Punkin Chunkin 2011: After

As I mentioned previously, this weekend was the annual Punkin Chunkin event up in Delaware. Every year, teams bring their various contraptions made for throwing pumpkins into a field, and square off in each category to see who will be the next champion. I had never been before, so I didn't quite know what to expect, and as with any first time event, you learn quite a bit about how to better prepare for next year.

The first lesson, is to either camp out at the grounds the night before, or get there verrrry early in the morning. My friends and I camped at a campsite about 30 min away, and by the time we everyone else was up and moving around, it was already noon. I was all for camping out at the grounds using tents, but I was outvoted and the cabins 30 min away won. The reason you want to get there so early is because there is one road heading into the site, and thousands of cars trying to get there and park. The event was only about a 30 min drive from our campgrounds, but it took us almost an hour once we were there to drive up the one remaining road and park.

Second lesson, make friends and get invited to join an AWESOME tailgate section! We totally lucked out with this one. Our group drove in two cars, but we got split up in the whole parking thing, and cell phone reception was really bad. Luckily for my half of the group, we had the cooler full of beer, and the folding chairs to bring into the grounds. My friend Pete has a friend named Ryan who lives up in the area, and Pete invited Ryan to join us for the chunk [both of whom rode in my car]. Ryan has some co-workers who found out he was finally going to attend after years of bailing out, and insisted he come and join their tailgate. So Pete and I [and our cooler full of beer] tagged along and got to join a great group of people, right near the front who had gotten up at "zero dark hours" to get out to the field and start cooking and setting everything up. They had an awesome spread of food and were begging us to eat everything so they didn't have to take anything home. [It didn't take much for me to agree with their wishes] I made friends fast and we ended up having a fantastic day watching all the events, and people, all while enjoying hot chili!

Below is a brief photo recap of the day, and a quick video compilation of some of the shots. The video is really short though, because by the time we got there in the afternoon all the trebuchet, and catapult machines had already fired once, and they were onto the air cannons. Now the air cannons were very impressive and fun to watch, but half the time you couldn't even see the pumpkin coming out, or you had no warning that they were about to fire, so I missed a lot of video opportunity because of that. We waited around until dusk for the 'free fire' when the whole range opens up and teams just start launching pumpkins left and right, that was the highlight by far. So here's some pictures and video, and be ready for more punkin chunkin adventure next year!

At the site of our new friends and tailgate section.

Pete and I enjoying our new spot!

The buffet table.

Check out this awesome plate of food!

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a real

battlefield there in the distance!

Spitfire!

Man your battle stations!

There was some excellent people watching available as well.

In this shot you can see the guy [who I called Lance] powering

up their human-powered machine with his bike.

The fun machines.

View from the distant parking lot.

[Punkin Chunkin 2011]

Toaster Ovens

Toaster ovens are a thing of beauty. In my office here at work there's a separate office within our space that our boss used to occupy, but he moved to another location in the building leaving his space vacant. So we turned it into a break/storage room. But the real fun started the other day when we finally got a toaster oven put in there!

When I was in college and eating lunch in the cafeteria every day, I would make turkey melt sandwiches probably 3 or 4 days a week utilizing the sandwich bar and an enormous open toaster oven type thing [chicken nugget and hawaiian pizza days generally were my other chosen options.] They were fantastic and I miss making them. So I was extremely excited when we got a toaster oven here in the office. I went to the store the other night and got turkey melt making supplies and got to make my first one yesterday afternoon for lunch. Some nice 12 grain bread, 1lb of fresh deli turkey, provolone cheese, chipotle mayo, and spicy mustard. Delicious! 

Hey, we all have to get creative with our work lunches from time to time. What are some of your favorite work lunches, or tricks for making your every day lunch more appealing?

Mmmm, toasty.

Lunch is served!

Toaster ovens are magical!

Burger Making Weaponry

I saw this delightful little tool yesterday, and it immediately caught my attention. It's a tool to be used when making fresh burgers at home, and you want to put your cheese, or bacon, or salsa, or guacamole, or bbq sauce, or diced jalapeno, or whatever else you can think of inside your burger! Now, I've made these types of burgers at home before, but it was rather difficult to make the two patties really stick together well after you had thrown in some special ingredients on the inside. This stuffed hamburger press from Williams-Sonoma will make it incredibly easy to create stuffed burger masterpieces. Next time I stop by the mall, I'm definitely picking one of these babies up! Ahh, I cannot wait for the warmer weather, clear, clean roads, and BBQ's!! Enjoy these pics and start dreaming up all the wonderful stuffed burger concoctions you can think of!

