A feast for all the senses

I cooked the bird a little differently this year. I made a glaze with bourbon (of course), dried cranberries, brown sugar and butter. It was delicious and very moist. Just had some simple sides with it — corn, mashed potatoes with sour cream and garlic, and french rolls. Jesse, the vegetarian, ate the sides with an Amy’s roasted veggie lasagna. After we sleep off the big meal, we’ll have some apple pie.

Jesse (right) and her BFF Allie all dressed up for Halloween. I'm not sure, but I think they were supposed to be The Go Gos. Hah

Would you like fries with that?

Halloween 2009 was a blast. Both girls hung out with friends (Katie at work at Papa Murphys and then at the movies to see, believe it or not, Saw VI; Jesse trick-or-treating with a gang of suburban hoodlums then to a friend’s party in Burnsville).

I was left to man the front door with a bowl of candy — sort of like handing a plate of brains to a zombie. We had about 50 kids total, 3 or 4 big clumps, then the occasional group of 2 or 3. Kept me hopping for a couple of hours as I tried to watch Hostel II on the DVR.

Jesse and Allie did a great job making each other into goth girls. I dared them to wear their outfits to school on Monday, but so far, no takers on that dare. Jesse also helped her sister dress up as Wendy, from the hamburger joint, at the last minute before she headed off to work at the pizza shop. She did a great job whipping together a costume filled with irony for her sister in just 30 minutes. She has the Halloween touch all right.

We dropped by Papa Murphys for one of their over-advertised jack-o-lantern pizzas, which Katie made for us. Wish I had a picture. I defy you to make a jack-o-lantern out of the pizza we received. It was tasty, though.

Hope everyone had a fun holiday and didn’t get too sick on all that candy.

Wings with the bite of the King Cobra, originally posted by @garciasn (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_roehl/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Now this is journalism that matters. From KARE11-TV:

In a down economy the wing business has taken flight. According to the Perishables Group, a Chicago-based market research firm, wing sales have grown by 109 percent over this past year. At the corner of Dale and University, that trend has meant steady sales despite down times. Wings, it seems are a cheap luxury people still afford.

“Yeah, they seem to be holding back on clothes and that stuff, but, food, there’s always room for it,” adds Mann of the steady demand for his wings.

But with all that demand, the price of those flappers has skyrocketed. Local suppliers estimate prices have jumped 15 percent in just the past month. And that after a steady year of price gains. And, they see the price continuing to rise. Some speculate there may even be a shortage of wings come winter.

WTF. A wing shortage? As Job famously asked, why is the lord always messing with me?

Bill Roehl, Danni, Josh and I represented the South Metro in the Ghost Wing Challenge Tournament of Champions at the Girvan Grille on Monday night. Once again, the whole gang at the Grille treated us like royalty (Note to FTC: The Girvan Grille provided me and the other 11 champions all the free ghost wings we could eat in 10 minutes, plus three free beers — Summit EPA in my case. Also got a nifty Vikings T-shirt and a bottle opener, courtesy of Anheuser-Busch).

After the challenge, we stayed to watch the Vikes dismantle the Packers and to drink a few more pints of cold, frosty beer. Check out Bill’s harrowing and hilarious write-up here. And watch the video of all the action below (courtesy of LazyLightning.org):

Girvan Grille Ghost Wing Challenge Tournament of Champions! from Bill Roehl on Vimeo.

The wings were hotter and saucier than the two times we ate them before. I tried to just plow through them with a minimum of pausing and/or breathing. A couple of the competitors whipped through three or four plates by the time I finished my second. So as I began my third plate, thinking I was out of contention, I slowed way down and ate just two wings in the final 3 minutes, bringing me to a final tally of 22. When the head chef counted the bones of each contestant, however, he disqualified half-eaten wings, giving the winner just 28 wings and second place just 27. Had I known I was that close, I would have powered through a few more.Yes, I am that stupid.

