Among the questions I never thought to ask . . .

. . . is why astronauts like horseradish and tabasco sause.  Other hot foods, too.  Turns out that without gravity, there can be no post nasal drip.  Which sounds like a good thing, but it really isn't.  If your sinuses don't drain, then you are constantly stuffed up.  And hot foods like shrimp cocktail with lots of horseradish work zero-G medicinal wonders.  Even if the shrimp do taste like card board.

Finally some truth in advertising

The whole marketing campaign for the Heart Attack Grill in Vegas centers around its name.  You can order Flatline Fries and a Butterfat Milkshake to go with your Quadruple By-pass Burger.  Patrons that weigh more than 350 pounds eat for free.  Well, yesterday a guy went in and started chowing down on a Triple By-pass Burger when . . . wait for it . . . he had a heart attack.  Really.

Super Bowl food

Borepatch family chili.  And I am not giving any credit to Borepatch, though he did teach me the recipe when we were kids.  It came from his parents.  And it is outstanding!

The medical/scientific community finally seems to be coming around

After decades of them telling me that basically my entire diet is bad for me, they seem to have given up. As I said in one of my posts yesterday and others, studies are increasingly being published about the health benefits of beer. Then it was shown that your morning jolt of java was good for you.  Now there is more good news.  Turns out that whole thing about fried foods clogging your arteries kinda like spackling them with plaque is not true.  A recent Spanish study followed more than 40,000 people over a decade.  It was just published in the British Medical Journal.  The study, based in Spain, found no correlation between heart disease and the amount of fried food in the diet.  So stop by the Colonel's for a bucket on the way home tonight.  The stop and pick up a six-pack to go with it.  And since I seem to be the new model for healthy dietary consumption, I suggest you get ahead of the curve and start loading up on potato chips, cheesecake and pork sausage, too, cuz they're part of my well rounded and now medically vindicated diet, too.

Because going through that drive through is just too much effort



Burger King has decided to start delivering to your home.  That's right, if it is too much effort to get in your car and find the nearest BK drive through, you can have it your way in your own house.  The "Whoppers on Wheels" program is currently only available in a few locations around D.C., but according to Bloomberg, they are ramping up 16 more areas which should offer delivery by the end of January.  The rules are that you place a minimum $8.00 order and need to be within 10 miles of the nearest restaurant.  Burger King has even already rolled out its website for on-line delivery ordering.  I think this is a great idea.  You wouldn't want to burn off any of the 40 grams of fat in a Whopper actually walking to your car, would you?

Hell Week in Cambridge

I know Borepatch would grouse that every week in the Peoples' Republic of Cambridge, Massachusetts is Hell week. And there are times when I would tend to agree with him. However, this week it really is Hell week. At least at the East Coast Grille. It has become quite the reknowned event. My personal reccomendation is the Pasta Plate from Hell. According to the owner's recent interview on the local CBS affiliate, he is targeting a very special group of customers:

Owner Chris Schlesinger created the Pasta Plate from Hell. He says it’s aimed at a specific clientele.

“All the people that like hot and spicy food consider themselves gun slingers and they come looking for trouble,” he said.

One patron described the experience as "Pain. I can’t breathe. I can’t talk". Hopefully the poor guy didn't cave and ask for the dreaded orange Popsicle. If one is seen being rushed out of the kitchen, the whole place erupts in a rhythmic chant of "wimp". The driving incindiary force is the Naga pepper, one of the hottest known to man. Two tallies are kept on the chalk board: those few who have actually managed to complete the bowl and the number who have gone to the hospital trying. For real. So far this week, three ambulances have been called. Oh, and if you are thinking you are man (or woman) enough to try a Pasta Plate from Hell, you will need to sign a legal waiver and release first. Proceed at your own risk.