Worst Green Foods

I've seen some awful pictures of green food for St. Patrick's Day, but these take the cake.

1) Skyline Chili - People are pretty divided on chili and cheese on pasta (I'm generally in favor, because Real Chili in DT Milwaukee is the real deal), but this looks....unappealing.


2) Green Brats - Thinking of firing up the grill today with some homemade sausage? Maybe try to make them not look like a turd.


3) Green Eggs and Ham - I know it's cute and Dr. Seussy, but it looks like it came out of one end of your body. Just not sure which end.

Pepper Pain

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to get domestic and make some homemade salsa. I had done it before with various types of peppers - jalapeno, serrano, poblano - but nothing too crazy. I decided to buy two habaneros yesterday to add a little extra kick to the salsa because, you know, YOLO, as the kids say.

Bad idea.

I didn't even get the pepper into the salsa before trouble reared its ugly head. I had the windows open in the kitchen and my allergies had been kicking in a little bit, so while dicing the pepper, I had to wipe my nose.

Oops.

The pain slowly crept into my nose, and then flooded its way into my sinus cavity. The numbness began to overtake my face - it was a weird feeling to describe - but after a while, I was able to look up a method to alleviate the pain.

Google suggested I use corn starch. I obviously didn't have any, so I just covered my face in flour. Seemed like the logical thing to do. I looked like an idiot, but it kind of worked? Or maybe, it had a placebo effect, and I thought it was working, and calmed down.

My face was numb/tingling for about an hour. I wouldn't recommend it. Kids, don't mess with peppers.

Wheelbarrow food

I was at Lambeau Field on Saturday for what proved to be quite an experience. Sure, the Badgers somehow beat LSU in front of 80,000 people, but the main event is what happened in the parking lots prior to (and after) the event.

I had some gumbo, which was delightful, but I was introduced to something called boudin and ate in the best possible way: out of a wheelbarrow. Some guy was hauling around a big batch of it in a (relatively clean) plastic wheelbarrow, and who am I to question his methods?

I didn't get a picture (one of the great regrets of my life) but I did find this website that explained what it was.

Presentation: Wrapped in butcher paper and placed in a brown paper bag at the register. (Or in my case, eaten out of a wheelbarrow)
Casing: Moist, yet breakable.
Rice/Meat Ratio: Excellent.  More meat than rice.  Good meat without much grease.
Texture: The rice was well cooked and not broken into bits.  It retained its form.  Meat appeared in small pieces providing a good feel and some body. Bits of green onion throughout add to the color of the product.
Spices: A subtle mild spiciness.  The heat from the red pepper grew after each bite but was never “hot.”

This is an artful way to describe boudin, but it is 100% accurate.

Deaf by Spice?

I like spicy food, but I'm not an idiot.

Suicide Squad

I went and saw "Suicide Squad" on Saturday afternoon, because I'm into superhero movies and there had been a good deal of hype surrounding the movie. Let's just say, looking back on it, it was...disappointing.

The visual effects were good, the characters were cool, but the plot was...lacking.

SPOILER ALERT here, but if you've seen it, this video is fantastic.

Hot Chicken

I love getting unique food whenever I'm in new places, and I knew one of the places I wanted to stop on my trip to Alabama was in Nashville for hot chicken. Now, we found a little hole-in-the-wall place (that had great reviews on Yelp) so my brother and I decided to stop.

They had four levels of spice on the menu - mild, medium, spicy, and extra hot. I wanted to be adventurous, but I also wanted to be able to feel my face so I went with medium. It was an excellent choice. Flavorful, but with a good kick.

My 22-year old brother on the other hand, went with "spicy" and when the waitress laughs when the white kid from the North orders, you know it might be have a little kick. About 40 napkins, a gallon of tears and an extra stop at McDonalds for vanilla ice cream, I think the burn finally subsided.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably choose the same thing. My brother, probably not so much.

SHARKNADO 4

That's right. The movie you've all been waiting for.

(I actually haven't seen any of them. Shhhh.)