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I took leftover ciabatta, cut on a bias and made sandwiches with pastrami, Swiss & provolone cheese, thinly sliced pepperoncinis and a garlic and olive tapenade for dinner tonight.

Guess what garlic and Kalamata olive tapenade smells like? Central Market’s Caesar salad dressing. Blend in egg and little more olive oil and I’ll bet I finally have my recipe.

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While driving home from work yesterday I was among traffic that was slowed down and funneled to one lane as we all slowly drove by a fatal accident.

I could see inside the driver’s side of the car. The airbag was clearly visable as was a body. The paramedics were working on the driver. I could feel death in the air and I shivered.

Just this past December two off duty police officers, husband and wife were killed in a motorcycle accident on Hwy 71.

The accident I drove by yesterday was 50 yards away from the site where the husband and wife died four months ago. I drive by the two wreaths every day. Now there will be two more wreaths.

Hwy 71 is a bitch. Those two wrecks happened on a 50 mph curve that I hate. I think most people who know that road hate it as well. I think a seasoned NASCAR driver would hate it too. Those who don’t know it are the ones who barrel through it and cause tension and accidents. Hwy 71 is four lanes with no median and for the most part posted 70 mph. Most drive 75-80 mph. Imagine 80 mph next to a 18-wheeler against oncoming traffic with a 20 inch comfort zone between you and another vehicle traveling 80 mph to your left.

It’s such a nice, quiet, peaceful commute to and from work.

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After that weird dream that I had last week, I decided to see if my elementary school had a website. I clicked around through the site and came across a name. Mrs. Chamness. That name rang a bell. I e-mailed Mrs. Chamness, she wrote back a few days later and sure enough, she was my kindergarten teacher 24 years ago and is still teaching kindergarten at Bear Creek Elementary.

I wrote her back, sent a few photos, briefly explained how my life has unfolded thus far and said thanks. It was a cool feeling to find and hear back from one of my first public educators.

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On Friday night we went all out. We had the party of all parties. We lived it up like there was going to be no Saturday morning.

We sat at the kitchen table, blanched and shelled fava beans.

We woke up Saturday morning and I tested for my third star for my black belt. I think I did really well. Usually I’m nervous as hell. When I get nervous, I forget to breath. This time I concentrated on my breathing and not the people watching me. I nailed all of my patterns and sparred okay. The only part I botched was my board breaking. I tried a down kick, back kick, reverse hook kick combo. The first two kicks were dead on. I had to try the reverse hook kick a few times before the boards brokes.

After the test ten of us went to Chili’s for lunch. After lunch Elise and I spent four hours at Lucy in Disguise so Elise could get a costume for the Dudley & Bob Pimpalicious Ho-Tastic Flashback Prom.

After finally settling on an outfit, we went home, took a nap and then got dressed for the prom.

We arrived at the Hyatt on Town Lake at 9:30 and stayed at the prom long enough to see other peoples’ costumes and listen to a few songs by the Scabs. We left after an hour or so. This prom, like most proms, was pretty boring.

We then headed south and met up with Adrian at his friend’s house for a couple beers. Elise and I then went home and called it a night.

We woke up early on Sunday and had an early lunch at Central Market. I’d been craving CM’s Caesar salad for a few weeks and had to get my fix. While there, we did a little shopping so I could get duck breasts for my pizza recipe, to get Elise an heirloom tomato (she’s vowed to not eat any other variety) and to price some fresh rattlesnake meat.

We ran some errands, grocery shopped and returned our costumes to Lucy in Disguise. I cooked dinner, we watched a little TV and went to bed.

Here are a few photos from the prom.

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After a little inspiration from last week’s cooking class, I decided to cook duck. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, so came up with a new pizza recipe.

I made a smoked duck breast, mango and jalapeno pizza on ciabatta with a homemade garden fresh pizza sauce, Kalamata tapenade, smoked provolone and topped with feta.

I have to admit… that was the best pizza I’ve ever had. For dessert I made a silky coffee creme brulée.

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I had another weird dream this morning. Jessica Sanchez, a 4.5′, 90lb. girl I attended high school with stole my cell phone. I grabbed her by the hair, lifted her off her feet, swung her around and dragged her across the ground.

All of this is happening outside. The scene reminds me of a more airy version of my elementary school in Houston.

“What the hell did you do with my cell phone you &$%#$%? What’s wrong with you?!?!”

Then we cut to the next scene were Mrs. Housely, my 7th grade history teacher is trying to reprimand me for my actions. We’re sitting outside on some sort of deck in plastic grade school chairs. I couldn’t hear what Mrs. Housely was saying because we both had garbage disposals mounted under our chairs that were running on full blast.

I’m quickly distracted by a Camaro in the distance. Michelle is driving and Elise is in the passenger seat. They’re both wearing yellow bikinis and cruising around the trailer park across the street.

How ’bout that for white trash dream? Git-r-done.

