Varmint

Umh, I hope you're just talking about the GI effects of the type of food that they serve at the Varsity. Eat enough chili dogs, and I'm going to have problems, too.

More restaurants are offering special kids' drinks. I've seen smoothies and other juice-based drinks, and they're typically not discounted at all. Some restaurants are truly trying to make some effort to improve the kids' selections, but they're usually the independents and smaller chains.

No one needs milk. Cold beer, on the other hand. On the other hand, it may be all that milk and eggs that are limiting your refrigerator's capacity?

You need to have a dedicated beer fridge, Nero. We have one straight from the 60's, the ones that you had to take the doors off before you threw them away because they locked when the door was shut. It keeps the beer exceptionally cold.

My name is Varmint, and I love The Restaurant. There, it's off my chest. To me, this is simply a brilliant business concept. The restaurant has to be bad early on, with lots of bitching and moaning, because otherwise, there's no drama. If the place ran perfectly from the get go, and we just saw lots of back slapping, high fives, and happy customers, who would ever watch? Here, we'll see how this mess of an operation will be transformed into a decently functioning, high volume restaurant. I'd bet $10 that the customers will be raving about the food at the end. People will flock to the place. NBC is happy. Rocco is happy. It'll then be up to the place itself to see if it can succeed. But how long will the buzz last? I'd say quite awhile.

Good god! $130??? I'm getting about a 180 pound hog from a Niman Ranch (i.e., "artisinal") farmer for only a bit more than that!

Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad. Except for bacon.

Looking good, zilla. Now if someone can do the version where the pig has swallowed gully, we'll have a front and back side of the shirt.

The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its bacon. Bacon makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor (and fat, too). Acorns were good till bacon was found. But acorns cooked in bacon grease are a man's mistress. A little bacon inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in bacon bringeth men's minds about to religion.

Sure, that's easy. Stand by just until tomorrow at the latest. What color? Red? Pigs are pink, aren't they? But not froo froo pink! What about the concept of the pig swallowing gully? Is that doable? You can sense that I have no concept of design.

That's a song and album from our local favorite band, Southern Culture on the Skids. They came up with it at least a dozen years ago.

Now that would be very cool!

That's looking great, zilla. Could we make the pig a different color, just so it'll stand out a bit?

I'm on the last night of my vacation in the Cowee Valley of the North Carolina mountains, which is about 7 miles north of Franklin, NC and about 20 miles south of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. As much as I love eGullet, I'm going to spend tonight sitting on the porch, listening to the cicadas and bullfrogs, rather than give y'all a detailed report of the food happenings in this remote part of the world. However, I did want to give you some previews of what's to come. This will include. . . A daily romp through blackberry bushes, gathering about a pint of wild berries each day (and what one can do with them!). A visit to the historic Dillard House in Dillard, Georgia for a family style Southern lunch. Mountain style barbecue (don't get your hopes up). Having the L'il Varmints catch trout for dinner, and doing whatever it takes to get them to eat it. The "Children's Menu" -- every parents' dream and nightmare. A pimento cheese burger. A super organic farm in the middle of nowhere (but fortunately, only 5 minutes from our rental house). A mountain resort that has not changed since the 60s. The tackiest town in North Carolina, if not the US. A father's efforts to get his children to eat nothing but locally raised produce, eggs, and poultry. Well, the porch is calling, along with our last bottle of wine. Until another day, signing off from somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

I am on vacation in the mountains of North Cackalacky, trying to see how Eric Rudolph lived. Haven't had barbecue in over a week. Will fix that tomorrow. No problem with the added numbers.

I dunno. I dunno. I dunno. I dunno. Thank you.

Varmint, I knew there was some unkown reason I luv ya' !!! C'mon, someone who uses the Screen Name of "Varmint" couldn't actually be a total food snob!

What I'm getting offended at is that certain people seem to be saying I shouldn't be posting on this site that I like low-quality food. I like raw, cheap hot dogs. I eat pre-sweetened breakfast cereal. I enjoy fast food. Fried baloney sandwiches are the bomb. People put up with me anyway.

Yeah, and do an aria. Tourist.

*shiver* Thong wearing women servers in a kitchen putting together the house salads with their bare hands! That would be many a man's fantasy.

And on some days, there's nothing better than a burrito.

Then I'm sure you can get down to the NYC metro area and catch a ride with someone. Any volunteers to bring Katherine the rest of the way???

Mrs. Varmint would like some chocolate covered digestives, please.

Although that's the answer that most of the passengers would have wanted. The typical response would have been, "What, no white zinfandel?"

Attendee Update!! Hjshorter + 3 (DC area) + an unknown number of friends from Cary, NC ZebA + 1-1/2 (Raleigh) Marlene +1 (Toronto) Vengroff +1 (DC) Jaymes (Texas but Missouri by then) =Mark (NJ) =Mark's "bro" Rich maggiethecat (Chi-town) Holly Moore (Philly) KatieLoeb (Philly) Malawry +1 (DC area) edemuth (DC area) Dave the Cook (Hotlanta) Kpurvis (Charlotte) Dlc (Tennessee) Mummer (Philly) claire797 +2 (??) Blondie +1 (NY) Ditsydine (Raleigh) NewYorkTexan (??) (Austin, TX) Jason & Rachel Perlow (Jersey) Timothycdavis (Charlotte) Weka +2 (Cary) Hungry Chris +1 (Connecticut) Jmcgrath (Massachussets) Hscottk is very interested (NJ) Sam Iam is trying to cajole family members to come (Michigan) Ladybug +4 (a strong maybe) cat lancaster (Chicago) foodie52 +1 (Texas) tommy +1 (NJ/NYC) Lady T ???? (Chicago?) quajolote (Chicago) NeroW (Chicago) Aurora ? (Chicago) Fresser (Chicago) helenas +1 (NJ) -- Yeah, Helena!!!! joler +3 (Greensboro, North Cackalacky) zilla369??? -- (Louisville -- Jaymes has offered you a ride!) beans +1 -- (Cleveland, OH -- Cleveland rocks, and so does beans!) Mrs. Ramsey ?? +2 (Seattle!!) Meatman +3?? (Chapel Hill, NC) Tarka +1 (London, England) Katherine from Maine really wants to come, but she needs a ride. Katherine must rely on the kindness of strangers to get here, so somebody give her a lift! Xanthippe. Can someone fly her over on their personal jet? She really, really wants to come. Please add your name to the list if you're planning on attending!!! Currently, a number of non-eGulleteers are also planning on coming, including folks from Maine, Florida, Maryland, Norway (perhaps), Pennsylvania, and North Carolina (of course). When we get to September, I'll start asking for specific assistance on some tasks or with side dishes. I know Katie Loeb is handling the limoncello (and variants thereof), many others have offered to make specific dishes, and Malawry is in charge of the hush puppies. We'll focus on the details closer to the event date.