Three Cs

One of the coolest things about my trip to Boston was getting to meet a fellow blogger, Camilla, who writes one of my favorite blogs. Although her blog has changed its primary topic in the last seven months or so, it is filled with stunning photographs, mathematical creative endeavors and, of course, the occasional cooking adventure. Every now and then, I've had an additional treat of seeing my brother, her former housemate, in a photo or two, and have been relieved to see that he was still alive.

Camilla invited me and my dad to dinner to meet her, her husband, Monty, and her adorable son, Denton. She fixed an incredible dinner of roasted chicken that was culminated by a Yeasted Sugar Cake, with strawberries, plums and whipped cream. Plums and real whipped cream are two of my favorite things in the universe. Before I even left Boston, I had to order the Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone cookbook, which has the cake recipe. I'm sure I will give it a try soon.

The next day she and Denton showed us around Mt. Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge. Other than drive by shootings from the car, which I later painted, I'd never actually been to a cemetery before. Mt. Auburn Cemetery, which is 175 years old, is absolutely beautiful. It has gorgeous old trees and all the paths are paved, so it's a great place to walk around. I could have probably taken a few hundred more photos. We went there primarily with the purpose of birdwatching, but we didn't see any uncommon ones. Robins were particularly plentiful. I was also likely way too enthralled by looking at the trees.

Happy, Hideous, Lovely and Refreshing

Saturday night, my van decided that it didn't want to open the automatic doors anymore. My dad spent rest of the weekend taking everything apart, trying to determine why. The motors in the doors were fine. The limit switches were fine. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to figure it out, but a signal is being generated constantly indicating that the doors should close. My dad is planning to drive it to Charlotte to get it fixed. Ordinarily, this would drive me up the wall, but since I recently drove over 1700 miles within a week and a half, I don't mind it so much. From that perspective it's really good timing. I'm also very happy that this didn't happen while I was on my trip!

I haven't seen any sign of the skink.

The Flying Fish is no more. It was actually bought out a couple of months ago and is now called the Gulf Rim. They pretty much have the same menu, with a few additions. They also painted the interior of the restaurant a hideous shade of orange. Granted, I think most, but not all, shades of orange are hideous.

The Thai Cafe has finished their renovations for their new addition and it looks lovely.

On their current menu, ACME Food and Beverage Co. has a shrimp and crawfish pasta served with heirloom tomatoes sauce that is both beautiful and delicious. This past weekend, they also had watermelon sorbet as a special, which was delightful. My dad thought you might as well eat a slice of watermelon, but I thought it was even more refreshing and certainly colder.

Bull McCabe's Irish Pub

I was eager to go to Bull McCabe's Irish Pub last night, after guitar practice, because I'd read several, mostly positive, reviews since it opened. It has interesting decor and I think the fully stocked bookshelves add a lot.

It, however, doesn't have wheelchair accessible seating options and it looses quite a few points in my book because of that. There are picnic benches outside, which can be ok as long as the ends overhang some. Unfortunately, their benches aren't built that way. We sat there for a bit, before the bottom dropped out of a thunderstorm. By then, some of the indoor tables were free. Unfortunately, they were barely better, because they only have a few booths and they have supports at the ends of their tables.

I really liked my fish and chips, though. The fish was crispy, but not excessively so. The french fries were nice and crispy, too. The creamy coleslaw was a little too soupy, in my opinion, but I'm picky about coleslaw.

With the exception of a quesadilla, I was pleased to see that most of the items on the menu seemed appropriate for an Irish pub. This is in contrast to an Irish pub that I went to in Cambridge, the Asgard, which had more cosmopolitan fare. It seems wrong to order jambalaya or bruschetta in a pub, don't you think? Fortunately, visiting the Asgard was the pre-party after party for Oscelot's Open Source Day II, so I didn't let it bother me too much.

House Skink and an Improv Workshop

There is a blue-tailed skink loose somewhere in my house. I hope I don't find out where it is while I'm asleep. Wherever you are, no matter how far away, you will hear my startled scream, I'm sure.

Here's one that got in my parents' house a number of years ago. I just read that the tail of a skink is highly toxic to cats, so cat-owning readers should apparently beware. (Update: This is a myth.)

In other news, if you are at all interested in theatre or want to try something spontaneous and new, you might consider finding out more about an Improv Workshop that will be taught in Durham, August 17-19.

