lifebsideben

Maybe it’s just getting used to not paying for lunch, but today the power went out for a bit and it was unclear if it’d come back on in time for lunch in the cafe, so a few of us decided to hike it up to Quiznos a couple of blocks away. I like Quiznos, it’s not bad for fast-food, but I was pretty shocked at the bill. I had a large classic club with bacon, as a combo. It came to $11.13! I couldn’t eat the entire thing anyhow, so a ‘large’ was probably not a good choice to start with, but $11 seems pretty insane for a sandwich, outside of Manhattan or an airport, anyhow.

Tags: bitching, food

BBQs don’t fit well into midsize cars

Originally uploaded by Ben Margolin.

The new place has a nice little patio type area, and BBQs are allowed. Well, we don’t have a grill, so that ended up being my birthday present from Val. Of course, knowing how impossible I am to shop for, she said, “I’m getting you a grill–well, you go pick it out and get it, but it’s from me!” which was perfectly reasonable. I’m also cheap, so I waited until they hit clearance at Target.

Picked the middle-of-the-road one, on clearance for $180. Uhm… doesn’t fit into the BMW, no way, no how, even after taking it out of the box. Hmm. OK, went home and exchanged cars. Wow, it pretty much doesn’t fit into the Acura, either! These things are bigger than I’d expect! Anyhow, did finally manage to get it in the passenger side front seat, with a lot of finagling. But, it was close, and at first, it was pinning the gearshift into 1st, which wasn’t too useful. But, I did finally get it home.

Tags: apartment, food, grilling, Sunnyvale

I live within walking distance of a whole lot of restaurants–probably at least a dozen. We haven’t eaten at probably half of them, as there are some we just really like and always return to. But as a public service to you, the reader (and I mean that close to in the singular sense–I know I don’t get a lot of traffic ), I’m planning a new project: visit and review every restaurant within walking distance of our place, in 2006. Actually as we’re contemplating looking to buy a house, and there’s almost zero chance of us affording something in our current ‘hood, maybe the goal should be within 6 months. That’s the plan anyhow. The first step for organized people might be to make a list of all the eateries within that radius (say, .5 mile)… but that’s no fun. We’ll just keep going places, until we exhaust the possibilities. Now, there is a very real possibility that this will make my plan to cut down on what I eat more difficult, but I’m willing to take on that challenge, in the name of science… or food criticism… or, just in the name of enjoying life!

First up is going to be the new prime rib joint on Burlingame Avenue, I think it’s called “Prime on the Avenue” or something similar. We were walking by tonight while out for a stroll and got reservations for tomorrow night. Onward!

Tags: food, review

When I lived in Sarria (part of Barcelona), Spain, my wife and I frequented the O.K. Sarria (at C. Jaume Piquet, 49), which was a strange sort of Catalan fascimile of an American sports bar. There were baseball caps from American teams, a huge poster of New York at night, and Budweiser signs. Now, you couldn’t actually order a Bud (thankfully), but you could get the best burgers in town. And, giant ‘claras’, which are something like a shandy… traditionally half-lemonade and half-beer, they really quench the thirst on a hot day (or night). However, at the O.K. Bar, they made them a bit differently–half Fanta limon, half dark Estrella Bock Damm beer. That was truly great stuff.

When I moved back to the US, I couldn’t stop from craving an O.K. clara… and tried to find both Estrella Bock Damm, and Fanta Limon, to no avail. The flavors of Fanta (owned by Coke), are determined by the local bottlers/distributors, and after a couple of inquiries, I couldn’t find any U.S. distributors who carried lemon. I tried orange… yuck! I tried Squirt… nope. I tried various lemonades… un-uh. I could never tell if it was the lemon bit, or the beer… because none of the beer tasted like Bock Damm either.

Late in 2004, I went to Dallas on business, and was hanging out in a bar downtown owned by the friend of a co-worker. I asked for a good local beer, and got some Shiner Bock. Whoa! Something pretty close to Estrella Bock Damm! Excellent! It’s not quite the same, but reasonably close. And better yet, I can get it at Safeway!

OK, so now I had the beer. After much searching, I found a Yahoo Store called GermanDeli.com that I could order Fanta from… imported from Europe. I did this a few times, and while I was mightily impressed with the care they took to ship me the cans, each individually wrapped, in a styrofoam cooler, etc., it was fairly expensive. I just knew there must be a better way.

I finally found something “close enough”–it’s San Pellegrino Limonata. Available at finer stores near you (Molly Stone’s and Whole Foods near me), and mix it half and half with Shiner Bock, and you’re in for not quite the exact thing, but a pretty good version of OK Sarria’s famous (to me at least) clara. Yummmm!

Tags: food, Spain

I was at Target the other night and went down the candy isle. Why? Because I’m a masochist. And there on the shelf is the box of Whoppers. You know, the milk-carton-sized one. Full of malted milk ball yumminess. I told myself, “don’t buy it, you’ll just sit and eat the whole thing in front of the TV!”, but before my self had finished the sentence, the carton was in my cart. It must be fate.

So, after a couple days of eating a few here, a few there (and not in front of the TV, even!) I did get serious eating them the other night. Yes, in front of the TV if you must know. At one point probably 2/3 through the box, I turned to my wife and said “hey hon, do you want some of these? I know you’re not a huge malted milk ball fan, but thought I’d offer…?” to which she slowly adjusted her glaze in my direction and replied “are you just asking me to eat a couple of those so that when you finish the box you will be able to think at least you didn’t eat the entire thing all by yourself?” Ouch. Its painful because it’s true. She just knows me WAAAAYYYY too well.

Next time I’ll ask her as soon as I crack the box open.

Tags: food

OK, so I’ve been trying to eat vegan lately… just because I don’t want to drop dead of heart disease. At my current weight and the way I was eating, I pretty much think that was going to happen any day Well, maybe not quite, but seemed like an interesting thing to try, anyhow.

So far it’s been slightly mixed bag… fell off the wagon a couple times, once at a company event (company 10th birthday celebration had great looking roast beef, and I was starving) and at the bar with some co-workers (again, starving, and fish n chips was irrestible). It’s really tough to avoid dairy and eggs, and I’m sure I’ve had stuff from restaurants etc. that had some dairy (whey, for example) in it without knowing. I have had some cheese here and there, too… but certainly no meat or fish.

Gothika is on HBO… nice role for Charles S. Dutton, making out with Halle Berry… but I digress…

As we just moved to a new place in Burlingame, I’ll maybe post up where I’m managing to find food to eat… so far one interesting thing was a pizza from Amici’s with soy cheese and veggies. It was really good, actually. Needed more tomato sauce, but I think that’s a problem with Amici’s in general.

Tags: food