So in the past 5 months I’ve had a lot of big changes in my life, that I’d rather not get into (If you actually know me, then you already know whats was up). Instead I want to talk about one of my favorite things in life,.. food. But this is not a ‘OMG.. this stuff rules’ type of post. Oh no, this is all about ‘WTF? why do they even make that’.

Let’s start with the food that sparked this post. The ‘Buttered Popcorn’ Jelly Belly jellybean.

Seriously, WTF? why do they make this flavor? I don’t think I know anyone who actually likes this jelly bean. It’s like the equivalent to grapefruit in fruit salad. If you eat it along with a handful of other, delicious jellybeans.. no dice. The nasty buttery flavor takes over and ruins the whole experience. Even worse is that it looks similar to the toasted marshmallow jellybean, so even if you pick out all the buttered popcorn, you have to check every 3rd one to make sure, thus subjecting yourself to the horribleness.

Next up.. I’ve never had this product, yet I dont think it needs any explanation why I wonder ‘WTF? why do they make this’.

It’s Chelada by Budweiser. Let me break this down for you. It’s Budweiser (or bud lite) mixed with Tomato Juice+Clam Juice. Yeah… I dont really wonder much, why I’ve only seen this product offered for $2.49 at Walmarts’ in New Hampshire. Jennifer Eblin at associated content, wrote up a good review of her attempt to drink one. read it here

So once again, Budweiser…WTF? I’d rather drink a budweiser + rockstar energy drink + champagne. Which my buddy Mike did on a dare (and won $100 from of me), and it is now offered at our bar with the name ‘the shithead dumbass’ (pronounced she-deed do-moss). And yes I have a bar in my apartment (Something I did during my absence and will surely be writing about).

Honestly I think that’s all I can stomach for the time being (oh the puns). also, I can’t think of anymore at the moment. But fear not I shall be back and I’m positive in the future there will be other eatable items I come across that make me say ‘WTF?.. why do they make that.’

Most people wouldn’t take me as someone who would want to be a bartender, or have a bartender’s skills.  I think that is because of a misconception in thinking.  People hear someone is a bartender and thinks “well, they must really like booze”, but that’s flawed, a bartender doesn’t get themselves booze, they serve it to others.  I’m not a big drinker, but I’ve always been enticed by what a bartender can do.  They can be given some seemingly random sentence (for example “Give me a wet gimlet with rocks on the side”) and give someone the exact drink they are looking for (A martini with extra lime juice, in a martini glass with the ice in a side glass) it is the perfect pairing of art and science.  In fact I believe Bartending is one of the only literal meanings of a ‘social science’. Think about it, bartenders are mearly social chemists.  They take common elements (almost every drink is composed of one or more of the 5 following alcohols: vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequilla & Triple Sec).  By combining these elements in different ways they produce thousands of products.  It’s truly amazing.

For years I’ve seen flyers for Drinkmasters Bartending School and I have heard great things about the school.  But with the $500 price tag for the course, it was out of my reach finacially.  But a few weeks ago I was on groupon.com (which I visit everyday) and saw that you could enroll in the Drinkmasters course for only $150.  So for $150 I could enroll in a $500 course, get my bartending license and have alot of fun? that’s a no brainer, so I purchased it. (As did my good friend Mike Matterra).

The course was only a week long, four hour classes every night from 6pm-10pm.  You would think that a four hour long class would be brutal, but the way the instructors teach the classes it goes by quick and is wicked fun.  There is no pressure, your there because you want to learn, the instructors are there because they want to teach and everyone has a great time. And the max in each class is only 16 people, so you get to know your fellow classmates and joke with them (just how you would as a real bartender)

Every class started with drink drills (where we would stand behind the bar and the instructor would yell out drink orders and we had to make them).  Monday and tuesday night, nearly everyone struggled to make even the basic drink correctly (including handling the glasses, ices, serving the drink to the customer) but by thursday we were all nearly pros.

I surprised myself, most of the time I can be a bit of a klutz…. I tend to drop things.  But everything clicked for me behind the bar, I was scooping ice, grabing the right bottles, shaking, serving the whole nine yards.  I know I keep saying this, but it was alot of fun.

The course went over the whole spectrum of bartending, from how to properly take a drink order all the way to how to identify and pour wine.  We learned how with just a little bit of knowledge we could make any daqauri, shot, mixed drink & margartias.

