PBDC Day 28/31: Nostalgia

I love country music. Sugarland is my favorite, and I'm also a big fan of Blake, Miranda, Brad, The Band Perry, you get it. But I didn't always feel that way. It wasn't really until Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)."

I was raised on plenty of Motown and other classic oldies. (Sidenote: "oldies" as in from the 60s and 70s. I was listening to an "oldies" station the other day and heard some early 90s U2. #gettingold) My childhood in the late 80s and through the 90s established musical memories with plenty of rap and R&B: Tupac, Boyz II Men, Jodeci (and the K-Ci and JoJo), Bone, Busta Rhymes, and of course, Janet (Ms. Jackson if you're nasty). There was also a good bit of 3 Doors Down, Creed, Blink 182, Reel Big Fish, and other non rap and R&B artists.

During my lunch break, I may or may not have had a 3 minute dance party in my car when this started:

I met him once. early 2000s at the NEX in Norfolk. Yeah, in Virginia while I was in the Navy. He was promoting his newly-released album Active Duty and happened to be doing an album signing on base. I found it interesting that he and I both had roots in Oakland, California, but I met him on the east coast.

Just earlier this week at work I heard a remix of Justin Timberlake with E-40. Yep, E Feezy Fonzarelli from the V-A-L-L-E-J-O, H-I double L side. It through me off a little bit, hearing the distinct voice of E-40, but it also made a little homesick for the Bay Area.

As an added level of California love, I heard the above Hammer track after getting some awesome Mexican food for lunch.

Don't get me wrong, Chipotle hits the spot every once in a while, but when I want real Mexican food, I have a higher standard. Growing up in northern California, going to college in southern California, and even getting treated to a few places in Texas along the way, Mexican food is soul warming.

And I can't wait to come back to the Bay next month, even if it's only for a few days.

PBDC 21/31: Full

I used to be mildly afraid of frying bacon because hot oil splatter freaks me out. But for the treat that you are rewarded with after the struggle, it's more worth it to leave with a couple of "bacon kisses" than to not have bacon.

With my bacon this particular morning I had some leftover rice and quinoa from the dinner feast the night before.

What started as a jar of apricot preserves, a packet of onion soup mix, and russian dressing...

 Got mixed together...

And was poured over these chicken breasts in the crock pot...

To give me this a few hours later.

(Right about now would be an awesome time for Smell-O-Vision).

Tossed in a bowl with rice and quinoa gave me this:

And between my wife and I, we may or may not have devoured all of the chicken because IT WAS AMAZING.

In recap:

1 1/2 cups of apricot preserves:

1 packet onion soup mix

1 1/2 cup of russian dressing

6 six chicken breasts

Mix the preserves, soup mix, and dressing all together. Pour over all the chicken you've set in the crock pot. 1 hour on High, 3-4 on Low. Devour in happiness. Share if you're feeling generous.

Team Old Navy and the MDA Muscle Walk

On April 26th, a group of us from Old Navy in Mishawaka will be participating in the MDA Muscle Walk at Bethel College.

As of right now, there are four others besides myself who are officially registered for the team:

• Katie Andrews
• Kristin Blazi
• Bridgett Bradberry
• Paige Tomchak

If you're in the Mishawaka area and would like to join our team (whether you're an Old Navy employee or not), click the link below

YES, THIS LINK

Before I wrote this post, I donated $6, not just because it's a good cause, but because I wouldn't ask people to do something I wouldn't do myself. And I thought about it in terms of food.

• Lunch combo at a fast food place: $6-$7
• Med espresso drink: $3-$5
• Vending machine snack: $0.50-$1.00

So before you tell me you can't donate anything, think about the last time you grabbed a latte on the way to work, or a candy bar from the vending machine. Even if it's just a dollar.

According to this article, the average adult Facebook user has around 250 Facebook friends.

So, if you say I'm average, if each friend donated ONE DOLLAR, then I would exceed my goal of $100 by another $150.

So think about it. Can you spare a dollar? And if you can or cannot, can you share this post so that others can? Click on this cool guy below, he'll take you to the MDA page and lead you through it.

If you can donate more, that would be awesome, and I would get absolutely nothing out of it besides the satisfaction of knowing that I know people that like helping other people they've never even met!

Thanks in advance!

PBDC Day 13/31: Fresh

I love iced tea. I know, not your most riveting of admissions, but it's true. There truly isn't anything like good sweet tea, especially when you've had it in the South. Iced green tea is another favorite of mine. But today, the tea spotlight goes to traditional black tea.