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This is too funny. I wrote this five years ago for my multimedia class project, complete with a bad website.

It makes me wonder what I’ll be up to five years from now…

“Welcome to my online recipe archive (A.K.A. Famine Protection Program). I’d like to begin by telling you that I am by no means a “professional” chef. Most of my techniques are, unless otherwise noted, a product of my own experimenting. Most recipes within these pages will call for ingredients and temperatures that were not documented in their infantile phases. Therefore, I am leaving it up to you to use this archive as somewhat of a template … to expand upon, and create your own “signature” dishes.

Allow myself to talk about …. myself. I was born at a very early age and raised by a family who enjoyed hearty steaks cooked on the cast iron barbeque pit in the backyard. I consider both of my parents excellent cooks. My father introduced me to hunting when I was but a

wee lad, and with that he taught me the basics on how to prepare meat. My mother was more of the kitchen expert. Both of them educated me on how to essentially make a meal for myself. With these combined influences, I later in life rather enjoyed cooking for myself.

During my 6 year tenure at the university, I landed a job at a country club. Here I was exposed to finer foods. This is when my interest in the culinary arts began to peak. Though I was but a mere staff manager for the banquet department, I took advantage of all the knowledge I could get my hands on. So please, browse around, try these recipes for yourself, and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

In closing, I would like to give thanks to El and Ronnie for their input and inspiration. Without them, I would have probably devoted this page to methods in which to fully cook a DiGiorno pizza (which is next to impossible). “

I think this is the best part: “…will call for ingredients and temperatures that were not documented…” That’s the way I like to cook.

My herbs section is not me nowadays, although I do use cilantro as much as possible.

It’s really cool to look back and think about how hard I was trying back then – how many meals I botched, how much blood poured into the sink from a slipped knife, stovetop fires, singed arm hair, grease burns and broken plates.

Cooking is so much fun. If it didn’t cost so much to go to culinary arts school, I’d do it in a heartbeat just for the fun of it.

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I had a weird dream this morning. With pit crew speed someone pulled a trailer up to the driveway and stole our truck. I ran inside, grabbed my keys and hauled ass after my stolen truck. I was driving the truck that had just been stolen after the truck that had just been stolen.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Does that mean I’m schizophrenic?

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I volunteered Elise and myself to babysit Jack over the Memorial Day weekend while John and Christine travel to Mexico to smuggle black market DVD copies of Kevin Costner’s “Waterworld” and small children who sell Chicklets.

We thought nothing of it when we offered to babysit over the long weekend. Much to our surprise, John and Christine gave both of us a gift certificate to the April 17th Hudson’s on the Bend cooking class.

The class was fun and informative. Elise took notes and I retained new information in the cabeza.

An interesting bit of information that I picked up was that cilantro is excellent in reducing heavy metal (lead, mercury, aluminum, cadmium and arsenic) toxicity. Heavy metals are often found in our drinking water, fruits, vegetables, fish and shellfish. Luckily cilantro is one my favorite herbs and I can eat it by the handful.

Elise was able to see a mandolin in action and wrote that down on what I would guess was a “need to purchase” list.

Watching Jeff and Robert prepare the meal was amazing, as always. For this class we all sat outside in Jeff’s backyard. I was sitting there thinking: “Wow – in the past few months, I’ve been cooking a lot like this”. I had never eaten any of the days’ menu items, but all of the ingredients are now mainstays in my kitchen – big, pungent, local and spicy flavors.

There was one change in the original menu. Instead of smoked buffalo quail, they made Duck Diablos – a medallion of smoked duck breast wrapped in smoked bacon with a thick slice of jicama, jalepeno and a mission fig soaked in balsamic vinegar. The appetizers were served with a fantastic red chile glaze.

Lunch at the restaurant was fantastic. We sat across from a family who had treated their dad to a Hudson’s cooking class for his 70th birthday. We had a great conversation with them.

The salad, main course and dessert were all great, but we still couldn’t get over those Duck Diablos – those things are so awesome (yes, I’m going to Central Market this weekend and picking up some duck breasts if anyone wants to come over for some gourmet southwestern cuisine!)

We came home completely stuffed with knowledge and food. It was a great time that has left us both very inspired.

Here are some photos from the afternoon.

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Elise and I were exhausted from an all-nighter benefit for the Lone Star Classic Foundation on Thursday but with fists pumping, had another all nighter with Motley Crue and thousands of their other fans in San Antonio on Friday night.

The concert started out somewhat slow. It didn’t help that we were elbow-to-elbow in the nosebleed section of the SBC Center. Great for Motley Crue, bad for the fans. I like a concert where I can be somewhat comfortable and not feel like I’m in a sardine can.

Every arena concert that I’ve been to in San Antonio has been a let down. This one was pretty close to not being an acception. The accoustics were horrible and being on the upper deck probably didn’t help much either.

