Salad Is Slaughter

The bride’s mother had recommended a place we could go for lunch on Saturday. I picked up the info that Mrs. SisS had printed out on the place and noticed that we had missed their open hours. I gave them a call just in case the web page was outdated. It wasn’t, and we needed to pick someplace else for lunch.

While leaving from breakfast I noticed a Fuddruckers across the street. The sign proclaimed that they were “the world’s greatest hamburger.” After our experience with “Billings number 1 hotel” I was skeptical but since I’ve seen this chain for years during the course of my travels I suggested that we try it.

I can’t say for sure that Fuddruckers is the world’s greatest hamburger, but we were really happy with it. For starters the ground beef was a courser grind than you normally see. This courser ground helps the cooking process by giving you more surface area against the grill as opposed to the finely-ground absolutely flat bottom most people have come to expect from a restaurant patty.

Next, we ordered our burgers medium and they came out as medium. The burgers actually had pink in the middle. And they were placed on a freshly baked bun. There was also a nice spread of toppings available: fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, you name it.

Of course the fries were great, cut in a steak fry style and nicely seasoned.

There are Fuddruckers in the bay area but unfortunately they’re too far away for a regular trip. But it’s nice to know that there’s a franchise out there that still cares about putting out a quality burger. They’re definitely on my list of places to return to.

Merlots don’t normally make me notice them, but the St. Supery Merlot is an exception. It was smooth and subtle and stood up well to spicy pasta sauce.

When the parents were here a couple of weeks ago we whet to Los Gatos. They’ve got all kinds of little shops selling over priced stuff. In one of the stores I bought a taco shell gizmo. I’m not sure if the link brings you to the brand I’ve got but it’s similar and should work just the same. My mother did look at me a bit funny when I bought it, like I was a bit touched.

We tried this shell doohickey this week and the tacos turned out great. Our first batch of shells was allowed to cook until they were firm and slightly chewy, maybe 6 or 7 minutes at 400 F. The second batch we left in for 10 minutes or so and came out crunchy. They were also good but I think we preferred the slightly chewier shells. But both were far better than the taco shells you get in a box. The fresh flavor made all the difference.

Basically, you take some corn tortillas, nuke them for 30 seconds or so to soften them up, spray them with oil, and toss them on the preheated rack. Let them bake, remove the shells from the rack, load them up, and you’re good to go.

These shells aren’t quite as good as frying corn tortillas in oil to crisp them up but it’s not nearly so messy.

From  China makes “kung pao chicken” official for Olympics

As it readies for an influx of visitors for the August Games, the Chinese capital has offered restaurants an official English translation of local dishes whose exotic names and alarming translations can leave foreign visitors frustrated and famished.

If officials have their way, local newspapers reported on Wednesday, English-speaking visitors will be able to order “beef and ox tripe in chili sauce”, an appetiser, rather than “husband and wife’s lung slice”.

I’m not really in to tripe but that dish sounds kind of good.  I love a good chili sauce dish.  I wonder where they got the “lung slice” bit since tripe isn’t from the lung, it’s from the stomach.

“Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman”, as the Beijing Youth Daily rendered the spicy Sichuanese dish, is now “Mapo tofu.” And “chicken without sexual life” becomes mere “steamed pullet”.

I knew the translation for ma-po tofu, but I’d also heard her refered to as “freckle-faced woman” and “freckle-faced grandma.”  The chicken dish makes a strange kind of sense.

“”I don’t like this new naming method, it’s abandoning Chinese tradition,” one Internet comment declared. “There are many stories in the names of these dishes.”

I agree.  Maybe Chinese restaurants in this country could include both the American name and the traditional Chinese name.  That would be fun although it might cut in to sales a bit.

From: Man gets Air Force leave extended for White Castle

GENOA TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Even the Air Force knows a good burger is hard to find. Aaron Kay’s superior officer agreed to extend the serviceman’s leave by one week so he could be on hand for the opening of a new White Castle restaurant in Livingston County.

When I first saw this story I was going to make some sarcastic comments but as I started writing I found I couldn’t do it.

When I was in school we used to drive the 120 miles from Rolla to St. Louis in order to sit in the White Castle parking lot, get a couple of sacks of belly bombers, and watch the wide variety of people who ambled in front of us go in to the restaurant.  At the time gas was pretty cheap, the food was certainly affordable for a poor college student, and the people ranged from bums to business professionals.  There are worse ways to spend a Saturday night.

Kay says there isn’t anything that comes close to a White Castle burger where he’s stationed.

The guy is stationed in Okinawa, Japan so I can certainly believe that.  But it isn’t about the burgers really.  No one could ever call White Castle burgers gourmet but they’re certainly one of a kind.  And I can see where this guy is coming from because I spent 18 months in Misawa Japan.

There are a lot of positives with being stationed in a foreign country.  You’re exposed to a new culture, you experience local customs, you get to try exotic food in the locale where it was first created, and you get to mingle with interesting people.  There’s the new sights, sounds, smells, local TV, local theaters, museums, and of course the local drivers.  You’d better be aware which side of the street they drive on.

And you are always an outsider.

The air base is a slice of the U.S. so you don’t feel completely alien but there are differences that you can never ignore.  The civilian employees are locals, of course.  And they may or may not speak English.  The chow hall serves American food but it’s not quite the same.  Your co-workers are Americans but you may or may not have anything in common with them.  You’ve got the base theater for movies, and the base TV station as well, but you are still separated from home.  There’s always something missing.

Good for Aaron Kay staying for the opening of the new White Castle.  And I’m not surprised his commanding officer understood why he wanted to stay.  After all, he’s in the same boat.  Sometimes you need a taste of home, even if it’s a cheap, greasy burger to get you through the rest of your tour of duty.