ever since, whenever she'd pass the grand Puleo house on School St, the old lady would invite her in for milk & cookies and smile, nod & ramble in Italian to "maka nice" for the good deed. apparently, as soon as she heard from her daughter that Glada was at the orphanage, she endured weeks of red tape to rescue her. that beautiful brick house with the walled yard & trellises was her home til she married me Da 14 yrs later.

against me Da's objections, we moved back to Jamaica Plain as soon as he finished school (GIBill from Korea), but he'd be damned if he lived on the Puleo side of Washington St (the black side, now officially Roxbury) and we moved close to Ma's siblings on a nice, racist block. that made daily contact difficult, but Sundays were all Puleo. Even when those brick walls got graffitied and the surrounding neighborhood made it seem more a walled compound than Sicilian fairyland, Sundays were positively Godfather-y. Music, bocci, wine, friends & relatives, foodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfood. Nonni even had a dwarf variety-entertainer cousin, Johnny Puleo, who would play these Sundays when he was in town. 

anyway, me Ma was always sent away from Sunday gathering with a week's supply of her favorite thing to have with her tea, Mama Puleo's almond biscotti. this is one thing sis & i didnt have to worry about being thrashed for, cuz stealing these hardtack cookies that werent half as sweet as even Zwiebacks wasnt even a thought. funny thing was, Ma's ultimate way to show us favor was to put one of these rationed treats next to our home-from-school glass o' milk, when you might as well have given us moth balls.

but then we moved out to the burbs and Mama Puleo died (@93yo) not long after and me Ma cried a lot in the next year. when we realized she missed the biscotti almost as much as the ol' lady, we tried everything - buying em shops in the ol' neighborhood, mail order (PITA then), i think sis first started baking to try making em for Ma, but they are apparently very hard to get just right. to my knowledge, she never again had one that was juuuust right.

i didnt understand til i started drinking coffee. yeah, we dunked biscotti in our milk cuz we kinda had to to eat em, but it didnt work that good. dunk a perfect biscotti in a well-made hot beverage, however, and it opens to you in layers & textures like a risotto or a flower or Grace Kelly in your dreams. miss you, Ma. miss you, Nonna.

 
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47.  Soba Noodle Soup

I was saving this for the comfort food category but since that may never get rolled, I'll draft it as a soup. 

Asian ingredients were very hard to come by when I was growing up in 1960s Milwaukee.  My mom would get essentials like soy sauce at an international grocery in Walker's Point that mostly stocked Eastern European specialties but there was little demand for Japanese food.  We had to rely on the occasional care package that my Grandma Fumi sent us from Los Angeles.  Soba noodles were a big favorite that my mom rationed carefully, usually saving them for when somebody in the house was sick.

The taste of the buckwheat noodles in a dashi based broth always takes me back to my childhood.  They're readily available here and I always keep some on hand.  My mom used to make the broth using shaved bonito flakes but I use the powdered hondashi instead.

 
48.  Pfeffernüsse Cookies

These are my favorite Christmas cookies from the German side of my heritage.  It translates as "pepper nuts" and is basically a spice drop cookie covered in powdered sugar.  I always assumed it was some old family recipe but when I asked my cousins about them they'd never heard of them so it remains a mystery how it became a tradition with us.

I make a double batch every year and have perfected the recipe over time.  

Pfeffernüsse Cookies

Dry ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (can use black pepper)
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Wet ingredients
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 teaspoon anise extract (can substitute vanilla or whiskey)
3/4 cup chopped raisins (can use dried cranberries or a mix of the two).  Sprinkling a little flour on top makes it easier to chop the dried fruit without sticking.

After baking
Powdered sugar

---------------------------------

1. Combine dry ingredients and shake to distribute the spices

2. In another bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and molasses until smooth.  Add the eggs and anise extract.  Beat for another minute

3. Add the dry ingredients and dried fruit until just combined.  Don't overmix.

4. Chill the dough in the frig for a couple of hours

5. When ready to bake, pre heat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment.

6. Roll the dough into 1/2 inch balls.  Place cookies on baking sheet with at least 1 inch of space around them

7. Bake 15 min or until golden brown

8. Cool for 5 min.  Roll cookies in powdered sugar while still slightly warm

If you want a crunchier texture, leave out the fruit and increase oven temp from 325 to 350.

