stonehenge!!!

stonehenge, where the demons dwell

where the banshees live and they do live well

stonehenge, where a man is a man

and the children dance to the pipes of pan

stonehenge, 'tis a magic place

where the moon doth rise with a dragon's face

stonehenge, where the virgins lie

and the prayer of devils fill the midnight sky

and you my love, won't you take my hand

we'll go back in time to that mystic land

where the dew drops cry and the cats meow

i will take you there

i will show you how

coddie shack

in the neverending quest to throw more and more diverse foodstuffs down my gullet, when my mom-in-law offered me some frozen "coddies," i said ohyeah.

i had never had this concoction, but hearing that it was an indigenous baltimore yummie made me all about the coddies.

so anyways in the hazy shade of winter, we defrosted them and i gave them a try. yum! these ain't your mrs. paul's of gloucester fish sticks, junior. of course i delved into the intarwebs and found out the following:

coddies are pretty much russian jewish soul food! they made of cod flakes, mashed potatoes, and onions. (umm... fishy latkes almost). they were pretty much the poor person's crab cake since the 1900's, but you're most likely to hear someone who was knocking around in the 1950's or 1960's waxing nostalgic about them.

if you don't want to make them yourself, you can get some at lexington market at faidley's seafood. a couple bucks, some crackers, and some mustard, and you're rockin' your coddie piece.

pee ess: minxeats has a great blogpost bout them too...

gimme fallout shelter

if you're like me, you know that keeping your fallout shelter properly stocked is the difference between you and the mutants in the forbidden zone. czech out the civil defense museum to keep abreast of all the latest in radiation detectors. caveat: they are guilty of omitting the rum storage casks. i'll let that one slide this time.

dollar logic: snow

first snow of the season?
fire up the grill! make rum drinks!

how hardcore original gangstazz make their coffee

helllz yeahzzzzzz

chibi ninjas

beware chibi ninjas. trust me.

less than a week away! 1st blogger happy hour of 2007

huh?: 1st blogger happy hour of 2007
where?: the wharf rat, 801 s. ann st., fells point
when?: wednesday, january 24th, 6:00pm

why?: to drink & socialize, of course, and "celebrate" zenchick's stopping blogging (and danielle's starting)! and zenchick getting a new job! and anything else anyone would like to celebrate! squee!

please post and repost widely.

o chop suey, where art thou

baltimore snacker's post last week about chinese [american] food and its couterparts to actual chinese food from china got my braims working about a particular dish that you may or may not have ever chomped: chop suey.

my exposure to this dish is largely from three sources: the signs like the ones seen above and below while cruisin' around the 'hood in st louis; mentions of it in movies and books seemingly from the 1940's and 1950's era; and the "la choy" stuff in cans we used to buy to alternate from the mac-n-cheese and hamburger helper nites :D (apparently they still make this stuff)


chop suey is (or was) typically some kind of meat chopped up with veggies like (lots of) bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery, with a brownish starchy sauce. when you put it over rice it's chop suey, over noodles it's chow mein(?) it was apparently created in california by chinese immigrants in the mid to late 1800s to fit the tastes of the round eyes ~ basically it was the entry-level exotic cuisine for joe sixpack. this painting by edward hopper, 1929 is called "chop suey."


in the 60's people started getting hip to more authentic asian and other 'exotic' foods and 'chop suey' pretty much fell out of fashion. i did an informal survey of local chinese-american restaurants and found only two that had a dish called chop suey - the rest did not.

so here's the thing ~ i'm not recommending trying to find and consume chop suey, coz it it teh bland. i remember having to douse the hell out of it with soy sauce. i think it is a fascinating, trackable vestage of american cuisine ~ but do yourself a favor and get something good like crispy beef. flava!

interesting links here.

antiques roadshow comin to b-more on june 16th

gonna mix the kenos a mai tai in mah tiki bar

heel yeah, anty-ques roadshow is coming to the bee-more in june! sadly of course lara spencer is no longer the host, we got b-list marky mark. anyways, we're freakin' goin. you can get tix starting january 23rd (which is also national pie day)

ye olde question of course, is what to bring to show and tell?

towson tiki mug?

lady's auxiliary fez?

pie eaters club pin?

peep cal ripken @ camden yard warehouse today at 4

if yer doin nuttin' right now, and wanna lay yer eyeballs on the cal, be at the doorway of the camden club at the warehouse at camden yards today, 4 PM.

i'm famous in the sunpaper, hon

fur whatever reason, a journalista from the sun axed me a while back for some "principles" to follow for 2007. so of course with typical aplomb, panache and vinegar, i submitted some dollaresque ideas that blieve it or not ended up printed here.

i'd like to thank my producer, my wife, the big guy upstairs, and pie.

fish tacos rock!

well since we know everyone is going to try to eat healthier for the next, say, two or three days, i suggest you go to nacho mama's and get de fish tacos. after all, i'm sure a good proportion of you out there like the ol' fish taco.

they're quite the rage out west, but i'd say this is a pretty good east coast facsimile. tuna, some kinda pickled red cabbagy stuff, some kinda limey yogurt sauce... yummo!

back to the typical crap: vader dad

happidaze [final,] part [lucky] 13: happy natty boh year!

peace and crabs.