Last week my good friend JGP was in town and Alissa and I met up with him in the West Village for dinner. Several people have mentioned that I should try the Spotted Pig and so that seemed like a good place to go. We met up over there and the wait was super long, so we went somewhere else for some drinks and appetizers. We headed back to the Spotted Pig around 10 to have some dinner and the place was still insane, but we got a little table upstairs in the corner. We did have a wonderful (non-pork) dinner, my favorite things being the amazing carrot salad, the cask beers, and the possibly perfect chocolate cake. However, I don’t think I can give the place a fair review because I could not deal with the amazing pack of sceney yuppies. Hell, I couldn’t even enjoy the porcine tchotchkes that were presumably everywhere, because there was no squeezing through the blob of yapping people. I do like the idea of the place being kind of upscale “simple” British and Italian Pub fare, but I can’t stand the vibe. If I could go there at an odd ball time when those people were all getting their hair done, I would go again.
That said, we had a great time amongst ourselves, and the food was obviously very good. I am sure there is lots of good stuff to try if you go there, and do not miss that chocolate cake. Thanks to JGP for a wonderful evening!
You are probably familiar with the internet phenomenon and ensuing controversy that was HOGZILLA, now being made into a movie, The Legend of Hogzilla. If not, never mind, cause Hogzilla is a pig of the past. Meet Monster Pig.
Feral pigs are a bit of an ever spreading problem in the US, especially in the southeastern states, where they root up all sorts of vegetation and serious cause ecological damage. Occasionally defying all odds, they even manage to reach these monstrous proportions. I’ll tell you, I would not wanna come accross this Monster Pig in the woods. I would cry for my Mama.
This feral hog, Monster Pig, weighing in at over 1050 pounds, measured 9 feet 4 inches from snout to the base of the tail. This hog was shot on a commercial hunting preserve by 11-year old Jamison Stone. Jamison apparently shot the hog 8 times with a .50 caliber revolver, chasing the hog for 3 hours through the woods, before finishing it off point blank. His best quote: “It feels really good. It’s a good accomplishment. I probably won’t ever kill anything else that big.”
Monster Pig’s enormous head is currently being mounted and the rest is being ground into 500-700 lbs of “Monster” Sausage. As a nice end to this story, Jamison has been offered a small role in the The Legend of Hogzilla. I look forward to it.
While we on the subject of enormous hogs, check out the bottom of the wikipedia article on Monster Pig where you can read about other huge pigs like Coursey Hog, Hog Kong, Big Bill and Ton Pig.
….Brown Ale to be exact.
I played a gig at Johnny D’s in Beantown last night, and had to order a “Pig’s Ear” when I looked at the tap beers. The bartender gave me a taste and I was happily surprised by this rich yet refressing, deeply brown ale. It was pleasantly bitter, with a nice fragrant aftertaste. Just like a pig’s ear.
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I just want to apologize if I have not spaced out my “gross” posts enough. I will try to have more delicious ones. In the meantime, here is a happy feel-good GIF that all can enjoy:
“…the meat cocktail stands out above wobbly, cranberry-tainted attempts at bar trendiness.”
Man, I hate air travel these days. I had a 6:30 am flight from Laguardia this morning, and that meant I set the alarm for 3:20 am. No human should have to get up at 3:20 am and schlep luggage. Anyway, at least I got to the airport on time, onto the plane, AND to my destination, Louisville, via a quick layover in Memphis.
I know that Memphis is one of the big BBQ meccas of the USA, but I didn’t expect BBQ signs to be plastered all over the airport. I am not complaining! Now I have to confess, I got to the Memphis airport at about 8 am (9 am EDT) and man, I was hungry, having been up 6 hours already. First thing I saw walking out from my gate was this big neon pig, a sign for “Interstate BBQ.” However, they were only serving breakfast, and I was really thinking about some ribs. I probably would have felt a little self conscious chowing down on ribs at 8 am in the airport, anyway, so that was probably for the best. I settled for a bagel and an apple I had packed with me, and stood in the long line for a Starbucks coffee (sorry, yes, I admit it). I would like to say that the airport Starbucks employees were shockingly chipper and friendly, and I really liked the hard-to-type Memphis pronunciation of the word, “cowfee,” drawn out long and dramatically like something that will really get your day going, “cooowwwfee.”
Memphis! That’s right. Alas, that I could not leave the airport. I got a quick airport tour of the city, and I am sure that is not fair, but judging from what I saw represented, including Sun Records, Elvis, the Stax Museum, and lots of BBQ, I realized, I owe it to myself to make a visit to Memphis one of these days soon. (Not to mention that I have very sweet cousins and an aunt and uncle I would like to visit there. Hi yall!)
This guy did not like having his picture taken, so, I thought I would post it.
A trip to Memphis for some Graceland and some BBQ, it must happen.
I am not exactly sure what all is going on in this series of images forwarded from long time reader, Pork Pie Hat. It’s a great series though. This little piggie probably helped the ruskies get ahead in the space race. Another great piggy contribution! He appears to like his wine too (or whatever it is–can anyone read that label?)
Last weekend we got out the ol’ “1000 Blank Cards” Deck, a real wiki of a card game, with no reals rules to speak of. Basically the fun is in making up interesting or ridiculous cards, and lots of doodling. Some people think that an altered state of consciousness could help this game.
Wikipedia on 1000 blank cards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000_Blank_White_Cards
How does this relate to the Year of the Pig? I noticed in our deck that there were many great pork related cards, including “Shakespeare in the Pork” above. Another good one that our vegan reader(s) may enjoy is “Ham Penalty” (-27 points to all players who have eaten Ham today).
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Whatever that is!
I don’t know what a buttie is, but I am interested now.
These British scientists have really gone to town to come up with the perfect Buttie, including an elaborate formula that is very fun to read, even though I don’t understand the relevance of it:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007160287,00.html
SCIENTISTS believe they have come up with a formula to create the perfect bacon buttie.
The two most important aspects are crispiness and crunchiness, according to a new study.
It revealed the crunching sound while eating rashers should ideally measure 0.5 decibels.
They should also break when 0.4 Newtons of force is applied through chewing, the researchers said.
Butties were tested using a high-tech computer that measures food texture, while panels of 50 volunteers judged the butties for taste, texture and flavour.
Four scientists at Leeds University spent more than 1,000 hours testing 700 variations of the traditional bacon buttie.
Variants included: different types and cuts of bacon (smoked, unsmoked, streaky, thick cut); cooking techniques (frying, grilling, oven cooking or microwaving); types of oil (sunflower, olive, vegetable); and a range of cooking times at different temperatures.
Dr Graham Clayton, who led the research team, said: “We often think that it’s the taste and smell of bacon that consumers find most attractive.
“But our research proves that texture and sound is just, if not more, important.”
British households spend more than £1bn on bacon every year and it remains the UK’s most frequently eaten meat.
The Formula
N = C + {fb(cm) . fb(tc)} + fb(Ts) + fc . ta
N = force in Newtons required to break the cooked bacon.
fb = function of the bacon type.
fc = function of the condiment/filling effect.
Ts = serving temperature.
tc = cooking time.
ta = time or duration of application of condiment/filling.
cm = cooking method.
C = Newtons required to break uncooked bacon.
*******THANKS to loyal reader Rob for this link!
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