Blog 21

Today was nice as my commercial director and associate director for R&D took out to lunch, double nice it was Changs. PF Changs simply rocks. I never ate Chinese food growing up, and really have only ate it for about 9 years (co-incides with meeting my wife). Needless to say, Chang's Spicy Chicken (add Cashews) is in my top echelon of foods to eat. More on Changs below from Wikipedia.

P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc. is a restaurant chain founded in 1993 offering American Chinese cuisine in an upscale atmosphere. The elaborate décor is designed to give the impression of a Chinese village. The chain is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The initials "P.F." stands for the founder of the chain, Paul Fleming, while the "Chang" is derived from Fleming's co-developer, Phillip Chiang. As of December 2005, P.F. Chang's maintained 133 restaurants in 34 states.

See you at BW3's or Wings N Rings March 2nd.

Let's say that I was fasting for some reason or another. This would be the place I break the fast at. Richard's is one of two hometown pizza places, and though I don't frequent their pizza these days (I had plenty of it as a kid though in the era before Pizza Hut, Papa John's and Domino's) the "famous" steak sandwich is in my opinion jsut that. It is simply phenomenal. It's in my top five of foods that I would eat if I were on my death bed. A little aside that Richard's served Mexican food when I was kid (pre-Taco Bell, 30 years ago) and I can remember eating a taco and burrito quite often. Those items vanished about 2- years ago but the memories still taste great. Richards has a holiday steak sandwich sendoff and has shipped them to steak sandwich lovers all over the United States. People send them to relatives and friends - and even place orders for themselves says owner Karen Underwood.

Here's how it works:

Each order of six sandwiches - precooked, frozen, packaged in dry ice in
heavy-duty reusable coolers and complete with reheating instructions - can
be sent anywhere in the United States. (Prices higher to Alaska and Hawaii).
Unfortunately, customs regulations prohibit shipments to foreign countries.

All of the sandwich ingredients are packaged separately including six 88%
lean beef patties, sweet Spanish onions, crunchy pickles, tasty
secret-recipe sauce, and toasted Italian buns.

Orders can be placed in person, by phone, or on the website. People phoning
in orders or using the website may use Visa, MasterCard, American Express,
or Discover.

To avoid shipping problems with perishable products during the holiday
season, we take orders each year from November through December 31 and ship
the sandwiches on January 8 to arrive before January 11. We will send each
recipient an acknowledgment card and free gift from Richards. All orders
placed before the deadline of December 12 will have the card and gift
arrive before Christmas Day. The final order deadline is December 31.

Prices vary each year depending on the shipping rates and fuel surcharges
charged by the shipping company. The prices for the 2007 Send Off (for all
states except Alaska and Hawaii), including shipping, are:

$68 - 6 regular steak sandwiches (original sauce, pickle and onion)
$71 - 6 steak sandwiches with cheese added
$74 -6 steak sandwiches with cheese and mushrooms.

If you have additional questions, you can send an email to steaksendoff@richardspizza.com, or you can click here to order.

Some of you are well aware that I am huge Rich Franklin fan, and of course a main part of that is that he is a hometown guy who train minutes from my house and resides in the same neck of the 'Nati. I thoroughly enjoy the UFC and the Ultimate Fighter Reality Show (aka TUF). The UFC is not for everyone (my wife especially) but it has it place. I am of the firm opinion that the UFC is safer than boxing, which is well accepted. Fights are often stopped well before serious injury can occur. Of course if the fighter is "too macho" to refuse to tap (see Marlon Sims of TUF5) that is the fighter's own ignorance. More on Rich Franklin here and check his workout below.

The first in the series of Faves - Raves - Craves (basically things that define me) has to be In-N-Out Burger as I have only had it once, but boy was it memorable. It was late summer of 2000, when my wife (then pre-fiancée by a month girlfriend) visited my fraternity big brother and his wife in Santa Barbara, CA. The burgers, fries and milkshakes are incomparable . The California based franchise is the mecca of all things that are fast food today.

For your view pleasure, I have included the "secret menu" sourced from Wikipedia.

The Secret menu

There are also "secret" item specials, variations of the basic menu that are not listed on the menus in the stores, nor advertised. A few of these variations are detailed on the company's web site for all to see.

Some items on the "secret" menu have a slightly different price due to the addition or removal of ingredients — in particular, the meat and cheese.

X by Y: X meat patties and Y slices of cheese (for example, a 3 by 3 or a 2 by 4) In the past one could order as many meats and cheeses as they had wished. However in recent years the limit became an 8 by 8, then eventually the limit was lowered to a 4 by 4.

Triple Meat: Three meat patties without cheese.

Animal style: In addition to the usual condiments, mustard fried on the meat, pickles, extra spread and grilled onions are added.

Animal Style Fries: Fries with cheese, spread, and grilled onions.

Double Meat: Two meat patties without cheese.

Extra Everything: Adds extra spread, tomato, lettuce, and onions (regular or grilled).

Flying Dutchman: Two meat patties and two slices of melted cheese.

Extra Toast: Bun is cooked longer so it is extra toasted.

Fries "Light": Almost raw fries that are cooked for less time.

Fries "Well": Fries that are cooked longer to be extra crisp.

Fries with cheese: Fries with two slices of melted cheese placed on top.

Grilled Cheese: Two slices of melted cheese, tomato, lettuce and spread on a bun, with no meat. There is also a Grilled Cheese Animal Style (grilled onions are added).

Choco-Vanilla Swirl Shake: Chocolate and vanilla flavors combined in one shake.

Neapolitan Shake: All three shake flavors (strawberry, vanilla and chocolate) combined in one shake.

Root Beer Float: Vanilla shake with root beer combined.

Protein Style: Instead of a bun, the burger is wrapped in lettuce. This style of burger was created when customers started asking for it in the early 1970s.In addition to burgers, a protein style Grilled Cheese is available.

Veggie Burger: A burger without the meat and cheese.

Spread: Extra packets of refrigerated Thousand Island dressing in packages marked "Spread".

Lemon up: 1/2 lemonade 1/2 7-up