food

food / Twitter / video / weekend / World Cup — Comments Off on A weekend collection of things
21
Jun 14

A weekend collection of things

For our anniversary dinner we had reservations at Warehouse Bistro. This was my dinner:

WarehouseBistro

We go there maybe twice a year. I’ve noticed that the vegetable of the day is always that giant head of broccoli. Not that I’m complaining.

I mention it here because, for some reason, I always mention the food at the anniversary dinner. It is tasty.

We rode our bikes to the pool yesterday. That was six miles just to avoid parking, really. The swim was the point. I swam 1,500 yards and didn’t feel terribly bad about it.

One of our friends was working as a lifeguard and he offered a critique of my technique. He did not understand that my style is carefully designed to not use my legs, at all, in advance of the bike and run to follow.

He wasn’t the only person to offer criticism. A police officer thought enough of me to turn his loud speaker on and talk to me. Twice. He was well intentioned, but in error. Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to discuss the state law together.

Today we did a regular route which puts in about 18 miles. It is one of my favorite rides, based on the performance. I always seem to do well on that particular set of roads. Indeed, today, on one hill I actually gained five miles per hour.

My speed and power might have continued to improve, but I ran out of ascent.

I do not know what is happening.

Soccer, which we haven’t talked about at all here yet. I listened to the Ghana game as I drove home on Monday. The Yankee, who is awesome, found an app with which to stream the game. But it was my turn to drive and so I would still a very brief glance here or there, not nearly enough to get a real sense of the game, which it sounded like Ghana gave away in more ways than one.

I got to watch a few games on the cruise and, of course, I’ve been watching this week. With Portugal tomorrow, I’m busy watching the hype videos.

This one doesn’t even show any game footage:

This one features the second goal from the Ghana game:

And here’s a slightly older one that highlights the American Outlaws, who should really be a cultural institution unto themselves:

I expect a lot more of these as the U.S. performance continues in the World Cup.

Things to read … because you can always expect more to read.

This is a great, and long read. But it is worth reading to the end this story of a new firefighter’s first blaze. Baptism by fire:

IT WAS QUICKLY DARK. Black smoke pervaded the apartment. He couldn’t see. Inside an apartment on fire, you are robbed of key senses. He had to pick his way with those gardenerlike gloves.

Noise was absent. No cries for help.

In his bunker gear, Firefighter Sullivan didn’t sense the heat.

You’ll love the ending.

Something shorter:

food / journalism / links / memories / movies / photo / things to read / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on Being impressionable
30
Apr 14

Being impressionable

I am not a food blogger. I am not a food blogger. I am not a food blogger.

But I went to The Paw Paw Patch, which does a cafeteria style meat-and-three. And the vegetables were a childhood memory. I often eat things in a certain order, for whatever reason, and I eat each option without swapping out to a new part of the dish. But these, as a child I mixed up.

food

So when I saw them on the food line I smiled. I knew what I was getting. But I did not stir up the entire plate. Funny how something like that can make an impression on you. Maybe we don’t often realize it until after the fact, if even then. And how we make our impressions upon others? That’s always a mystery. Something to think about.

When I was eating the owner came out and offered some of those ice pops you had in elementary school. Apparently he was just trying to make some space. He began talking with an elderly man and woman a few tables away. Somehow the conversation turned to the owner’s wife and how she once worked at a fur store about 15 or 20 years ago. This elderly lady had purchased a fur coat there during those same years. She said she paid $7,000 in cash and does your wife remember that?

So he had to call his wife to find out the level of impression and the older pair ate their little popsicles.

The older gentleman had apparently just gotten out of the hospital for some reason or another and he said that this, at Paw Paw Patch, was the first good meal he’d enjoyed in several days. And I thought back to when I visited a friend in the hospital and her husband had gone out to get her a plate from Paw Paw Patch because it was one of her favorite restaurants. I can’t ever go there without thinking about, because that was, I think, the first time I’d heard of the place. That’s an impression to make.

I also will forever think of the time I walked in there and the staff and I did lines from Coming to America. They seemed entertained that I knew most of the script.

Things to read … because the Giants can’t play the Packers every night.

Limestone, Lincoln EF-3 tornadoes remained on ground for about 30 minutes each, tracking almost 16 miles each

Lee County tornado placed in F3 category

Volunteers, donations needed for county’s storm victims

Day care worker dies saving child in tornado

Those are some stories worth remembering. Here are a few more worth keeping in mind.

Average visit at newspaper site: 1.1 minutes

We’re headed for a really big ‘collision’ between content and connection networks

Hard Evidence: How Does False Information Spread Online?

The Onion sets its sights on BuzzFeed, Upworthy

I also have an impression of one of the first pieces from The Onion that I read — though I thought it was older. How many stories from 15 years ago can we recall?

adventures / food / Friday / friends / iPhone / links / photo — Comments Off on Where I pretend to say smart things among smart people
4
Apr 14

Where I pretend to say smart things among smart people

I had the good fortune to take part in two panels today, the first one was titled The Ethics and Political Implications of the Edward Snowden Document Leaks. The description in the conference program was:

This panel will explore the ethical and political implications of the classified United States documents made public by Edward Snowden. Many of the released documents indicate that government agencies have spied on Americans and foreigners, and the revelations have sparked sharp criticism and anger from several foreign leaders. Reflecting the conference them, panelists will discuss the ethical considerations of Snowden’s and the government’s actions and envision how these revelations might impact both future domestic and foreign affairs.

