GOOD NEWS: Short Sugar's BBQ Sauce is hitting store shelves soon-ish!

This blog has been SLAMMED with visitors since three days ago coming to read about Short Sugar's Bar-B-Q in Reidsville, North Carolina shutting down after more than 75 years in business.  The counter has been ringing up visits from all fifty states, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Germany, even some people in Brazil. There were few corners of the globe that hadn't heard of Short Sugar's, it seems.  Judging by the comments and e-mails that have come in there have been a lot of folks who are regretting that they will now never have an opportunity to eat at a place that once was judged to have the best barbecue in America.  Short Sugar's was the kind of place that they just don't make anymore and it's not just a loss to a small town, but to our culture as a whole.

Well, it's been a very depressing past 72 hours but there is a little bit of light to break through the gloom.  Short Sugar's as a location may be gone, but its signature barbecue sauce will live on!  And it may be coming to your front door before too awful long.

Here's what Short Sugar's owner David Wilson posted on Facebook earlier today:

"We will continue producing the sauce. I think we will start on Amazon and in local stores... I’m going to change our social media presence to focus on the sauce."

I hope David and the rest of the Wilson family are bracing themselves.  Because for years a lot of us have been wanting Short Sugar's sauce to be widely distributed.  Until now bottles of it have only been really available for sale at the restaurant.  It has been highly demanded for a very long time.  Bringing this sauce to the larger marketplace is going to be a veritable goldmine.  It is going to take the world by storm!  There is no sauce like Short Sugar's, is something unique all its own.  It's not something you slather onto meat, it's more like you saturate your pork or chicken or whatever with it.  This is the perfect thing to accentuate chopped barbecue especially.  I've also had a bit of success using it on ribs.  So maybe this will be like the second coming of Short Sugar's.  It has been more than a place to eat, it has been an enduring idea: a spot for the mind as much as for the taste buds.  And now it seems that it will endure.  Not just that but also thrive!  Short Sugar's sauce is poised to take the greater world by surprise and in my mind there is not a product that more deserves a position in the global market.

I shall be keeping my eyes open about this with great interest!

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Dateline: Reidsville, North Carolina: Short Sugar's is no more

Of all the things that the Biden economy has destroyed, in its final days it has taken down one last victim.  And being a proud son of the town of Reidsville, North Carolina, this is the most bitter loss of all.

Short Sugar's Pit Bar-B-Q

1949 ~ 2025

The sad word came down earlier today.  Reidsville's most famous restaurant has shuttered for good.

Short Sugar's had been hobbled, first by COVID closures but mostly because of economic downturn in the past few years not related to the pandemic.  People just couldn't afford to eat out like they used to be able to.

This really does feel like a piece of my heart has been ripped out.  Short Sugar's was the kind of place you just knew would be around forever.  It is at the heart of the identity of the City of Reidsville, North Carolina.  Some of my earliest memories are of eating at Short Sugar's.  At first the hot dogs but as I got older it was that wood-fired barbecue.  Sometimes I would even order and devour two plates, I could get so hungry for it.  I hadn't been back to Reidsville as often as I'd like in recent years but whenever I did, I always stopped at Short Sugar's for lunch and afterward went to Mayberry for a chocolate milkshake.  And that was my "coming home" ritual since leaving Reidsville in 2016.

My sister worked at Short Sugar's for a number of years, too.  There was a real sense of family at the place.  We knew them and they knew us.

I don't know when the next time I'll ever visit Reidsville will be.  The more I hear about the place the more it sounds like a foreign country, now.  The tobacco field near where I grew up is today a vast solar farm.  Some businesses have gone and others have come in.  Thomas Wolfe really was right, "you can't go home again."  And with the departure of Short Sugar's, I'm feeling that harder than ever this afternoon.

Who knows though, maybe someone will swoop in and resurrect the place sometime.  But it would be too different.  The Wilson family has owned and operated it all this time, it won't be the same without them.

I'm going to miss that barbecue sauce.  A vinegar and brown sugar-based concoction unlike any sauce I've ever encountered.  The perfect enhancement for chopped pork.  Now I wish that I had stocked up on it.

Wow.  So much that could be said about a barbecue restaurant and drive-in.  Short Sugar's really was the kind of place that that they don't make any more of in America.  In 1982 it was judged as having the best barbecue in the country.  I don't know if they held that competition again but if they ever did I've no doubt that Short Sugar's would still be a worthy competitor.