 
47  - cookie - Double Stuft Oreos covered in melted vanilla almond bark

Krista made a very subtle mention of Oreos and well, it started my salivary glands and now I can't get these out of my head. My wife makes them every christmas. It's just double stuf Oreos covered in vanilla almond bark, which I already wrote. You may think they sound too sweet (what?) and even more so when I tell you there are crumbled candy canes on the top, but you're wrong. And probably grouchy. 

 
Round 46: Giabusada (Swiss cabbage stew), stew

https://youtu.be/YgRUQVPR1zE

One of the few fine dishes I can make without leaning too heavily on my 3 x 5 notes.

I won't repeat the recipe linked to above, but let's just say that cabbage, flour,  lemon juice, white wine, bacon, pearl onions, heavy cream, and Gruyere are involved.

Typically not served with Sunday dinner because I've already eaten it all.

 
It probably wasn't statistically sound but I was expecting this draft to last around 35 rounds but here we are rolling for rounds 49 and 50.  We made it :towelwave:

Breakfast Hot - LAST CHANCE
Beverage Beer - LAST CHANCE
Herb - NEW

 

1d5, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 1
Roll subtotal: 1
Roll total: 1

1d10, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 1
Roll subtotal: 1
Roll total: 1

1d16, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 8
Roll subtotal: 8
Roll total: 8

 
I'm going to have to skip Round 41.  The lamb has been picked over, and I don't drink beer and I'm not that big on most pizza toppings.

Round 43 & 44  -  Cold beverages  -  Milk and Lemonade

I don't remember anyone taking this.  I do love moo juice.  And fresh squeezed lemonade.  Yum.  (But not at the same time.  That would be nasty.)

 
Rd 49 Bay laurel, herb

Well, youre lucky - i dont have a story about Nonni's magic herb garden or foraging for chickweed on the ol' family farm. The closest i got to an herb story is either the time we rented a summer cottage in Maine and 8yo wikkid ate soooo much of the mint growing wild around the house that i puked green for 3 days or, if seaweed counts, getting caught in a Donegal storm going out to pick carrageen to treat a cold and ending up with pneumonia.

There are shonuff sexier herb selections than the crusty ol' leaves you throw in a pot, but i'm one of those who think the runaway favorite Mexican herb is a little soapy on my tongue and i got a feeling there's at least one of you out there more invested in the big Italian leaf than i.

But i'm a sauce/soup guy and you just dont start a reduction without your aromatics, some pepper flakes & a bay leaf or twelve. even before blooming the spices, that's how you go. And bay is the evening, brightening, deepening counterflavor in making anything from green chile, my favorite flavor in the world. so call me herb champion and place a laurel on my head - i got a use for it.

 
RD 49: BEVERAGE/HOT - ITALIAN RESTAURANT ESPRESSO AFTER A NICE MEAL

I checked and was surprised to see "Espresso" was still available!

for years I didn't drink coffee in the morning - but did enjoy a nice espresso after a big meal

these days I drink 2 - 3 big cups of black coffee a day

 
49 - Herb - Basil (Italian)

Lot's of great herbs out there, but I'm going to take basil first because of its versatility. You can put it on pizza or pasta, make a delicious pesto or just mix it into some red sauce, or make it into a salad dressing. It can make a chimichurri for steak, an herb infused oil, or a compound butter (try this with corn on the cob). It goes great with meats, pastas, and seafoods. You can even use it in drinks and desserts. It even cooperates by being easy to grow, even indoors, and growing from seed to harvest in less than a month. I love you, basil. 

 
48 - Soup or Stew - Sarah's Baked Potato Soup

If I took potato skins it's only natural that I love baked potato soup too (and I do). Much like potato skins, it's extremely rare that I've ever had a bad bowl or cup of baked potato soup, but my wife Sarah's is my favorite for one simple reason: black pepper. Every cream soup I've ever had, be it baked potato, clam chowder (I also drafted) or other, I've had to add copious amounts of pepper. She just puts all that peppery goodness in right from the jump. And also I think she uses some tricks to make it less full of fat and thus less likely to kill me without losing any of the flavor (and she may be starting a food blog soon! Stay tuned!)