After a few beers and some serious enthusiasm from the crowd, the Crue got rowdy. There was a semi-amusing circus theme complete with custom choppers, ribbon-dangling strippers and fire breathing little people. Vince Neil still has an amazing voice (actually, I think it’s gotten much better with age), Tommy Lee was the life of the party, Mick Mars still wails on the guitar but also still looks like he’s fighting off death and I now officially have a man crush on Nikki Sixx – if you look up ‘cool’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Nikki. He was the ring leader on Friday night, pumping up the crowd and making the night a personal experience for everyone in attendance.

Tommy Lee had an awesome drum solo… there was an intermission where he walked from behind his kit and approached the audience. A few strippers actresses came out from behind the curtains and handed him a bottle of champagne (and secretly harnessed him to a pulley). Tommy ’shared’ the bottle and suddenly rocketed fifty feet into the air and landed on a suspended drum kit where he started off an amazing digital drum solo. After a minute or so, the harness rocketed him across the stage (still fifty feet above the stage) to another drum kit where he continued his solo. He was then lowered back down the the stage and did an interesting little ditty with a digital video camera…

The concert was great aside from the accoustics and the price of tickets. It was one of those shows you have to see at least once in your lifetime if you grew up with Motley Crue.

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On Thursday I met Elise at El Arroyo for Bill and Gail Engvall’s Lone Star Classic kick off party. The food and fun went on until the early morning and made it tough waking up on Friday morning, but it was all for a fantastic cause. I put a bid in on one auction and was excited when I heard “Going once! Going twice!…” and then some guy outbid me by walking up with $1000 cash. I’m glad I kept pushing my bid or otherwise the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation wouldn’t have that $1000.

Elise had told me what the party was for but because of the whirl wind of caterings she’s been doing lately, I had forgotten what the Lone Star Classic was until I showed up and she explained it to me again. It is a great foundation and I’m glad that I was able to show up and provide some support and, more importantly, that Elise fed those who’ve donated a lot of time and money to the foundation.

We were also lucky to meet Gail and Bill Engvall and Doug English, among others. It was really a great night.

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I woke up yesterday morning and drove down to S. Congress to do a little shopping at Lucy in Disguise. I lucked out and found an awesome parking spot directly across from the store.

I shopped for an hour or so and when I walked out of the store, I walked into the beginning of the Art Car Parade. Luckily the parade was a slow mover so I was able to dash between entries to the other side of the street. I popped open the back of the truck and sat to watch the whole parade.

Austin is such a weird, but fun, city.

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Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

25% Dixie

5% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

We never called it “toilet papering”, “rolling” or “TP’ing”. We used the term “wrapping”. In Houston, we were thugs, straight up, yo.

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This is from my joke of the day calendar that Grandma Thurston gave me for Christmas:

“If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning and you could save only one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?”

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I had a meeting at OnRamp this morning to go over some final design issues for our customers’ websites. After my meeting I drove over to campus to pick up marketing supplies for the office. It was lunchtime so I called Elise to see if she wanted to have lunch since I was in Austin.

We met at her office and decided to try Hoffbrau Steakhouse. We’ve driven by it hundreds of times and have always said: “We should try that place sometime”. The Hoffbrau Steakhouse is a neat looking joint both inside and out.

“Opened in 1934 in a former feed-store building, Hoffbrau will remind you that Austin was once a small town.”

The restaurant reminds me of a someplace you might find yourself dining back where I spent my formative years near Bellville. A greasy spoon that’s been around for 70 years and is probably one of the oldest establishments on 6th street.

Our waitress came to the table and rattled off: “7 oz. sirloin, 14 oz. sirloin, 7 oz. t-bone, 14 oz. t-bone and today’s special is the 18 oz. t-bone and the price includes salad and iced tea.”

Huh? Okay. Where’s a menu? I didn’t ask that, but that’s what I was expecting. Elise and I sat befuddled for a moment. Okay, this is a unique dining experience. What we were just told were our dining options. I went in thinking I might just get a burger, maybe a chicken fried steak sandwich or something. I had five steak options. Elise quickly bought in and ordered a medium rare 7 oz. sirloin. Just as she ordered, her phone rang and she had to tend to work. I was still in Ozzy Osbourne mode, mumbling my inner monologue: “whu, whu, I I I I don’t think I get it. I have to choose a little steak or a big steak or a little steak or a big steak or a biggy big steak??!!”

Elise was still on the phone. The waitress was staring at me like I was wearing my underwear on my head. A quick decision had to be made. Don’t like sirloin as much as t-bone. Problem solved. I’m hungry. Big steak.

“For 88 cents more you can get the 18 oz. t-bone and that comes with the salad and tea.” I was told.

“How much is it?” I asked.

I don’t remember what she said, but it was something like $17. I ordered a medium rare 14 oz. sirloin instead.