And now, it's... gone.

Damn.  I finally feel old now.

Edit 01/17/2024: More than a few have noted something, and I was woefully remiss to mention this.  That Short Sugar's was not only famous throughout the state of North Carolina, but also across America and even known throughout the WORLD!  Short Sugar's hosted quite an international clientele over the decades.  I myself brought friends from Belgium to eat there a few times and they made sure to take bottles of barbecue sauce home with them.  I also have it on very good authority that several bottles made it to Germany in 1993.  For there to be no more Short Sugar's is truly a loss to us all.

Speaking of the larger world, since making this post 21 hours ago yesterday it has been read nearly 5,000 times.  The blog has always had a faithful global audience but yesterday this post especially has found visitors from almost all fifty states and also places like Canada and Ireland.

I have heard from David Wilson, the owner of Short Sugar's, and he is truly overwhelmed by the many tributes that people are making.  David, on behalf of everyone: thank you and your family and staff, for everything.

(Note: the photo is from Roadfood.  I had just grabbed any pic I could find of Short Sugar's without looking at the link.  They're the ones who originated the photo.)

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Restaurant Review: Stax's Drake House in Landrum, South Carolina

Because of a number of factors I wasn't able to have Thanksgiving yesterday with dear friends as is the usual custom.  But they resolved that we were going to come together today and celebrate all the things that we have to be thankful for.  So a little before noon they arrived at my front door and we headed off to the nearby town of Landrum, South Carolina for a meal at Stax's Drake House.

Folks, I'm not lying.  I hadn't had real food in over three months.  My selections at the grocery store have been pathetic.  I had been so focused on finishing the manuscript of my book that proper eating simply hasn't registered at all.  So all this time I've more or less been making do with French bread pizzas purchased at the nearby Aldi.  My dog Tammy, with the food in those little foil cans that I've been getting her, has been eating more delectable fare than me.

With the manuscript "in the can," it was high time that I eat properly.

So we got to Drake House today and I was immediately charmed by the place.  The restaurant is in a large-ish domicile built in the early 1900s for railroad workers.  My friends and I went inside and were taken to our table.  The drink selection was easy: coffee, tea (sweet and unsweet), and water.  I chose the sweet tea.  That alone was a pleasure.  Too many restaurants can't brew sweet tea properly.  Drake House does it absolutely right.

The Drake House has a buffet.  Coming right after Thanksgiving the selection was much in keeping with the holiday.  I helped myself to the turkey and I don't know how they cooked it without it being deep-fried, but that was the most tender and moist turkey that I have ever put into my mouth!  It was a sheer delight.  I also got a few pieces of the chicken, which is hailed by many as among the best in the world.  This also surprised me by how good it was.  The ham was almost barbecued, it was much juicier than most that I've had.  The green beans were a fine bit of country goodness and the mashed potatoes were spot-on perfect in texture and taste.

There is quite a selection of desserts to choose from after the main course is completed.  I went for the pound cake.  Tasted just as good as Granny used to make.

I was thoroughly satisfied with the meal.  Indeed, I felt completely stuffed!  I think my stomach has actually shrunk over the past few months.  It needed something proper in it.  Drake House really was the best place to come to for serious food after a full season of self-denial.

My friends had been to Stax's Drake House before.  It had been a "hidden treasure" that their own family had discovered awhile back.  And now I know about it.  I'm looking forward to taking others to dine there in due time.  And after you're done, maybe you can take a stroll through downtown Landrum.  We spotted quite a few nice little places, including a bookstore that I am eager to visit sometime.

Stax's Drake House Restaurant is located at 511 N. Howard Avenue in Landrum, South Carolina.  For more information including dinner hours you can visit the website at staxdrakehouse.com.  I definitely recommend checking it out if you're in the area!

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The legend of Popcorn Sutton lives on! Family is (legally) brewing famed 'shiner's likker

Yowza!!  And I've thought that many times over the past several years or so, in regard to the memory of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.  Longtime readers will remember when I was posting about Popcorn with machine gun-regularity.  I'd always wanted to meet the man.  Unfortunately that never happened.  In March of 2009, a few days before he was supposed to have turned himself in at the prison to begin serving a term for illegally making his moonshine, Popcorn ended his own life.  And that was the end of my hope of getting to know the man.