 
49 - Herb - Basil (Italian)

Lot's of great herbs out there, but I'm going to take basil first because of its versatility. You can put it on pizza or pasta, make a delicious pesto or just mix it into some red sauce, or make it into a salad dressing. It can make a chimichurri for steak, an herb infused oil, or a compound butter (try this with corn on the cob). It goes great with meats, pastas, and seafoods. You can even use it in drinks and desserts. It even cooperates by being easy to grow, even indoors, and growing from seed to harvest in less than a month. I love you, basil. 


no doubt ...we don't grow a ton of things ...but basil is always on the list

chocolate basil is pretty good too ...and chives ...always

 
I'm going to have to skip Round 41.  The lamb has been picked over, and I don't drink beer and I'm not that big on most pizza toppings.

Round 43 & 44  -  Cold beverages  -  Milk and Lemonade

I don't remember anyone taking this.  I do love moo juice.  And fresh squeezed lemonade.  Yum.  (But not at the same time.  That would be nasty.)


You drafted oatmeal and Cream of Wheat pancakes in rounds 43 & 44

 
Round 49 - Hot Breakfast - Nasi Goreng

As has been evident in my picks, we used to travel SE Asia a lot, primarily to eat.  I'm not a breakfast person at home (except when stealing biscuits and gravy from wikkid), but one of my favorite aspects of many SE Asian cuisines is their breakfasts.  Given me a Asian noodle or a fried rice dish for breakfast, and I won't need another meal until dinner.  I'm choosing the Indonesian version of fried rice that is usually eaten at breakfast, but I'd take any of them.

 
Round 49 - Hot Breakfast - Nasi Goreng

As has been evident in my picks, we used to travel SE Asia a lot, primarily to eat.  I'm not a breakfast person at home (except when stealing biscuits and gravy from wikkid), but one of my favorite aspects of many SE Asian cuisines is their breakfasts.  Given me a Asian noodle or a fried rice dish for breakfast, and I won't need another meal until dinner.  I'm choosing the Indonesian version of fried rice that is usually eaten at breakfast, but I'd take any of them.
As a non-traditional breakfast fan Asian breakfast food sounds intriguing to me. I'd love to down some asian noodles or rice when I get up way more than pancakes or eggs. 

 
Rd 50 - Superior, beer

This out-of-print Mexican beer saved my life once. Second time i went to Cabo - 1981, i remember the "Sadat Shot" headline on the mid-day edition (remember editions?) of the LATimes when we switched planes - was very different from the year before. i had gone with some Santa Fe buddies, did a lot of fishing (i hooked a shark and it was the hardest i ever worked), had a lot of fun.  but i thought it would also work as a romantic destination - believe it or not, only 2 hotels in town then - and had a lady friend i thought would appreciate it.

Problem was, we flew in thru the eye of a hurricane. Caused problems getting there - the main terminal at the airport was a circus tent then and our porter got swamped twice getting our luggage and the ride from San Jose was a movie in itself - but watching the end of a hurricane play out from our cabana was ultra.

First clear day we had the 2nd greatest vacation experience of my life (singing Brahms Lullaby to a naked German girl on a Greek beach and then scootering around Rhodes with her for 3 days was #1) - swimming with about 40 seals near the end of the harbor. We'd had that treat because no fishing boats were going out with the post-hurricane water so high, so the hotel gave us a canoe to explore. For days, we couldnt go out on the open seas until one greedy ******* agreed to take us and a French tourist out on Day 4 for an exorbitant rate.

Boy, did i find out why - the seas were still actual seas. I almost immediately got sick, then sicker, then sickest, then more physically distressed by illness than during either of my heart attacks. And the damn Frenchman wouldnt let us turn back cuz he'd paid so much to go out (i think he spent 45 seconds total in the chair - everything had run too far south). i prayed for God to take me and, if it wasnt for the case of Superior that gave me something to spew, i think i would have dove in to find Davy Jones locker.

For some reason, i became more fiercely loyal to that beer - a nice, clean lager - than i'd ever been to any brand of any kind, for the rest of my time in NM. It wasnt sold in the next places i lived, when i returned to NM in the 90s it was no longer imported and went out of business soon after. But it will always mean sumn to me.

