How the Heck Do You Spell "Heinie" Anyway???

"I wanna scatter my hashbrowns all over your sweet ________ (insert your spelling here)." --Michael

I'll explain later.

Well....I just read my little bro's blog entry for the day and I'd just like to say, it's good to know that there are other people out there living their lives, making things happen, and not sitting at home watching soap operas. Which I'm not doing, by the way.
Agh! This unemployment thing is about to drive me bonkers. To compensate, I've developed this semi-preoccupation with cooking that I'm sure would bore you to tears if i told you all the details and the extent of my enthusiasm but it keeps me entertained. I've made "bruschetta" and various forms of "egg" and "kabobs" and "brownies" out the ever-popular "wazoo". Yes, everything's in quotes for good reason. It's my own version and it might not be what it's traditionally expected to be. But it's usually edible and arguably quite good. It's like that barbeque/mexican restaurant I went to eat at with friends over Valentine's Day weekend in Boone. Odd combination, you say? Why yes. That thought had struck me as well. I can't remember the name of it because i'll probably not go back unless i need a live bluegrass/baked beans fix one weekend but those who live up in that neck of the WOODs know where I'm talking about.
Anyway. What I was slowly getting at was that the menu at this restaurant had two sides, the first being your typical barbeque fare (hushpuppies, corn on the cob, reconstituted pork bits, etc.). The second side contained "Mexican" dishes and what disturbed me a bit was that everything on the "Mexican" side of the menu was in "quotation marks." For instance, you could choose between a "Beef Burrito" or "Quesadilla" and they had several varieties of "Taco"s. Don't know about you but that sounds a little "iffy" to me. Things that make you go "Ohhhhh! Where's the bathroom in this joint???" *clutching wildly at your clothing while sweat breaks out on your forehead*.
Not that any of my cooking has inspired such a reaction. At least not so far. My "Beef Taco Bake" was even a success. I'm trying Italian more recently and that's proving a little easier, seeing as how all you have to do is slap on some tomato, olive oil, and rosemary or basil and...as the Greek apparently say...there you go. Anything tastes pretty darn good. I'm also developing a strange appreciation for long loaves of bread and Cheese/Fruit combinations. MMMmmmmmm. I think I'm really a European somewhere in this "hey y'all" facade.
Just to let you know, the press releases are going pretty well so far. My first three received a pretty enthusiastic "We're in business!" so I guess that's a good sign. Wish me luck still, however, as I keep working on these last five. I've "got a ways to go" as we say around here.
In case you're wondering what the quote at the beginning of this entry is all about, as i often do when reading Nathan's blog, I have to attribute it to Michael, a good friend of Jeffrey's at State. The three of us went to Krispy Kreme a couple of nights ago and I can't remember exactly how it came up but that statement was made (NOT, i must point out, to anyone in the car at the time) and at the time, it was absolutely hysterical. Now.....it's a teeny bit weird in that uncomfortable way that Waffle House humor usually is after 24 hours or so. Not sure if that's the first impression Michael would like for my small handful of blog readers to have of him but there you go. He said it and Jeffrey and I heard him.
Hmmmmm.....
Okay, I'm out of stuff to ramble about so I'm going to go frolic in the sunshine with my itty-bitty dog, Bandit. If there's one thing I could choose to leave you with, it'd be this:

When Life hands you a beer, say "Where's my lemonade, foo'?