Danni and Josh both made it to 10 wings and stopped and Bill bravely met his goal of 20 wings, earning him 5th place. A couple of other competitors dropped out really early (did I mention the wings seemed even hotter this time?) and one of our challengers, who shall remain nameless — mostly because I don’t know his name — ended the contest by losing his wings in the men’s room stall. He probably felt a heckuva lot better than the rest of us later that night and following day. I was still dancing with the devil all day today, probably because I had warmed-up ghosts for dinner last night. The folks at the Grille made Bill and me up to-go boxes with a couple of dozen wings each, as well as a to-go pint of the wing sauce. Satan, get thee behind me. Never mind, you’re already there…

Someone alert the SAC — there will be some hot warheads winging our way on Oct. 5 (oh, yeah, plus some game between the Vikes and Packers…) Yes, the Ghost Wing Challenge Tournament of Champions at Girvan Grille is just about upon us. I can’t wait to taste them wings and see how many I can shove in my pie hole in 10 minutes. Are you ready, @garcian?

Fire in the hole!

The god of fire has been generous this season. Picked all of these habs from one plant this afternoon (and there are still about this many chilies left unpicked). Guess I’d better start chopping them up in everything. Pass the ice cream.

Ahhhhhhhh. The wings. They are so hottttttt.

A little over a week to the Ghost Wing Challenge Tournament of Champions. That’s right, Oct. 5 at Girvan Grille will be an all-you-can-eat wing contest for the hardy souls who have conquered the ghosts and proudly wear the T-shirt (and scars) to prove it. Ready, @garciasn? Josh? @dbayn? My mouth is already watering.

A photo from the first challenge, taken by @garciasn and posted on his Flickr stream

Bill, Josh, Danni and I made a pilgrimage to Girvan Grille again this evening for the ghost wing challenge – the second time for each of us and an opportunity to practice for the much-anticipated Oct. 5 Tournament of Champions, which we plan to compete in. Kim chauffeured Bill, Josh and I to the restaurant, where Danni had saved us a table. We went at Happy Hour because the wings were just $5 and ice-cold Summit drafts were $3. Unfortunately, when we got there, the waitress informed us that Happy Hour wings didn’t qualify for the challenge because they were only 5 bucks – which meant we could eat them, but no T-shirt if we finished the plate. Oh well. We ate ‘em anyway, just to see if therethey were as hot as we remembered. They were. Tasty too. I made my way through my 10 meaty wings like a man possessed, barely pausing to breathe (that’s because it felt like I was swallowing fire every time I took a breath). I wolfed down all 10 wings in about 5 minutes and would have eaten more if there had been any in front of me. This was not because I was macho, but because the fire in my mouth and throat didn’t really start to burn until I stopped eating. Bill and Josh both said that the slow method they followed, including occasional gulps of beer, was a mistake. The burn was more intense. Josh said his arms and hands were actually tingling and shaking from the endorphins. Bill and I both got a bit dizzy and Bill’s teeth started to chatter after he completed the 10 wings. Weird. Danni said the slow-eating method worked better for her this time. All in all, a very fun trip and training exercise for the Ghost Wing Challenge Tournament of Champions. Be sure to watch us on ESPN2. OK, just kidding about the whole television thing.

Four different kinds of tomatoes, cukes, chocolate bell peppers, cayenne peppers and habs from our garden. Picked a basketful in just 5 minutes.

Pucker up!

Katie, Art and one of our cousins....

We spent Labor Day at the Minnesota State Fair. Jesse, Laurie and I had already been once this year, but Katie had not. She wanted to have a deep-fried turkey sandwich, a chocolate malt from the Dairy Building and a tub of Sweet Martha’s cookies. Hmmm, all of the attactions she wanted to see revolved around food. What is it they say about the acorn and the tree?

We also spent a lot of time in the animal buildings – mostly the poultry house, laughing at all the weird chickens. Later in the day, we met up with @garciasn and the Budget Nazi for a cold Summit (being that they were out of the Summit beer on a stick, we settled for pints of our faves – an EPA early in the day, and a Red Ale with Bill). Click here for Bill’s write-up.

We strolled around the Grandstand looking at junk and visited our friends at the Swarm booth (Swarm it up!), where the girls got some souvenirs. Because we just don’t have enough Swarm gear already.

Came home just before supper, then thought we’d try Ramy’s Pizza in Apple Valley, after hearing everybody rave about it. The pizzas were pretty good (we had a cheese, a pepperoni and onion and a thin-crust Margherita, the way god intended). Katie had chicken Alfredo and said it could have had more Alfredo flavor.

Some more pix from our day at the fair: