| BLOG 004 ("JOE MCDONUT"): Glamour shots. |
[24th Jun. 2010 • 21:28] |
I know I should probably be keeping "on topic" with a food blog like this, but I have to say that my mind hasn't exactly been on task for the past few days. The weather is beautiful, the sport news good, and my life happily relaxed. For the sake of staying on-task, have a link to a nice popsicle recipe that everybody can make easily, inexpensively, and probably end up loving enough to keep in their recipe box for a generation or three. There we go! My conscience: cleared.
But no, I got a little side-tracked today because I was going through some old yearbook and wedding pictures with the Mrs. McDonut and I found some images that, in the words of some of my best buds growing up, were an "epic fail." And if there's anything I learned in high school when I was pretending to be writing those essays for Father McClanahan, it's that the internet's here to be excessively embarrassing to those who use it -- all in the name of entertainment, of course. So, I'm here to say: let's have an old picture exchange. I'll start first -- but if nobody posts any pictures in the comments below, I'm going to be mighty upset.
( PICTURE ENCLOSED. ) |
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| BLOG 003 ("JOE MCDONUT"): The Cup of Life |
[9th Jun. 2010 • 20:17] |
Usually I make sure this is just a food blog instead of a politics and/or sports blog, but as they used to say when I was at the academy: the World Cup is serious business. To make it up for you, though, here's a picture of my favorite thing to eat at my brother's pub when we gather around for the soccer matches: hot wings (Buffalo style; my brother isn't a damn heretic). The blue cheese dipping sauce isn't pictured because I'm sure Mrs. McDonut is enjoying it out of frame.
Anyway: I don't pretend that I know what it's like to make really big and difficult decisions or what it's like to make a billion people safe in their homes at night. I do what I can and hope that's alright; it's part of the job that isn't sitting here and giving recipes to hungry people -- and even then, this ain't a paying gig. But even so, I have to hope that the Galveston attacks doesn't do anything to curb any chances of the United States being able to honor the chance to play in India this weekend. Although it wasn't my first thought when I saw the news that morning on CNN-A, it was one of those afterthoughts you get after you see something bad happen and you're finally adjusting to the repercussions.
Now, I'm able to admit that part of why I'm hoping is because of pure selfishness; I want to see my country play and I want them to play well. But there's also a possibility that if one little soccer team is able to go, then maybe our world is starting to look up a bit. Maybe we're getting back to that world of a few years ago, when the Olympics wasn't something that other countries do and going to sleep afraid was something you did after a bad horror movie marathon. I really think it could be the step to something else -- not just for the people who are "stuck" here, but for people who would never leave this country even if they had the chance. So here's to hope. Hope and football. |
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| BLOG 002 ("JOE MCDONUT"): The Master of His Grill-main |
[30th May. 2010 • 17:25] |
According to my calendar, it's a national holiday. I'd be cheeky about it and say "Race Day," but it was my dad that was big into the 500 and not me, so I'll spare any like-minded folk who can take a pass on a bunch of cars passing each other. No, it's National You Can Finally Wear White Pants Day today and I couldn't be happier.
Okay, so maybe I'm being a little cheeky.
Memorial Day thus far has been spent within the company of Good People, which is more than anyone can really ask for during times such as these. This year, one of the McBrothers is hosting the annual party, but I've been given the (dubious?) honor of manning the grill. In fact, it's the reason why I snuck on to type this, as I'm feeling rather vain about the state of the Bratwurst Union and just took this snapshot of a Grilling Artist's Process. A man needs his bragging rights, does he not?
( IMAGE BEHIND THE CUT. )
But it doesn't do to hoard and gloat, really, since it hardly makes friends out of anybody. So although my burger tips are staying safely guarded, here's my key to excellent bratwurst -- although given that I took this from an archived blog, please keep in mind that it's been in the public domain for a considerable while.
( READ THE RECIPE BEHIND THE CUT. ) |
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| BLOG 001 (AS "JOE MCDONUT"): The Art of Loving CB & C |
[14th Mar. 2010 • 19:28] |
Corned beef gets a bad rap.
Does from Mrs. McD too -- and even me, for a while. Bless my school, but when March came around and we started getting the corned beef meals on Wednesdays, it would be a source of groan-worthy contention. Watery veg, floppy and graying meat, and this strange mustard sauce that is less French's and more like hot mustard from a Chinese takeaway: little wonder, really, why we'd always push it around the plate and wish we'd packed a PB&J. The Mom never took to it either, preferring to serve stew and champ for the grand occasion, so it took me a while to even think about touching the stuff now.
The thing is with cooking for a small army (only small, mind you, no big deal) is that when you see large cuts of meat for good prices, you'll try it whether it's your childhood favorite or otherwise. That's what led me to the poor brined brisket sometime last year, all lonely in the meat section with nowhere to go. "You already have the cabbage, like a good laddie would," it seemed to say, "and I won't even point out the state of your tuber collection."
(For those of you out in the audience that would posit that anthropomorphizing your meat products is the unmanliest thing one can do: keep in mind you're talking to a police officer that's hiding behind an alias so he can share recipes in peace. It's a slippery slope.)
At any rate, I took it home; tried it. Wouldn't you know: Guinness always proves to make anything better, even the terrorizing foods of our youth! Kids seemed to like it (but arguably, with a passel of boys, this may only say something about the degree of their appetites) and I seemed to like it, but it was when Mrs. McD said that "it wasn't totally gag-worthy, Joe" that I figured that I had a winner. Why not share it for those of you who are more concerned with celebrating Ireland's saint day around a table instead of a pub?
RECIPE AFTER THE CUT ยป |
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![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) manhattanmods |
[20th Feb. 2010 • 20:23] |
No one stops it in any way, and all the peacemaker-turned-war officer hear ( what I say. ) |
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