 

If you weren't around this blog then, here's the "Popcorn Sutton" label that lets you look back across all the posts I made about him.  Especially the "Popcorn Sutton: Dead By Government Bastards!" post that broke some personal rules about writing, but I didn't care.  A good man had been driven by the government to commit suicide.  If the death of an innocent person wasn't enough to break bad over, I don't know what is.

That was in 2009.  And in the decade and a half since then it is absolutely amazing how Popcorn Sutton has become a bona fide legend.  There is a yearly music festival in his memory held every summer in the North Carolina mountains.  Popcorn Sutton's face adorns clothing (I spotted a guy in the kitchen of a nearby restaurant wearing a Popcorn Sutton shirt a few weeks ago, and we got to talking about how popular he's become).  Look around the Internet the past few years, and you're sure to find Sutton staring back at you from many a meme (he seemed especially ubiquitous during the COVID panic).  That's not to mention things like filmmaker Neal Hutcheson's much beloved documentary about Popcorn and his art.  There was even a commercial airliner that had Popcorn depicted in wrap around its fuselage.

We should all want to be like Popcorn Sutton, in a way.  Live so that when you are stricken down, your life will be remembered for all the good and uniqueness that it possessed.

Well folks, it's happened before already but there were some issues that came up.  Those have been resolved apparently.  And now, once again, Popcorn Sutton's original recipe "likker" is going on sale for the public to buy!  Popcorn's widow Pam Sutton has gotten the stills running full-bore and later this month two beverages bearing Popcorn's name and likeness will go on sale, according to Knox News in a story published today.

I'm still not much of a drinker, but I have had real moonshine before and can attest that I've something of a taste for the legitiamte stuff.  I'm definitely looking forward to having a bottle of Popcorn Sutton's recipe-brewed likke, if only for display in my living room.

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Rapid Fired Pizza: When you absolutely need it fast!

They promise "zero to pizza in 180 seconds" and they are not wrong.  I hadn't visited Rapid Fired Pizza  for some time now.  Guess I've been trying to cook on my own more, and I've been learning some new recipes (including quiche, thank you very much Heather :-).  But I was coming back from a friend's birthday party yesterday evening and had the craving for a good pizza.  So I went to one of Rapid Fire's locations here in upstate South Carolina.  By the time I'd finished, I had vowed that I'd make myself a more regular customer, because their pizza ROCKS!

Rapid Fired Pizza for the most part uses a standard 11-inch pan.  Atop the dough you tell the guy assembling your pizza what kinds of sauce, toppings, spices and salt etc. you want on it.  Or you can pick from their menu of their many craft pizzas.  After that's done (and while you're paying for it all) the pizza goes into a big oven, where it cooks for three minutes.  By the time you've gotten your drink and found a seat they will have called your name to pick up your cooked pizza pie.  Take it to your table and enjoy!

So, what's Rapid Fired Pizza's errr... pizza, taste like?  As you can see I got a pretty standard pepperoni and mozzarella cheese (and a Dr. Pepper soft drink).  It arrived good 'n hot and I discovered that I had forgotten the childhood agony of hot cheese dripping off the slice and onto my tongue.  Yee-OUCH!!  But it doesn't take long to cool to a more palatable degree.  My taste buds delighted in the rich flavor of the traditional sauce and what can only be described as the perfect crust for a pizza chain.  The pepperonis cooked nicely and had a good bite to them.

In short, my dinner was a true delight.  And as I said I'll be going back more often.  Either dining in or taking a pizza home with me on the way back from the office.

Rapid Fired Pizza is a franchise that's seeing some growth.  They're mostly based around Ohio but there are a few locations beyond that region including four in the Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina area.  And according to their website they're also expanding to California.  So check it out and see if there's a location near you.  It's well worth making a visit!
 

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New recipe: barbecued wild boar ribs!

Remember the hit television series Lost?  John Locke (magnificently played by Terry O'Quinn) would sometimes go off into the jungle hunting.  More often than not he came back with a wild boar, upon which the castaways would enjoy feasting.

It turns out that if you want to eat like Locke, you DON'T have to go to a mysterious island.  In some places, you can buy boar already prepared to cook in your kitchen.