There's a place I know...

Take two.

"Ah, Salaam and good evening worthy friends." -Yet another Robin Williams reference in my blog. If you don't get it, watch this clip. *Roll Clip*

But back to the tea. This place has the best iced tea of anywhere I've been to since I've moved to Indiana. It isn't a coffee shop, or a snack shack, or my apartment. It's just good. It's made well, it isn't over-brewed, it doesn't taste like an aluminum arm, like I said, it's just good. It tastes the way traditional black tea should taste (at least as far as my amateur taste buds know).

It doesn't stop there.

You get hot pita bread while you wait for your order.

Whenever I come here I think about trying something new, but I usually end up ordering the same base with a new protein each time. This time I ordered Jasmine's Favorite Rice with lamb.

MY LUNCH WAS BETTER THAN YOURS.

Everything I've eaten here has freaking rocked. You ever eat something so good that whenever you take a bite you shake your head in disbelief? That's what this place is every time.

Aladdin's Eatery.

Shout out to the crew in Mishawaka where I get to partake of this culinary awesomeness.

Additional points go to their social media presence...as in they're on top of it.

I know it doesn't really speak to the quality of their food, but it does show their level of attention to what folks are saying.

(Sidenote: Shout out to @HannibalCafe!)

That's it for today. Aladdin's Eatery serves it up fresh. But in a different way, these guys are fresh too.

#tbt #tmnt #oldschoolversion #jacket

Photo and Blog a Day Challenge-Day 14/28: Sweet

The year was 2009. It was mid-October, and I had been living in Long Beach for just over a month. Without cable in Apt 8, I knew I had to find somewhere to watch The Game. (For a fun story about the aforementioned Apt 8, check out the post from Day 3: Metal.) Kickoff was at high noon, but that was Eastern Time, so living on the west coast meant I was waking up early on Saturday, October, 17, to ensure I had a seat in front of a television before 9am.

The Prospector was only a couple blocks down 7th Street, and so I took the relatively early morning stroll in my gray hoodie with "OKLAHOMA" in crimson embroidery across the front. I had called the day before to see how early they opened, and since they were also a restaurant, they opened early for breakfast. Around 830 in the morning, I walked in, and like a scene out of an old western, the regulars at the bar, all turned to see what the barkeep behind the counter could already see. Identifying me by my OU gear, he asked, "You the one that called about the game?" And with a cheerful "Yup," (well, cheerful for 830am on a Saturday), I staked my claim at an open seat in the middle of the bartop, and awaited kickoff.

Smelling bacon and eggs all around me, I made the smart call to order some breakfast before getting into full game mode despite the early (on the west coast) kickoff. Thankfully, because The Prospector is a restaurant and a bar, I wasn't completely out of place ordering a beer that early in the morning. I did, in my defense, wait until after kickoff to do so.

Here's where it starts to get cloudy. There was a bottle behind the bar that caught my eye. Hound Dog Sweet Tea Vodka, I think it was. Well, I definitely know it was sweet tea vodka, but the brand is up for debate. Having spent a few years on the east coast, sweet tea was a bullseye of a remedy for homesickness. The bartender gave me my first shot for free, because he thought I should try it first, but looking back, I definitely think he knew what he was doing.

Somewhere during halftime I called my friends Tara and Lainey, and after 30 more minutes of game clock, the Texas Longhorns claim another victory in the Red River Rivalry, 16-13. This UT squad would eventually go on to win the Big 12 (with a victory over the Cornhuskers) but would lose to the Crimson Tide in the BCS Championship.

Even so, the Red River Shootout is the one game in the season we definitely want to win. Boomer Sooner.

A couple months later, Hound Dog's cousin, Seagram would accompany me to a cast party after the closing of Songs of the Siren, The Greeks Remixed. Another awesome time after an awesome run. In a collaboration of original plays based on Greek myths, a narrator role was written specifically for me--one of the greatest, if not the greatest, acting compliment I received in college.

Every once in a while, I'd find a drink with sweet tea vodka as an ingredient, and I would decide by thinking, "Is it a sweet tea moment?"

Tonight, it was.