A few minutes later our steaks came out. One plate, one steak in a pool of what looked like grease. The steaks are seared on a flattop grill. I know this because the small kitchen is visable from the small dining room. Our steaks indicated this as well because there were no grill marks, just spotted sear marks. We concurred that our lunch just didn’t look right.

I cut into my steak. It had a nice color on the inside. I took a bite of my steak. “Ummm, this is bad” I thought. Elise did the same. Her steak was cooked well done – no pink.

The separated liquid on our plates that I thought was grease left that infamous film on the top of my mouth, you know, like grease. We both thought about grinning and bearing it and just eating our lunch, paying our bill, being on our way and chalking it up to experience. The steaks themselves weren’t good. That moist, seared-in spongy texture wasn’t there. I just couldn’t do it. I put my silverware down after a second sampling of my steak. The waitress immediately came over and asked what was wrong.

“This just isn’t good. We don’t like our steaks. It’s not what we were expecting and I honestly don’t want to pay for a couple steaks that are sitting in a pool of flattop grease. My wife’s steak is overcooked and we just don’t like the way they taste. I’ll be more than happy to pay for our glasses of iced tea and the french fry that my wife ate, but I’m not going to pay for these steaks.”

The restaurant fell silent.

It was like the scene in those old western movies where the stranger strolls into the saloon and the music screaches to a stop, the talking stops, the bartender drops a glass, all eyes fall on the new guy. Dead silence.

Two big black guys were manning the grill (one of which Elise said she has met before and is the owner of the restaurant). I could feel both sets of their eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.

Oh yes, I offended. It was an awkward situation.

The waitress brought the check. She pointed out that the “grease” is their lemon butter sauce. She comped the steaks and only charged us for the iced tea. I left a $5 tip because I felt bad. Two teas cost us $9.

We were still hungry so we drove across the street and had lunch at Katz’s.

We didn’t like the sirloin steaks at Hoffbrau Steakhouse. The restaurant is located on a prime piece of real estate and has been around for a long time. A lot of other people must like the steaks. Maybe it’s the lemon butter sauce.

Note: if you’re the owner or a cook at Hoffbrau Steakhouse, I work at the Thundercloud Subs on Wm. Cannon and Brodie Ln. You can find me there if you want to beat me up.

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In the past year or so I’ve found myself becoming a consumer advocate with my primary focus on food. This is mainly because as I grow older and versed in the world of marketing and sales, I value my dollar and want what I pay for. I’m also the type of guy who would want someone to tell me if I had spinach in my teeth or if my capri pants made my hips look too big.

I’ve been relatively soft spoken in the past, now I’m inquisitive and willing to offer my two cents. I like to think that feedback is appreciated. I value the feedback I get from my own customers. Most of the time it’s something I don’t want to hear, but what better way to learn?

Adrian and I went to HEB on Sunday. I bought in to the point of sale cola cooler (which is very rare). The reason I bought in was because of the new Dr. Pepper bottle. I opened the cooler and reached for their new product and quickly realized it was a diet drink. I recently saw someone drinking a Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper and thought “Wow – I want to try one of those”

HEB didn’t have Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper in their POS on Sunday. I e-mailed the people at Dr. Pepper on Monday night and told them that some of us aren’t on a diet and ended up buying HEB’s house brand. I’m waiting to hear back from the folks at Dr. Pepper.

Earlier this year Elise and I had a horrible dining experience at Austin’s popular Chez Zee. I sincerely and politely filled out a comment card detailing our dinner outing. Never heard a word from Chez Zee and because of that I tell our friends not to eat there.

Elise recently had a frustrating experience at a neighborhood Thundercloud Subs store. Just today we received a friendly apology letter and a voucher for a free sandwich. When I think submarine sandwich, Thundercloud would ordinarily be the last on my list, but because of their quick response to a customer complaint, I’d entertain the notion of giving them another try (the voucher being obvious enticement).

We had chips and salsa the other night with dinner. I hadn’t had good ol’ chips and salsa in a while and quickly remembered why: our last lunch at Texadelphia. Here’s the e-mail I sent to Texadelphia this evening:

My wife and I (used to) enjoy eating at Texadelphia.

Our last visit was to the store on Brodie Ln. in Austin. Your sandwiches have always been great and if we support a chain, we would prefer to support a chain that started locally. On this last visit (I think it was in early March of this year), the chips and salsa left a bad taste in our mouths. Pun intended.

I think serving chips and salsa is a fantastic idea – very Texas. The chips and salsa we had were absolutely terrible. The chips tasted as good as wet cardboard. They were dry, semi-stale and tasted cheap. The salsa tasted like the cheapest generic brand mixed with watered down tomato paste. You guys are unique – I think you should have unique chips and salsa. Why not your own salsa recipe? If what we were served is your recipe, then Cysco and US Food Service have you beat by a long shot.

I think I’m safe in assuming that the chips and salsa hadn’t been left out or contaminated. What we tasted that day was the result of too many corners being cut.

I think you should represent Texas with your novel side of chips and salsa. Offer a variety… chipotle, habanero, cilantro, peach, roasted garlic, sun dried tomato, black beans, corn, carrot… big, bold flavors with fresh ingredients. Or perhaps partner with a local purveyor who specializes in salsas.

Maybe fry your own chips or find a new vendor that offers a better, if not premium chip product. With your current product, I’d rather drive down the street and settle for a boring burger with fries.

That being said, I’d be interested in hearing back from Texadelphia if there are any plans to change or expand upon the chips and salsa side concept.

We’d love to have a nice lunch at Texadelphia again but would feel weird sneaking in our own bag of chips.

Given my current record, I’m not expecting to hear back from Texadelphia.

I wrote to Chick Fil A this evening. Not because of a bad experience… I just had to question their old marketing tactic:

was driving to my Tae Kwon Do class this evening via HWY 620 in SW Austin, TX and saw an employee in a cow suit wearing a sandwich board. This Chick Fil A store is located on a Texas highway with the speed limit set at either 55 or 65 mph (I don’t remember which). Most of us drive somewhere around 70-75 mph past this store.

I saw the same cow an hour later on my way home from class. I jovially waved. The cow was there, bouncing, waving and probably thinking: “Hopefully I’ll look back on this job one day and laugh.” The cow waved back.

I’ve seen this cow outside of the restaurant a few times. It’s mildly amusing to see a person in a cow suit with an unreadable sandwich board or a posterboard-sized banner but honestly, it’s not getting me in the door. Yes, this advertising worked because it stuck out in mind enough to write to Chick Fil A, but I’m not going to seek a franchise tomorrow for lunch. Instead, I’m still going to wonder: “Does this kind of marketing still work?” How many years have I seen cows painting backwards letters on billboards? How many more minimum wagers are going to have to put on the suit and bounce on the roadsides? How many people are going to drive by, laugh and stop at Wendy’s for dinner instead?

I must note that I’m not some sort of humanitarian advocate. High school kids wearing a mascot suit for a chicken sandwich fast food joint is funny, but again, I’m going to stop at the grocery store on my way home instead of Chick Fil A. I’d rather have something new, fresh and homemade.

My main question is: Does this marketing strategy still work effectively for Chick Fil A? I love advertising and will buy in when the ad is clever and appeals to me. Beating a dead horse with a cow on the side of the road makes me think burgers or a newer, fresher product.

I’ve loved Chick Fil A since I was a kid. It was such a treat when my mom and I would go to the mall in Houston and we would have Chick Fil A for lunch in the food court. Your original sandwich is on my list of all-time comfort foods.

What are my options as a loyal consumer now? The cows are worn leather. Chains have bought into the low carb frenzy and that campaign is getting old (there are some of us who aren’t obese overconsumers). I look to the local guy now for fun, original and foolproof ideas.

I would like to hear your thoughts.

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Here is my physical self-image as limited to me by storTroopers. I think I look like Alton Brown.

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I spent most of the day dredging through our files at the office in a search for corporate website and legal documentation. One of our customers was paid a visit by the FDA. Now I’m having to learn the role of paralegal.

I’m having to deal with so much red tape and BS right now. I’m also in the process of trying to hire two new employees. It’s only Monday and I’m already wound down.

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Elise worked on Friday night and I fully engaged myself in killing covenant soldiers.

Elise and I had a breakfast date early Saturday morning. We had the best fruit kolaches at Lone Star Kolaches on North Lamar. Unfortunately the pigs in a blanket weren’t as good as those of the Czech Stop in West, TX. Elise and I had a nice chat with Massey, the owner, and made her aware of the ad that drew us to her shop.

We drove home and then parted ways. Elise met with Kim to go over wedding stuff for Brad and Kim’s wedding. I ran errands around town to get ready for the Godfather Club meeting. After Elise’s and Kim’s meeting was over, Elise and Christine went to get pedicures. I’ll never understand pedicures – or women for that matter. Why to they concern themselves with things like haircuts, pedicures, shoes and something known only to them as Aveda when there are more important things like 300 GB hard drives, 500 HP muscle cars and granules that you can spread throughout your yard that makes fire ants boil in their own digestive juices.

I stopped by NTB to get a tire patched on the Expedition. I sat in the waiting room for 30 minutes. I looked through the bay window a few times and couldn’t see my truck. I walked out to the parking lot to see the truck still parked. I told the guy who helped me to give me my keys…

Josh: “This is ridiculous. What was taking so long?”

NTB kid: “I don’t know, sir. I guess the guys in the back were just farting around.”

So I left them to play with their farts and drove to the flea market in Oak Hill and found a one man operation who patched my tire in ten minutes and only charged me $17 – versus NTB who charges closer to $30.

Later that evening I drove over to Pluckers on campus and picked up 100 hot wings for meeting (I’m strategically refering to this as a meeting instead of a party hence forth). I hadn’t been on the UT campus in a long, long time. There was activity all about. Young studious minds walking and bicycling here to there. All young, vibrant faces that made me feel old and out of the loop. I decided to not let myself feel too old because I was, in fact, cool. I had four sacks full of “Fire in the Hole” hot wings and an important meeting to host.

I got home. John came over shortly after. Adrian was next. Then Marc. Victor. Tommy. And then Kirk. We all ate hot wings, drank beer, watched Ultimate Fighting Championship, discussed business and finally a series of competitions that awarded some great gifts such as a Chipotle gift certificate, a Dale Earnhardt wall clock and matching beach towel, a shower mirror/radio/CD player and the grand prize: a new iPod shuffle. Congrats to Tommy for winning the shuffle!

While the guys were meeting, Lanessa, Holly, Stewart and Elise went downtown to do a little bar hopping. Apparently they chose the wrong night to go to 6th Street. UT hosted the Texas Relays and every college track athelete in the nation was in Austin and wanting to party downtown on Saturday night as well. They got stuck in a parking garage as everyone was trying to leave downtown at the end of the night.

Elise didn’t get home until 5 a.m. She and the crew were stuck in traffic for two and a half hours in the early a.m.

The guys retired relatively early. Adrian and Victor stayed the night at our place. Victor left around 7 a.m. I woke up shortly after. Adrian woke up around 9. He and I watched “Road Trip” and then channel surfed for another hour or so. Elise rose from slumber around noon. Adrian and I drove to HEB where I bought goods for our steak sandwich late lunch – jerk seasoned with a chipotle and cilantro mayo.

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I felt like saying thanks last night… I wrote Jeff Blank an e-mail and told him how he has inspired me. It was awesome to receive a response from him so quickly.

I was telling Elise last night after I sent this e-mail to Jeff that being a chef has to be such a rewarding job. I think of it not much unlike being a doctor. There is a finite balance among art and science. There are so many rewards and so many failures.

I’d love to be a chef.

On Apr 8, 2005, at 7:35 AM, Jeff Blank wrote:

Josh,
What a tribute ….Thank you…I will pass this on to Robert. It is rewarding to know that our love for food & cooking is understood & appreciated. It makes the effort all worth it. Thanks for “getting it”

COOK FEARLESSLY

Jeff

P.S. The new book will be out this June

—–Original Message—–
From: Josh Janicek
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 9:47 PM
To: jeffreyblank@something.com
Subject: Thank you!!!

Jeff,

I received an e-mail announcement for the cooking class on April 17th. I wish I could attend but will be out of town that weekend.

I also wanted to say thank you for the wonderful class you held at your house back in January. That Sunday afternoon was one of the best days of my life!

I used to work at the Austin Country Club as a banquet captain. After a few months I buddied up with the chefs (back then it was Jim McNeil, Jim Sicher and Ron Cook). I showed an interest in the back of the house and helped out whenever I could. I never officially ‘worked’ in the kitchen but I made sure to bug the hell out of them… “what is that? what’s in that sauce? how did you cook that?”

I would get home late at night after working a banquet and be so inspired. I began trying out my own ‘culinary endeavors’ shortly thereafter. I screwed up A LOT of meals trying to play chef. That was six years ago. Since then I’ve become a lot more comfortable in trying new things in the kitchen.

A few years ago I took my wife to Hudson’s on the Bend to celebrate her getting a new job. It was our first time at the restaurant and we both absolutely loved the food, service and atmosphere. My wife bought me the ‘Cooking Fearlessly’ cookbook and a gift certificate to your cooking class for my birthday a year later. That was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.

Since then we’ve been back to the restaurant many times and have loved every meal.

After many sliced fingers, burned food, broken plates, fires, jalapeno oil in the eye, etc. etc., I really enjoy cooking and, more importantly, enjoy cooking fearlessly – and I don’t think I’m too shabby for an amateur!!

Again, thanks for the many great meals and, more importantly, the inspiration!

Best regards,

Josh Janicek

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Chef Blank is having a cooking class at his house on Sunday, April 17th. I want to go so badly. I’m going to have to limit myself to once a year.

If you’re in the Austin area, I can’t emphasize how awesome an experience it is to attend one of these cooking classes. Click here to sign up. It’ll put you back $125 so forego paying your utility and phone bill this month if you have to!!

- Buffalo Quail Riding Jalapeno Cheese Grits –
Pecan Wood Smoked Buffalo Quail riding atop Spicy Jalapeno Bleu Cheese Grits

– Toasted Pecan Coriander Crusted Goat Cheese Salad –
Candied Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese atop Mixed Field Greens with Blackberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

- Hot and Crunchy Ruby Trout –
Hot and Crunchy Ruby Trout Swimming in a Pool of Mango Habanero Aioli Splashed with Ancho Sauce Chillin next to Toasted Pearl Cous Cous

- Flaming Burro Bananas –
Flaming Bananas in a Spiced Tuaca Fire Drizzled over Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

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Sure, the World Wide Web is great
but you, you make me salvavate.
Yes, I love technology.
But not as much as you, you see.
But I still love technology.
Always and forever.