I've been having a hankering to try wild boar ribs ever since first spotting them on sale at Country Meat Center in Woodruff, South Carolina.  I was with a client (let's call him "Rufus") and we came across them while perusing the products at what I good heartedly refer to as "that crazy meat store".  I call it that because of the positively BONKERS variety of food items they have, everything from porterhouse and ground chuck, to kangaroo and octopus.  If it's meat, this place has it.  Anyhoo, I saw those and told Rufus that I had to give that a shot.  Had some time this afternoon so I decided to go to the crazy meat store on my own and see if they were still in stock.  Turned out they were.

I barbecued them, adapting from a recipe I found at Emerils.com.  They came out beautifully!  Although I think the specimen these were taken from was a rather small one.  Boar get MUCH bigger than this, I believe.  But for an introductory to the dish it was plenty.  There is a wood-ish aroma to cooked wild boar, and it tastes a tad bit like pork ribs you'd find in a good wood-pit cooked barbecue restaurant.  Quite a pleasant experience.

So if you come across wild boar baby back ribs in your own neighborhood meat market, here's how I prepared mine if you need some idea to work from...

Barbecued wild boar ribs

Fill a small baking pan with cold water.  Place this on the lowest rack of your oven.  This will keep the ribs moist and juicy during the fairly long cooking time.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place the ribs on the foil and cook uncovered for 2 hours.

When the ribs have been cooked, remove the baking sheet from the oven.  Using a basting brush and tongs to turn the ribs over and coat both sides of the ribs with your choice of barbecue sauce (I use Williamson Brothers Bar-B-Q Sauce).

Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove the sheet from the oven and turn the ribs over.

Bake for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

 

EDIT: I'm kicking myself for totally forgetting about Obelix: the giant best friend of Asterix!  Obelix has an affinity for wild boar, not unlike that of a meth addict.  Indeed, every story (I think) from the classic Goscinny and Udurzo comic ends with the whole tribe partying with ample amounts of boar.

 If you've never read an Asterix comic book, check your local bookstore or search out Amazon, and prepare for a treat.  Every issue, I'm pretty sure has been translated into English.  My first Asterix book was Asterix the Gladiator: as much a hilarious "fish out of water" story as there is ever apt to be.

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Chris and Bennie's Trans-Atlantic Pecan Pie!

 Last week my good friend Bennie, a physician in Belgium, shared on Facebook a photo of a pecan pie she had made.  It looked magnificent!  I asked her for the recipe for it and she sent it along.  Turned out that it's from a French-language cookbook of American recipes.  Well whatever: I'm still counting it as a recipe from a foreign language book :-P

It looked so decadent that I had to make it, even though I've never baked anything more than brownies before.  And after some cross-oceanic consultation about things like proper temperature (at one time I thought it was going to bake at 800 Fahrenheit... which didn't sound right...) and some finagling with extra ingredients like corn syrup, I think it's safe to say that in light of what friends were raving yesterday at Thanksgiving dinner, we have concocted a masterpiece!

So here is the recipe for Chris and Bennie's Trans-Atlantic Pecan Pie:

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie crust

3 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 cup corn syrup (I use good ol' reliable Karo brand, dark)

1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (or 150 Celsius for our friends in Europe and abroad).  Whisk together all the ingredients, except the nuts.  Pour into pie crust.  Cover with pecans cut in two lengthwise (Bennie also suggests crushing the pecans).  Bake for 70 minutes.  Let cool at room temperature before placing in refrigerator for setting.  Wait 1 hour before serving (or wrapping in plastic wrap for transport to dinner elsewhere).

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Fried chicken... in an air fryer!

A few weeks ago Amazon delivered a Ninja Foodi air fryer/pressure cooker into my grubby little paws.  Since then I have had a fistful of fun cooking just about everything in it!  Hot dogs come out exactly like baseball park wieners, and I'm getting the hang of baby back ribs.  This past week a friend told me that you can cook steak in it.  I didn't believe it at first but I put a rib-eye into it a few nights ago.  The steak was cooked perfectly medium throughout, with a spot-on warm pink center.

Okay well that's all good... but what about making chicken in the air fryer?

My first attempt, had I posted photos of it to social media, would have gotten me banned from Facebook on grounds of violating community standards.  It was the worst culinary exercise that I have ever tried.  The meat itself was juicy and edible but that was only after you got past the... crud... that was supposed to have been the crispy skin.

