Couple of events in early November...
Punkin Chunkin 2010
It was the 25th anniversary of
Punkin' Chunkin'. I went with Jonathan, who lives in Washington DC. It's a 3 hour drive from there to Delaware. The trip was very fun. The weather was good with the exception of a strong, cold wind. it was rainy on the couple of days before, so the field was a bit muddy, but it was mostly dried up by noon. I made some video, but I couldn't really get very close, and also I'm not a talented photographer.
My YouTube video list for Punkin' Chunkin'
Cherpumple!
Christi and I made a Cherpumple on our last Shadowrun night. If you are wondering what a Cherpumple is, it's a cherry pie baked into and chocolate cake, a pumpkin pie baked into a yellow cake, an apple pie baked into a spice cake, with these 3 stacked as a layer cake iced with cream cheese icing. We had a good test run for Shadowrun, but I think with lessons learned, we will have a very strong attempt for the big show (ie: Thanksgiving at Mom's house).
If you are interested in photos of the event, Christi took some:
Christi's Facebook photos
Good trip to Seattle last week. I got to see in person for the first time, 10 people I've know pretty well for many years.
It's always really wierd to hear voices you know realy well actually coming out of some guy's face right over there. :)
Also got to see JoPe the Magnificent for the first time in 4 years! We went to a couple of two-man shows.
I've never done that before, but it was pretty fun.
So I had some cool and interesting food while there.
Kevin Rose lives in Capitol Hill, and he took Scott, Skip, and Jordan out to this place the last time they wer out in Seattle.
They still have not stopped raving about it. It was very good. I think it did pretty well living up to the hype, though
nothing could quite match that hype. :) I got the Tuna (tonno in itlaian) pizza, because I haven't seen one of those since
Brasil. It was good, but not exactly the same as the Brasilian version. Kevin's order was the best (Misdto Salumi, which
is a mix of sausages. Not over piled, very tastefully done.). That' what I would get next time.
We walked around Capitol Hill before an after diner. It's quite a nice place for that kind of thing. One of the local
eateries there is Molly Moons. We went there for desert after diner. This place was crazy original and crazy good. I pride
myself on trying any bizarre flavor combinations that I find around, and this place delivered on that. They have lots
of ice cream flavors I had never thouht of at all, and I didn't taste any where I thought they were wrong. They have regular
vanilla and chocolate done wel, but they also have some creative flavors like "Balsamic Strawberry", "Honey Lavender", "Ginger",
"Sweet Basil", and "Salted Caramel". I wen there twice and both times they had a completely different set of "Seasonal" flavors.
The first time they had a seasonal "Sweet Corn" flavor, and a special sundae called "The Guadalajara". The Guadalajara was...
- Sweet Corn Ice Cream
- Brown Butter Drizzle
- Powered Chili Pepepr Blend
- Parmesian Cheese
It was delicious, as strange as it sounds.
I've tried to get to this landmark several times on different visits to Seatle. It's actually right next to the hotel
we always use, though I didn't know it. Due to it's origins, it doesn't really stick out as a restaurant. You see, this place
started out as an Auto Repair shop run by a Lousiana transpant in the area. Apparently, he liked smoking, so he setup a smoker
at his shop to make lunch for himself and his employees. The story goes he also gave some to customers, then started selling
it to the customers. Pretty soon the BBQ was making way more money than the Auto Repaier part, so he put so much time there, he
closed down the Auto Repair part.
The Current state is just as colorful as it's origins. The guy's wife lords over the order counter and kitchen shouting
equally at worker and customer as anyone makes the slightest mis-step in protocol. (think soup nazi from Seinfeld). Once you
reach a certain area in line, you better have your order ready or leave. When you reach the cash register, you better have your
cash (cash only, no credit cards or checks) ready or you can get out. When your food is placed on the counter, you better
pick it up instantly, or you get an earful about holding up her line.
The food is way worth it, though. I had the "520 special", which is a sandwich (hoagie roll) with hotlink and pork. The Hotlink
was great, and the pork incredible. I would hesitate to call it "chopped pork" as it was kind of in three quarter to inch cubes.
I was smoked perfectly, then stewwed in a delicious BBQ sauce. The sandwich was piled too high to pick up, so you have to knife
and fork it. My mouth is watering now.
Saddly, the guy who opened it died a year or two ago. He was famed for going around the place with a pan of his famous hot sauce
(called "The Man") asking people if they ever "Met the Man". If you said no, then he would laddle the sauce over your food.
Apparently this searingly hot sauce was a right of passage, and you would get a bumper sticker saying "I met the Man and Dixie's BBQ".
Some report that they don't miss that, because you couldn't taste anything but pain whne he laddled the Man on your food. :)
This one I found in the
RoadFood
website. It had the highest ratings in the Kirkland area. It was definitely good. Apparently it's been running for
70+ years, the same way. This is what a place like Captain D's aspires to and will never reach. If you like fried seafood,
this is the place to go.
I'm enamored of the Teriyaki restaurant, which is a style of place that is very common in the Northwest States, but is not
to be found in the Southeast. I like the simple, but still cheap style of food. It seems the only places in the southeast
where you can find Teriyaki, are sushi places, where you get a tiny portion and pay $20 for it. In the Seattle area, you
can find a plate of Teriyaki with Rice, that is a nice sized portion for $5-7. It's kind of a Japanese/Korean fast food.
I'm not sure why JoPe chose this particular place, but it was quite good. I got a chicken beef combo and some gyoza, both
tasty. JoPe got the Spicy Chicken. I tried some of his, and it was incredible. It was very tasty, but
hot,
but tasty... and
hot, but tasty... and
hot. Even the cajun JoPe wasn't able to finish his serving for the
heat, but it was very tasty.
Another successful
MidSouthCon
in Memphis. Inigo and Lamarr made it again from St. Louis with new editions Meikser and Toger. We also brought along Connor and Phillip. Unfortunately, Meiksie and Toger had to jet back before the con, but the rest of us managed to have a great time anyway. Our Memphis friend David was missing, but most everyone else was there. We got some great games of "Are You a Werewolf?". It's very hard to do normally, since you have to have a minimum of 7, but it's much better to have around 15. We had 8 in our party, so it was easy to start, and we were able to get lots more people to join in.
I got to meet James Ernest who is the creator of
Cheapass Games.
I went to a panel where he was going to discuss his upcoming game release "Casino" and generally about game design. There were only 4 of us to listen in on the panel, so we just played the pre-release version of the game he had with him, while we asked him questions. That was really cool.
I have had many people tell me about the BBQ place
Rendezvous
in the past when I talked about going to Memphis to eat BBQ. This time I made the guys go with me there so we could try it. This was only an issue because we have been going to
Cozy Corner
every time we go to Memphis. Now I can say unequivocally that those guys and the FoodTV guys that rave on Rendezvous have really not done their homework. Rendezvous was good, but not really in the same class as Cozy Corner. I guess it is on Beale Street, so it's easy for tourists to access, but it's not as good as Cozy Corner.
