Yeah I went to Vegas, and yeah I have some stories to tell, but they are long and hard to tell. For the moment, feast on these bit of the following awesomeness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvOCrRVDPpI

and this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUi9teTRCgk

Oh, and the Hold Steady's latest is out...  There were a couple pretty crass propositions. There were some bugs in the bars. There was a kid camped out by the coat check. She said the theme of this party is the industrial age. You came in dressed like a train wreck.

And the inside jokes are still there:

'Cause I was thinking we could pull another weekender.
If you've still got a little bit of clairvoyance....
.....God only knows it's not always a positive thing.
To see a few seconds into the future

and my favorite, which along with train wreck lyric pretty much made my week

That one girl got me cornered in the kitchen
I said I'll do anything but clean.

Thanks for the room!    As if the picture wasn't... awesome... enough

Hey puts the bread in the basket.  love it.

So So Good, Cochon555

Good to find out the McCrady won at Cochon. He had the best drift of dishes, and the best Single Dish too.     His dish actually proved there is a top-end to how good mexican food can be, since the Tamale his competitor made was the end-all  of tamales, but McCrady's Pork Belly-Cake-and-Foam creation was undeniable.

MJQ was disappointing for the first time ever, Saturday Night. Not sure what that was about.  The back half of the club was closed too,  which meant we couldn't escape the DJ's up front.  They weren't bad.. just not as good as they have been  (as good as I remember them being, is probably more accurate)

I also saw the  "No-Hitter" against the braves. The guy had 6 walks though. *I* could throw a no hitter under those criteria. Maybe.   I guess I would need to get an out somehow....eventually... you get my point though.

Dogwood and Sweetwater both seemed bigger this year.... and that's all I have to say about that (As grandma would say)

Gudgingly, I must add that Park Tavern has shed its heavy cloak of mediocrity.  The Sushi was very good, the Sangria was good (for what it was), and the service was good (For what it was). Yeah, I purposefully didn't qualify my sushi remark. It was good.  I liked it a lot.  

Does this mean I should go check out Neighbors, and see if Atlanta's other outdoor spot has come off the cutting edge of Oppressively Average?    

Anyone ever have one of those days were everyone was mulling around trying to  surreptitiously block your way ("Your in my road" my Father would say).  I wasn't in that much of a hurry, at all this weekend, but everyone was strategically positioned to foil my advance.   It took me 10 minutes to walk through Alon's, and it wasn't that crowded. It was very Truman Show, except they didn't want to trap me, they just wanted to slow me down.


Finally.   Andy needs to check out Cymbals Eat Guitars, if not for  the vibraphone (see the excellent Wind Phoenix) then for this reference to the infamous Parking Lot (the excellent Cold Spring):




 

Speaking of the Paleo Diet (something I haven't been doing too much lately, but..) ,  I spoke too soon when I suggested that a gluten free diet had greatly reduced my seasonal allergies. Saturday was the pits. But then again, I was at a park in the wind, and hadn't exactly been gluten free in weeks. I am tempted to go all-out for the next two weeks (until Mosley/Mayweather/Vegas), but I don't know what level of adherence I can muster right now.  Its not cravings, its just the diligence required: You always have to be on guard.

I am actually as bad as I have ever been on Timed Crossfit workouts. At the moment.  I am heavier and stronger, in a few ways, which is nice, and there isn't a great way to calculate if those gains were worth it. I suppose if I get my timed workouts under control while retaining those gains....    I am not sweating it: I ate fat and flesh all winter, almost exclusively, and worked out with very little intensity (or volume)

And all day yesterday too.    Well, I rode around town in the afternoon (to work up at appetite) , checked out Dogwood (sweetwater was yesterday) and THEN went to Cochon at the W downtown.  Cochon is a 'benefit'  for Heritage Pigs, which are tasty.     Are they ever.    There were 5 chefs in competition to make the best pork dish.    Wow. And then there were cocktails at the after-party , um ,  afterward.

I should do a writeup on it, but its 5am and I have been UP since 2:30. For no good reason.    I can't actually construct anything at the moment.

Hey, Mettenberger just got let go. Wow.  Dave was pulling for that guy.

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Tom's Of Maine, original recipe odor protecting deodorant, available at trader joes and wherever  hippie houskeeping shit is sold, smells like Bitters. 
It's like turning yourself into a cocktail before leaving the house in the morning.  Awesome!
It really binds everything together. 

I was a michum gel man for years. You really CAN miss a day with that stuff, or a week.      With Tom's I don't know.   Why would I try?

Wilco at the fox was a mellow show.  They cut up Via Chicago per usual, but generally played a downbeat set with lots of acoustic numbers.

The Cabin is awesome.  Talk to me about going up.

Austin for the summer again, though not necessarily as exclusively.       Here, I'll say it, this has been a shitty 10 months, and I don't know how to feel about how fast it flew by.  

New music abounds.

Halfway through the new Kay book....

Northside tavern is still a great spot.

The best things to do with a pig

#10 Give it to Bricktop or Al to help hide the bodies,
#9 Ribs at Smokey's on the Tennessee border. (Admittedly, I am not a rib expert. these are the best  pork ribs I have had though)
#8 Make Chorizo, to put in a breakfast taco, on the side of the road in San Diego
#7 Ask My father to make hamhocks and beans, over cornbread, with some mustard
#6 Give to any Georgia BBQ man,  like one of the  Fox Brothers, and have him smoke it
#5 Cut out the Pork Belly, and give it to Linton Hopkins.
#4 Fly the pig to San Francisco and ask anyone to make a pork chop. That city knows.
#3 While in San Francisco walk it up Russian hill and through the back door at Frascati, and ask them for their old pork loin and roasted pepper dish.   This odd behavior won't dent the impenetrably good service there..  They are so frustratingly perfect there, there is no such thing as special service.

#2 Make Bacon.  Leon's full service will put it in a glass with a side of peanut butter. Simple, perfectly cooked, and delicious.

And the Number 1 best thing to do with pork?

#1  Piri Piri roasted pork at Rare in atlanta.   Yeah, I know!  But I had it last night and its simultaneously as good as the best georgia BBQ -all smokey and tender- and as good  and as good as the best Texas Brisket all crispy on the ends.  Plus, the Sauce trumps both.   Wow.   I always liked the chef there but I didn't think he was this good.

When I conceived of this list last night I thought I would surely have 10 things... but I had struggled in the end. I know I am missing a few preparations..