I Love Mary Chung's!

People who know me, particularly in person, know that I can go on and on about Mary Chung's Chinese Restaurant on Mass Ave. (near Central Square), in Cambridge. Anytime anyone gets within a 50 mile radius of it, I insist that they have to go. Two weeks ago, I actually managed to get my boss to go by actually driving him there. He did go willingly, I think. I ate there three out of the nine nights that I was in the Boston area.
I also insist that people order my favorite dish, Suan La Chow Show. It's a soup-appetizer dish, which contains pork dumplings in a tangy-spicy soy based sauce, with bean sprouts. Basically, once you eat the dumplings, the wait staff starts trying to take it away, so I don't think most people eat all of the liquid and sprouts. This dish is very hot, but it is absolutely delicious, in my opinion.

Among other things, we also had scallion pie, also known as scallion pancakes. I really like these.
We also had Lion's Head, which is a giant non-spicy pork meatball in a thin broth, with cabbage. It reminded us of krautrouladen, or cabbage rolls, a traditional German beef dish. Fortunately, it really was pork, since I still don't eat beef. It was incredibly good.

I'd remembered liking Dun Dun Noodles, but I hadn't remembered that they are spicy enough to spontaneously combust. We also had Orange Sauce Chicken and Velvet Chicken, which were mild and excellent. The fried peking ravioli, fondly referred to as "ravs", which are basically potstickers, are also a must.

Anyone who is willing to bring me back some Suan La Chow Show on a plane will forever hold a special place in my heart. Yes, I already want more.

Fun Driving in Boston

Now that I have some laundry started, it's time for me to write a little bit about my trip to Boston.

I can't remember whether I've mentioned this here before, but I really like driving in Boston. It's challenging, with its maniacal drivers, its overabundance of one-way streets and the occasional unlabeled intersection. Lanes are almost optional due to people's parking in them and many of the lanes aren't marked with lines at all. Someone once told me that that every car in Boston has a dent, so I'm always happy to be driving a pre-dented van. Boston drivers expect you to suddenly pull in front if them, because you can't get anywhere if you don't. Boston drivers, for the most part, are alert because of that. You have to think and react quickly.

I get the impression that over half the people in the Triangle aren't even paying attention to the fact that they are in a moving vehicle while they are talking on the phone, much less trying to drive it somewhere. My brother assures me that some Boston drivers don't pay attention either, but it's got to be the exception rather than the majority. On my morning commute from Hillsborough to Durham a lot of the drivers drive way below the speed limit, because they either don't have a clue or they are engrossed in their conversations. I'm not saying that my driving is perfect here, particularly when I'm talking to a passenger, but I do think I'm pretty alert, for the most part.

Now, it's not just that I like driving in the city. I've hated driving in D.C. every time I've been there. While many Boston drivers were polite and even waved to let me in, I've experienced many cases were drivers in D.C. were rude or made what I considered to be dangerous maneuvers. Of course, just a few experiences can color one's perceptions strongly, but I really get the sense that there is something pathological about driving in D.C. I was in stop and go traffic on the D.C. Beltline on Saturday and someone just stood on his or her horn when I was changing lanes. I was using my turn signal. I don't recall my being honked at once while I was in Boston.

One bit of excitement was when I was driving down Mass Ave., toward downtown Boston, and I had to go through a tight squeeze. I should have slowed down more, but my side mirror hit the mirror of a truck that was parked on the right. It knocked my mirror out and the small-domed wide angle mirror popped off of that. Driving without both mirrors would be impossible. The main mirror was just a pressure fit, but the smaller one had been put on with double sided tape. I noticed that we lucky enough to have this happen just across the street from a convenience store, City Convenience. My dad ran across the street, got some double sided tape and taped the small mirror back on. The driver of the truck could have complained about the slightest scratch, but he was very nice and just made sure that none of the flying parts belonged on his truck.

Boston is notorious for being a horrible place to drive, so I'm probably just deranged. I'm not sure my readers needed more convincing, though.

Blu Seafood and the Mussel Thief

I've lamented in the past about the quality of the camera on the Treo 700p as compared to the Treo 650. Well, complaining is silly in this case, because I've finally played with my Canon SD500 camera enough to figure out how to get semi-great food shots in a restaurant setting, without flash. All I need is the macro setting and ISO 200.