But never let it be said that I am deterred.  Part of the fun of cooking is that you get to experiment.  And hey, even my first ever deep fried turkey came out of the pot more than a little burned.

So a few nights ago I gave it a second try.  Had a pack of eight drumsticks and that made for three experimental batches in the fryer.  I played around with technique and on the third batch... the chicken came out exquisite.  Cooked beautifully, crispy outside... and the taste was pure Southern delectable.

Batch #3 - the best product - is the two pieces on the upper right of the plate

With everything else going on right now, I thought it was time to post something more upbeat and educational and fun.  So if you've got an air fryer, here is how I made air-fried chicken:

INGREDIENTS:
Chicken (I used legs but you could do this with breast or whatever)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon salt

Before doing anything else, open up the fryer and spray the basket with a thorough amount of cooking spray or oil (vegetable, canola, olive, etc.)  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!  I discovered that this keeps the chicken crust from sticking to the basket.

Mix the flour, black pepper, paprika, and salt thoroughly in a bowl.

In another bowl mix the buttermilk and eggs (making sure you've cracked the eggs and poured the inside yolk into the bowl... just making sure you're paying attention ;-)  

Wash each chicken piece thoroughly.  Pat dry.  Then drench the piece in the bowl with the buttermilk mixture.  When thoroughly covered place piece into bowl with flour mixture, rolling it around until it's completely covered.  Place chicken piece on sheet of foil or cooking sheet.  When enough pieces have been covered in flour mixture, spray cooking spray/oil on the pieces.  Place pieces with sprayed-side down into the basket.  Close fryer and turn on 350 degreees at 16 minutes.  Halfway through cooking time open the fryer, spray chicken, and turn over.  Cook for the remainder of the time.  Remove from fryer... and enjoy!

EDIT 3:06 PM EST:  Just for the heck of it, here's a pic of the air-fried steak from the other night:

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Return of the Deep-Fried Turkey!

Hey gang, hope the holidays have been going well for y'all!  Christmas was rather good on this end.  I wound up with some Star Wars, some LEGO sets (Christmas is NEVER complete for me without Star Wars and LEGO no matter how old I get), some clothing, my mini dachshund Tammy received a bunch of toys.  And one way or another a lot of new cooking stuff came into my possession.

And speaking of cooking, steer your peepers onto this bad boy:

That's the first turkey I've been able to deep-fry since Christmas 2013!  Between my father passing away just before the following Thanksgiving, journeying across America and to a new hometown, getting situated in a house etc. it just wasn't practical all this time.

But Christmas Eve 2019 was a glorious return to feeding my irrational addiction to fried turkey.  I got a shiny new rig and it was screaming to be inaugurated.  A baptism of fire, so to speak...

Sixteen-pounds of turkey, mega-marinaded with garlic butter and slathered in Cajun rub.  45 minutes in the hot oil and out came a juicy, tender, succulent Christmas Eve feast for friends and family.

My friends, I truly have a home of my own now.  A house is not a home without a turkey fryer :-)

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I gotta get this out of my system...

$7.49 for a box of one-dozen original glazed.

What.  The &%$#.  Is WRONG.  With you.  Krispy Kreme. ?!?

In a different time and a better reality, those were something that all and sundry enjoyed to no end.  Not anymore.

They used to be a dollar a box.  And then two dollars.  Just a few short months ago it was five bucks and change.  Now it's closing in on eight dollars a dozen.

Donuts should not be luxury items.

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I did it. I really, really did it...

Dear Readers,

Last night, while at a restaurant with a friend, I did something that I have wanted to do for years but thought would never happen, particularly after I vowed not to do it.

But I figured, "what the heck?"

Yesterday evening, at long last, I ate Bhut jolokia: the notorious "ghost pepper" from India.  Until recently, certified as the hottest pepper on the face of the Earth.

(Yes, there are photographs of this happening.  My friend took them with his iPhone but I don't have them yet.  Suffice it to say they are rather... interesting.)

So, what did I think?  Bhut jolokia is extremely hot.  However it is not as hot as I had long anticipated.  All along I've had visions of my bare tongue pressed against the inner circles of Dante's Inferno.  What I experience instead was a fiery hot pepper that made my face burn crimson but otherwise was not at all unpleasant.  I may try it again sometime.