Friday night was the big night for the course, it was exam night. Where we would see who would go home a bartender and who would go home a customer.  The exam consisted of a written test and a practical.  The written I found was easy, it was only 25 questions and I knew the answer to all except 1.  I was more nervous for the practical, where you had to actually make drinks.  In fact Myself, Mike and our friend Justin were so nervous that we had arrived at 3pm (3 hours before class started) on Friday to just practice our drink drills.

After the written there was a quick break, and then we had the practical.  Myself, Mike & Justin and two others (our new friends Nellie &  ‘P’) were in the first group of bartenders-to-be to take the practical (it was split up into groups of 4/5 at a time).  I was feeling confident, the instructor explained the guidelines and then gave us each our first drink orders.

I cant exactly explain what happened next, it’s all a blur I was in the bar tending zone. I heard the drink orders and it seamed that before I was even done repaeting the order back to the ‘coustomer’ the drink was made and served and I was getting the next order.  It was… I have to say amazing, I was truly impressed with my self and my classmates.

We all finished our drinks (I was first to finish) and then we’re sent on a break (so that the last waiting group could not grill us on what it was like).  Taking advantage of the 45min break we had and the adrenaline we all had pumping we decided to go around the corner to a local bar.  The one thing about the bartending course, is al week we have been making these colorful, exotic drinks but with colored water.  So they looked good, but were completly undrinkable.

One drink, in particular I had been wanting to try all week, it’s known as a planters punch.  When we first learned it the instructor told us that not many bartenders know how to make this drink and it would be hard to find.  So at the bar I asked the bartender for a planters punch, and what do you know but she didnt know what it was.  I explained how to make it and she proceeded to try. The ting about learning something is that you notice when others are doing it wrong.  For example when the bartender was making me my planters punch I could see all the flaws in her technique, and was taken back (of course it’s no big deal since she did manage to make the drink).  But it was just a wonderment to myself to know that when ever I go out in the future I’ll see these flaws.

After our break we went back to class, when the instructor tallied up everyone’s grades and presented all of us with our certificates of achievement (that’s right 100% of the class passed!). We were all excited.  the instructor then explained how the school should be the resource to us for finding bartending jobs, and that we can comeback at any time for free refresher courses or to practice.

Certified Bartender

Does this mean I’m going to quit my job and become a bartender? Of course not, I love my job and using my college degree.  But if in the future I know that I have a second set of skills in case I need to make extra cash.  For now it’s just a great party trick.

Excited with our new sets of skills Mike and I proceeded to get all the necessary tools to make our home bar an actual bar (as opposed to a cabinet with liquor bottles).  Mike purchased a bartenders kit online with all the tools, and saturday went up to New Hampshire to  get all the tax free booze we would need (about $200 worth).  And sunday we went to the christmas tree shop and bought all the proper glassware.

Home Bar

We now have a bar that any bartender would be proud of, and proceeded to christen it with a couple of home made margaritas. (with no pre-made mix, and they were perfect for the heat wave we had over the weekend).

Margaritas

The whole experience was great.  I learned a lot, made some new friends and had a lot of fun. So before I head to my home bar to make you a margarita I need to know, do you want rocks & salt?

America!

Tacky enough?

“[D2E] is a marketplace for eco-friendly products, a public stage for community initiatives, and an educational forum that addresses sustainability issues on the minds of us all. D2E emphasizes local and innovative solutions and connects consumers with progressive companies that are investing in a more sustainable future.”

There were a lot of eco/green friendly vendors and products there, more so than I would of thought. As I was walking around I found myself thinking that wow, it is really becoming easier to live a greener lifestyle. I took out my iPhone and began snapping pics of all the great products and services I saw.  I thought I’d share with you the ones I feel were the best.

Clean Journey

Clean Journey

http://www.cleanjourney.com/

Clean Journey is a collaborative force looking to involve people with clean energy in which ever form they feel comfortable, anywhere from contacting local politicians to volunteering.

They were running a video campaign where you answer a question about being green.  Jill and I both opted to do it,  and at some point our responses will be online.

Get Clean

Get Clean

Get Clean

According to Jill, and one of the exhibitors this is one of Oprahs favorite products.  It’s a collection of high concentrate green cleaners that really work, and work well.  The free sample we got is a small, small vial (maybe 3oz at most) will last (according to the exhibitor) 2-3 months.  2 drops goes into a 16oz spray bottle filled with water as a window washer.  The rest goes into another 16oz spray bottle filled with water as an all purpose cleaner.