I hadn't read any reviews of Blu Seafood and Bar, which opened on 9th Street about a week and a half ago, so I had to try it out. The decor is much brighter and cleaner looking than the recently departed Grasshopper was. The service was very friendly and excellent. I decided to order the fried calamari appetizer and a salad.

First we tried their bread, which was delicious. This was actually our second serving.

The calamari was good. It wasn't the best I've ever eaten, but it was pretty good. It was served with lemon mayo, but I liked it better plain. I'm actually quite fond of Rockfish's calamari, which is surprising given that it's a chain. I would be interested to know where local readers prefer to get calamari around here.

This was a great salad and it was much larger than it looks. It had tomatoes, shredded cucumbers, feta, onions, salad greens, small pieces of pita and a lemon-mint vinaigrette. I'm actually not a big fan of salads, but I enjoyed this tremendously and would happily order it again.

In fact, I would probably just order the salad. Since I erred on the side of ordering too much, I didn't have room for dessert. They had chocolate fondue for two, for $12. I love chocolate fondue.

Here's a picture of my father's order of paella. I was getting carried away taking high-resolution food photos and I thought the presentation was particularly nice. He would have preferred that it had more shrimp and fewer bivalves, but I would have liked it as-is and managed to steal a mussel.

Happiness and Excitement

Happiness is returning home after 2 weeks and discovering that the coffee grounds that one left in the coffee pot have not molded.

That's right, the proverbial newspapers at the end of this blog's driveway have been building up for a reason. I've been in Boston, for both business and pleasure, and drove home last night. I have lots of highlights, food stories and photos to share...in good time.

One of the exciting events while I was gone was Blogger's enabling the easy routing of RSS traffic through Feedburner and discovering that I have not one or two subscribers, but more than twenty. I was stunned. Thank you all for reading!

Gorilla Ginger Gadgets

I've been trying out quite a few new things lately and you all should benefit from my thorough research.

The iPhone. While I haven't actually touched one yet, I have seen my hippest friend use his. To put it bluntly, the iPhone makes my Treo 700p look pathetic. I really didn't think that it would be nearly as nifty as it is. The web browsing capability, particularly with wifi, is what really sells this product. Scrolling and zooming looks almost effortless and it is most certainly not effortless with the Treo 700p. Again, I am fortunate in that I will be spared from spending the $600, because I don't get service from AT&T anywhere where I would want to use it. As wonderful as the iPhone may be, I draw the line at having to drive somewhere else to use one. The take-home message here is that this blog, my blog, has now been bookmarked on an iPhone. That's worth more in my book than any technorati ranking I've ever seen.

Ginger Beer by the Ginger People. I've been looking for a sodium benzoate free replacement for Blenheim Ginger Ale for months now. I've finally found one. It doesn't actually taste similar, but it many ways I think it's an improvement. It's barely carbonated, so it's far more drinkable. I've seen several people almost choke on Blenheim and that just won't happen with this beer. It's non-alcoholic and made with real ginger juice. One of my complaints about most brands of natural ginger ales is that is has some other fruit flavor added, like pineapple. This doesn't, which is great. Disclaimer: My most faithful reader of this blog thinks it tastes awful.

Now if only I can find a decent all-natural replacement for IBC and Saranac root beer...

I am now the proud owner of a Gorillapod tripod. This product is also way more awesome than I had imagined. I can attach it right to my chair. Not only that, but I've already imagined other things that I can connect to it. I'm planning on screwing on a something with a clip so I can have a music stand that will attach to almost anything. There's nothing worse than having one's music blow off the table while you're in the middle of a song. Ok, maybe there is. It also has a detachable piece that screws on semi-permanently to one's camera so you can easily dock onto the tripod. The only problem that it covers the SD card/battery compartment on my Canon SD500. That makes it a little less permanent, obviously, but it's still handy for short term use.

Squash Stir Fry Surprise

Last night, in an attempt to use up vegetables from our Elysian Fields farm share, I made a stir fry that I thought was surprisingly good.
canola oil
garlic (all the cloves from a single head)
2 onions
2 heaping tsp of brown sugar
1 cup of red wine
2 tsp of soy sauce
about 5 medium sized summer squash, sliced
dried basil (about 3 tsp or more)
dried orange peel (about 2 tsp or more)
black pepper
2 boca burgers cut into little pieces

I had the whole garlic cloves, the onions and the sugar cooking for a while, then I added the wine and the soy sauce. Next I put in the squash. I was adding it in as I was cutting, when I probably should have put it all in at once. I let that all cook on medium heat for a good long while, such that the liquid was boiling the whole time. The boca burgers, which I added near the end, soaked most of it up, too, which was great.