(For sake of disclosure, I must note that after eating Bhut jolokia, I chased it down with a rich chocolate milkshake.  So that might have had something to do with the Bhut jolokia not haunting my digestive tract as I slept last night and throughout today.)

Maybe I should try the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper next, since its heat is said to trounce that of Bhut jolokia.  What sayeth y'all?

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Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz is officially verboten

It's taken an act of legislation to wipe out the longest word in the German language.

"You vill EAT your
rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
undt you vill LUFF it!!"

"Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" - a 63-letter long title for a law "for the delegation of monitoring beef labelling" - has been removed from official use in Germany.  The law, passed in 1999, regulated testing cattle for bovine spongiform encephalitis: also known as "mad cow disease".  The European Community is dropping recommendations for testing healthy cattle for the disease.  And with it goes... that word.

I bet spelling bees are something else over there...

Tip o' the hat to Scott Bradford for spotting this!

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Les Misérables: Man arrested trading McDonald's meal for sex

From KOB.com comes this weird story of how the hard economy has hit even the prostitution trade...

Police: New Mexico man traded McDonalds for sex

This happy meal didn’t end with a treat.

A New Mexico man was arrested for allegedly trading a sex with a woman for a meal at McDonalds.

Albuquerque police found Donald Jones, 58, at Bullhead Park with a woman he picked up near Central and Virginia.

According to the criminal complaint, Jones picked up the woman in an area known for prostitution. Police watched Jones order food at a McDonald’s drive thru window and head to a nearby park.

On their way to the park Jones told police he purchased the woman food and asked how she would reimburse him, the criminal complaint states.

Police confronted the pair at the park and saw the woman pulling up her pants in the car.

I bet he could have scored an entire brothel if they had brought back the McRib!

Wendy's should pounce on this and bring back a classic ad campaign...

"Where's the Beef?"

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North Carolina Beers: A good blog about Tarheel brew

Please note: I am not a beer drinker.  In fact, it's very rare that I'll drink alcohol at all.  There's nothing I hold against those who enjoy it (in moderation 'course).  And I know next to nothing about what makes a good beer.  The first time I tried drinking any, it was in Belgium in 1993.  To this day I still cannot adequately describe how dark that stuff was...

Even so, lacking knowledge and experience hasn't been an impediment toward enjoying Eric Smith's new blog North Carolina Beers!  A home-brewer for well over a decade, Eric's new site is "dedicated to North Carolina Beers and Breweries. Over the next year or two I plan on visiting every brewery in NC and writing a review on each of them. I will write about as many beers as I can and there may be some beer specific post as well."  In less than a week he's already got four stories up: the latest is a review of Natty Greene's Greensboro.

It's this kind of spotlight on local culture along with the history behind it that I've always enjoyed finding.  There's plenty of it already on North Carolina Beers.  Go check it out and tell 'em that Chris sent ya :-)

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Restaurant gives parents $4 discount for "WELL BEHAVED KIDS"

You can't have any doubt: those three kids are going to turn out great! They're gonna be really thankful someday that they have two awesome parents like the Kings.

Laura King and her husband took their three children - ages two, three and eight - out for dinner at a swanky Italian restaurant in Poulsbo, Washington. And when they got the ticket at the end of the meal... it listed a four-dollar discount for "WELL BEHAVED KIDS"!

From the MailOnline story...

A Washington couple were left stunned after their server handed them the bill for their family's dinner - and they saw they had been given a $4 discount for their 'Well Behaved Kids'.

Laura King and her husband took their three children, aged two, three and eight, to an Italian restaurant in Poulsbo to enjoy an early-evening meal last Friday.

As they tucked into their feast of pizza, pasta and mushroom ragu, the family discussed planets, racecars, zebra jokes, and commented on the warm decor of the restaurant, Mrs King said.

'They were just being their normal selves,' she told Today.com of her children. 'Our server came to our table and just really thanked us for having exceptionally behaved children.'

After the server brought them a bowl of ice cream to share, they received the tab - and saw it had been discounted by $4 for 'Well Behaved Kids'.

There's plenty more at the link above, including photos of what can only be described as a beautiful little family. And Laura King has posted much more about her family's life when it comes to meals together on her personal blog. Well worth reading for anyone with children (or anyone considering having them :-)

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Mellow Mushroom goes the extra mile for U.S. soldier's family

There is a Mellow Mushroom that opened up not long ago in nearby Burlington. I've yet to eat at that one but now I'm feeling led to. For one thing the pizza is insanely delicious. For another, after reading this next story y'all will agree: this company rocks!

