And this is food related because...

Most of these "hot spots" have a kitchen nearby.

If this is you, and you're looking for cheap labor around the DC area, Gridskipper has got the answer for you. They've compiled some of the hottest places to pick up a man or two to lay down brick on your next landscaping project.

Look at my resolutions. I wanted to learn Spanish; I hired a day laborer to speak it for me. I wanted to put less effort into my Gridskipper posts; I hired a day laborer to write them for me. I wanted to lay off the crack; I hired a day laborer to smoke me out. If you're in the DC area and are interested in outsourcing your life, here are some places to find affordable help.[Gridskipper]

Which reminds me, I've updated my goals to include relocating in to the city before the year is out.

Pant-stirring food

My new favorite website (and alone time pastime) has to be Food Porn!

It's loaded with your favorite forbidden desires. Asian. Barely Legal. Lebanese. They have it all. Most of them with the recipes right underneath, so you can spice up your kitchen life and try these at home.



Time to polish up on that one-handed typing. Nothing like a bowl of cereal while surfing this site.

Tricks and Tips for Restaurant Week [BYT]

My imaginary blog BFF (that I secretly wish would make out with me) Brightest Young Things, featured a good list of tips and restaurant highlights to check out in this upcoming Restaurant Week.

Just as you’ve finished digesting the huge amount of food consumed from Thanksgiving through New Years comes a special event that only happens twice a year.[BYT]

My hooking up with a girl?! (!!!)

[No], “Restaurant Week” is in its 12th year and offers diners a chance to eat a three-course lunch or dinner (varying by restaurant) for $20.08 or $30.08 respectively.[BYT]

It spreads like herpes

It's weird how everytime I start blogging about something a series of blogs seem to sprout up in a related topic. Maybe I'm just more alert to them, who knows.

A sales consultancy firm found that, when it comes to buying cars, many prospective Latino buyers just want to feel secure. [Guanabee]

Maybe. I'd settle for working A/C and a noiseless engine.

Because I can. I will.

The title of this blog would lead one to believe that every entry herein contained will directly correlate edibles and my personal history. Though a large percentage of that statement may hold true, I do have other interests. Many of these which make me hungry and direct me to either cook or buy some thing to eat. In the end it all makes sense. If you think about anything long enough, it will begin to make sense. Try it.

In any event, this entry was not to rant or to justify myself, but rather to shed light in one of my ongoing goals. A car. A vehicle. A ride. Not a Ford Probe. Not a Ford.

Upon submitting myself to a slow death by RSS, one of my regular reads, Get Rich Slowly, came up. There was a post about car trouble and the fiscal issues involved with it.

In the afternoon, the shop called with the damage. (I’m half-remembering this conversation — I don’t know anything about cars, so I probably have the details wrong, though the numbers are right.) “Your coolant system is shot,” the woman told me. “There was a crack near the thermostat, which apparently allowed the coolant to drain out completely. It’ll cost $373 to fix.”

I sighed. “That may fix the trouble with your heater, too,” the woman said. “The bad news is we found other problems. You know the airbag light that was on? That’s not good. Right now, the airbag won’t deploy in a crash. If you want that repaired, it’ll cost another $432.”

“Yes, I definitely want the airbag fixed,” I said. Seven years ago an airbag saved my life. Call me superstitious, but I won’t drive a car without one now.

“There’s one more thing,” the woman said. “The key is stuck in the ignition. We can’t get it out.”

I sighed again. This has been a problem for over a year, but I’ve always managed to work around it. The shop, however, was stymied. “We need to replace the ignition. It’ll cost $135 for a new tumbler, and about $225 for labor. It takes about 2-1/2 hours to get into the steering column to replace it.”

She clicked her keyboard. “The total so far is $1165.” [GRS]

This snippet had a ring to it a litlle bit more than just familiar. I look around my desk and found that it's time to renew my registration, with which comes a mandatory Virginia emissions testing. I've never had a problem passing this, however, I never took the test in 2008 on a 1994 Probe.

I have started my savings accounts. I have started my emergency fund. I am seriously close to abolishing my debt in its entirety. Time to pull my 2008 credit report!

But now comes the part about what kind of car to buy. 2-door, 4-door. I kind of secretly want an SUV, but I think it would weigh on my conscience too much if I did. Hybrid. I mean, this is worse than going to Starbuck's. The major issue here, is I know NOTHING about cars. I'm actually going to need to get down and hit the books. Learn a little more. Anyone out there with any car shopping experience?

Let's drink to your health!

Yet another article underlines and highlights that really the best answer to all your (health) problems may be inside that daily 12-pack you kill at night. At home. Alone.