My dad always gives me a hard time about not tasting my cooking while I'm making it, but it really turned out well in the end. I love making these things up as I go along. It was good with rye bread, but it would have been great over rice, too.

This was the first time I'd ever peeled a head of uncooked garlic before. I was getting faster toward the end, but it's time consuming for the inexperienced.

How the iPhone Has Made Me Hip

I figured through the various degrees of separation that I would know someone who would already have an iPhone. I do and, in fact, on Friday night, I was able to be in his presence during his hour or two of need while he was waiting for his phone to activate. I feel so much hipper for knowing him now and he was already one of the hippest people I knew. Much of that hipness has to have rubbed off on me, right? Not only that, but at least one of my co-workers has already handled an iPhone in an Apple store and I have seen the pictures which documented her very hand's holding a genuine iPhone. That makes me even hipper. It gets better. That same co-worker has been known to read this blog, so that even makes Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity hip! I feel so much more special for not having experienced owning or fondling an iPhone myself and living through my friends vicariously, because it generously allows so many people to contribute to my existence.

Terrific Twisted Noodles

A couple of nights ago, my parents and I went to Thai Cafe and had another excellent meal. They had a new coconut shrimp appetizer special, which was good. It came with a mayonnaise based sauce, which I wasn't as crazy about, because their tangy honey based dipping sauces are so much better. The real excitement of the evening was my parking job. When my dad saw how close I was to the bricks, he repeatedly urged me not to mess with masonry. I, however, was rather pleased with my efforts.

Last night, after guitar practice, I wanted to try out one of the newer restaurants in Durham, so we all went to Twisted Noodles, a new Thai restaurant in one of the strip malls on University Drive, kind of behind Eastern Lights. JA told me that I'd never go to Thai Cafe again after tasting the food at Twisted Noodles. I don't think that's actually true, but I was immensely pleased.

I ordered Pad Thai, since that's the standard basis of comparison for most Thai restaurants. It was excellent and I was pleased to have enough for my lunch this afternoon. Thai Cafe's strikes me as somewhat on the mushy side, while the noodles I had last night had the perfect firmness. I like a little more emphasis on the tamarind flavor, but it was very good and that's just my personal preference. JJ had the duck special, which our waiter described as "the show", because it came out on an almost deafening sizzling hot platter. The bite that I tasted was absolutely delicious.

Dessert was actually the best of all. For $1.95, they have warm crepes rolled in condensed milk and sugar, called rotee. They are simply wonderful and it's a nicely sized portion, cut into six pieces. You can get it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for another $2, but I think it's completely unnecessary.

A restaurant critics, albeit an amateur one, should always go to a restaurant more than once before reviewing it, right? Well, I did just that. I decided that my parents needed to go to Twisted Noodles as soon as possible. We shared the shrimp tempura appetizer. The batter is thinner than Thai Cafe's, so it's not nearly as doughy. Both the shrimp and the broccoli were great. You probably get more for your money at Thai Cafe, since that is almost more than I can eat as a meal, but this was a good sized portion and practical to share. I had an enormous bowl of roast pork wonton and noodle soup, which was delicious. I have more than enough for lunch tomorrow. I'd been looking forward to having a second rotee all day and my second one was just as good as the first.

Some important things to note: They do not have enough wait staff and may not have enough people working in the kitchen. Tonight we observed four people get up and leave, because no one took their order. That said, their staff are extremely courteous and friendly and the food is worth the wait. I have no idea how common this is, but in the two times I've been there, they've been out of several things and have removed some items from the menu. Don't be surprised and just consider it as part of the charm.

Will I quit going to the Thai Cafe? Of course not. I love the Thai Cafe Baskets, the Massaman curry dishes, their coconut soup with shrimp and their potstickers. It's also pretty fast. I am excited that they are expanding and hope that their popularity will continue. No, I am just looking forward to enjoying Thai food even more often now!

Refreshing Cucumber-Mint Salad for an Indoor Picnic

We were supposed to take off from work this afternoon and have a picnic at a shelter in Duke Forest, but we had to cancel due to an impending thunderstorm. It was rather hot today, so that might have been a good thing.