The tale begins with Army National Guard Major Shawn Fulker, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida. At the moment Fulker is deployed thousands of miles from home in Afghanistan. His wife's birthday was coming up and in spite of the distance he wanted to do something nice for her. Josephine Fulker really loves the pizza at Mellow Mushroom, so Shawn e-mailed the company's corporate office and asked if one of their Jacksonville restaurants could deliver a pizza and a $50 gift card to his wife. Shawn let them know that he would gladly call the store and pay for it by credit card.

Good story so far, aye? But wait: it gets better...

Mellow Mushroom's headquarters forwarded the e-mail to the company's Fleming Island location, which went above and beyond the call of duty. First they made a special heart-shaped crust for the pizza.

Then the store manager and another employee drove out with it, stopped at a supermarket to buy balloons and a vase of flowers, and proceeded on to the Fulker home.

They delivered it all - including the $50 gift card - to Josephine.

And the store didn't charge Shawn Fulker a thing! From the story at ABC News...

John Valentino, the Mellow Mushroom franchisee who owns that location and others in Jacksonville, said his store was happy to have made the day special for the couple.

"Of course we weren't going to charge him for anything," Valentino told ABC. "Him being a serviceman and his wife being home. … Hopefully in her husband's absence we were able to help her have a great birthday while he's over in Afghanistan serving our country."

Josephine Fulker had just finished Skyping with her husband when the doorbell rang and she saw the two Mellow Mushroom employees at her door on Thursday.

"I don't know their names exactly, but they had a pizza and a big butterfly balloon and a vase of flowers with a gift card for $50 and they told me that it was from my husband. I said 'Oh my goodness.' I was surprised and excited and overwhelmed and all of that. It was so nice," she said.

It was especially nice because Shawn Fulker had already sent his wife flowers and candy earlier that day. Since he hadn't been able to check his email for a while, he had no idea that Mellow Mushroom had been working on his initial request.

The Facebook page for Mellow Mushroom at Fleming Island has gone bonkers with gratitude about their efforts for the Fulkers. Which was a very, very cool thing to have done.

And hey, Fulker and his unit also showed their thanks, all the way from Afghanistan!

It's stuff like this that renews my faith in humanity. Way to go Mellow Mushroom :-)

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Turkey Frying... IN COLOR!

Kristen's brother Scott Bradford was a witness to the turkey deep-frying on Thanksgiving two days ago. While maintaining a safe distance (and maybe more than that) he shot some terrific video of the action. Scott edited it together and now for your viewing pleasure y'all can watch the searing heat and tormentuous oil in all its glory!!

Scott also posted the video on his own blog, and he testifies to the exquisite and juicy taste that in a turkey can only be achieved by frying it.

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Deep-fried turkey, Thanksgiving 2012 Edition

Another Thanksgiving has come... and with it, once again, another round of Yours Truly doin' up some deep-fried turkey!

This year's Thanksgiving was special, in a number of ways. For one, I'm spending it with Kristen and her family. For another, this marks my tenth anniversary of deep-frying turkey! So for those reasons and more, I wanted this one to be extra special.

Here's the turkey chosen to be sacrificed to the flames and the oil. I found one weighing-in at just under 15 pounds: the perfect mass to feed a gang of six! What you see here is the turkey on the spit ready to be fried, after spending thirty-three hours of being marinaded and rubbed down with Cajun seasoning.

In this next photo the oil is almost hot enough to lower the turkey in. The cooking temperature is 350 Fahrenheit. I heat it up to 375 though to begin with, because the temperature is going to drop precipitously when the turkey goes in. Of course, the bird has been patted down good and dry on the outside to keep nasty hot oil from spattering out. Looking at the pot with much interest and anticipation is Kristen's father...

Here we go, (not so) fast and (plenty) furious!! Kristen's brother Scott is shown taking photos, albeit from a considerably safe distance...

Awright, this next picture requires some explanation. The oil was in the pot and I had just turned on the burner when I realized to much horror... my thermometer was broken!!! The trusty instrument that had seen ten years and many, many fried turkeys had died. And at the WORST possible moment too!
No time to panic though. Not as one working with hazardous materials. Certainly not as an Eagle Scout. Kristen's mom and brother made a quick jaunt to Wal-Mart and found two thermometers, neither one of them built with deep-frying safety in mind but hey, ya gotta takes what ya can.

