Thanks a lot, Stupid Chase Commercial

The other night I was playing on the computer in our office, and the LOML was sitting in our nursery, reading, and she asked me to play some music on iTunes (run-on sentence alert). So I started playing some songs I thought she’d like, and then put on (rolling eyes at myself) that Five for Fighting song “100 Years” (remember that Chase credit card commercial *, where the young couple starts dating, then has kids, then grows old together?). Well, I thought I’d go into the nursery to sing for her my best falsetto version of that song (one of my biggest daily goals, is to make my dear wife laugh).


A few weeks ago, someone gave us this really sweet little outfit (yes, I know DBT says not to refer to anything as an “outfit”), and so I started to pretend our little baby girl was here. So I put the little dress in the crib, and pretend to lift her out. And I’m singing that stupid “I’m 23, for a moment” in my high voice. And then I pretend like the dress is a little 3 or 4 year old, scampering in to the nursery to see us. And then I hold the dress up a little higher, and pretend she’s a teenager, or home from college, and the song is still playing in the background, and the LOML and I are having a good ole laugh. But then, just when I’m wrapping up my dramatic interpretation of that commercial, I actually start to get a little sentimental, and have to fight off crocodile tears at how sad its gonna be for my (UNBORN) child to grow up and leave us. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!? I haven’t even met our precious little girl, and I’m already cheesing myself out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I end up leaving the room, before the Mrs. can see I’ve gotten a little teary, but I admitted to her last night, how I’m a big fat cheese. I'm sure it's only gonna get worse, come January . . .

* While I was looking for that “100 Years” Chase commercial on youtube, I saw this one . . . GAHLEE, CAN WE PLEASE STOP PULLING MY FATHERLY HEART STRINGS?!?!?! Seriously, somebody get me a copy of “Butterfly Kisses” or something!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Things Kinda Got Out of Hand Last Night.

You know that scene in Heavyweights. The one where Gerald and Pat Finley lock up Tony Perkis and all the other “bad” counselors. And then all the fat campers go crazy, ordering six foot long party subs, spraying whip cream and EZ cheese all over each other, and basically having a food orgy?? Well, last night for the LSU “game” (or shellacking, AU received) we kinda had one of those nights at the TMF’H household.


It started off as just a Wing Fest. We got 40 lbs of chicken wings (we fried 20*, and froze the other 20), and were just gonna make a bunch of sauces to try. Between the six dudes (and two wives), we had ten sauces. That alone was gonna be awesome enough (here is Jay showing you the wrong way to eat a (raw) chicken wing).


But then we decided to fry up some other things. So we fried mushrooms and greek olives (I think the womenz liked these more than the dudes), and then fried mini corn dog (bites) in honor of the Bengal Tigers. Awesome right?? Totally.

Well, then someone starts sending links to the Texas State Fair, and next thing you know, I’m whipping up a dessert batter to fry up rice krispie treats, oatmeal cream pies, moon pies, oreos, and (fun size) snickers bars. The oreo and snickers were pretty sweet (pun intended), but the LOML and I both woke up this morning just wanting something leafy and green.

But you know what the worst part about last night was?? 10 wing sauces and 3 different batters leaves a lot of dirty dishes. We waited til this morning to tackle them. Not cool.


* Have you ever stood over a deep fryer while 50+ wings cook at once?? It releases a lot of steam, which is kinda like a chicken dry cleaner. It was kinda awesome, but then kinda gross to think about.

Put on your Saris, it's time to celebrate Diwali

Last night, some fellas and I went to Taj India to celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights!


It was awesome.


Jay is back in the states now, and wore his kurta.

After the article in last week’s Birmingham News, Taj India was packed. We had reservations for 8 pm, but didn’t sit down until 8:30, and the line for the buffet was probably 25+ long (who knew they had a back room at Taj India???).


The eggplant dish (recipe included in article) was really good, but we were surprised they didn’t have some of their other standard dishes (Chicken Tikka Masala, Shrimp Makhni, etc.). Maybe the food they had last night was like the turkey and dressing we have during Thanksgiving?? Either way, it was tasty (well, the desserts were kinda freaky), and we left stuffed.

PS – I downloaded a new app for my iPhone a few weeks ago called The Best Camera. It’s a pretty cool photo editing app, designed by über photog celebrity, Chase Jarvis.