I made a cucumber-mint salad, which I thought turned out well. I based it on parts of recipes I saw on the web, but it was influenced heavily by what I happened to have on hand. In lieu of the picnic, we ended up snacking on perishable goods (cookies can spoil within minutes, I hear) in the quasi-kitchen and the salad is almost gone, so I must not have been the only one. I thought it was pretty, too, but ironically, I didn't photograph it.

Here's the recipe:
6 medium sized cucumbers
1 cup (or so) of coarsely chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
black pepper

I peeled and sliced the cucumbers and added the mint. I put the lemon juice, sugar, pepper and oil in a jar and shook it before pouring it on the cucumbers. I stirred it all up and put it in the refrigerator overnight, so the flavors blended quite a bit.

Slushy Granita Goodness

Yes, it is worth the mess. It's wonderful. It has the perfect tartness, in my opinion.

This camera phone pic doesn't do it justice, but I was in a hurry to try the granita and I was uploading photos from my SD card at the time. The recipe makes a quart, so I'm looking forward to several more servings.

In other news, my as yet unlabeled Field Day 2007 pics are now available on Flickr. We had a great time and I made 6 contacts on 40 meter phone and 10 contacts on digital PSK31, on 40 meters.

Granita Goo

Since I wanted to use up some of my naked lemons from making the lemon-blackpepper-cornmeal cookies last weekend, I decided to make lemon granita from the same Luscious Lemon Desserts cookbook. At a high level, it's pretty easy until you realize that you need to put a 9"x13" pan full of sticky liquid onto a shelf in the freezer. I had realized that enough to clear out a space, but not to realize how difficult it is to keep such a pan....level. The one I'm using is made of pyrex glass so it's on the heavy and unwieldy side. I'm imagining that some sort of container with a plastic or rubber tight-fitting lid would be so much nicer than just covering it with tinfoil.

You also need to stir the frozen stuff every half hour for a few hours, which means precariously taking it out of the freezer again. I think my kitchen is going to be sticky for a while, no matter how much I scrub.

Stay tuned and find out whether the taste of the granita will make it all worthwhile. I have a feeling that I'm going to want the ice cream/sorbet maker attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer in the not too distant future.

Field Day 2007!

Since this blog has continued to get several local hits recently, I thought I would tell all of you about the most exciting activity going on this weekend. Forget Durham Rising.* The real action will be at Field Day. Actually, this is far from being just a local phenomenon, but I highly recommend participating where ever you happen to be.

For those of you who don't remember my reports on past years' activities, Field Day is a 24 hour period on the fourth full weekend in June where amateur radio operators get together and try to make as many contacts as possible, with other hams in the United States. While individuals can participate at home, many ham radio clubs get together in some location away from power lines and preferably not at the lowest altitude they can find and make it a community event. I have been an operator for 10 years now and I have not missed a Field Day since I started. Of course, part of the fun is to eat lots of junk food while you're operating and since my dad does the grillin' for OCRA, the club I hang out with for this, I am looking forward to an exquisitely prepared Boca burger. One other nifty thing that OCRA does is operate as if there were emergency conditions, using no more than 5 watts of power while transmitting.

All stations will be operating from 2pm Saturday to 2pm Sunday. Yes, that means in the middle of the night, I am likely to be operating in the middle of a field swatting at big bugs flying into my hair. One of the coolest things about Field Day is that anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a licensed operator, can participate. This also means that hams with lower license classes (Technician) can use High Frequency (HF) bands during that 24 hour period. This is potentially a great experience for those who want to experience this hobby, or service, first hand.

• In Orange County, the Orange County Radio Amateurs (OCRA) will be operating at Blackwood Farm, on the corner of Highway 86 and New Hope Church Road. If you are heading toward Chapel Hill on 86, it will be on your right, just before the traffic light at New Hope Church Road. You can also look at a map.
• In Durham County, the Durham FM Association (DFMA) will be operating in Hillsborough, at the intersection of Miller and Baldwin Roads. More information and directions are available.
  
• In Wake County, the Raleigh Amateur Radio Service (RARS) will have their Field Day in Apex.

Again, there are clubs doing this all over the United States and Canada.

To see photographs of OCRA Field Days from the past couple of years, you can see my flickr sets.