– Kipp Dynamite

What a beautiful song.

Napoleon Dynamite is still such a funny movie.

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So you know that rule about receiving bad service? If you have good service you tell one person, but if you have bad service you tell six. Well, I’m going to tell everyone who reads our website (and I’m pretty sure it’s a lot more than six) that I had bad service at Thundercloud Subs. I got home from work tonight and Josh had printed out a flyer from their website that someone had sent him via email today. Apparently they’re running a 30th Anniversary sale and everyday for a month they have a sandwich on special. Today’s sandwich was Roast Beef and Avocado for $2.99. Regular price is $5.19. The “special” is supposed to be the price the sandwich was when they first opened thirty years ago. Now those of you that know me know how I love a good sale, deal or coupon so it didn’t take much to convince me that we should get dinner from Thundercloud. A side note to this is that Josh was the one to suggest we get dinner from there. He doesn’t ordinarily like Thundercloud (ask him about it), but I do. Since I rarely dine out without Josh (eating at El Arroyo doesn’t count) I thought this would be a great opportunity to reintroduce Thundercloud to him.

I arrived at the store and walked in with a family of four. They politely motioned for me to go in front of them and when I told the clerk I’d like the special she quickly responded, “Oh. Didn’t you see the sign on the door? We’re out of the special.”

Since the door was held open for me I did not see the sign so I stepped aside to call Josh for his alternative choice. I got back in line as the family of four was finishing their order just in time to hear the employee making the sandwiches tell the employee at the register, “Don’t sell anymore avocado. We’re out of it.”

Shoot. Strike two. The sandwich I always get is the Veggie Delite…it comes with avocado. That’s okay. I’m willing to try something new so I make a choice for Josh and a new one for myself. I get back up to the counter and ask the employee if they will substitute something comparable for the price of the special. Before I could finish my sentence she blurted out, “No. It’s only while supplies last.”

I debate a moment and realize I don’t really feel like ordering two meals full price…that whole bate-and-switch thing came to mind. Get them in the door for a special and then tell them you’re out of it, but you have something else that’s more expensive available.

I step back again, look over my flyer and realize nowhere on it does it say “only while supplies last.” I walk back to the counter and say to the employee, “I’m sorry. I don’t see anywhere on here where it says only while supplies last.”

She halfway rolls her eyes and says, “It says it on the door. It’s not my rule. That’s just how it is.”

I tell her, “I understand that, but since I drove all the way here only to be disappointed could they not make one exception by substituting one sandwich?”

Again she shook her head and made more excuses of how she just works there and she has no clout and it’s her manager’s rules, blah, blah, blah. I interrupted her and said, “Since they are his rules may I speak with your manager?” “He’s not here.” “May I speak with the manager on duty?”

Again rolling her eyes she took out a piece of paper and proceeded to write down a phone number. “There isn’t one here, but you can call the corporate office and they will take care of it.”

I took the paper, walked outside to check the sign on the door and called the number. By-the-way, nowhere on the door was there a sign that said “only while supplies last.” The office was closed for the day so I left a message. I told them I work in the food industry and know what good customer service is and didn’t feel the situation was handled well. I also told them I thought their advertisement wasn’t very good/misleading. I then told them that if someone would like to resolve the situation they could call me at my daytime number. I hope someone does call because I’d like to hear their reaction when I answer the phone, “El Arroyo Catering.” It’s not that I wasn’t willing to pay an extra $3.00 for a sandwich, or that I had a huge problem with having to change my selection, it was the way I was treated and the unwillingness to satisfy my needs. So I’ll wait to see if I receive a phone call from the main office tomorrow. I know if it was my boss who received the phone call he would make every effort to satisfy the customer and rectify the situation. We’ll see if Thundercloud has the same perspective.

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Elise’s blingy laptop crashed again tonight as she was trying to send an e-mail. I’m really thinking about Ebaying this notebook and getting her a 12″ iBook. I’d make a little money on the deal too.

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Last night I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for my Arrabiata Alfredo Pie. I picked up a jar of pepperoncinis as I figured they’d go great with the pasta pie. I love pepperoncinis – always have, always will. They make for great pickle spit.

I was instantly reminded of a time when my next door neighbor ordered Papa John’s pizza one afternoon. When you order pizza from Papa John’s, you receive two pepperoncini peppers. I had a great next door neighbor when I was a living in my one bedroom bachelor pad back at the Bristol Method. Her name was Christy and we became really good friends.

Christy called me one afternoon and asked if I wanted to go in on a pizza order from Papa John’s. I said “thanks but no thanks, I just ate lunch.”

