Three Years of Brian-Food and 100 posts - a retrospective.
It was on June 8, 2005 that I first posted about breakfast cereal. I'd been blogging since 1995 with my Wacky Thing of The Week - before there were blogs. I first started with internet fun available on a shared drive for my co-workers, and then started putting them on the web in '97 when I learned how and registered mirthmobile.com. But Brian-Food was/is my first actual blog as we understand it today. I thought a great way to celebrate this milestone might be through reflection.
Some of my favorite food topics center on the elixir of life - Coca-Cola:
Zero
Black
Flavors
The Real Thing
I've switched over almost entirely to Coke Zero now, but now and then I have to get the good stuff.
I've used the word "joint" in 10% of my posts and "eatery" in 5%.
I also find oddities in my food:
Bones
Things
Stuff
I try to take pictures before or while I'm eating. This is one of my favorites.
One of my favorite posts focused on the story I made up about the guy at my local Taco Bell. For a while there "Chipotle Grilled Stuffed Burrito" was the #4 referring keyword to my site and MirthMobile was the #1 hit on Google with the words "Chipotle Grilled Stuffed Burrito". Now, thanks to the magic of blogs, it's #1 and #2. Give this post a couple of weeks and I'll have that #3 spot locked up as well.
I try to come up with catchy titles for my posts like:
Thank you very mocha
What up G
Unfortune cookies
and...
Shout out to my peeps
By the way, I still have some of those peeps drying nicely in my cupboard.
I also try to feature the gastronomic gyrations of my friends. Steve shows up from time to time, but his best work has to be the giant gumball in Mouthfull of pain. (not for the faint of heart)
Not everyone may agree with what I write, after all - I have my rules, but I hope the past three years have been entertaining and possibly enlightening for you gentle reader.
... on the other hand, maybe it's just me.
April 30, 2008
April 29, 2008
Coffee Refils
I love eating at diners, drive-ins and dives.
In fact, about the only cooking show I can stomach is the show by that name, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives". As much as I love the food and the great variations on the PEB theme (pancake, egg, burger) at the local place, there's something that those joints could learn from a national chain.
Coffee refills are too slow almost everywhere. Perkins on the other hand gets this right. If you order coffee, they give you the pot. That's what I'm talking about. They brew small pots, directly into this air-tight carafe so you can enjoy fresh coffee during your stay. Today, I spent about 2 hours in a Perkins and finished the pot. It was diner-coffee, that is to say, not great, but not bad. But I never had to wait for a refill and I never had to deal with the dregs at the end of the pot, nor the regular/decaf problem.
Perkins, you get a gold star.
... maybe it's just me.
PS - this is post number 99 on Brian-Food. I'm going to have to find something pretty good for #100. Stand by.
In fact, about the only cooking show I can stomach is the show by that name, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives". As much as I love the food and the great variations on the PEB theme (pancake, egg, burger) at the local place, there's something that those joints could learn from a national chain.Coffee refills are too slow almost everywhere. Perkins on the other hand gets this right. If you order coffee, they give you the pot. That's what I'm talking about. They brew small pots, directly into this air-tight carafe so you can enjoy fresh coffee during your stay. Today, I spent about 2 hours in a Perkins and finished the pot. It was diner-coffee, that is to say, not great, but not bad. But I never had to wait for a refill and I never had to deal with the dregs at the end of the pot, nor the regular/decaf problem.
Perkins, you get a gold star.
... maybe it's just me.
PS - this is post number 99 on Brian-Food. I'm going to have to find something pretty good for #100. Stand by.
April 22, 2008
Movie Popcorn
Just in case you haven't ever been to a theater with a refillable popcorn bucket, I need to explain.
You see, you buy this bucket, then you fill it up with popcorn as much as you want until the bucket expires. I pretty much quit buying popcorn at the grocery store once I got my bucket. Although, I do keep a few bags of microwave corn around for emergencies.
There are two major buckets around these parts.
Bucket #1 - good at any of the theaters in this particular chain. Festooned with a recent movie ad, the bucket is good for about 5 months (December to April or May to November). This bucket goes for $37. That's pretty pricey, but you get a $20 gift card with the bucket and the last two times I've bought one the cashier asked if I wanted to redeem the gift card toward the purchase of my bucket... seriously. So, now it's $17. With that I also get $12 worth of coupons toward concessions, and I'm a sucker, so I get those over the course of time. So, at the end of the day, I'm paying $5 for 5 months worth of popcorn.
Bucket #2 - good at just the one theater in Grand Haven, where I live. It's $10 and good for 6 months this year, and 6 months next year. You buy another bucket to cover the other 6 months of the two years. So, $20 gets you 24 months of popcorn.
They've got you hooked.
OK... maybe it's just me.
You see, you buy this bucket, then you fill it up with popcorn as much as you want until the bucket expires. I pretty much quit buying popcorn at the grocery store once I got my bucket. Although, I do keep a few bags of microwave corn around for emergencies.
There are two major buckets around these parts.
Bucket #1 - good at any of the theaters in this particular chain. Festooned with a recent movie ad, the bucket is good for about 5 months (December to April or May to November). This bucket goes for $37. That's pretty pricey, but you get a $20 gift card with the bucket and the last two times I've bought one the cashier asked if I wanted to redeem the gift card toward the purchase of my bucket... seriously. So, now it's $17. With that I also get $12 worth of coupons toward concessions, and I'm a sucker, so I get those over the course of time. So, at the end of the day, I'm paying $5 for 5 months worth of popcorn.
Bucket #2 - good at just the one theater in Grand Haven, where I live. It's $10 and good for 6 months this year, and 6 months next year. You buy another bucket to cover the other 6 months of the two years. So, $20 gets you 24 months of popcorn.
They've got you hooked.
OK... maybe it's just me.
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