Bad Fans, Time Travel, and Erotic Food

As y'all may know, we all got back from Vegas recently and I think it is high time we had ourselves a Vegas story.

After arriving and making my way to the hotel I went down to the sportsbook and proceded to place all of my Saturday bets. Then we went to the oyster bar in Harrah's. I only have one comment about the place, if you are going to serve grilled crab legs, don't serve them frozen. Friday was pretty uneventful, so onto Saturday.

Side bar on being a good fan - I'm a rowdy fan, my friends are rowdy fans, but even we know that you don't go up to a player's family and say "your son/brother/boyfriend sucks." Sad to say, but the Texas kicker's girlfriend was in the Zone and received this treatment from longhorn fans. Tisk, Tisk.

I'm not going to go into the football betting, but if you want to know how it went check my post below, lets just say there is nothing like external validation. After the zone we went to Binions where I proceded to play the dark side of the craps table. I ended up staying there too long, but it really wasn't my fault; I was drunk and the dealer was flirting. What was I suppost to do?

After Binions I know we made it to "the place that shall not be named," but that is about it. I'll let Jack fill you in on those details. I really don't know the exact process, but some how I time traveled because it went from 9 pm in the casino to 7 am in the room. Funny how that happens in Vegas.

My favorite part about Sunday had to be brunch at Commander's Palace in Alladin's. The food was good as always, but what transpired that morning was stuff of legend. Whiskey ordered the Shrimp and Grits. When he took his first bite he announced to the table, "I just came." While not normally shocking with us, I'm sure that the waiter pouring his water at the time was a little surprised, but did this stop our waiter? No, he continued onto K's water like nothing happened. Now y'all are thinking the waiter obviously didn't hear, but he did, I know he did, and he knows. Now what I'm wondering is if he didn't flinch because he is a master of his craft, or is the food that good that he expects that reaction, or is it that he used to be a porn star. Well which is it Mr. Porn Star waiter? Like we need to ask, this is Vegas, the food is so good he asked the rest of us why we didn't cum.

The old menu is still legible

Sitting in my local coffee shop enjoying breakfast with some random folks i decided to sit down next to. ESPN is showing the 2006 USBC Masters, live from the Wisconsin Exposition Center.

As I stare at the TV set waiting for the unconcerned waitress to rustle up my chicken fried steak, something strange occured to me. Here I am in a ratty little coffee shop, with grease stained menus, thread bare booths, and a two day old newspaper, and I am watching Bowling on a 42" Samsung Plasma TV.

What sort of management team decides to forgo printing new menus, and redoing the decore in favor of Plasma tv's (Yes there were more than one)? I'll tell you what kind, the kind that hates to miss football on a Sunday afternnon. Not too long after bowling kicked up, the channel was changed, to good ole' American Football!!!

How much time is enough (Part 2)

I think I have waited the appropriate amount of time to comment on USC v OSU.

USC got beat by a better football team. That's not saying that USC is not a good team, just that they are not National Championship contenders this season. Look for the Trojans to improve as the season progresses, and for them to be up near the top again next season.

Jack

P.S. Where is that review of Frangelico, and the reviews of Damiana liqueur and Phillips Root 100?

Just In Case You Needed a Pick

Rutgers -20 over UConn - 1 unit

YTD: 13-7, +11.5 units

Just the Picks

I don't have time to tell y'all about Vegas, but I wanted to make sure that everyone had thier picks for week 9.

Miami (5-2) at Georgia Tech (5-2) 3:30 PM EST – GT -5 – 1 unit
Oklahoma (5-2) at Missouri (7-1) 12 PM EST – Mizzou -2 – 1 unit
Nebraska (6-2) at Oklahoma State (4-3) 3:30 PM ABC EST – N -6 – 1 unit
Iowa State (3-5) at Kansas State (4-4) 3:35 PM EST – KSU -4 – 1 unit
Minnesota (3-5) at Ohio State (8-0) 3:30 PM EST – OSU -27 – 2 units
Illinois (2-6) at Wisconsin (7-1) 12 PM EST ESPN2 – UW -21.5 – 1 unit
BYU (5-2) at Air Force (3-3), 2:00 EST - BYU -9 – 1 unit
Arizona State (4-3) at Washington (4-4), 3:30 EST – ASU +1.5 – 2 units


YTD: 8-4, +7.5 units

Vegas here I come

I'm leaving for Vegas tomorrow and I don't want to leave without getting the picks up so here we go.

