Another Great Meal

Maybe I'll just turn this into a cooking blog... Last nights meal (again, just a hodgepodge of ideas thrown around at breakfast. This is one is an easy one, but tasty. Grilled chicken, pounded thin to allow for easy cooking and a dry rub seasoning of your choice, carmelized onions, lettuce, tomato, bacon, metled swiss cheese on olive oil brushed ciabatta roll. Add a seasoned mayo, with a side of sweet potato fries and you have a quick easy dinner. Total prep and cooking time was about 35 minutes. *Notice the crossoword puzzle? Thats a whole nother blog entry*

Steamed Clean

Did you ever wonder what kind of filth you are sitting in when you sit down on say, a cloth chair? The boys at work have been talking about steam cleaning the furniture for quite a while now. So yesterday I brought the steam cleaner in and set it loose on the furniture. This is what the water looked like after 2 chairs. The couch was by far the grossest, but I didn't have time to take a picture since we had 5 car accidents, including 2 rollovers. So, the next time you sit down on some cloth furniture, just think about what could be hiding within those fibers!

For All of My Jewish Friends

Decided to pay tribute to the city that pays me my $$

Thanks to Jack's Deli for providing the means to make this meal possible!

Random

Heard a good joke from an 65 year old patient we took in the other day...

Q: Have you ever heard of an Australian Kiss?
A: Its like a French kiss, only "down under"

Lookin for New Food Ideas

At the beginning of the year, I made it my goal to get more involved in the cooking and preparation of food at the fire station. I've always loved just coming up with ideas and having other people cook them and see how they turned out. The problem with that is, it never quite turns out the way I'd hoped it would. So now I am gonna have to start cooking. Which is what I did the other night. I started out with a simple steak sandwich from Bon Appetite. As it usually goes at the fire station, we take a simple dish like that and well... basically change the whole thing. The end result the other night was a homemade panini sandwich that was out of this world. I took some suggestions of toppings from the peanut gallery, and here is what we created

Here's what you need to make this wonderful, delectable treat:

Hearty Italian bread, focaccia, ciabatta, or other thick cut of bread

Flank steak pan cooked to medium rare and thinly sliced

Crispy French fries

Coleslaw

Sauteed Mushrooms

Fried egg, cooked hard

Stack it all together and attempt to eat

*As you can see, the possibilities are endless. This would be fantastic with chicken, steak, or pork and just about any other toppings you can imagine*

We've come up with some great recipes, as we get more, I will post them, hopefully with pictures. Our shift has been great this year, only hope we can keep it going throughout 2010!

Get the Funk Out

No more Funk! Baseball has begun and its been really good so far. I am really looking forward to the season. Right now just pitchers and catchers, while the rest of the team throws and conditions. If I had to go through a conditioning program like this when I was in HS, maybe my shoulder wouldn't be as F'd up as it is. Way too early to determine any kind of talent level, but I have some good depth at pitcher, which is always a plus at the JV level. More updates about baseball to follow, until then, just looking forward to March 27th... Spring trip to Myrtle Beach

Funkdafied

I'm in a funk. I'm gonna blame the weather. Only because I can't really blame it on anything else. Its just that time of year where there isn't much going on. I don't take any days off work cause why waste a vacation day when the weather is this shitty? Work is work, which could be another reason why I'm a little angry. There's just no variety right now. A couple of years ago it was great... going on new calls, seeing new situations and the thrill of possibly catching a fire. There is none of that right now, which bothers me a little.
Every call is the same to me, so I get angry when I have to go on 8 of them a day. Plus, it doesn't help when everyone at work tells me I'm too smart for this job. This is why I have tried to keep my mind occupied with lots of different things. I'm really looking forward to coaching baseball this spring, so that will help out a lot.
I'm just worried about what comes after that. For anyone out there who knows me, you know I get bored very easily. That's what I always liked about being able to work lots of different jobs. I guess I'm just getting to that point where I have to appreciate that I have a good, stable job that affords me the opportunity to do all these other things when I'm off, right?
Now I'm just rambling. Tell me to quit complaining. We all know I'm too lazy and don't have enough money to go back to school. Plus, if I did that, how long would it be before I got bored with that. I need some guidance. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep!