People who neither drink nor exercise have a 30 to 49 percent higher risk of heart disease than people who do one or both of the activities, the researchers said in the European Heart Journal. [Yahoo News]

I've basically eradicated all risk of heart disease at this point, and may just start developing a new heart by 2009.

Several major studies have found that light to moderate drinking -- up to two drinks a day on a regular basis -- is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, and some have also found this leads to a lower risk of some cancers. [Yahoo News]

I'm just pretty excited I'm not going to be the first one to go out of my friends. Sorry guys.

People who had the lowest risk of dying from any cause were physically active, moderate drinkers while those at highest risk were the physically inactive, heavy drinkers [?], the study found.[Yahoo News]

Battling heart disease with all my might

Pepsi thinks video games will help Mexican fat kids lose weight, drink more Pepsi

This is almost as retarded as the parents who got Wii's for their kids to improve their physical activity. In a country where the average family can barely afford to live, and a Pepsi is worht about as much as the minimum wage for a days work, how exactly will the kids be able to afford these electronic toys? Will it be by collecting Pepsi bottle caps?

Drink more pepsi, get fat, the collect a toy to help you lose weight!

The company's answer - called Live Healthily - aims to teach a million children in primary schools around the country that they should match the calories they consume with the calories they use up doing exercise.

The centrepiece is a tamagotchi-like computer game in which a child called a nutrin must be guided through everyday decisions about what to buy, what to eat and what sports to play. Periodic visits to the doctor provide health checks. [The Guardian]

If DDR couldn't do it, what hopes does Pepsi have?

We built this city on...cold cuts?

Right when I start thinking that the world's gone mad and everybody's going vegetarian, I blink twice and find an underground scene, I never knew existed. Well, maybe not so much a scene as crazy people with too much time on their hands, which technically is what a scene is.

At different points in my life, I believe I attempted scenester-isms. It was disastrous. Poorly groomed, obese, and with the fashion sense of a crab. (!!!)


Me at a rave trying real hard to fit in, circa 2001
Bacon attire. Apparently Bacon is not as lame as those Peta people would make it out to be. It is in fact delicious, nutritious, and delicious (that's right! two times delicious). Who needs a fox or a mink, when you can sport sweet, sweet bacon!?!

One of my favorite dishes to make and to eat are bacon-wrapped shrimp. Well, now during the winter I can feel like one with one of two choices!


[Baconwrapt] $38

[Shopsin's General Store] $35
This next one even SMELLS of bacon!!


[Archie McPhee] $99.95
Hell, you can even build a ginger...err...meat house for the holidays! [Slashfood via Easyjo]



The closest I ever got to food architecture and shocking fashion was Christmas of 1990.


I think my mom shopped in New Delhi for my Holiday attire
People were clearly out to destroy me. Obvs.

Wegman's jumps on the nicotine-free bandwagon...

Wegman's, the cult compund-like, soccer mom zombie-ridden, mega-grocery store, is going smoke free in 2008!!

As of February 10 there will be no more cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco at any of Wegmans 70 stores that stretch across five states.

The company said it, "Respects a person's right to smoke but also understands the destructive role smoking plays in health." [WNEP]

Good thing I quit smoking when I did.

Pho-king Delicious!

After several months of being addicted to Java Green on 19th, by pure chance we opted to walk down an extra block (because I couldn't remember where Oodles n' Noodles was, I haven't been there in years and I'm even unsure if it still exists) we ended up crossing paths with a gigantic, bright orange sign that had Pho written all over it.

I hadn't had Pho in a while and was dying for some, it was windy and chilly outside. Perfect day for a steamy bowl of Pho Ga!!! Asian Bistro was the Place to be, on 19th and L (NW). My chopstick fetish had a new outlet, a new source, a new playground.

We walked in and the place was packed, too cold for outside seating. It would come to be a menu of Asian-fusion of sorts, including a vast array ranging from Pad Thai to Pho to Kung Pao Chicken. The vegetarian variety also leaves the Bistro a good and viable option for those of the vegetarian/vegan kind.

Although the soup was a bit Americanized (Chicken Breast), the taste was there. The toppings were generous and the noodles were not missing. Although some people would lead me to believe that decent Pho is inexistent in the District and may only be acquired in the 'burbs, I would like to point out that this being one of the few options within walking distance from my place of employment, it gets 4 out 5 stars in my book!

I can only wait to come out to Cali in a few months and hopefully meet the Viet-kieu mecca of Orange County in the hopes of tripping over some delicious Vietnamese goodness.