Tonight:
UVA -6 over UNC - 1 unit

Friday:
WVU vs. UConn, over 50 - 1 unit

Saturday:
Middle Tenn. -4.5 over ULM - 1 unit
Rutgers +6.5 over Pitt - 1 unit
Michigan -13.5 over Iowa - 1 unit
Wisconsin -6.5 over Purdue - 3 units
Baylor -3.5 over Kansas - 1 unit
ATM +3.5 over Okie St. - 2 units
ASU -23 over Stanford - 1 unit
Oregon St. vs. Arizona, under 38 - 1 unit

Sunday:
SFU +1.5 over Cinncinati - 1 unit

YTD: 0-1, -0.5 units

The story of weekday football

I like to watch Lost. I don't like to watch commercials, nor do I wish to entertain a debate on whether or not I should watch the commercials. The problem with recording and watching later is that you need something to do while you wait. The people at ESPN realized that this was a problem for many Americans so they invented weekday football. This allows you to have something to watch while waiting for Lost or any other television program. It was quite nice of ESPN to do this and I think we should all give them a big thank you.

Tonight's game - I like ULL -9, half unit.

Almost forgot, Thank You ESPN.

Knowing when to walk away

When I found out my friends Jack and Whiskey had a blog about gambling, football, and well who cares there is gambling and football, I knew this was a place for me to give out picks for games. For my first post Whiskey wanted a pick for tonight's game between the Bears and the Cardinals, but there are a few problems with this game. First, it is the NFL and my specialty is college. Second, the Bears are giving up 14 points on the road; I know you saw that Buffalo score and are thinking the Bears have this easy, but this is the NFL and I can see the Bears winning by a margin of 10 to 20 points, that is too close to make a pick.

This leads into a big lesson for betting on sports, if you think a team is going to barely cover, DO NOT bet on the game. I don't know how clear I can make this, but sometimes you just have to know when to walk away from a bet. There are a ton of games left in the season so why force yourself to make a bad bet. If I like a line I go for it, but never bet just to have action, unless you are in Vegas and you don't live there.

There is no pick for tonight, and that's just the way it is. Check back on Friday for my Saturday picks.

You know that Christmas eve feeling?

You know that nervous, cannot sleep, tossing and turning feeling? The excitement, the wonder the mystery?

Now that I am a adult (sort of) I know longer get it in December, but thats OK! I do get it a few times a year, the first one is the night before the college football season starts. That last Friday night, I cannot sleep, i can hardly contain my self. It does not matter that the next day we are going to battle the mighty seven dwarfs of middle Oklahoma state. I recently has this conversation with Whiskey and Dimity and they agreed Its a great night!

But there is another event that produces this emotion. It's the days leading up to to a trip to the promised land. VEGAS! I am 4 days away from the next trip. Whiskey and Dimity are as excited a we are. Surly this will be the trip that one of us strikes it rich. Mega Millions i jut around the corner. How will I sleep for the next four days?

The good news is this week I get to go to Northern Cal and visit the best Sushi place on the planet! I am not shitting you, maybe some day I will tell you all about it. Till then pas the Ambien.....

Antipasto and College Football

Today's Antipasto menu:

Vintage Cheddar Wheel by Kerrygold 11.99/lb
Read Hawk by Cowgirl creamery 24.99/lb
Swiss Gruyere Cave Aged Raw Milk by Kaltbach 10.99/lb
Huntsman Cheese by Long Clawson Dairy 12.99/lb Cheddar and Blue

Molinari and Sons Salami
Applegate Farms

iL Prosecco Del Veneto
J.W. Morris Johannisberg Riesling


French Marinated olives
someone's garlic marinated olives

Reviews to come later

UT played a great ballgame and showed the are still a great team.
Washington played a great ballgame and showed that they are for real.

Liquor in a sippy cup

I knew the weekend was gonna be ggo when it started out with Jack in a sippy cup on Friday night.

Who knew the Chuck E. Cheese's give you a sippy cup when you order a kids meal.

I got home on Friday night exhausted from preparing for the most important non catering catering gig of my life. I was assigend to cook for my boss, her boss and a bunch of her peers. No pressure. I was only being billed as the lab grill master!

OK in all fairness, i may have given myself that moniker in the past, buit i never realized it would be escalated to the bosses boss. Did i mention he is a Texan? Did I mention I had decided to Smoke Brisket before i KNEW he was from Texas????????

No pressure.

I get home from this wonderful affair on friday evening. I am worn the fuck out. All I want to do is get a shower, and have a jack. At the same time. I mention to the OL that i wish I coujld get a Jack in a sippy cup, cuz then I would just seat in teh shower seat and sip on my jack while the shower poured over me.

