Sorry for being absent

This last week has been pretty rough. I learned that my last surviving uncle has terminal cancer and a good friend's mother passed away last night. Needless to say I don't really feel like being funny right now. Funerals tend to do that to me....I am sure I will recover my sense of humor quickly, cuz' if you don't laugh, you'll only cry...

PS I did make some clam chowder for dinner and it was good.

Butter Me Up!!

Stopped by the Meijer on Sawmill Road while out shopping today and found pounds of salted butter for $1/pound. No shit - a single green back for a pound of butter. Hot Damn!

If cars ran on butter, it would be a hell of a deal. Since cookies do run on butter - I guess it's even a better deal!!

I immediately purchased 33 pounds of butter for Gail, Debbie and me.

My freezer overfloweth; my hips expandeth.

Ketchin' up

I know I have been lax in posting recently but boy do I have a lot to talk about.
Let me get my excuses out of the way first...
1) About two weeks ago, our car was broken into for the second time in two months. The culprits threw a cinder block through the passenger side window, sending millions of tiny balls of safety glass all over the interior of the car. Bastards. The loot: Two packs of cigarettes, a cheap lighter, an mp3 player from the glove box and most devastating for me - a new waffle iron. I had picked it up at New Uses for a song ($20) that afternoon, then gone straight over to gaming night without stopping home to take it out of the car. My thought is that the damn thing was big enough the thieves thought it was a laptop or something more exciting. HA! Joke's on them. Maybe they can get their moms to make them some waffles now - with ground glass syrup on the side...
Of course, that meant the whole next day was spent dealing with insurance, glass replacement and cleaning. I am still finding tiny balls of glass in the seat cushion - and in my pants cuffs, my washer and tons of other places. Sigh....
And a plug for my brother - who runs Integrity Auto Glass. If you even need your auto glass replaced, ask your insurance company to send him along. He does a great job! Thanks John!!
2) A record setting span for most viruses that one person can have in a two week period. Well probably not, but it has certainly set a record for me. I won't go into the gory details, but I will say I am so glad we bought a really comfortable mattress, as I spent a lot of time sleeping on it lately. That means I didn't spend a lot of time eating or even wanting to think about food. So I broke weak and let things slide.
I did buck the trend Thursday night by going out to dinner with the hubby for Valentine's day at Cananas Mexican Restaurant (5225 N. High St. Columbus 43214). I read a review in the Dispatch and decided to give it a try a few weeks ago. We have been looking for a good Mexican place close to our house. I figured the worse that would happen is that we would never go back. I've eaten at lots of bad Mexican places - so what would one more be?


I liked Cananas. Quite a bit actually. It's got the bright gaudy interior that you've come to expect of a small eatery. The waitstaff have been very nice both times we've visited. They do serve booze (despite what a Google Search will say) - having a cold frosty beer with my food is requirement when eating Mexican. A big chunk of the food seems to be homemade - the beans, rice and in particular the guacamole. Wow - great guacamole! Made fresh to order, it is some of the best I've had outside my own home. My recommendation is to stop in during happy hour - 6-8pm - and splurge on some $2 imports and get some tasty food. It definitely gets two thumbs up from our household!

The other part of our Valentine's outing included a viewing of Casablanca and The Princess Bride at Studio 35. If you live in Columbus and haven't been to Studio 35 - shame on you. It is the last of the independent movie theaters here in Columbus. The owners do a fantastic job of bringing their customers a great mix of movies - classics, first run, second run, documentaries plus lots of special engagements. An added bonus - they serve beer! Lots of good beer - plus pizza and subs. And most important to me and Tony - they have fat people seats!!! Yes, double wides just for those of us with extra cushioning! (And I can say the F-word being fat myself...) Next special event - The theater has been around for 70 years now and will be hosting a birthday party on Sunday (2-17-08) to celebrate. You must have a pass to get in - so you might want to stop by the theater to see you can score some passes before it's too late!

Another cool thing we did was stop at Sunflower Chinese Restaurant for Dim Sum. While I like Lee Gardens, I have never been 100% thrilled with the service. Several people had recommended Sunflower, including my boss who claims to have eaten there three times a week when he was a single man-about-town. Tony and I stopped in with some friends back in January to give their Sunday Dim Sum menu a run for its money. Boy - was it good. They had a least 5 carts running at all times - savory and sweet, meat filled and vegetarian. The food just kept coming and coming. They stopped by our table often - pretty soon a couple of them just started camping out.

Just to cap a few of the things that we really loved - the small-neck clams in black bean sauce, steamed pork buns, shu mai, beef meatballs with little bits of water chestnut mixed in, curried keel bone from chickens - damn the list kinda just goes on doesn't it? Sunflower serves Dim Sum all week long - but we love going on Sundays for brunch best. The service was great and the staff did their best to explain unusual dishes to us newbies. So check it out and let me know what you think...maybe this could be another destination for the Meetup group?

As for cooking at home - well I've been kinda keeping everything low key. The most exciting thing I've done recently was grab some excellent sauerkraut, pastrami and Swiss from Thurn's and make Rubens here at the house. I am sorry I didn't take pictures, they just didn't last long enough... I also pulled out some short ribs and threw them into the oven early last week so we could eat on them throughout the week - no pictures of those either I am afraid. I promise to reform and use my camera more often here at the house...
So that is it for the moment - I promise to try and be better. Really.

Oh one last parting shot - to the politicians in Mississippi who want to draw attention to how obese people are by proposing a state bill to prohibit fat people from eating in public - kiss my fat white butt.

Just a quick note to all you vultures - Sunflower Foods is pretty much picked bare with only a 25% discount. I stopped by today out of morbid curiosity and was shocked at how bare the shelves were already. True - they are closing down for good in about a week, but I did expect people to hold out a little longer for deeper discounts. I picked up some canned clams and sardines, a kilo of green beans and a couple chunks of cheese.

I had shopped at Sunflower only once since it open. I was underwhelmed by the store - especially after having been to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods just a few days before the visit. I think the owners of the chain really didn't understand the market...

Another quick note - The Meetup Food Group started by Becke is going to meet at Anna's this Sunday for brunch! If you want meet new people who love food like you do - please join us!

Well that's it for the moment. Last weekend was Magifest and we spent the whole time taking people out to eat - the two favorites were Smackies and MiMi's. I could tell you a lot of the magicians we hung out with - but I am saving all my stories for blackmail material. Those of you who know what I am talking about - I need those checks in the mail soon!!