Memorial Day 2005

A serene photo for all Airmen, Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Merchant Seamen and all the ships at sea.
Semper Paratus!
Semper Fi!

We came, we casted, we cooked.
Let Summer 2005 begin!

Warsaw feng shui

photo from an apartment of a friend in Warsaw, Poland.
He says he feels a stiffness or soreness in his neck and shoulder.
I asked "on the right side?".
He: "Yes, yes, do you have any idea how to cure this sharp pain?"
I: Hmm, let me think . . . rearrange your furniture?

Celery

Some of you have accused me of having too much time on my hands.
One reader even mentioned "idle hands are the devils workshop"
Au contraire! Not true! Here's proof:
Celery + blue food coloring = Celery dot jpeg.
Where's the devil in that?
Just goes to show you, when people criticize you they are jealous.
Now let's all get back to work!

BBQ in NC

North Carolina BBQ is the next frontier for our excursion
And what a fitting place for it to begin.
This place has
- NASCAR memorabilia aplenty,
- Eastern NC style vinegar-based Q,
- pretty country-girl waitresses,

and getting there involves so many turns

on sporadically-marked country roads

I must advise you to have a full tank of gas and a bottle of water before you get underway.

No map can help you on these backroads,

enlist the services of a guide sympathetic to the mission.

No photo on this one,
it would have been like photographing something sacred or holy.

their card:
Lancaster's
Eastern N.C. style
Bar-B-Cue
Cooked Fresh Daily
Rinehardt Rd.
Mooresville, NC
704-663-5807
Fax 704-663-7407
VM 704-662-7455

It looks odd to me to see a fax # and VM # on a card,

but they didn't ask my advice on their info-flow.

Gary's Bar-B-Q

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I love places that have their own postcards!
On his Gary states:

Gary's Bar-B-Q
China Grove, NC
Located on Hwy 29-601
We are famous for our good Bar-B-Q
Dining Room-Curb Service and catering
Decorated inside with hundreds of antique advertisements
Open Monday thru Saturday 10:00 A.M. 9:30 P.M.
Closed Sundays-Phone (704) 857-8314

BBQ Plate at Gary's

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North Carolina Q is unique. Consistently the most tender with a taste that stays fresh. This was the chopped version (as opposed to pulled, AKA shredded).

Gary served his Bar-B-Q plate with a version of cole slaw I've never seen (top center of plate), a reddish hue from red pepper? Or tomatoes? Finely diced or minced, it had typically tasty but unknown ingredients. A well done mix of somethings.
Hush Puppies had that grainy corn meal goodness and were not oily.
A tomato slice topped with a dollop of mayonnaise for those that like it, I always shy away from eating anything that looks like mayo but I cleaned my plate like a good guest to China Grove, NC.

Note the visor. I've come a long way from that camouflage cap in Natchez, Mississippi:
"Eureka! Perfect BBQ is Found"

This visor was a gift from an American entrepreneur.
This exact visor is the beta "LKNative" product line, the "Lake Norman Native" parody of those LKN (Lake Norman) bumper stickers reported to be sported by area newcomers trying to be "Local-er-than-thou".
Available for those in the know, email us (hit "reply email " on top left of page)
to get a hookup with the insiders goods for all y'all Charlotte, Lake Norman, Davidson and Mooresville hipsters. The Summer 2005 must-have accessory!
Remember that Hilton Head T-shirt "I'm not a tourist, I live here"?
Hey if it worked for me then you too can hook up this summer with your LKNative gear!

Gary's waitress was a Melanie Griffith double & could pass for 16 years old but a more impartial eye said she's about 22. She has a 3 year old son, so again (see prior post below) they breed young around here and again I see why it's hard for 'em to resist. She provided mo'tea like a champ, I pretended it was because she thought I was special (she didn't). They have that great crunchy ice, I had to get one last hit for the road. Our driver was coveting a vintage VW microbus getting curb service and spilled his to-go tea all over the parking lot but I never considered sharing mine; it was one of the first hot muggy days.

This excursion marked the 1st time I rode shotgun on a BBQ tour.
After more than 8,000 miles I'm open for drivers interested in chauffeuring an excursion-mobile to the next pit stop. BBQ pit, that is.
If you apply for an excursion remember the 2 rules:
no fast food and no Interstate highways

North Carolina Fried Pickles

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Regarding Fried Pickles
Let me get two things out of the way:
1/ The worst thing about fried pickles is the idea of fried pickles.
2/ The second worst thing about fried pickles is encouraging the stereotype of Southern Fried everything, which would not have been an issue if I’d had my first fried pickle in Napa, Chinatown, or San Francisco. And I would have except I never saw any fried pickles on the appetizer menu in those particular locales.

Stereotypes are based on something and I did have my first fried pickle slice in a small North Carolina town known for its close NASCAR affiliation, NASCAR being quite a Southern thing. Or thang, y’all. [side note: I learned the origin of the phrase “git ‘er done” while on this excursion]. This Carolina-ville features a lake and shiny-happy kids walking to school with a white picket fence. It's the type of idealized small town America that real estate marketing departments try to recreate in their planned communities. Here there are no gates with security codes protecting the community, just neighbors that know more about you than you may wish, but they also know what’s going on and will not hesitate to eyeball activities from the front porch for the common good. All located on the opposite side of the state from Mount Olive, home of the giant pickle corporation that you might expect to promote anything as long as it sells pickles. Inside tip: check your Sprawl-Mart grocers shelves for Extreme Fried pickles - microwaveable and available in the bread & butter event or the gherkin experience.

While eating we did not see any NASCAR celebrities but since this fried pickle stand is covered with mucho stock car racing memorabilia (I’m trying to avoid typing NASCAR again) in the way that only stock car racing (avoiding saying NASCAR again) can cover every inch with a logo, we did not lack for any stock car racing sights. Our waitress said we just missed some [NASCAR] racing celebrity whose name was unknown to me anyway. I’ll bet she says that to all her tables. Our waitress sure was pretty & healthy in that small town way. She was quick without seeming rushed or harried. She worked hard with a calmness, was not over caffeinated to get though her shift. She let us know that her son has outgrown Little League so he now plays softball. Doing some mental math, we surmised that they breed young around here. Looking at her, I understand why (& how).

The fried pickle appetizers are served by a “Sonny” whose father (“Daddy”?) owns the only seafood place in town. Sonny owns the only BBQ place in town. A mini food service dynasty since there no other dining choices within 25 miles that is not a chain, franchise, or StarBucko-McBell.

I like fried pickles. You would like them too. If you ever have the opportunity to order them remember to keep your mind as open as your mouth.
Tastes like salt & vinegar potato chips, without the crunch.

Full disclosure, not sure of the connection:
In a party of 3,
One-third of the diners barfed within 3 hours of eating fried pickles.
A second one-third tossed his cookies 2 days later. That second diner to erp-up has a stomach of legendary endurance, so the 2 day vomit delay may not negate a link to this novelty appetizer.
Come to think of it, the remaining one-third of the sample diners didn’t eat any fried pickles & she didn’t upchuck at all (at last survey).
Just the facts. Any causal relationship must be determined.

I’d eat fried pickles again. I draw the line at deep fried Twinkies since I am on a Twinkie-free diet. The origin of those Twinkies being deep fried is at a state fair in Ohio, which is not a Southern state (so there). Which also explains why I’ve never had deep fried Twinkies: I’ve just never had the opportunity . . .

How To Do It

She's the Queen Source of Information


We celebrate access to information and she's holding the guide book. Venetian blinds open, she's not afraid of the neighbors. What she is afraid of is being posted to the Internet.
BOO!
Not so bad, is it?