The next thing I remember was a scream from next door. Then the phone rang. Christy was still screaming on the phone… “Josh, help… come over, quick!” I thought she’d seen a ghost, cut off her finger or found Bob Saget in her bathroom.

Being the good neighbor that I was, I quickly ran next door and barged through the front door, ready to battle Bob Saget. I heard Christy coughing in the bathroom. I saw an open box of pizza on the living room floor. I ran to the bathroom to find my neighbor in a fit of laughter and tears.

She told me to go into the living room and look inside the pizza box. I opened said box and looked for Bob Saget. He wasn’t there. Christy came into the room and held in front of me a bitten into pepperoncini pepper.

There it was, what Christy had freaked out about – a half eaten caterpillar. My neighbor ate half of a caterpillar! After I was done laughing, I called Papa John’s on her behalf and made a formal complaint. Christy received a free large supreme pizza voucher.

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Dammit! Doom 3 was released for Xbox yesterday. Now I’m going to have to hurry up and finish Halo 2 (best game I’ve ever played). I still suck at Halo 2, but the game is fun as hell. I’m looking forward to playing Doom 3 on the Xbox. I bought Doom 3 for the PC, but quickly realized that I would have to seriously invest in some hardware upgrades in order to play the game.

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Last night I felt the need to cook comfort food. I threw a twist on classic fettucini alfredo.

Arrabiata Alfredo Pie

Sauce
1 part butter
3 parts heavy cream

Melt butter in pot, add cream, bring to a boil and reduce heat.

Extras
Few cloves garlic, crushed & chopped
Fistfull of fresh basil, chiffonade
Mushrooms, sliced
Prosciutto, slided
Mozzerella & Provalone cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese
Crushed red pepper
1 egg, beaten

Cook fettuccini, drain and cool.
Add all of your extras into pot with pasta. Stir in sauce. Add Parmesan cheese to the point where it seems just like Alfredo. Throw in a few fist fulls of mozzerella and provalone (these are all exact measurements, by the way).

Put ingredients in a buttered baking dish and cook at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Cut and serve like a pie. If you really want to make it healthy, drizzle some additional alfredo sauce over the top. Clos du Bois is a great wine accompaniment.

Gooey, creamy, cheesy, tasty, artery-clogging Italian comfort food.

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Elise and I went to Giss’s Cafe for dinner on Friday night. We had read a good review by Dale Rice and wanted to support a neighborhood restaurant. We met the owner, he asked us how our dinner was and we didn’t have the heart to say “Ehhhh…”

I had the fried catfish and Elise had the chicken pot pie. The service was great and since Giss’s Cafe is in the process of getting their liquor license, Elise was treated to a free glass of wine (if you don’t have a license, you can serve booze for free!). My catfish was okay. I’m used Friday night catfish fries at Crossroads Tavern back home. Elise’s pot pie was very bland.

After dinner we drove over to Hollywood Video and picked up “Closer” and “The Incredibles”. Both were awesome movies.

Elise and I worked in the yard Saturday morning before Elise had to go to work. Shortly before returning from work, I prepped stuffed quail for our dinner.

Smoked Stuffed Texas Quail with an Ancho Ginger Honey Sauce on top of Texas Wild Rice and Pumpkin Seeds

Quail
Stuff quail with venison and pork sausage and cilantro, wrap quail in two strips of bacon.
Smoke quail on grill until internal temperature is 170 degrees.

Sauce
Sautee onions, carrots and garlic until carmelized.
Add 1.5 C. veal stock (my new best friend)
Soy sauce
Ginger
Add reconstitituted ancho, sandia and chipotle peppers
Cilantro
Blend in blender or use boat motor
Add honey to desired sweetness

Elise and I went to meet Adrian and Holly at the Lucky Lounge for a couple drinks.

After deciding we didn’t want to spend too much money and yell over one another, we drove out to Kirk and Lanessa’s where we raised hell and had a shocking good time.

The change in time made for Elise and I getting home at almost 4 a.m. Elise had to work today so I slept in and mowed the yard.

Another fun weekend that blew by too quickly.

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I think I might have switched this morning (if you don’t know me and stumbled across this website, you might be looking for this).

I’m browsing while importing a 10 MB file into iMovie and listening to my music in iTunes. Open I have Photoshop, Illustrator, Quicktime, Mail, iChat, Word, iMovie, iTunes and iTunes Catalog. If I was using the Windows box with the same programs running in the office, the smoke alarm would probably have the fire department over here.

Before deciding where we were going for dinner this evening Elise was composing an e-mail.

I said “Elise, let’s go, I’m hungry.”

She tried to save her e-mail as a draft. She got the blue screen of death. I just bought this nice laptop for Elise for Christmas and replaced common Microsoft software with Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office…

I said: “If you want, I can buy another Mac… for you…”

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