Now that's a coney dog

That's a coney dog

Living in Western Michigan as I do, there's a huge hole in my diet. Namely, the Coney Dog. The Coney Island dog or chili-dog has somehow been perfected on the East side of the state and specifically in Detroit. Now, if you want a chili burger, you have to go to Los Angeles, but Detroit has cornered the market on the dog.
Next door to the American Coney Island, a poor excuse for a coney island joint, you'll find the best there is: Lafayette Coney Island.
The natural casing makes the hot dogs snap when you bite into them. The fries are fresh and hot, covered in shredded cheddar and a ladle of chili. The onions are zesty. The service is... oh what's the word... International, that's it. The guys that work there speak enough English to take your order, deliver it and talk about the Tigers, Lions, Redwings, Pistons, and how Joe Louis was the greatest boxer who ever lived.
They have Coke at the soda fountain, and everything else comes in cans, including Vernors of course. That's the Michigan state beverage.

... maybe it's just me?

Peanut Butter Banana dogs

Peanut Butter Banana dogs

Mmmm...
So what you do is split a hot dog down the middle and warm it up. Bologna works in this, but bacon is best. The hot dog was a little improvisation.
Then a banana and put it all on a hot dog bun spread with peanut butter.
So good.

Peanut buttery, melty, banana-ey, salty, meaty...

... maybe it's just me?

Valentines Schmalentines

Every year the Hallmarkiest of Hallmark holidays comes around in mid-February. Of course I mean Valentine's Day. People who are together feel pressure to do something grand and people who are alone get depressed. We all eat too much candy. Kids bring card-ettes to school and often lace them with less than flattering aphorisms.

In the USA Miss Esther Howland has credit for receiving and sending the first valentine cards in 1847. Commercially produced cards were introduced earlier in Europe right around 1800 – the first mechanical cards in 1840.

Then there are the candy hearts. How can anyone actually ingest those chalky, flavorless lumps with trite sayings tattooed in Red #6? The first conversation hearts were introduced in the 1860's by the founder of the NECCO Company founder. The hand-made candy hearts included lengthy entreaties such as,

"Please send a lock of your hair by return mail."

Finally they were tightened up and factory-made by the NECCO Company in 1902 and since then have sported favorite sayings like: kiss me, sweet talk, and be mine. 2004 brought the internet-based IM ME to the hearts.

The mind swims with the awfulness.

Over the years NECCO has eliminated sayings when they become out-dated, such as the funky "Dig Me" and the cheerful, "you are gay".
A full production run contains 1.7 million pieces and NECCO will sell about 8 billion candy hearts in six weeks. They have a shelf life of 5 years.

Thanks to the folks at despair.com there's a valentines candy heart for the rest of us.

... maybe it's just me?

Fruit Salad

Brian's Fruit Salad

Is that a euphemism?
Sylvia says that I'm a good cook. I made up this fruit salad on the fly while I was at the grocery store picking up groceries to cook in my new groovy pad for the first time.

Ingredients:
2 Bartlet pears very ripe
1 Granny Smith Apple
1c red seedless grapes
2 blood oranges
1 starfruit
1 stalk of celery
1/2c roasted almond slivers

Directions:
cut it all up, mix with your (clean) hands, top with almonds. There's plenty of citrus juice to keep things from browning. Serve it up in piles or in bowls.

I also made, a green leafy romaine/spinach salad, baked potatoes, and rib eye steak.

Sylvia brought harvest medley pie (raspberries, rhubarb, apples, pears) and ice cream to the Super Bowl the night before, but we didn't have any then. It was really good for dessert the next day.

Anyway, I like to cook, and I like to make a nice presentation... maybe it's just me.

Leftovers again

It's Fat Tuesday again - kind of a second Thanksgiving here on the brian-food blog.

Fat Tuesday.

Since we're still behind the picket lines of the writer's guild strike, here's a Phat Tuesday re-run, just like on TV.

Meanwhile, one of my co-workers brought in the Paczki this year - I need to go get one before they're gone!

I'd still like to know if anyone is making a sacrifice for lent.

...maybe it's just me?

Steve-food

My friend Steve sent me this picture from a vending machine.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to trust this salad for a couple of reasons.
1) The window of opportunity for room-temperature mayonnaise is rather narrow.
2) Is it Bumble Bee or SweetSue Chicken?
3) Too much packaging... but mostly the first one.

... maybe it's just me... or Steve.

weigh-way-down

I've been working on some things in my personal life to be a better me. One of them is my weight. I've been trying to follow the plan laid out in the weigh-down workshop and it's working pretty well for me. I'm at a bit of a plateau right now, but that's OK. Those things happen.
I've joined the YMCA and it's time to sell my own Elliptical machine.
You can bid on that over on eBay if you like.


Good news - thanks to the Elliptical - I'm down about 20lbs since Thanksgiving. I'll keep you updated on that as I go.

Have you lost any weight this year?

... maybe it's just me?

chipotle grilled stuffed burrito redux

Chipotle Grilled Stuffed Burrito
Who knew that those four little words could mean so much to me for so long?

Back in the early days of this blog I wrote a happy little post about a little something that tickled my taste buds at my favorite Faux-Mex restaurant - Taco Bell. Today that little post is #4 on my list of keywords used to find mirthmobile.com.

Chipotle Grilled Stuffed Burrito
That little blog post is also the number one hit on a Google search for those four words. Try it yourself. Though I'm sure once Taco Bell gets wind of this they will hire someone to do some search engine optimization and they can get back on top.

Maybe that will be me...

and we're back

we're back

It's been almost a year since the Peter Pan salmonella outbreak.