 
50.  Red Flannel Hash (Hot Breakfast)

Corned (or roast) beef hash with the crucial addition of beets.  It's the best use of leftover beets I know of.  They add a subtle sweetness that works well with the savory and potatoey flavors of the hash.  Plus they make everything else on the plate red.   Bonus points for having a cool name.

 
Round 50 - Herb - Italian (flat-leaf) Parsley

Sure, it sounds boring on its own, but it's the basis of most great sauces and bases, from chimichurri to gremolata to salsa verde to tabbouleh to pesto to every sachet of herbs you use in soup or stock to 25% of a Simon & Garfunkel hit.  There's no cuisine or awful folk song that parsley doesn't headline.

 
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Round 51 & 52

Dinner main course - Beef
Beverage - non-alcoholic, cold = LAST CHANCE
Fruit - Raw


 

1d4, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 1
Roll subtotal: 1
Roll total: 1

1d8, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 3
Roll subtotal: 3
Roll total: 3

1d15, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 6
Roll subtotal: 6
Roll total: 6

 
There's the beef!!!
Where's the beef? No greater indicator that this wonderful exercise is washed than that the ultimate flavor category, that we've been waiting for two months to weigh in on has been on the board for 12 hours without a...............bite. Did i run everybody off with my Chronicles of Gordo?

I'm not a gourmand (smoked taste buds), not a slab guy (cutting stuff up is a crucial part of my cooking), wont pay beaucoup bucks to have the "best" of anything cuz i'm an ol' Commie, dont know my aging & marbling & fat molecules. What i do know is that i lost most of my teeth to drug use and dont wear my uppers unless i absolutely have to and it blows me away that i can go to a restaurant and order a ribeye and be able to consume it with just the 6 bottom teeth i have left in me Gulliver it's so tender. One of life's great marvels......

My 2nd 50 begins, however, with Rd 51, the wikkid family standing ribroast of Christmas Day 2020, Dinner main-course, beef. my oldest e-friend, @geewill - who i met on Fanball and who brought me to FFA - apparently wondered how our family Christmas would go the first holiday season after my mother's passing and anonymously sent the most beautiful roast to the house about ten days ahead (he forgot how few friends i have and got guessed out) to ensure we'd have a righteous feast.

You shoulda seen me with this thing. Watched about 40 youtube vids about thawing, drying, aging, cooking inside out or outside in, etc etc, when i didnt even have a meat thermometer. But i did it right somehow and me & me Da & me Sis said grace (me Da staring at me the whole time, guessing that my gay lover must have sent me meat cuz he blames gays for hurricanes and all kindly sentiments) around a truly celebratory mountain of flesh that we enjoyed in many homosexual ways. God bless us, everyone!

Internet friendships mostly mystify me to this day. It works well for me because, in social settings, human beings arent substantial enough to keep my interest for long and i end up either silently grumping over how pathetic they are or sucking all the oxygen out of the room and resenting everyone for making me. That's why i have so few friends that i guessed geewill's lovely gesture out. But i remember chatting with him while he did the gameday injury updates every NFL Sunday for Fanball with his infant son in his arms and glory when he sends me pix now of him visiting his li'l baby in college. And i'm thankful for friendships of all kinds, even longterm, unrequited, gay, meat-based internet ones. nufced

 
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51.  Beef Tongue

Tongue is the only meat that tastes you back.   I love its melt in your mouth texture and the flavor that's free of any of the weird tastes of other organ meats. 

It's a pain to prepare at home and I'm the only one who likes it so it's a restaurant only delicacy for me but there. That's mostly taquerias these days, If lengua is on the menu then it's also on my tacos or burritos. There aren't many other places that serve it.  Chris Cosentino's Incanto used to specialize in offal but its menu went more mainstream before it eventually closed.  I had an exceptional smoked tongue at Hayes Street Grill decades ago and have enjoyed it grilled as yakitori in a couple of izakaya spots in town.

 
Round 51 - Beef main course - Steak frites at Le Relais de Venise, Paris

They have only one thing on the menu, their "Entrecote Porte Maillot" in a green sauce.  You line up well in advance of their opening, then you sit down and they yell at you and you can kinda say you want it medium rare or whatever but it all seems to come out the same no matter what you say.  You also get frites and salad for the table, and if your French is adequate enough you rustle up some wine.  They yell at you some more if you want a dessert, but somehow the profiteroles are worth it.