Nostalgia has a Playlist (REMIX)

I think if you asked any of our significant others and/or college friends during the early 2000’s, they would all say our ECS friends were obsessed with each other. And I’m not saying this was a bad thing. I mean, basically, we all just really loved high school, and loved talking about all the fun we had in high school, and all the fun we were having during college, with our high school friends.


Back in college (freshman/sophomore year, specifically), our group of high school/Memphis friends had the EZ Board (a message board). I know this sounds nerdy/cheesy, but I really think this was one of the ways we were able to stay so close, even as we went away to our respective colleges.


“Back then” we didn’t have social networking or Web 2.0, and this little corner of the internet was our pride and joy. We had our fair share of drama/controversy on the board, but over the course of 18 months, made it over 10,000 posts. Eventually, the board fizzled out and I haven’t thought about logging in (could I??) in about 5 years . . .


Long story short, I discovered the Wayback Machine last week, and eventually found my way back to the legendary ezboard!!! Hope you enjoy these old school pictures (eyes not blacked out) of the old gang (mostly from Spinny J’s birthday party @ the SDR Estate).

1372 Overton Blog

So this week saw the release of LUCERO’s major label debut, 1372 Overton Park!


I received my pre-ordered* CD last Saturday and I have to say it’s really good (what else would you have me say??). In addition to Rick Steff (?) and Todd Beene (??) “joining” the band, the boys have added a full horn section to this record, completing their slow and steady transformation into the next E. Street Band.


I wasn’t sure what I thought about “rock piano” on their last record, and I’m not sure I love the horns on all these new tracks, but "What Are You Willing to Lose?" absolutely DESTROYS with that Memphis horn-y soul!!

Last night was the Memphis record release show at the Levitt (Overton) Shell (I read this morning that something like 4,000 people attended the free show). Can’t believe it’s been almost 9 years since I was at their s/t record release show @ the Hi-Tone (I’ve been to four of their six Memphis release shows).

If you’re only looking to download a few tracks, check out “Smoke”, “What Are you Willing to Lose?”, “Hey Darlin’ Do You Gamble?” and “Mom” (as heard on One Tree Hill, oh double dear).

*Included in my pre-order was a pretty sweet Lucero patch . . . but I think you all know where this is going

Who Moved my Blog?

A few weeks ago while the LOML and I were babysitting (gotta keep our hustle on to stack that dolla!), I was thumbing through Frank Stitt’s Southern Table cookbook, and found this recipe for Miss Verbena’s Pimento Cheese. I’m pretty sure Frank could write a recipe for corrugated cardboard (from local farmers, of course), and it’d be tasty, but this sounded really, really good. And I’ve always thought Pimento Cheese looked/sounded kinda gross (my experience being limited to that of the grocery store variety).

Needless to say, I’ve been itching to make this Pimento Cheese since. This is a pretty easy recipe, and I used it in an omelet this morning. I’m really looking forward to making some grilled Pimento Cheese sandwiches later this week.


Miss Verbena’s Pimento Cheese (adapted from Frank Stitt)
1 lb grated sharp Cheddar Cheese
¼ lb cream cheese (softened)
½ C mayonnaise (I used Duke’s Light)
1 red pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded, and finely chopped
1 tsp white pepper (I used black)
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp Sriracha (substituted for dash of Tabasco and (optional) 1/8 tsp cayenne)

The directions are easy: combine and refrigerate.


Note: I used a combination of Mammoth and Black Wax cheddar cheese from Whole Foods. I’m not really sure why I picked those, but the black wax looked pretty sweet. Frank’s recipe calls for THREE roasted red peppers, but I thought that sounded (and looked) pretty excessive. I roasted three, chopped one, and thought that was plenty. Also, we’re out of Tabasco, so I used Sriracha instead. If we swing by Publix this week, I might add some more to this batch.

PS – On a sad foodie note, Gourmet magazine announced today it’s shutting down its monthly publication. Another sad loss for the print media industry . . .

Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone

Stephen and I went to see the Walkmen play Tuesday night at Bottletree. I’m not super-familiar with all their music, but I do remember when they were on the O.C. And I really like that song “the Rat” (some may say is one of the Top 20 songs of the Decade ).

I’m gonna go ahead and call that (opening act) Here We Go Magic will be the indie blog-darlings of 2010 (they just signed to Secretly Canadian). Daniel, write that down.

And here is that Saturn (R.I.P.) commercial you may remember from the early 2000’s.