I jump in the shower to wash off the smoke and grime of 24 hours of cooking, and two minutres later the OL walks in and hands me a sippy cup containing ice, and... yup you guessed it, Jack Daniels. Best shower ever.

Ok so i said teh whole weekend was awesome.

Saturday afternoon, I get a phone call from everyones favorite Certified Hawaiian. the conversation goes something like this:

Him: Wanna go to Vegas?
Me: shit yeah!!!!
Him: no really.
Me: Yeah really.

the call came at 2:30. We were on the road to the Airport by 3:15, in Vegas by 6:30. first cocktail at 7, first jackpot, 7:01. Everyone's favorite Hawaiian hits a $5 slot machine for $800!!!

oh yeah

DRUNK POST WARNING!!!

there is more to teh story, but that will have to come later.

Anchovy Stuffed Olives

DRUNK POST ALERT!!!!!!!!


I didn't bother posting a week or so ago when I discovered that the OL had picked up a jar of blue cheese stuffed olives from Trader Joes. I must admit that was a mistake, cuz now I have to tell the back story to this post while intoxicated.

So I find this jar of olives, and it immediately reminds me of NAB 2006. (V4 has found a video on YouTube that has the peanuts characters dancing to Outkast's Hey Ya') NAB 2006 was a lot of hard work followed by a lot of hard drinking.

On this particular night, TB and I were in the company of a few friends at the lake show at the Wynn Hotel and Casino. I was drinking my usual Jack rocks, and TB was drinking Ketel One martinis with three olives(yes, the number three is important when drinking martinis in Vegas). Well at some point, the bar ran out of their usual olives, and decided to substitute blue cheese stuffed olives. TB made the mistake of announcing to the whole table that the olives were blue cheese stuffed, and the rest as they say is history. We proceeded to pilfer olives from TB's drink... Damn they were good!

back to the near future, after finding the blue cheese stuffed olives in the grocery bag, I declared that we were gonna have martinis that night. So later that afternoon, we head to BevMo to procure the necessary martini shit, usually, I would say accoutrements, but shit I am fucked up right now. $172 later we leave BevMo with a couple of Martini glasses, a handle of Ketel One, the OL's favorite, two packages of Martini picks, my choice, and hers, another jar of olives, and assorted other shit. Long story made short, $172 and change later, we have martini fixins!!! Three hours later, and 3 or drinks later, we are debating whether vermouth is really necessary.

So to get back to tonight, it would appear that during my absence this past weekend, the OL decides to go on a road trip to The Brentwood Olive Oil Company.

The OL shows me the items she procured from the BOO. She picked up lemon infused olive oil, Jalapeno infused olive oil, and anchovy Stuffed olives. Well, I am sure you know exactly what happens when I see these olives. Just a hint, I happen to love anchovies, and they taste really good when they have soaked for a few minutes in a well prepared martini.

Too much typing. Time to drink more!

How much time is enough?

I know I owe a review of Frangelico, and I also nee to revisit the reviews of Damiana liqueur and Phillips Root 100, but those will come later.

I think I have waited the appropriate amount of time to comment on OSU v UT.

UT got beat by a better football team. That's not saying that UT is not a good team, just that they are not National Championship contenders this season. Look for the 'Horns to improve as the season progresses, and for them to be up near the top again next season.

Exploring BevMo

Four new bottles made it into the liquor cabinet tonight.

1. Phillips Root 100 Root Beer liqueur.
2. Phillips union Cherry Flavored Whiskey.
3. Damiana liqueur
4. Frangelico

We also picked up a bottle of our new favorite rum, 10Cane. This stuff is made from pure cane sugar and goes down very smooth. It is awesome with Coke, or even on the rocks.

First impressions:

The Root 100, appears to be corked, but it is only wrapped in a seal similar to a wine bottle. The first whiff out of the bottle is very medicinal and slightly sweet. I tried it first neat. Bad idea. I poured a little over an ice cube and let it set and chill for a minute. The chill helped some, but it wasn't until the ice melted and watered it down a bit that I was able to smell the rootbeer and the taste was much less astringent.

The Damiana has a pleasant spicy herbal aroma. I got bits of rosemary and another note that I couldn't quite place. Near, the taste was this same herbal yet mild taste. Over Ice, there were citrus notes with a spicy finish and very little after taste. Overall a very interesting taste. This one will get more experimentation real soon

The Phillips union Cherry flavored whiskey has a nice cherry flavored nose. The first sip neat, was smooth and pleasant. The finish however was acidic and artificial. On the rocks, the cherry flavor was more pronounced and the artificial finish was not noticeable at all. With coke, this is a down right decent beverage. A nice blend of whiskey and cherry coke. If it wasn't for my "condition", I would add this to my rotation of beverages. As it stands, I will be enjoying this one strictly on the rocks.