Place your fresh ground meet in the press.

Add your favorite burger stuffings!

Press together again to create a perfectly shaped burger ready for grilling.

STUFF YOUR FACE!

Mmmmmmmmm nom nom nom nom nom. So what are some ideas that come to mind? What about shredded pepperjack cheese and jalepeno, or maybe fresh mango salsa inside with guac on top? The possibilities are endless!! 

Impromptu BBQ Road Trip

It's no secret; I love food, and I love BBQ. So when the opportunity arose yesterday to make a short trip for some of America's best eats, I could not pass it up. 

I was leaving church yesterday morning, [well, afternoon since I go to the late service at it was about 12:30 when we got out] and I walked over to say a quick hello to my friend Joe. Joe had recently been watching the travel channel and asked me if I knew about this place down in Richmond that supposedly had some great BBQ. I knew exactly the place he was talking about but couldn't remember the name off the top of my head. So I ran into one of the offices real quick to look it up. The establishment is called Buz And Ned's and it's right in downtown Richmond. He mentioned how he really wanted to go there sometime to try it out. I'm no stranger to spontaneous travels, and I said to him "I will literally go at anytime, just say when." Joe responded with "well, what do you have going on right now?" "Nothing" I said, "let's go!" And just like that, we hopped into my car and headed south. 

Traffic was extremely light heading south on a Sunday afternoon, so we made great time getting down there. It was very east to spot, and we had a no wait to order our food and grab a table. Now, we went in the dead of winter, so I can only imagine how hard it might be to grab a table in the summertime. Even at this time of year, there was a solid and steady stream of folks coming in for some BBQ.

Check out this video for a look at when Man V Food stopped by Buz And Ned's [skip ahead to 1:59] Man V Food: Richmond, VA

My friend Joe and I both wanted to try the famous ribs, which were indeed as good as the show described, but I can't ever head to a BBQ joint without trying their chopped or pulled pork BBQ sandwich. I discovered a long time ago, that adding slaw [coleslaw] on top of the pork is by far the way to go. So we each got a pork sandwich, and split a full rack of their pork spare ribs. I added baked beans and hushpuppies as my sides, and of course a big tall sweet tea to wash it all down. It was heaven. No really, it was, here look at this picture...

BBQ Heaven.

So after getting our grub on, we filled up our sweet tea's once more for the road, and headed back outside to grab a few pictures before heading home. To anyone interested, I highly recommend checking this place out. The folks were all very nice and the food was amazing. I'd like to go back in the summertime and stay a little longer while sitting at the outside picnic tables. Anyways, it wasn't a huge or long trip, but spontaneous adventures with friends, like the one yesterday always remind me that there's so much to do and see and experience out there. As the great Ferris Bueller once said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Well said oh wise one.

Anyways, I'm glad that I was able to go yesterday, and I anxiously await for whatever my next adventure may be.

Our sandwiches and the rack of ribs. You can see in this picture all the

caramelized sugar that Buz mentions in the video. Delish. 

Buz and Ned's: Check 'em out.

Rob V Food

Last week while driving home from a Wizards game, my friends and I passed a McDonald's, and one of my friends pointed out the big McRib sign the store had in the window, which prompted another friend to ask me how many I thought I could eat in one sitting. I responded, "5, maybe 6." This discussion on eating massive quantities of food somehow evolved into eating pancakes and the famous gallon of milk challenge. One of my friends then decided to combine all 3 and challenge me to the 3, 2, 1 challenge. 3 pancakes from IHOP, 2 McRib sandwiches, and 1 quart of 2% chocolate milk. [I had the choice of whole white milk, or 2% chocolate....I chose chocolate.]

The challenge went down yesterday afternoon, and all I had to do was finish everything within 40 minutes, or I had to pay for the food myself. My strategy was simple, inhale the pancakes as fast as possible, move on to the McRib's, and then start chugging chocolate milk before my brain had a chance to catch up to my stomach. The food was gone in 7 minutes, and the first quart of chocolate milk was gone maybe 5 minutes after that. I crushed the [original] challenge. But this is where things got interesting.

Since my roommate couldn't find just one quart of milk in the store, he bought a half gallon instead. And even though I beat the official challenge, the unofficial challenge began of trying to finish off the entire half gallon of 2% milk as well. I lost. I got extremely close, maybe 6 ounces of milk left, but it was just too much. I spent the next 45 minutes paying for my recent decisions, then continued to watch football for the remainder of the evening.

