Vegas Trip - Travelogue...well, Foodalogue-Part One

Dearly Beloved and I just got back from Vegas again- and I'll be sharing our travel pictures for the next couple of posts. If you aren't the type that gets into that kind of thing- come back in a few weeks and it'll be over. Just one note before I get too far- Vegas was not a busy place this trip. I know this is a slow season at good times, but the recession has made matters even worse for the city of sin. A few of the high end restaurants are taking a couple of weeks off while things are slow, still more have cut back on shifts for their staff to get through the lean times. I hope things get better soon.

Oh, heck, another note- The rodeo was in town while we were in Vegas. The NFR or something. It was a little surreal seeing cowboy hats and big hair in all the old familiar places. Turns out that I like cowboys and cowgirls- they're a lot more polite then the usual folks I see around during the rest of the year. I even saw people holding doors open for other people. How rare, that small kindness, has become.

On the drive out to Las Vegas, dearly beloved and I have our little rituals and stops. We chat for most of the first leg of the trip. Just when conversation starts getting droopy, about the time the miles start adding up, we'll get to our first big stop in Victorville. This is always a treat for us, our favorite little bagel place. I love bagels, but for some reason, I rarely get around to eating them. Unfortunately, we were in for our first disappointment of the trip. Our lovely, fresh bagel place was gone. It's a fully operational tattoo parlor now. What a difference a few months make- there wasn't any sign that the bagel place ever existed there. I can't lie, I was emotional.

So, we went to the donut shop in the same strip mall.



The cake donut was cakey, the apple fritter wasn't greasy, the cruller existed (they don't in a lot of donut shops these days). The coffee was okay too. It wasn't the same experience we'd wanted out of the bagel place, but it was good enough that it'll be a new ritual on the way to Vegas.

Next stop was Barstow for some gas and soon we were listening to an audiobook of Rex Stout's "The Rubber Band". Time passed quickly and we were in Baker for our next ritual - The Mad Greek. It's a great place to stop. The food is tasty, the decor is fun, and the bathrooms are clean. I love everything about the place except the ice tea- it's nasty.

We shared the "combo plate" at the Mad Greek- Hummos, tabouleh, tzatziki, stuffed grape leaves, blocks of feta cheese, olives and (not pictured) really greasy flat bread. The meal is heaven for the taste buds. The bread is hell for the gut, in a good way. Yum.



Next Episode: We'll actually be in Vegas!

Today's Snowclone

Daily News, front page (at bottom) "Is gay the new black?"

Snowclones, snowclones every where, nor any stop and think

From Wikipedia: A snowclone is a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as "a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different jokey variants by lazy journalists and writers."

That means, when you take a well worn phrase and replace certain words to create a new phrase that cause people to immediately say, “I saw what you did there.”, you’ve created a snowclone.

Old phrase - Pink is the new black.
New phrase - Black is the new black.

Okay, that’s great for a lazy fashion writer, trying to explain the changes of the season- but it’s pretty bland as far as snowclones go. Let’s pick another.

Cliché - Pink is the new black.
Snowclone - Random is the new order (this was used for an ipod shuffle ad).

Nice.

The first snowclone that I’d really noticed, and this was from years before I’d even heard of the word, was a take off on “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”. It seemed to me that every time a journalist had three things in their article, whoever did the headlines just had to use that cliché. Lazy, lazy headline writer.

Of course, you might think that I’m against such practices. You’d be wrong. I love snowclones. I don’t care that the originator was lazy. As far as I’m concerned, lazy is the new black.

most irritating phrases

The good folks over at Oxford University have decided that these are the top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

okay, some of these aren't exactly phrases, but I understand what they are getting at. But you know, I personally feel that, at the end of the day, these phrases are okay. At this moment in time, with all due respect to Oxford University, people shouldn't worry about how they speak. After all, it's not rocket science, but policing your words for a fairly unique way of talking 24/7, absolutely worrying about saying something you shouldn't of, is a horrible way to live. I've tried it and it's a nightmare.

Anywho, they are wrong. There are much more annoying "phrases" then that, if you know what I mean. Whatever. meh.

Van Dyke

On Slate.com's Political Gabfest, Mr. Plotz asked why so many Republicans wear Van Dyke beards. I'm no expert but...

Here's why I wear a "Van Dyke" beard-

1) I'm overweight - As I gained weight over the years, my neck slowly took over and destroyed my "chin line", that natural line that shows where my neck ends and my face begins. I hide the fact that the line is missing by having a beard that specifically says- "My chin is right here!" or at least- "this is where it used to be".

2) I look young when my face is bald - I once read that Andy Warhol prematurely dyed his hair grey in order to appear older. Apparently, youth was not something that was helping him get taken seriously in the art world. It seems, currently, there is a movement towards natural grey hair, but I have a feeling that there are a number of folks that don't want to really appear old, just more "serious". When I shave off my beard, I seem to get ten years younger - everybody I know tells me as much. I have a feeling that there are a lot of "baby faced" gentlemen that need a beard so they don't have to hear "shayna punim" (or whatever the gentile equivalent is) whenever they walk into a room.

3) Van Dykes were hip twenty minutes ago - In the late eighties I had a pony tail. I'm sure a lot of the people that you see with Van Dykes were the same type of people who wore pony tails in the eighties. They are under the illusion that they can look "business" and still be "edgy". This is the same mistake a lot of people with mullets made.

Now, as to the question- Why, specifically, the Van Dyke?

The Van Dyke beard is a well maintained beard- its shape instantly shows that the wearer cares about their appearance. When I grow more of a beard, I start to look like Bluto from the old Popeye cartoons. Very few people actually want to look like Bluto.

Eric Ericsson's Fish Company

On friday, Carole and I drove up to Ventura for the Harvest Festival. If you don't know, the Harvest Festival is a nomadic craft expo featuring "home made" food, furniture and fun. I picked up some banana jam, triple berry jam and peanut brittle. Carole picked up a nice hat, a few gifts and half of the brittle I'd bought.

Right near Harvest Festival was a fish restaurant that we've been wanting to try, Eric Ericsson's Fish Co.



The view of the ocean and pier were lovely and the food was slightly better then it had to be. We started off with the ceviche and chips, which were nice enough, although a little bland.



We then moved on to the main courses- Carole ordered the Salmon Club, hold the bacon, and I went for the Jalapeno Fish & Chips. As we sometimes do, we split the meals in half and shared. The salmon was cooked perfectly, if a little small for the bun (not height, width- the two halves weren't equal, I ended up with a bad fish to bun ratio). The sandwich was served with a nice, sweet coleslaw that had pineapple chunks in it. I liked the coleslaw a lot more then the Salmon Club.



The Jalapeno Fish & Chips were great. They'd put diced pieces of jalapenos in the fish batter, which gave a pleasant kick that really added a lot. Also, the slight heat went well with the sweet coleslaw that came with the Salmon Club. I think that if I was doing the meal solo, I'd order the Jalapeno Fish & Chips with a side of their coleslaw, it worked that well together.



I thought the dessert we ordered was mediocre, though Carole liked it more. It was a Polynesian Roll- which was Cheesecake, caramel and banana wrapped in dough, fried and coated with cinnamon and sugar. There was also a drizzle of caramel sauce to finish the dish. Sounds great, right? Meh. It was sweet, sure, but that's about it.

Waiting for something new

Okay, so I never got my new site off the ground. Big surprise, I'm sure.

I've decided that I'm just going to go ahead and use this blog for a while. The new direction that I planned on taking my "blogging" will just have to happen right here.