Why I Oughta...

With a little bit of help, The Babe bested me in this water-gun shooting game on the Disney Boardwalk in Orlando.  This was our first visit to the Boardwalk area - and we came just for dinner -but it sure feels like it won't be our last.  There's an ESPN restaurant, a couple of hotels and a brewery...which is where we went for dinner.  

We spent the past week on Oglethorpe Drive and had a pretty amazing, relaxing vacation.  Now on to the circus in Florida!

Central Grocery is a small Italian grocery store in the French Quarter in New Orleans.  I was down there this week for a conference and this was on my 'NOLA Bucket List' as this is the HOME of the original Muffaletta sandwich.  These beauties are stuffed with cheese, salamis and most importantly: olive salad.  I've had plenty of Muffalettas and I don't know if it was because I was eating this one in the store where it all began - but this was the *best* sandwich of it's kind that I've ever had. The store itself isn't much to look at.  It really is a grocery store with canned/jarred products everywhere.  Nat and I had a discussion about this type of place (the sort of local 'food touchstone' that tourists seek out - like Pat's/Gino's in Philadelphia or Uno's in Chicago).  Do you think that they had some great PR person back in the day who got them in travel books (before the web) and then it sort of self-propagated itself?  Or...do you

While Nat came away with a little loveseat/couch, a shirt, and a neat map to go on our wall, all I got from Shipshewana was these 4 tire valve chromies.  At least that's what we used to call them when we were young and attempted to steal them off of cars in the Apples Grocery Store parking lot so we could put them on our bmx's. Ever been to the Shipshewana Flea Market ?  It's billed as the "Midwest's Largest".    This was (at least) my second visit.  And I tell you what....I wasn't that impressed.  Loads of junk.  Absolute junk.  All the action is in the auction barn where they're hording all the good stuff including furniture and such.   I don't think we need to go back for a while just because the booths were full of a lot of nothing, but the Amish are kinda interesting to gawk at, though.

We went out plum picking at Jollay's in Michigan this weekend and came across these things: They're called Donut Peaches or Saturn Peaches.  They (apparently) came from China more than 100 years ago and gained some popularity in the 1990's.  I don't remember ever hearing about them, but seeing them on the tree, they're kind of a novelty.   Seems like it would be a fun tree to grow in the yard - especially because they're described as 'frost hardy' .

They sure do love their Ben Franklin in this town.  (and..so does the Babe!) Here she is at Ben's grave.

I come down squarely on the side of Pat's in the Geno's/Pat's debate.  Isn't even close.

I spent the better part of this week in our nation's capitol and with the projects on my plate, it appears that we'll be getting closely acquainted.  I've been to DC only a handful of times and I can start to get used to the place.

Recently, I took the bus from San Francisco to the company headquarters in Mountain View.  This was the bus stop in the morning.  Makes it easy to get up and go to the office, I bet. 

Have you been in the new Terminal 2 at SFO?  It is home to American Airlines and Virgin America and it is spectacular.  Well...at least as far as airport terminals go it is. The chairs are nice.  The outlets are plentiful.  The bathrooms are spacious and clean.  But the best part?  They have a candy place called Natalie's Candy Jar.  I *had* to stop by on my flight out.  They weren't open when I was departing, but I told the guy in the store that I couldn't go home without some over-priced by-the-weight candy.  After a bit of negotiations, I boarded with a small bag of licorice.  Mission accomplished. 

On Alan Richman's big GQ list of the Top pizza joints in the country , Buddy's in Detroit came in at #15.  I had NOT been to any of the places on the list despite the top choice being in Chicago (Great Lake), so a visit to Buddy's was going to be my first rare-air experience in the world of pizza. A few weeks back, I was set to have a meeting with a Google Exec and an editor up in Detroit - and I made the executive decision to have the meeting over lunch at Buddy's.  Everyone agreed to meet there and I have to say: this was the best pizza I've ever had in my entire life.  Seriously.  It was that good. *UPDATE on Feb 3, 2012*  I recently decided to try my hand at making Buddy's pizza at home.  To that end,  bought 2  Detroit-style Blue Steel Pizza Pans  and changed my recipe a bit. The GQ list isn't the first time Buddy's has been recognized, but being a high-brow list, it is great to see a place like this able to make it.  That photo is the side t