 (Despite the irony of the first sweet tea vodka story...) I present the Texas Iced Tea from Cheddar's. A last second decision by my wife and I launched us into what could be a long evening of waiting. Valentine's Day on a Friday night, and we're heading out for dinner. Walking up to the door, a couple was passing us heading back to their car warning us of the hour and forty-five minute wait. Recognizing that there would be a substantial wait just about everywhere else we could go, we went inside and put our name in anyway. The hostess had said it the wait time was estimated at 1:15, so that was already an improvement from the defeated patrons' warning. As we sat inside, face to face with other mildly impatient couples and somewhat large groups, we watched other couples and families come inside, many of them leaving after hearing the estimated wait time.

Before we knew it, the restaurant pager was buzzing, and the red LEDs in the dark plastic case where doing a little dance. "Bingo!" I said as I looked at my watch and walked towards the hostess stand.

Twenty minutes. Exactly. As I gave (who I assumed to be) the manager a high five she said, "I'm not always this good," (to which I thought, "thatswhatshesaid" but that's neither here nor there).

Valentine's Day dinner with my wife. A delicious meal. A refreshingly wonderful drink. And another story of awesomeness with the liberating libation, sweet tea vodka.

drink responsibly. ;)

Photo and Blog a Day Challenge Day 4/28: A Convenience

When I woke up this morning and finally got to my phone, I checked out the photo prompt for the day. Now, I'm not as creatively diligent about this photo a day challenge as I just made it sounds, I changed my phone's home screen to the list of daily photo challenges. (It isn't too late to join, so you can check it out in my Day 1/28 post here.)

Seeing that day four's challenge listed "a convenience" I almost took a picture of the toilet. Because yeah, think about it. Plumbing is a luxury. I know we've come a long way since medieval potholes, but still, you take that porcelain pot for granted. It swallows your waste every day and you don't even say thanks.

But I opted to pass on the first idea that came to mind. Another idea was my car, but that was quickly scratched. Then I thought about my shoes. Those are definitely a convenience. I may occasionally refer to them as a necessity, but they really aren't. There are sandals and socks, and even bare feet days. That being said, they aren't a necessity, they're a convenience. Even so, it was not the one I wanted to highlight.

On my way home from work I thought about some food we had in the fridge, and I pictured one of my favorites--eggs. Fresh raw eggs in their foamy box of a home awaiting your next culinary creation. Whether you're hard boiling them or getting ready to crack their shells and release they gooey, slimy goodness into a hot pan, a bowl of dry ingredients for a baked treat. I wasn't a huge fan of eggs growing up, they were ok, just not crazy about them. Hard boiled eggs I've always enjoyed, however.

It wasn't until I joined the Navy that I really began to appreciate fresh eggs. Large pans of what was being passed off as scrambled eggs. Not a sunny side up in sight for miles. And then once I got to my sub, the limitations of food storage on board meant plenty of canned foods, pouches of Just Add Water foods, and questionable substitutes.

But in port there were fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs. Oh, the fresh eggs. The omelets with chopped veggies, the sunny side punctured on my plate wiped up with toast, reaching out to my bacon. EGGS.

But still, I do not nominate them to IG/Blogger stardom.

And then I see it. This...

My contribution to the Photo and Blog Challenge for A Convenience is a dumpster.

(I'm taking a moment to pat myself on the back for the happy accident of a full literary circle that I've created for myself.)

The dumpster, like the toilet I saw earlier this morning, is a vessel for our waste. Granted, it's not the same type of waste, but it's still trash we don't want around our home. Another convenience I believe many take for granted.

What if the dumpster wasn't there and we had to all take individual trips to landfills, or incinerators, or worse, just litter? Maybe we'd be better at composting, or creating less waste, so maybe it's partially enabling, but still..the dumpster is a sweet convenience.

And as I think about trash aboard the submarines...crushing cans and keeping them on board for weeks at a time...it isn't pretty. So yeah, the dumpster wins my vote for today.

And it helped me take another few moments today to realize how good life really is, and that too many things are taken for granted and are just accepted as necessity.

Stovetop Psychology

Just call me Jiffy Pop.

I am associated with movies, parties, fairs, happy hours and other events.

I can be salty, buttery, cheesy, or whatever you feel like having me be for the occasion.

But if you leave me alone for too long, or give me more heat that i really need to get going, I'm going to burn.

I won't be any fun, Ill probably make a mess in your house and throw stuff everywhere.

I'll leave stains on your hands, a terrible taste in your mouth, and in the end, I'll just have wasted your time when all you wanted was a little snack to accessorize your party.

Call it old school, call it stovetop psychology, but don't burn Jiffy Pop.