• Field Day 2006
• Field Day 2005
  

*No, really, you can do both!

Capote

I saw a movie last night that is worth mentioning. It was Capote, about Truman Capote as he wrote his most famous true crime novel, In Cold Blood. I didn't particularly enjoy the film. It was probably educational, but that's about the only positive thing I can say. If this film accurately represented Capote, he was not a likable character, particularly due to his dishonesty. I don't know if the representation of his speaking was accurate, but the actor who played him was almost impossible to understand at times.

Please feel free to comment if there is some favorable aspect of this movie or any other that I failed to appreciate.

YoYo World

Even after living in my house for over three years (unbelievable), I still have lots of stuff that needs to be moved from my parents' house to mine. Late last week, my parents brought over a bunch of the paintings and drawings that I did while I was in highschool. Many of them haven't even been photographed, so they haven't been up on my website. Above is an example of one of which I was and am very pleased. That is my hand in the painting, but whatever you think about what this might say about my personality, remember that, as a lefty, my right hand was the most convenient model. I painted this using gouache on bristol board in 1993.

A Zestive Occasion

I had a party at my house last night and as a result did several things for the first time.

1. I zested lemons. That was surprisingly easy and enjoyable, because it smells so good. The lemons reminded me of shorn sheep afterwards.
   
2. I used my microplane. I received this as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago and hadn't used it before, because I had never tried to get lemon zest from lemons. I've always used dried lemon peel. Using the microplane makes getting zest super easy, because you don't get into the bitter tasting pith. You can also use it for woodworking or grating hard cheeses, such as parmesan. I hadn't used it for grating because I've always been happy enough with Kraft. Yes. I may be every other kind of snob, but I'm not a parmesan cheese snob and I consider it to be one of my favorite foods. It's a meal, not a condiment.
3. I discovered that I like eating plain mangoes. Mango sorbet is way too boring to me and I thought the fruit was also kind of bland. A few months ago, I decided that they just needed to be combined with lime juice, which I'd tried at GM's. The ones I served last night, which were pre-sliced from CostCo, were just wonderful by themselves.
   

4. There was a lot of debate at the party about how salsa is defined and whether what I made was salsa or chutney. Since my mom is avoiding all vegetables in the Solanaceae family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and potatoes), I wanted to make some very mild salsa with mangoes and lime juice. I also added onions, black pepper, fresh mint, brown sugar and minced ginger. I would have used honey, but I knew one of my guests had a honey allergy. From what I have been able to determine, salsa consists primarily of uncooked fruit or veggies while chutney has usually been cooked. While it may not have been typical salsa, since it had neither tomatoes nor peppers and was barely hot at all, it was certainly salsaesque.
   

5. I made lemon-cornmeal and black pepper cookies from the Luscious Lemon Desserts cookbook, by Lori Longbotham. That's why I needed zest from four gigantic lemons. It was fun, because you make logs of dough, chill them in the refrigerator and slice them. This may seem trivial for some, particularly those who are used to making cookies from canned cookie dough, but I'd never made that style of cookie before. I was really pleased with how they turned out, too.

Did I break new ground in any new non-food related ways? Well, no, but I had a really good time.

Showing Off My Impeccable Taste

As is probably hard not to notice, I've added a bunch of Amazon ads to my site. I've actually had loads of fun with this. If I'd been clueful enough to realize that one can put up ads the products of one's choosing, then I would have done this years ago. These are products that I use and like.

For example, I have an ad for Leonidas dark chocolate covered orange peel. I certainly don't care whether or not you buy it from Amazon. If you live near Durham, I strongly encourage you to support your local businesses and buy it from the chocolate counter in Parizade. That's what I do, unless I am shipping it to someone directly. The point is, if you like dark chocolate, please try this chocolate, because in my opinion it's the best dark chocolate covered orange peel available and I've tried a lot of different kinds.

Many of my readers can tell you that I can talk for a good twenty minutes about how I think that Duke's mayonnaise is the only mayo worth buying. Some people have never heard of it, but I have even craved it! Now you can see what the bottle looks like so you can try it out the next time you go to your local supermarket, because I'm assuming that you won't want to buy a whole gallon from Amazon.

In addition to adding a little more color to the site, it's fun showing off which music I think is the best. If they are compilations, they are the ones that I have and like the best or the ones that have the highest percentage of my favorite songs.