Life Between Naps

Todd and I have had a bit of a competition going on. It started when he mentioned that he came across a new eatery in Moreno Valley while participating in his once a month drill for the Army Reserve.

Do not look it in the eyes

He boasted that this new and improved breakfast sandwich trumped any offering from McDonald’s. Well, I have been known to make some good breakfast in my time so I immediately set out to overtake this Inland Empire trash. It started out innocently enough, I made a basic egg McMuffin with hasbrowns. Todd immediately took the offensive and responded with bacon and store-bought hash brown patties. Sure, this new offering worked, but when I brought the bacon weave I thought I had him beat. But when he told me he had something more to prove, I knew I had to stop this cook off, once and for all. If it went any further, one of use was going to end up in the emergency room.

And so it began.

Your tears fuel me

Starting with a recipe for 9 biscuits, I crafted 2 massive, pepper jack stuffed, breakfast biscuits. In between cooking the bacon and putting out grease fires in the oven, clearly set by lesser beings in an attempt to thwart my breakfast dominance, I cooked the gravy. Using equal parts butter and flour, nearly a pint of whole milk, and a half pound of breakfast sausage, I stewed the devil’s sauce to perfection.

Oh yes, there was butter.

Each sandwich consisted of a homemade roll, 3 slices of American, 4 slices of pepper bacon, 2 eggs, a hash brown patty, a spicy sausage patty, and enough sausage gravy to kill a horse. The results were immediate, Todd went from singing the praises of the cursed sandwich, to crying in agony as his insides were ripped apart. My victory was complete.

Todd recently purchased some “whole wheat English muffins”, apparently in an attempt to usurp my position as the Breakfast King. Clearly that was an April fool’s joke. I can only hope that my utter domination on Wednesday has solidified my championship, and not my arteries. I don’t know if either of our circulatory systems can handle another round of this cook-off.

Abandon all hope

Hrmmpphh

Well, let’s see what else is happening.

Todd and I just popped open our first home-brew beers. Bitch’s Brew was unceremoniously named after its benefactor in part because I unknowingly purchased a kit that produces a 3% ABV beer that looks like a pale ale but tastes like Coors Light. Hah!

But worry not, two more beers are on the way and this time I don’t plan on investing a bunch of energy and emotion into something that ends up being compared to Coors Light. The process of beer making was a lot of fun though. Similar to raising a child in 4 weeks, I’m sure. Unfortunately we learned the hard way that you can’t use Stella bottles with our particular bottle capper, and had to throw out about 18 beers worth of the brew.

This is my favorite time of the year, it is starting to warm up and you can see the seasons change, not just with the weather, but with the people. I’m sure that in the wintry regions, the change is more noticeable, but when southern California emerges from the frigid winter you can really see the smiles.  It’s the smiles that are contagious. Waking up, and walking around town, you can really see the optimism and happiness of people in the spring, even as they are paying $4 a gallon for gas. So smile!

School is always going good, I can’t wait for it to be over but I am moving slowly, grabbin’ those A’s.

Llahaina sunset

Opening Day finally came. The long dark winter between the Super Bowl(which I tolerate) and baseball season is filled with the muck of basketball. I hate basketball. But,  basketball is a good reminder of what we are missing in life, good weather, hot dogs, baseball, and good times. Opening day this year was especially nice. The weather was amazing and the company better than ever.

Unfortunately I haven’t had much time for anything else. I am working or going to school 6 or 7 days a week so free time has been limited. The good thing is it is really easy to save my money, and the end of the year can’t come soon enough. There might very well be a change in scenery coming soon and New Zealand has been calling my name. Though I just watched some Bizarre Foods. Andrew was in Chengdu, in the Szechuan region of China. Oh man! I have never seen anything like that. The street vendors were selling spicy rabbit’s heads and the late night restaurants had boiling cauldrons of chile oil used to cook your choice of tens and hundreds of choices of stick meat. Amazing! If i can find someone with a passport and nothing to lose, I might be quitting my job again as soon as school is over. Apply within.

Oh yeah, Vegas, see ya soon.

The captain of the awesome boat, all aboard.