In case anyone is wondering, I woke up and went swimming to prepare my stomach for the oncoming feast. I swam almost 3 miles in about 90 minutes, not too shabby. Here's some before and after pics of the food.

Before:

After: [That cup is only half full, and that's all that was left]

Oh, then we ordered two large pizzas from Domino's for dinner. Man I love being back in the pool!!

The McRib Has Returned

A few weeks back I posted about how McDonald's was FINALLY bringing back the McRib sandwich nationwide. [You could previously find it in very rare locations, but that generally required traveling for days to get one.] This is the first time since 1994 that the sandwich has been released in the U.S. at a nationwide level. I had first reported that yesterday was the launch date, and while that still may be the official date, early reports started rolling in last week of people already finding the sandwich at their local McD's. I couldn't wait and had to check for myself. So this past Thursday I stopped by the location closet to me on my way home from swimming and popped inside to check. Sure enough it was available. I can't be sure but I may have heard the slight sounds of an angel's choir singing in the background.

Anyway I picked up two sandwiches to go, and hurried home to scarf them down as fast as I could. It was everything I remembered them to be, messy, questionable, but most importantly, DELICIOUS! Thank you, McDonald's for bringing back this sandwich. Mmmmmmmm.

The McRib's Return

Can I get a hallelujah?! My prayers have been answered, the McRib is coming back!!! Multiple news reports broke yesterday Mark your calendars, November 2nd nationwide, you will be able to stroll into your neighborhood mickey d's, and order this delightful little treat. November 3rd is shaping up to be a rough day for me. 

Southern Maryland Cruise Night

On Saturday evening I head over towards Southern Maryland to meet up with a Mopar group over there that was planning a dinner and cruise night. The event plans sounded too good to pass up on such a great evening weather wise and I'm glad I went.

I left home shortly after 4:00 and made it over to the Prince Frederick area meet up spot around 5:15. I didn't know anyone there, but in the automotive community I've learned that doesn't matter one bit. You all show up for the same reasons with a common interest and just enjoy hanging out and talking cars. There were about 16 cars that showed up all together, and I was about the 8th person to show up. When I hopped out, most people were making their way over to check out 'The Colonel.' I introduced myself and immediately began answering questions about the car. Most wanted to know about the wheels, stripes, and my engine cover which I had customized this past winter.

Now, I don't want to come across like I'm bragging here, but I am quite proud, so bear with me. I've been around plenty of meet ups now, with plenty of awesome cars and lots of other Challengers, but there is something special about mine that attracts owners of all other cars. I believe it's the combination of the Hemi Orange color with the Classic package that I ordered with the car. Hemi Orange is the color this car born to wear, and when matched with the old school heritage wheels, body striping and such, it evokes more nostalgia than any other modern car on the road today. I get plenty of guys who own the SRT model coming up and just saying "Man, that is a beautiful car." It makes me smile and only reassures me that I made the right call on color all along!

So after we hung around for about 40 minutes waiting for everyone to show up, we headed out on a 'spirited' drive through the back roads of the area. And man was that fun! We drove for about 45 minutes in the setting sun of the evening twisting and winding through the turns with the RPM's hovering just high enough to punch it coming out of the apex. Exhausts and engines we're roaring together to create a beautiful symphony of torque and muscle. I didn't want it to end!

We ended up back near our starting point and parked at 5 Guys, where I enjoyed a delicious bacon cheeseburger and a cherry coke, talked more car stuff and talked about the cruise and how much fun everyone had on the back roads. Then we packed up once more and drove about 25 minutes over to this place called Bert's 50's Diner. Real cool place right on the side of the highway, all decked out in 50's memorabilia and we all got ice cream to cap off the night.

All in all (aside from the migraine I got about 20 minutes from home) it was a great night, and the weather was perfect too. I'm very much looking forward to all the future meet & greet's I'll be attending this year, since this time around I'VE GOT MY CHALLENGER!!! Here's a couple pictures and video that one of the other guys took. Enjoy.

Picture or two from before I showed up

Everyone loved what I did with the engine cover

Talkin' car stuff

The group at 5 Guys

50's Diner

And short video clip from the organizer. I'm 5th in line, 4th in the rear view.

North Carolina BBQ Tour

This past weekend I felt the urge to do something a little out of the ordinary. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be adventurous and get some good food while in the process. So i decided to plan out a small road trip down to and through North Carolina in search of some great BBQ. The weather was looking pretty good, so I put a full tank of gas in the Challenger and made a playlist full of rocking tunes for the road. My friend Matt accompanied me on the trip as well, so that was cool.