Very cool if it works as well as well as they say.  If the sample does I’m definitely buying some from the website.

Green Scene

Green Scene

http://www.greensceneware.com

This was a cool booth, for a few reasons.  First, it’s biodegradable paper plates, plastic cups and plastic cutelry. That’s great, no need to feel guilty using these throw away products.  Second, it’s affordable.  I bought a 24 pack of cutlery for $3.  Third, it’s actually a project by some babson college students.  It’s great to see that kids my age are being so productive in the green scene.

Head to their website soon, because when the semester ends so does this project. So go buy some.

Flavrz Drink Mix

Flavrz

http://www.flavrzdrinkmix.com/

Flavrz is an eco-friendly, low sugar concentrated flavored drink mix. Basically a greener, healthier version of kool-aid.  One bottle ($8) can make about 8quarts o flavored drink.  It’s tasty, and healthy what more could you want?  I bought myself a bottle of the cherry flavor.  Hopefully I’ll drink it over soda, so I’ll be drinking more water but not have to loose any flavor.

Brighter Planet

Brighter Planet

http://brighterplanet.com/

Brighter Planet is a group that helps people reduce and manage their carbon footprint by providing affordable solutions, green tips, ect.  It’s a great huge community, Jill actually has their green credit card, which with each purchase helps build renewable energy.

Their online community is huge, and provides plenty of tips.  They even have twitter @earthweet

Preserve

Preserve

http://www.preserveproducts.com/

Preserve is a developer of BPA free plastic products that can be found at whole foods, trader joes and other retailers.  What’s great is every product you buy from them, when you’re finished with it you can send it back to them.  They’ll grind up the plastic and use it to make a new plastic product.  They even pay the shipping cost!

It’s a great example of high end recyclable products.

Boston Organics

Boston Organics

http://bostonorganics.com/

Boston Organics is a delivery service that promotes healthy, organic and local eating.  You can sign up to have a box of fruits and veggies delivered to your door every week, every other week, ect.  All their products are organic and locally grown (when available). It’s also very affordable, the box in the photo costs only $29 for delivery.

It’s great becuase it promotes healthy eating.  You specify what fruits and vegetables you want (and other products like eggs, honey, coffee, ect) and each week they’ll mix it up for you, so you wont get bored with your delivery.

Swaptree

Swaptree

http://www.swaptree.com/

Swaptree.com is an innovative website that allows members to trade books, CDs, DVDs and video games with other users for free.  I’ve already signed up.

It gives you something useful to do with those books, cds and DVDs you’re done with.  You provide the UPC code of the item, and their extensive Database pulls up the needed info and tells you what you can trade for it. And there is a lot to trade for.  I’ve added only about 8 items to my ‘have it’ list and I can trade them for over 50,000 different books,cds or dvds.

It promotes reusing products, not buying new products and community.

That’s it for my list.  There were a lot more vendors and products featured, but it’s more then I can write about.  The whole list of vendors and products featured is available here.  And if you’re in the Boston area D2E is still going on tomorrow (Sunday April 5th), it’s only $10, and you’ll learn a lot.

I love chicken wings (who does’nt), and the SuperBowl is such a great excuse to heat a hell of a lot of them. This year for the SuperBowl Jill and I are heading to party at a friend of ours, and we’re bringing along some homemade wings, these homemade wings;

Homemade wings

To the left are some of the best buffalo dragon wings (dragon, because eating one will make you breath fire) , and to the right are our honey Bee-bq wings. Here are a few key points about these wings.

1. They are baked not fried (jill and I are doing weight watchers)
2. The buffalo are super hot, the honey super sweet
3. You’ll end up eating the whole tray.

They are so good that after trying one of each, its taken me all my will power not to eat all of them (which I’ll probably end up doing at the party).

So that you can enjoy these wings for your own SuperBowl party (or any time) I thought I’d provide our recipes.

Note: Cooking is an art, so exact measurements are for amateurs (except for baking where measurement is key). So the measurements provided are approximations and not exact.