 
I'm several picks behind because I find it difficult to work a Google doc and a 50-page FFA thread on a mobile device while inclined and trying to determine my debts. I'll rectify soon, but I'm going to pounce on the beef 

Round 51: Tortas, beef

Skirt steak a la fajita beef, refried beans, guacamole, chimichurri,  and all kinds of other stuff packed in a griddled bollio roll.

If makings Tortas: I roll my own marinade; make my own refried beans from scratch; guacamole is homemade;  and of course I make my own chimichurri. I usually take the path of least resistance with green chiles and lean on off the shelf varieties. 

Last but not least, I scan the pantry and fridge for ingredients looking for a new home. Like say, French's fried onions, or sun-dried tomatoes (tread lightly).

Serve with a side of (intentionally) microwaved nachos. Just thick tostado chips covered in cheese (cheddar and/or jack) and nuked until very crisp. Topped with sour cream and chilled, homemade pico de gallo.

 
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Rd 52 - (tie) Strawberrys & clotted cream, Fruit - raw and Guava nectar, beverage - cold

i'm taking both because i cant have the delectable strawberry not be in the top 1000 foods, but the only story i have about the luscious fruit is giving Scary Mary sex hives with em and no one should hear about that. Actually, i have no story about guava nectar either but can say it is a terrible food product which makes the perfect alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktail. The southwest and Mexico is lousy w canned guava nectar but it shouldnt be cuz it has the sugar of about 100 Cokes in it. however, it makes the perfect base for a cold drink. Splash an inch of it into a cocktail glass, fill the rest with ice, a sparkling water that's on the metallic side like Perrier and the juice of a lime and you have the perfect drink for a hot day. add vodka, tequila (rips my tummy, so no) or rum and you have the perfect cocktail for a hot day. add a tall blonde with strawberry sex hives and you have a perfect hot day.

 
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Note to Self: I owe the following picks.

Round 20:   Breakfast cold --- Beverage - liquor neat    --- Fast food

Round 26:   Dinner main dish-Shellfish --- Dessert-Cookie --- Fruit-Cooked

Round 46:   Lunch-Sandwich --- Dessert-Pie & Pastry --- Food you can't stand

Round 47:   Dessert-Cookie --- Dinner main course-Meatless --- Soup or stew

Round 49:   Beverage-non-alcoholic, hot --- Beverage-beer --- Herb

Round 50:  Beverage-non-alcoholic, hot --- Beverage-beer --- Herb

Round 51:   Dinner main course-Beef    --- Beverage-non-alcoholic, cold --- Fruit - Raw --- Make right pick; I drafted tortas in round 11.

Round 52:   Dinner main course-Beef    --- Beverage-non-alcoholic, cold --- Fruit - Raw

 
When Radiohead came to Portland in 2017, it was the first time they were in the Rose City in over 20 years.  Thom addressed that lengthy absences mid-show by apologizing and simply saying "we were a little busy", which was met with a hearty round of laughter.

Well, I was certainly not as busy as Thom Yorke and his band, but the month of March was a bit of a whirlwind for me.  But I'm back and ready to roll!

**Cracks Knuckles, Moves Neck Around Like a Swimmer Before a Race**

31 - Beverage - Wine - Rosé

Originally, I bought a bottle as a bit of a joke to see how my friends would respond to a traditional beer swigging dude carting around a glass of pink wine.  Well, joke was on me because I absolutely LOVE a good Rosé - dry over sweet, but I'm not too picky.  The quality available for under $15 a bottle is just astounding to me.  The problem is I can drink a bottle in under an hour and it turns me into a dunderhead, but I could easily make this my forever drink and be just fine for life. 

32 - Dinner Main Course - Noodle - Crab Pad Thai from the defunct Typhoon!

Well, the restaurant had to close their doors under very ugly circumstances, but my god did they serve up some of the freshest and best crab pad Thai I've ever had.  There's a new Thai restaurant where this location used to be and they also have the same dish, but it's not even close to as good as its predecessor.  

33 - Cheese - Asiago 

That sneaky ******* Frosty took my Tillamook Extra Sharp White Cheddar, which is the zenith of mass produced store cheeses, but I'm happy to select Asiago, which I absolutely love.  Give me some nice asiago and a sleeve of Saltines and I'm the happiest camper on the planet.