For my part I recalled what Lenin said about useful idiots. That’s pretty much where we are with Snowden at this point, I think. I talked about how all of this is going over with the American public in surveys, including one I found just this morning about how the security revelations are apparently changing people’s online habits.

Here’s the scene from the second panel, which featured some of the region’s finest political scholars — and me!

panel

The title of the panel was Envisioning the Future: A Roundtable on Themes of the 2014 U.S. Midterm Elections. The description read

Panelists will discuss emerging themes of the 2014 U.S. midterm elections. Among the topics that will be addressed are: political issues facing the electorate this election cycle, political communication strategies in light of changes in campaign-finance regulation, and technological shifts in campaigning. Reflecting the conference theme, panelists will look forward to the upcoming elections based on analyses of recent campaigns and issues.

The word of the day was “Obamacare.” No one will run on anything else in the midterms. We talked about Scott Brown, since he was topical today. It was also important to bring up the Supreme Court’s finding on aggregate limits.

We had a late lunch at a place called Red Gravy, a high end Italian joint nearby. It was tasty. We had dinner at the House of Blues, which was a continuation of last year’s Hard Rock Cafe misadventures. I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed more than at those two tables. This is always a fun conference, no matter the city. It is the people, not the restaurants or the burgers or the panels and papers, but the fun and funny folks we get to visit with for a few days.

adventures / food / friends / photo / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off on A day at the conference
3
Apr 14

A day at the conference

Took part in a panel this morning. It was titled The Future of Campus Journalism. The description:

What are we teaching our journalism students? What should we be teaching our journalism students? Given the prolonged state of flux of the journalism industry, it is more important than ever for educators to be conscious of the ever-changing nature of the skills that our students will need to be able to adapt in today’s job market. Panelists will share their experiences with and suggestions for journalism education, both in the classroom and in the newsroom.

I talked about entrepreneurship, partnering with other entities on campus — Samford’s JMC teams with the business school and the law school for combined degrees — and initiative.

Other conference things took place. We attended sessions and other sessions. We visited the welcome mixer and then had dinner across the street at the Palace Cafe:

Palace

It was one of those places that was widely suggested to us by friends. (Tell people you are going to New Orleans and everyone has a restaurant list.) I had the braised pork shank:

Palace

It only needed to be bigger. And there was banana’s foster, which was prepared and fired in front of us. All the people infatuated by fire recorded the moment. The maitre d made a note of it and called the fire marshal, I’m sure. There was also cheesecake:

Palace

Tomorrow I’ll get to take part in two panels at the conference. Also, Wrestlemania is being held in New Orleans. The fans are starting to filter in. And some of the wrestlers. I think Mark Henry is staying in our hotel. That guy is massive.

adventures / food / I do not know what is happening. / photo / running / Wednesday — Comments Off on 26 minutes
2
Apr 14

26 minutes

The thing about New Orleans, I’ve discovered already, is that everyone wants to give you their restaurant recommendations. This is a good thing, so long as restaurant suggestions don’t play like car mechanic recommendations. Everyone has a A Guy, and they are sure he is better than every other guy. And if you don’t go to your friend’s guy … well, you’re taking your carburetor into your own hands, aren’t you?

We have a list of suggestions — not a suggestion, but lists — from at least three different people. Our friends at this conference are arriving today with similar lists. It is a remarkable thing.

One of the places we were told that we must go was a little dive bar and grill. The directions were “Go here and look across the street.” The idea being that you’d never see this place if you were looking for it:

YoMama

We were told two things. First, order the macaroni and cheese, which is not on the menu, and they will treat you like locals. We forgot this instruction entirely, mostly because we were trying to work up the courage to follow the second piece of advice. The second tip was that we had to order the peanut butter and bacon burger:

YoMama

The burger was, we were told, life changing. As in you will leave the place a different person. That’s a lot to say, and a lot of pressure to put on a burger. Oh, but this burger brings peanut butter and bacon to the party, too. The waitress agreed, this was a good burger. So we ordered them:

YoMama

It was OK. The peanut butter overwhelmed the burger and you only occasionally noticed the bacon. It was very filling, go figure. It was a half a pound of beef with a whole lot of peanut butter. But we’d walked five miles last night. When I woke up this morning I was sore and tired and dehydrated. And then we went down to the fitness center and ran a 5K before lunch. The burger was fine, but it wasn’t something that you should order often because beef, bacon and peanut butter. So maybe it is a “when in New Orleans” thing. And you wouldn’t need it very much more often anyway.

We emerged from the place the same people. But later tonight I found myself thinking about how a peanut butter burger sounded like a pretty good idea …

This is the view from our hotel room in the Sheraton. Down that road there are some great neon signs that I’ll have to take pictures of later. The river is nearby. We found Jackson Square last night. Bourbon Street, which we haven’t even considered visiting, isn’t too far away. We’re apparently in the center of the business/tourist haven.

YoMama

Now almost all of our conference friends are here. The conference begins (and my first panel presentation is) tomorrow.

I’d tell you about the place we had dinner tonight, which was also on a list from well-meaning friends, but the dining experience left something to be desired. Let’s say it this way, the meal was so weird that someone looked at a watch and wondered how long it would take us to go from getting the check to leaving the table. Consult this post’s title, above.

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