Ideas

Seriously... I have been trying to think of things to write about, I promise. If there is anything you want me to talk about, please leave a comment and I will give you my opinion. I would like to wish my Grandpa a very Happy 80th Birthday. And my mom just underwent her 2nd successful hip replacement. So, on those notes... GIVE ME SOMETHING GOOD TO WRITE ABOUT!

Happy New Year!

Another decade down, and yes, I am officially less than 10 months away from turning 30. I'm actually looking forward to it because that means I am officially 1 year closer to getting old. Why am I looking forward to that you ask? 5 words my friends... Velcro shoes and elastic pants. Not to mention, you get to act stupid and crazy without consequence. I digress. I don't really want to be that old yet, I have a lot of stuff to get done before then. Like get in shape. The new gym opened up the other day and it is awesome. I don't think I'm gonna have any trouble gettin back in shape because I could spend all day there. Plus, 2 out of every 3 days I get to work out with the hottest girl at the club. Now, I know I'm not the best looking or most in shape guy there, but I have to admit, it makes me feel a lot better about myself going to a place like that. There are a lot of ugly, oversized people there. I give them credit for attempting to make their lives a little healthier, but how long is that gonna last? It doesn't matter how much you work out if you leave there, stop at McDonalds and drink a 6-pack when you get home. Good luck fatty!

Tucky's Division Dog Challenge

When our whole group entered Tucky's on the morning of December 31, 2009, there were 3 of us willing to take the challenge. For our efforts, we have been upgraded to celebrity status!

Check us out

Let's see how many hits we can get on this!

Tucky's hot dog challenge

For starters, here's how this went down. As most of you have already read, I took the last 3 weeks of December to stuff my fat face with all the food I could before the new diet starts and the new gym opens. You also know that I was taking the Tucky's "5 Cities in 5 Minutes" Challenge. Well, it happened on New Year's Eve 2009.

From Left to Right:

1. Minnesota: Sauerkraut, Cheddar, Caraway seeds

2. Detroit: Coney Island Chili, Onions, Mustard

3. Kansas City: Amish Coleslaw, BBQ sauce

4. Cleveland: Potato Pierogi, Cheese Pierogi, Stadium Mustard

5. Chicago: Vienna dog on Poppyseed Roll, Emerald Relish, Pickle Slice, Sport Pepper, Onions, Tomato Wedge, Mustard, Celery Salt

*Contestants Note: Someone should really tell them that Minnesota is not a city*

Matt from CFFD
4:44:30
Winner of Free T-shirt and $15 Tucky's Bucks



Chad from BFD
DNF (in time) He got em all down though


Just what I need... 5 hotdogs and an extra chin!




Chad put forth a valiant effort. But this challenge ended with the defeat of "Fat Stevie"

This is disgusting... Thanks to Kristi who took pictures and videos so we can remember this for the rest of our lives. Here she caught me cleaning the back of my mouth with my tongue. Absolutely disgusting!

03:22:04

Old Record... 3:59:10

Can't say this is one of my proudest moments in life, but it was fun

chad had one more to go!!! a true warrior

Congrats to Matt for completing the challenge

In all honesty... I did not know that I could eat food this quickly. I did not prepare for this challenge in the slightest. I just ate what was in front of me. Apparently, this was the fastest time recorded at any of the Tucky's shops. Im convinced that if more people actually took the challenge, there would be some better times. Who knows? Maybe Adam Richmond will come into town and I can be on Man vs Food

the water dump

I know Chad has been waiting a LONG time to see these videos. This is what happens when you fall asleep at the kitchen table at the fire station.

water dump

Let's see that from another angle!