Dragon Wings.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken wings
• 1 1/2 cups fanks red hot sauce
• 8 Tblsp chilli powder
• 1/4 cup chilli sauce
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 1 package dry buffalo seasoning

Directions

1. Take your chicken wings and separate the wing from the leg (double your wings!) and optionaly remove the skin. Place them all in a bowl.
2. Take 1 cup Frank Red Hot sauce, 4 Tblsp chilli powder, 1/8 cup of chilli suace, combine and pour over the chicken. Be sure to mix up the chicken so it is all coated. Then place some plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and let it sit in the fridge (best if its overnight, but an hour will do, itwill tenderize the chicken, and absorb the flavors)
3. Combine the rest of the hot sauce, chilli powder and chilli sauce in a bowl, cover and place in the fridge
4. (the next day). In a bowl combine the breadcrumbs and the package of buffalo seasoning.
5. Remove the chicken from the fridge and one peice at a time, remove from the bowl cover in the breadcrumb mixture and place on a cookie sheet (covered in tin foil of course to make cleanup easy).
6. Place the chicken in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes (turn the chicken over 1/2 way throu).
7. Remove the extra bowl of sauce from the fridge and place in the microwave for 15 seconds.
8. When the chicken is fully cooked, take the sauce and drizzle it over the wings (or altrenativly dunk each wing into the sauce)
9. Place on a platter, or plate and serve with plenty of blue cheese, celery and milk.

Honey Bee-bq Wings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken wings
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tblsp BBQ sauce
• 1 package dry Honey BBQ seasoning
• 2 cups breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Take your chicken wings and searate the wings from the leg (double your wings!) and optionally remove the skin. Place them all in a bowl.
2. Take 1/4 cup honey, the water and Honey BBQ seasoning combine and then pour over chicken. Be sure to mix up the the chicken so it is all coated. Place some plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and let it sit in the fridge (overnight is best but an hour will do, it will tenderize the chicken, and absorb the flavors)
3. Combine the rest of the honey and the BBQ sauce in a bowl, cover and place in the fridge along with the chicken.
4. Remove the chicken from the fridge and one peice at a time, remove from the bowl cover in breadcrumbs and place on a cookie sheet (covered in foil of course to make cleanup easy).
5. Place the chicken in a 350 degree oven of 25 minutes (turn the chicken over 1/2 way throu)
6. Remove the bowl of suace from the fridge, and place in the microwave for 30seconds.
7. When the chicken if fully cooked, take the sauce and drizzle it over the wings (or alternativly dunk each wing into the sauce).
8. Place n a platter, or plate and serve.

There you go, two recipes that’ll allow you to make some of the best chicken wings you ever had. When I return from the party tonight, I’ll provide some of the responses I got from people who tried the wings.

Adam Richman

A few nights ago I was watching TV with Jill (my girlfriend), when we came across a show on the Travel Channel. Within 10 minutes the first words out of her mouth we’re, Babe, this should be your job” and my response with gritted teeth (from envy) were “I know!”.

I would like you to meet Adam Richman(guy to the right) and he has my dream job.

I know what your asking yourself, ‘is he a super-duper developer for google?, multi-millionaire programming wiz?’, no he is the host of “Man vs. Food” for the Travel Channel. Let me give you a basic premise for the show;

Adam is a regular guy who travels around the country in search of food challenges, which he then attempts (he also vists local favorites in what ever town he is in).

So this guy gets paid to stuff his face just to see if he can complete these gut busting challenges.

The Eagles Deli Callenge

Again. . . He has my dream job. Seriously I could, nay, should be the host of this show. In a recent episode Adam was here in Boston to attempt the Eagle’s deli challenge. ( a 5 lb burger with 3 lbs of fries). A challenge I have also attempted. He didn’t complete it but he did get more then 1/2 way there. That’s all this show requires of its host, and thats all Adam does. Eat, eat and eat. If you know me, and you’ve seen the show you should see the striking recemblences in Adam and I’s personalities.

Here are the 5 Reasons why I should replace Adam;

1. I love food
2. I can eat a hell of alot
3. I’ll eat anything
4. I’m a funny guy
5. I love food

And a note for Adam (if by some strange reason he is reading this blog): If your getting board of being host (I don’t know how that could happen), or even looking for a side kick. I AM YOUR GUY. seriously call me up and I’ll be ready to go tonight.

So checkout the show that’ll be my future career Wednesday’s at 10pm on the travel channel.