We started by heading down to Goldsboro on the Eastern side of the state for 1st lunch, and from there headed west about 2.5 hours to Lexington for 2nd lunch. Then we headed back east again to Chapel Hill and UNC where we stopped at my sister's house for a few. Erika jumped in the car and came with us into Raleigh where we went to dinner at The Pit. It was a 90 minute wait, but we didn't let that deter us. We headed up the street to a bar for an hour or so to kill the time. Oh, and when we tried to park on the street for The Pit, a parking guy told us we couldn't park in that spot cause it was a bus lane. He said normally to park in his lot it is $5, but that we had an awesome car so he'd let us park for free! I love my car more and more!

From start to finish we drove 880 miles, in a day and a half. I was pretty exhausted, but it was well worth it. Oh, and there most definitely will be a round 2 at some point! On with the pictures!

Pumpkin Cannon

Sorry folks for not posting anything the past couple days. I was out of town and then got real sick. But I'm feeling much better now and should be back to 106% by Friday. Anyways, it's now October and this video is awesome, so of course it had to be shared. Anyone want to try and make one with me??

Taquitos: The New Standard

I love Taquitos....a lot. They're delicious, easy and quick to make, and they don't cost a whole lot, esp if bought from Costco. However, as much as you and I may love our delectable frozen bites, there is always someone out there who no doubt loves Taquitos more! From [jalopnik]

"On the other side of every great deal is someone who's invested time and money and is selling at a loss. We've all been there. What's the most you've lost selling a car?

Wojdyla managed to purchase one of the rare, VW-designed diesel generator-powered Volvo 745 wagons for $1,500 some years ago. After four years of faithful, if not particularly fast, service, it was time for the Volvo to go. The value was probably less than $500 considering it needed new glow plugs. In no mood to find a seller, he sold it to someone in his fraternity for a box of delicious frozen taquitos. The price listed on the title for the sale was $34.95, for a loss of $465.00."

This Is Why You're Fat

I don't really know what to say about this post, other than I found this website and decided to share it. http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/ In the past 2 weeks or so, I've found myself trying to not eat fried and fatty foods, and sticking more to the lean meats, that's a good thing right?! I've also started drinking mainly water. And if you've gotta have some flavor, I suggest the Gatorade propel water. I've also now completed one full week of CrossFit classes. [More on that later]

Anyway, watch what you eat folks. I don't want to be the Bobcat operator who gets called in to tear down your wall and lift you out of bed.

A Meal To Die For...

If I'm ever in Chandler, AZ I just might have to stop by this classy establishment......for the burgers of course. Good thing I got my workout for the day in already, otherwise I'd probably gain a pound just by watching this clip!!

IN-N-OUT Burger

It's no secret that I'm a food lover. I mean, how could I not be with one of the world's greatest chefs as your mom. That combined with the fact that I was always very active helped me to develop one of the worlds biggest appetites known to man. I've never been to California [that I can remember, 3 months old does not count] and this is the only place you can get some IN-N-OUT Burger! I'm stoked.....and getting hungry just thinking about it. I can assure you right now that this is one destination we will definitely be hitting up [maybe two or three times] while in sunny SAN DIEGOOOOOO!!!

A quick google images search produced these yummy pictures. Enjoy.

Kansas City Barbeque

Otherwise known as the Top Gun Bar just so happens to be located in sunny San Diego....where I'm headed in just over a week. As if I needed any more things to get me excited about this trip, I think I'll do a blog post a day about what my plans are while I'm out there, and then I can report back once I'm back in town about how much of it actually got accomplished. Today's post is obviously about the 'Top Gun Bar'. Delicious food aside, I can't wait to take pictures at this place and revel in all it's awesomeness. In case you didn't know [in which case you should be ashamed of yourself] this bar was where they filmed some of the movie 'Top Gun' [greatest movie of all time by the way] so it's no wonder that this is on my list of to-do's. Here's a snipit of the bar in action. SAN DIEGOOOOOOOO!!!

Super Bowl: After

Booo. I was definitely pulling for the Cards. Not that I don't like the Steelers, I actually don't mind them at all. It's their fans. Ugh. The fans are the worst. Seriously just because you hate living in PA as much as the rest of the country does, does not give you permission to move to my town and be obnoxious. At least it was a good game to watch, plus we had good food and company. Can't complain too much.