Frychos

This one is pretty simple and delicious. Take fries (I like the Ore-Ida extra crispy french fries), put them on a baking sheet, sprinkle liberally with Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning and bake them (25 minutes works for me @ 450ish). While those are cooking, make up some ground beef (1-2 lbs should be good depending on how hungry you are) with a little sprinkling of chili powder just for added zest. Let it cook and simmer the whole time that the fries are cooking, only draining it at the very end. Once the fries are ready, pull them out and cover them nicely with cheese. Sprinkle the ground beef all over them and then cover again with cheese. Now, back into the oven for another 5 minutes to let everything mingle nicely. I suggest plates and forks just because it can be a little messy, but if you use enough cheese, they're unnecessary.

Twitchers and blockers

Ok, this is another commuting rant. I had two great examples of these this morning, both of which drive me nuts and want to carry a paintball gun.

First up, Twitchers. These are the people that dart back and forth, trying to gain that extra millisecond on their desperate quest to get to work (what the hurry is, I don't know...). This morning, I saw a guy in a black Alero switching back and forth from being behind a minivan and a semi. Seriously. A minivan and a semi. I'm not sure there is a fast choice. He must have swerved back and forth about a dozen times (Too bad he didn't swerve into the HOV lanes to pass, he could have chatted with the nice state trooper about how cars block traffic). Finally, he gets around the semi, I move over behind the minivan and we all move forward. When he cuts off the semi and trys to dart in front of the minivan, he gets stuck. then I pass him. He darts two lanes over and gets stuck again. Who says that there isn't justice sometimes?

Next up, blockers. I understand that people get into accidents, so I have some sympathy for these people. But just because your day just got a whole lot worse, doesn't mean that you have to share it with the rest of us! If you get rear ended or you are unlucky enough to rear-end someone else. GET OFF THE ROAD!! What good does it do to have both of you stopping a lane right in the middle of rush hour?!?! It's not like someone's going to call CSI and Dexter is going to do a blood spatter analysis or anything. GET OFF THE ROAD!! You can exchange info just as easily on the shoulder as you can in the middle of the freeway.

Just my $.02.

Blowin shizzle up!

The 4th of July. Independence day. A time to gather with friends and family and celebrate the good 'ol USA. It's a great holiday. Burgers, dogs and that most cherished of American pastimes, explosives. I'm not sure what it is, but we love them. There are few things that will bring a smile to my face faster than a massive colon-shaking firework. Even when they're smaller, they're fantastic. All kinds of different colors, some ubber-bright, some faint. Some shriek, some just thud (those are my favorites). Even if you're just setting them off in your yard, they're fantastic. The smoke that hangs in the air and the shit-eating-grins on the people that are lighting them off. It's the one day a year where we're allowed to be our inner 5-year-old and just blow stuff up! Is it the best holiday there is? No, don't be ridiculous, Thanksgiving is a Holiday centered around eating and simply cannot be topped, but the 4th is right on it's heels! Now if only I lived somewhere where fireworks weren't illegal... (even sparklers, the red-headed stepchild of fireworks and snakes, the ugly cousin aren't allowed!)

MoCoMD policy statement...

IMHO, if you're dumb enough to hold a cherry bomb in your hand or stick a bottlerocket up your butt, you get what you deserve. Honestly, these people should probably be weeded out of the gene pool (they're probably in the shallow end anyways...)