Döner

Drunken munchies. Cheap dinner. Late night regrets. These are all acceptable descriptions of the döner kebabs sold in shops throughout Spain and other European countries. Although all of my friends in Spain swore by the döner kebab, my skepticism of no-frills stores and unidentifiable meat prevented me from ever indulging. Despite my dislike of the liquor absorbing snacks, I am a little sad to learn that Mahmut Aygün, the alleged inventor of the 5 euro feast, has passed away.

Döner kebabs (pronounced dough-ner) were the late night chomps of choice by all of my friends after drunken Spanish revelry. Different people and companies ran the kebab stands, but all had the exact same food. It’s as if McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s all sold Big Macs; Döner Kebab was everywhere. The storefronts were open late after the bars and clubs closed and all had the same ubiquitous mountain of rotating meat and (sometimes) refrigerated counter of vegetables and toppings.

The Döner stores were all set up in a way so various drunkards, bums and college students could stumble up to the counter, pay five euros and receive and greasy pita filled with unidentified meat and veggies. Some döners even served falafel to accommodate the non-meat eating sector of society.

I’m sure if I were still in Spain döner kebabs would be hoisted in the air by drunken hedonists everywhere in tribute to their savvy creator; Even I might have purchased one in honor of old Mahmut. In the meantime, read this article and wonder if these artery clogging treats are the true secret to long life.

Would you like some drunken negro heads to go with your coffee?

Huh?

Quote of the Day

“He breakfasted on fertile eggs laid by sexually satisfied chickens that were allowed to range while listening to Brahms, and muffins made with pesticide-free grain, so no eagle-egg shells were weakened by his thoughtless consumption. He scrambled the eggs in margarine free of tropical oils, thus preserving the rain forest, and he added milk from a carton made of recycled paper and shipped from a small family farm. By the time he finished his second cup of coffee, which would presumably help to educate the children of a poor peasant farmer name Juan Valdez, Sam was on the verge of congratulating himself for single-handedly saving the planet just by getting up in the morning.”

-Christopher Moore, Coyote Blue

Around the World

Probably the greatest way to learn geography.

A few points, though:

Since Bud is considered the beer of the US, I have to question to other representative beer. Also, notice how pretty much all of the beers are pilsners? I might have to go into a history lesson (i.e. tasting) about the Czech Republic city of Plzen and its role in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF BEER as we know it today.


My biggest question though--Why is Cuba's Cristal green?

Salmon and IPA's

My CityDusk event got pushed back due to lack of sign-ups. We’re getting a lot of new hits on the website daily, but no one seems to be attending the events so we’ll be revamping and rescheduling. Since I took the evening off from work I decided I’d take this rare opportunity to buy a case of beer and make a tropical—and what I think would be Hawaiian—feast in honor of Obama officially becoming the 44th president of the United States.

Nothing says hail to the chief like salmon and mango chutney.

So What Do You Do When...

..someone sends you chili brownies in the mail? Well, first you buy a sixer of delicious imperial stout (I'm partial to Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout). Then you prepare a feast for yourself at ten o'clock at night and gorge until all the pork chops are gone and you've demolished two bags of brownies.

Nothing beats waking up stuffed and a bit groggy while having your kitchen smell like fried pig fat for a few days.


PS: Go to THIS

Gassy, Painful and Generally Unpleasant.

Do sex and food go together? Check out this video.

Beer for storing

Thank goodness for Beer Distributors. On my way to the train last night I stopped at the Whole Foods Beer Room on Houston and purchased a few hard-to-find brews I’ve been searching all over for. When I got home dessert was some stinky bleu cheese, honey, almonds, raisins and a bottle of Castelain Biere de Garde. Dinner was a bit of roast turkey but come on, French beer and cheese? You can’t beat that.

Beer and Bowling

Want to Own This City?

The Good Ol' Barter System

Just as I was cracking open my midnight snack, a Stone Cat Blonde Ale (a bit on the harsh side by satisfying nonetheless), I came across this article.

All I can say is wow. What people would do for some booze and meat. I wonder what kind of beer it was anyways.

Free the lobsters

Way to go little guy! All it took to save your from your hot, steamy death was 140 years of bottom-feeding life.

Beer with Balls

I just got this email from the Blind Tiger Pub in Manhattan:

"...here is a little good news... The Blind Tiger's Night of the Imperials will be held on Wednesday Jan. 21st at 4:00PM. I haven't nailed everything down, but I can say that we have at least 17 imperial beers and some amazing cheeses to match...details will be coming soon!"

How lovely! Wednesday is my day off.

Imperials here I come.

Liquid Jacket

Every night I brave the weather and walk my dog for a good 30 minutes. As the weather gets colder, it gets more and more difficult for me to bundle up and head outside. Tonight I figured I would utilize the Beer of the Month Club membership my sister got me for Christmas and give myself a liquid jacket.

Tonight’s instant jacket is a brew provided by the Pennsylvania Brewing Company in Pittsburgh, PA, Penn Gold. The Penn Brewing Co. does authentic German/Bavarian styles of beer according to the Reinheitsgebot beer purity laws. Lately I’ve been into sampling the pure and original beers responsible for the styles we have today and Penn Brewing is a great American company to delve into the old European standards. Penn Gold is a Munich style Helles, an extremely pale Pilsner that is the unofficial session beer in Bavaria today.

Cheers.

TIME OUT NEW YORK!

This evening I went to a restaurant in Union Square called Republic. It’s a cozy little noodle bar that divides their menu into broths, noodles and vegetarian and serves them in giant, white porcelain bowls.

Anyway, my reason for dining out was to meet up with the CityDusk people and discuss events and how everyone was doing. As I was slurping down some Vietnamese noodles and thinking how nowadays it is essential for people to know how to operate chopsticks unless they want to look like ignorant dinosaurs, I was told that my beer and bowling event will be featured in next weeks Time Out New York as one of the not to miss city pick events. I almost choked on my Sierra Nevada but it was worth the near death experience.

Check out the link and be convinced to COME TO THIS EVENT!

Social Experiment #1

Today at work I took part in a (sort of) social experiment. This morning while attempting to make my curly mess of hair look like one of the suave Mexicans I work with, I discovered that when I brush my hair straight back I look like a serial killer. Instead of styling my coiffe to the normal style, I kept the I’m-going-to-kill-you look in order to see if diner’s tipping habits are influenced by fear.

Monday night I made $125, $40 was in credit card tips.
Tonight I made $124, $40 was in credit card tips.

I guess people are used to scary goons serving them hot bowls of Spaghetti Bolognese.