Back in November, I shared a moment of enlightenment about various styles/types of pizza.  Specifically, after reading a book about pizza, I came across a list of terms defined including Sicilian and Grandma pizza styles.  The 2 descriptions can be found on my post:  Sicilian vs. Grandma Pizza . Up until this week, the discussion was completely academic because I hadn't been to a place that had them side-by-side.  That's no longer the case.  While in NYC this week, I stopped by a slice joint and came across both of them right next to each other.  That's the Sicilian on the right and the Grandma on the left.  With both, you pick your slice and they throw it into a faux-wood-burning oven that is really just an open gas burner to reheat your slice.  I really don't love this whole reheating process, but it seems it is the way New Yorkers roll. See how much thinner the Grandma pie is?  They're both cut into "squares" - really rectangles - and the edges are c

I spent a part of past week up in Minneapolis where - in addition to reminiscing about my days of selling drywall screws in the Twin Cities - I also spent some time with reporters teaching a "Google 101 for Journalists" at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  Like other papers (Hello, Chicago Sun-Times!), the Star Tribune started as two independent Newspapers called the Minneapolis Star and Minneapolis Tribune .  Interestingly enough, their building reflects those independent roots.  Notice the "and". Still not as cool as the Columbus Dispatch sign , though.

When we were up in Holland a last week, I made it clear that we had but one option for dinner that night: Fricano's, Too . We'd walked past it over the summer and I posted a shot of their sign which boasted that they were home to "The Original and Most Famous Pizza in Michigan".  At some point, someone chimed in with a comment on that original post shaming me for not going.  You should've made room for a Fricano's pizza that day! None of this American-ized, three-inch-thick, beef stew on a dough disc nonsense here! Fricano's are paper thin, 12" only, a little burnt around the edge of the home made crust, and is the best pizza you'll ever eat. I challenge you to NOT eat a whole one yourself! So...we went.  And, guess what?  It kind of sucked.  Maybe "sucked" is too harsh a word, but I have NO NEED to ever go back. It seems that this place has grown over the years and is clearly very popular with the locals.  We were there on a Tu

Look what showed up in the mail over the weekend!   My press pass for the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.  I'm lucky enough to be able to staff our execs during the press days in early January.  (and...if you look closely...you'll see the dreaded 1 R!) This *has* to be one of my favorite things I get to do -  this "early" peek at the show during the press days - ahead of the general public. While it isn't as cool as CES , the Detroit auto show is plenty geeky for me.

I've previously disclosed that although I'm a Sirius/XM subscriber, I'm really just subscribing because of Howard Stern.  My dark secret (that I'm a HUGE Stern guy) is out there and Nat hates for me to tell people.  In fact, I hesitate to tell most people - mostly because I know that somewhere in their head they're judging me and thinking that I'm some sort of gross dude.  Yesterday, I found myself in the car driving to Detroit in the morning, which allowed me to listen to the entire show.  But, I also had to drive partially back home last night and because there wasn't anything fresh on Howard 100, I was left to fend for myself among the music stations.  And....guess what?  Outlaw Country didn't let me down.  Yup.  That's Dolly covering Led Zeppelin.  Guess if Stern decides to pack it in, I'll have to give a second thought to deleting my subscription after all. 

Some smart cookies down in Columbia, I tell you!

Jackstack is what I think most people would call bourgeois bbq.  This isn't a dirty hole-in-the-wall order-at-the-counter bbq joint.  This is upscale.  And, most importantly, it is dee-licious. Once again, I went with burnt ends.  Jackstack's were HUGE chunks of meat that weren't slathered in too much sauce.  The meat was good and plentiful, but the sides shine as much as the main course at Jackstack.  The cheesy corn bake was my favorite, while Nat went with the cheesy potato bake.  BBQ is at the heart of the city of Kansas City, but it is clear by the success of this place, even the folks way out in the suburbs want some of that sweet meat, too!

Anthony Bourdain has a list of 13 places everyone must try before they die that includes a place called Oklahoma Joe's BBQ in Kansas City.  The full list is here .    He describes it thusly: It's the best BBQ in Kansas City, which makes it the best BBQ in the world. Well...consider us one step closer to finishing the list!  We had lunch at Oklahoma Joe's and the wait was worth it.  I had the burnt ends and Nat had a smoked Turkey sandwich.  Both were unreal.   I've been to a few other places around KC including Masterpiece, Gates, Jackstack and others, but Oklahoma Joe's stands out.  One thing to note, though:  we had a few sides at Oklahoma Joe's and they were ALL lackluster.  You can clearly tell that old Joe focuses on the meat and doesn't give much thought to the beans and potato salad.

Never really got my sea legs during the 3+ hour tour, but I did get to see "The Rock".  Pretty neat stuff.