The jars are finally back on the store shelves and display their fancy marketing slogan: "New Better Peanut Taste!"
Wouldn't it also be appropriate to label them, "Now with less infectious bacteria!"?

... maybe it's just me?

Macaroni and Cheese 6pc

Macaroni and Cheese

Yes that's right gentle reader, a 6 piece of macaroni and cheese. I'm picturing 6 noodles laden with cheese.
As it turns out they are actually those mac-n-cheese bites. Breaded and fried Macaroni and Cheese.
Can life get any better than this?
I submit that it cannot.

Unless of course you can tell me what Bosco sticks are.

...maybe it's just me?

Tradition

Tradition

In Gulfport, Mississippi our family Christmas tradition includes Bruce's famous gumbo. This time there was sausage, chicken, smoked pork, and shrimp.

The Girls

We had quite a crowd over to the house for dinner - they were all former neighbors from Pascagoula and long-time friends. I had a lovely time getting to know them all.

What are some of your Christmas traditions?

or... maybe it's just me?

So which is it?

Chinese buffet

My good friend and co-worker, also named Brian, called me from the road to report this sign and he kindly sent me a picture.

While I'm pleased about the Toys for Tots drop off site - what with it being Christmas time and all, I'm confused.

I'm confused about the juxtaposition of the China Buffet with the promise, dare I say "command", to build your own taco. So which is it? Is it a China Buffet or a build your own taco joint? Is it Szechuan or Chez Juan?

... maybe it's just me?

Ham: it's not just for Christmas anymore

I feel a little badly about ripping off another blog so, thanks to Seth Godin for his post.

Ham for Channukah?


Have they come up with some kind of kosher ham?

... maybe it's just me?

cheese

cheese

Cheese in a pump dispenser.
mmmmm.....
mmmmmmmmmmm....
MMMMMMMMM........ gnaaarrrrrlll.....


maybe it's just me?

Thanksgiving Day

It's Thanksgiving Day and since this is my food blog I thought I shouldn't let this pass without commenting on a day set aside to give thanks to God and to eat pretty much anything that comes within reach.
First of all, I'm deeply thankful for my family. This year in particular I've felt their arms around me.
I'm thankful for my old friends like Jeff, Steve, Amy, Brenda, Brian, Jessica, Melissa, Steve, Brian, Brian, Morgan, Adam, Lisa, Jeff, Alan, Neal, Paul, Andy, Natalie, the Jonathans, and a recent re-acquaintance with Aedan (Ed).
I'm thankful for my newer friends like D'Arcy, Brooke and Julia, Amy, Megan, Dave, and of course Sylvia and Ezekiel.

Thanks to each and every one of you.

This sounds like a perfect opportunity for a Ham soda.

Maybe it's just me?

Eating in early childhood

Thanks to Dawn over at "Because I Said So" for making me watch this, the most frightening children's video ever.



It's only recently come to my attention that some little kids (and some older ones) need encouragement to eat. Oh I wish I had that problem.

... maybe it's just me?

based on a dare

The Copenhagen

It has been said that much of our cuisine is based on a dare. This was no exception.

The Copenhagen
Thick dark rye bread layered with lean roast beef, smoked turkey, a salmon fillet, a fried egg, onion rings and of course - tartar sauce. What else would you use to top that?



By far, this is the goofiest sandwich I've ever eaten. Thanks to Murray's in Minneapolis for this one.

It was really good! The fresh-made potato chips on the side were really really good!

... maybe it's just me

Mmmm... (cough!) Burger...

Mmmm... Burger

Muskegon has provided us with yet another culinary... moment. Let's just say, moment shall we?

The Bee Bopp in 50's diner

Don't get me started on the name. This little diner has been an ice cream store for a while and this fall they've opened it up as a 50's style diner. So what does 50's style mean?

Art Deco? - nope
Blue plate specials? - nope
Waitresses on roller skates? - nope
Milk shakes served in the stainless steel mixing tins? - nope

Unfortunately this 50's diner means smoking. I don't mean, "wow, it was so good that it was 'smoking'!" oh no. I'm talking about cigarette smoke and lots of it. They seem to have an all-you-can-breathe special going on. It might be that they are next door in the same building to a tobacconist but it really seems like it's too strong to come from next door. I expected to step into the back and find the cook, dishwasher and waitress all puffing away. The other customers clearly knew what they were getting into and came prepared with their own brands to add to the ambience.

The burger pictured above was very good. Double meat, double bacon, double cheese. I've scheduled the colonoscopy and and angioplasty.

Get one to go.

... maybe it's just me?

Ginormous Carrot Cake

Big cake

A meeting between my boss and the other managers in my office and me brought us to the Brownstone restaurant in the Muskegon Airport. The Brownstone specializes in some original soups and sandwiches and I got to enjoy both on that day.

The dessert however was other-worldly.
This piece of cake was ridiculous. Please don't misunderstand. It was really really good. But who can eat lunch and then chase that down with an 8" tall, 10" wide, 2" thick piece of carrot cake?

I ate one layer, and then brought the rest away for Sylvia and Ezekiel. Zeke had none of it. Sylvia smiled a lot. She does that.

... maybe it's just me?

PB&P

pbandp

Yes gentle reader, I made a peanut butter and pickle sandwich. It's one of my favorite peanut butter and something sandwiches, ever since I was a little kid. Made with the hamburger-dill slices and creamy peanut butter, it's light, crunchy, tart, and a bit nutty.
Some of you will probably think that I should include this delicacy in my food rules as an abomination.
Some of you will probably think that this should qualify as something I've found in my food.
However - I put the pickles on the peanut butter myself, and they are my rules, so I get to decide what's in them.

...maybe it's just me