So here is me in what Kristen calls the "fisherman pose": lowering a candy thermometer into the oil with a wire coat hanger!

But, the new thermometer came through with flying colors. And 45 minutes later...

...the culinary masterpiece was ready to be admired for its beauty and its juicy, delicious flavor!

I'm always looking for new ways to improve my turkey-frying technique. There were a couple of tricks that I employed this time for both product quality and personal safety. With the exception of the thermometer emergency, the entire process was by far the smoothest and cleanest that I've ever had.

'Twas a most excellent Thanksgiving dinner! The turkey came out great, and there was the terrific desserts made by Kristen's mom and sister-in-law (Melissa makes the most potent chocolate cupcakes in the history of anything).

And now, I get to enjoy a few weeks' respite before doing this all over again for Christmas. For which I've already been threatened with getting chained to the burner until I make enough fried turkey for everyone who's been demanding it this past year :-P

Update 7:19 pm EST: D'oh!! I forgot to document the music that I chose to fry too! That's also an important part of the ritual.There were a number of albums which came to mind. I think up to a few weeks ago the obvious choice would have been the Game of Thrones Season 1 soundtrack. But then there came the big news of October 30th...

So in celebration of the imminent return we shall be making to that galaxy far, far away, I had Disc 2 of The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edtion playing from my iPod. Not just John Williams' finest composition for a Star Wars movie, but in my opinion the definitive Star Wars orchestral score album!

It was released in February of 1997. And in spite of being the most vintage album to be used during my rituals, it was spot-on perfect for the task. And just after telling friends that this would be the music of the hour, the news broke that Lawrence Kasdan will be returning to the gang and he's writing Episodes VIII and IX! Truly a good omen :-)

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No more Twinkies: Labor union destroys Hostess

I hope the idiots in the photo on the right are happy.  Those are some of the members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union who went on strike against their employer: Hostess Brands, Inc.

The union has about 5,000 people working at Hostess. As of this morning, their months-long strike has put themselves and thirteen thousand others out of work.

The big news at the time of this writing is Hostess going out of business and liquidating its assets. The company could no longer afford to be in business as a result of the strike. More than 18,500 people are now unemployed.

What a colossal committing of ass-hattery.

But hey, at least the employees responsible can rely on the union bosses to back them up. Not to mention getting government unemployment checks. All out of spite for a measly 2% decrease in pension that Hostess put on the bargaining table. Yeah, win the fight for a tiny amount of pension but put nearly 20,000 people out of work and destroy a favorite snack food for everyone.

Like they say on the basketball court: "Smooth move Ex-lax!"

Labor unions are worse than useless. If this doesn't demonstrate that, I don't know what possibly could.

Better stock up on your favorite Hostess-brand goodies, folks...

 

...'cuz they're about to be gone. Forever.

(I can't imagine any other company right now wanting to buy out Hostess and putting their goodies back into production: it'd cost too much to relocate factories to right-to-work states, and would anyone in their right mind in this economic environment want to go through the hassle anyway?)

It is the end of an era, my friends. A darn shame too, seeing as how Hostess snacks helped to end the reign of terror of so many supervillains back in the day.

Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos, Fruit Pies, Wonder Bread: get 'em now, friends and neighbors. Their value will be greater than gold as barter items on the underground market when the sh-t hits the fan. Probably sooner than later.

But if I were the CEO of Hostess, I wouldn't have put out a press release or called a news conference about what has been done to his company.

This is how I would have delivered the message...

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For the children: "trashcan cameras" and location-tracking chips

In the wake of American schoolkids rebelling against the federal government's new school lunch rules, a school district in Florida is considering installing video cameras on its school cafeteria trashcans so it can monitor and determine if students are throwing away their vegetables.

Meanwhile the students of Northside Independent School District in Texas are being told to wear ID badges containing location-tracking radio chips on penalty of "suspension, fines, or being involuntary transferred".

Here's an idea: the students should go ahead and wear the badges, but only after putting them in their microwave ovens for a minute or two. THAT oughtta scramble the innards enough to make them useless!

Some good commentary by Fred Reed - the Internet's finest curmudgeon - about the growing "Eye of Sauron" over us, which you can read here.

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