Frangelico? well that will be a tasting for another night.

Now I am off to pour another Cherry Coke!

Bacon!!!!!

I made bacon sandwiches for brunch today.

What I hope will turn into a great three day weekend started on a sour note. I was forced to wake up at the ungodly hour of 9:00 am PDT. What's worse is I had to wake up to the most annoying play by play voice in the world, Joel Myers.

So after UT got off to a 28-0 halftime lead I figured it was time to get a little food in my belly. My selection, two types of apple wood smoked bacon, I thought was perfect for the official start of the College Football Season. Turns out the bacon was okay. I had two types, both from my local Albertson's meat counter.

The first was simply smoked over apple. It had a mild flavor. I thought it wasn't much different than something you might find in a Farmer John's package. Rene thought it had just the right amount of smoke flavor and a really nice "meaty" taste. She felt that it didn't have the fake smoke taste of some bacon. The second was a peppered bacon. Though I have never seen peppered bacon, I figured I would pick it up and compare the taste.

The second was also smoked over apple wood. This one, however, was also peppered. Now I am not certain of this, but I think this bacon was coated with ground black pepper before smoking. You really couldn't tell by looking at it, the sliced bacon in the package was sprinkled with ground pepper. My guess is that a lot of the pepper came off during slicing. The flavor was more pronounced. Not peppery or spicy, it just seemed as though the peppering enhanced the smoke flavor.

I cooked both in their own non stick skillet on the stove top. Next time I will give the oven a try and see if there is any difference.

I had my heart set on watching Ohio State play, but ABC decided that I would rather watch Stanford vs. Oregon in a match up of Pac-10 powerhouses. I even tried to buy the game on the ESPN Game Plan, except Comcast does not want my money and does not offer the Game Plan in my area. I hate Comcast. Fortunately, my lovely wife rescued me when she decided to take a jaunt down to Bonny Doon Vineyards. They have a revolving selection of wines available for tasting, and the tasting fee is only $3.oo, although I think they waived it after we purchased almost 2 cases of wine.

After the trip to Bonny Doon, we got home in time to watch USC whoop up on the Hoggs of Arkansas. Although not the thorough ass whooping of last season, it was still a very impressive win.

Football observations:

• Why were the defending National Champions playing at such a horrible time?
• Why did Fox choose to save their HD cameras for the Utah vs. UCLA???
• Joel Meyers has the most annoying voice of any play by play commentator.
• The Longhorns looked really good today. (even though it was against the Mean Green of North Texas.
• McCoy looks like the real deal. He is no Vince Young, but who is?
• Jamal Charles will finally get a chance to show his running skills now that he is no longer in the shadow of VY.
• If Selvin Young stays healthy, Texas could have the most potent running game in College football this year.
• USC is off to a great start.
• Booty looks really good.
• The Trojans have more running backs than you can shake a stick at. I don't envy the coaches job of choosing a starter every week.
• The Trojan Tailbacks do not give up. They keep running till the whistle blows like no bodies business.
  
• Did you see the defense play? They look like they haven't lost a step.
  
• Art Shell finally got to make a decision. The Raiders cut Jeff George.
  

I will let you know how the bacon turns out in the oven, and also update the wine adventures.

Happy football day!!!!

I'll be on vacation starting Thursday, so the posting will be less frequent.

For those of you who want to make yourselves jealous, I will be hangning out on the beach outside of Pueblo Bonito Emeral Bay

Got my NCAA 2007 Football fix today. USC beat Texas in the Rose Bowl, 37-7. I feel strong in predicting USC to be the Pac Ten champ again this year.

Also check out Old Man Fridge. They promise regular updates as well as appearances by guest fridges.

24 Days

I am a nut, a certifiable football nut. It is 24 days until the Longhorns kick off the football season. Practice started yesterday and I find myself surfing hornfans and orangebloods looking for reader authored practice reports. Searching for any bit of news on who the starting QB will be. Colt or Jevon, Jevon or Colt. I hear Shipely is actually at practice and not hurt oh my. Surf on over to espn and I find out the buskeyes of kicked the starting TE off the team...what does this mean? will this give us the slightest edge? Football season cannot get here soon enough.

Time to go pop in that DVD of the Rose Bowl again

reminder

Poker, Gambling, BBQ, Gadgets, and Drinking,Football

Just a reminder

Welcome Dude

Dooooooooode!!!!!

This is gonna be hot!!!