34 - Breakfast - Hot - Country Benedict from Six Corners Cafe

Split biscuit topped with sausage, scrambled egg, cheddar, country gravy and comes with THE BEST hash browns I've ever had.  I whip it all around with some Tabasco and a TON of black pepper.  When my doctor asks why I don't seem to do anything about my weight problem, the answer is this breakfast dish which is fine.  I'd rather be portly and happy than slim and severe.  Give me my gravy!

35 - Main Dish Chicken - Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Thighs 

Back before my oldest left for college and all three of our little kids ate chicken, I spent a lot of time marinating and grilling chicken breasts to use for fill in the blank - burritos, taco salads, nachos...a very utilitarian protein that made for very nice and easy leftover lunches for me at work.  But now that 2 of the littles are vegetarians and it's really just me, son 2 and one of the twins eating meat, I've switched over to chicken thighs on the skillet and boy, was that ever a terrific idea!  So much easier, less expensive and sooooooooooooo good.  I just season the thighs with some salt spiced rubs, brown them up a little, remove, slice up, return to the skillet and add some sort of sauce to it - hoisin sauce or a chili lime or something.  Just fabulous and I may never go back to breasts (wait).

36 - Appetizers - Fried Mozzarella Cheese Sticks with Marinara 

Nobody took this?  Really?  Man, I could eat these all day long.  And I'm sure that when I order them from TGIFApplebeesChilis or where ever that they come right out of a frozen box, but jimmy crack corn and I don't care, I could inhale 8 of them in under 3 minutes. 

37 - Dessert - Cookie - Double Chocolate Chip Cannabis Cookies w/ Coconut Cannabis Oil

With marijuana now legal in many states and certainly legal in Oregon I have tried my hand at baking with cannabis and if I may be so bold, have gotten quite good at it.  I have a friend who grows it organically and gifts me his flower in exchange for paying his fantasy baseball dues every year and buying him beers after he beats me at disc golf.  I have found that making coconut oil with cannabis yields a very pleasant, very solid, long lasting buzz that doesn't make you want to curl up in the fetal position and curse the edible that rendered you catatonic.   I'll put my vegan double chocolate chip cannabis cookies up against anybody in the industry right now.  I use chili pepper infused dark chocolate and a touch of sea salt at the end.  If this were a Girl Scout Cookie, there would be a merit badge named after me.  

38 - Condiment - Spicy Harrisa Mayo from Whole Foods

The king of condiments:  https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/whole-foods-market-spicy-mayonnaise-112-fl-oz-b07fwn33wh

39 - Sausage - Spicy Hungarian Sausage from Meating Place PDX

I have been blessed on two occasions to receive sausage in the mail from two different FBGs:  @strykerpks and @Aloof both sent me incredible sausage from their home states (Wisconsin and Bama) and both were incredible.  Portland isn't known for their cured and smoked meats like other regions, but Meating Place PDX does a remarkable job with their sausage offering.  The spicy Hungarian is just incredible.

40 - Beverage - Liquor Cocktail - Pitcher of Homemade Frozen Margaritas

  • 8 ounces Blanco tequila
  • 4 ounces simple syrup
  • 3 ounces Cointreau
  • 4 ounces lime juice
  • Zest of one lime
  • 4 cups ice
  • Flake salt, for glass, optional

    Blend.  Enjoy.  Don't drive.
 
51 - Beef - Prime Rib at Christmas Eve made by my mom

I love prime rib. It's my death row meal. I've done the all you can eat prime rib at restaurants, which always sucks by the third piece when they give you the baby piece and then stall, and i've done every restaurant from a five star with the rock salt crust to multiple dives in Northern Minnesota who always seem to have prime rib as their speical Friday and Saturday nights which is just as good. But the truly best prime is my moms for xmas eve dinner. 

She does not have a super special recipe, but she spends all day cooking this and is 100 percent convinced she overcooked it all day an is then 100 percent sure she undercooked it once she slices it. 

It's always perfect. No matter how many times we tell her, she is always convinced she did it wrong. As we fight over the last piece, she's apologizing for under/over cooking it. It's crazy. And it's tradition. And even if it wasn't perfect it would still be perfect. 

 
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