I came up with this recipe out of nowhere. I sort of knew how to make Shrimp Scampi but I'm not a huge seafood fan. I can handle shrimp every once in awhile, but it's not an every week thing for me. My wife loves garlic, thus she loves Shrimp Scampi. At the time of this recipe's creation, we were just dating and I wanted to impress her and still enjoy the meal. So, I came up with this. Basically, I ripped out the shrimp and added chicken breast. Then I added bacon because, well, bacon makes everything better. The recipe has changed a lot over the years, but it's still her favorite, even when I screw it up.
When most people really get into hot sauce, odds are they have only been using one sauce their whole lives. Maybe they grew up in the South and only got a taste of Crystal. Perhaps their parents were from Mexico, so they had a bottle of Valentina in the cupboard. Or maybe their parents didn't like hot sauce, so they've only tried Tobasco, easily available everywhere. Then they tried something new. Maybe it was hotter or maybe it had better flavor, but it was better and they became inspired to try even more sauces. Thus begins the journey for most Chile Heads. And every Chile Head has their favorite that they will try and convince you is better than your stand by. I've seen a ton of articles and blogs on the web attempt to rank the best hot sauces out there. Truth be told, hot sauce is just like beer and wine, in that, no one sauce is best for everything. Different types of hot sauces pair better with different types of foods. Variety is the spice of life and this is no truer than with hot sauce.
So, consider this your awesome hot sauce users guide. To qualify this list, I will tell you that I am a Chile Head who not only goes after heat, but after flavor. At one point in my life, I had no less than 30 hot sauces in my fridge. That's paired down a bit in the past few years. This list only includes sauces I like to use regularly and with food that I want to taste, sorry, no seafood. There are no boutique sauces on here and no variant sauces, such as Cholula Garlic(although, yum!). There are no extremely hot sauces because this is about pairing a hot sauce with a food to enhance it's flavor(and give it a kick of course). When I first heard that Matt Skiba was going to replace Tom DeLonge in blink-182, I had several reactions. First, what about Alkaline Trio? I love that band. Second, okay, whatever. blink hasn't been all that exciting these last few years. I didn't even buy their last album and the whole drama scenario that Tom brought to the band sort of ruined what had been one of the biggest bands to influence me as a musician. I used to love blink but they really had become a let down in every facet of a band worth following. Lastly, what the Hell is this going to sound like? How is the King of morbid Chicago pop punk going to sound in the band that brought the light hearted, fun pop punk of Southern California? The scenes and styles couldn't be much more different. This made no sense to me.
Until I thought about it. Bizarro was a villain from the DC Comics universe. He was basically Superman with an evil twist. He came from Bizarro world. This whole Bizarro version of Superman was later expanded into pop culture by the T.V. show, "Seinfeld". Jerry Seinfeld is a big Superman fan, so it's no wonder this became a running joke on the show, as characters would run into the Bizarro versions of each other throughout the seasons. The idea was picked up by "How I Met Your Mother", as the characters would run into the 'doppelganger' versions of themeselves. Bizarro branding even appeared in an episode of "South Park", with the little Bizarro versions of the Colorado kids appearing identical, but with goatees. It was from this perspective that I decided to start comparing the two bands. And what I found is that Alkaline Trio is indeed the Bizarro blink-182. Okay, time for our first recipe here at Social Eject, Southwest Ranch Dip. This a zesty twist on your basic Ranch Dip. They now sell packets of a similar style but it's a lot funner to do your own. This will spice up any party without actually burning out the guests. Enjoy!
When I was in High School, I wrote a paper on why a person should love their enemies. The basic argument was that you should love your enemies because without them, your life would be boring and unchallenging. I had to read the paper out loud in class and in one of those personal awe moments where you realize you're good at something, I noticed my English teacher's jaw actually drop, while the rest of the class looked confused. I bring this up at the beginning of my story about my ex-neighbor Angela, because of two points. One, you never know what stupid, annoying thing in your life will turn out to be the thing that makes it interesting. And two, at times you have to cut through a lot of junk to see the genius of something.
Everyone has had an annoying neighbor. It's part of life and living in the real world. If you're a misanthrope, pretty much everyone is annoying. But if you're lucky, sometimes annoyance can turn into crazy and crazy is always entertaining. My wife and I got to experience this over a couple of years and let me tell you, it was worth the loss of sleep and interruptions. We used to have people come over and ask, "Do you think Angela's coming out tonight"? She was that entertaining. Of course, she was like a unicorn and we were the only people she would come out to. It all started innocent enough. Angela and her husband moved in above us and she would go on her balcony to smoke. We were in non-smoking apartments but no big deal, just close the windows and deal with it. Then she started talking really loudly on her cell phone, or at least that's what we thought. Then came the constant in and out and slamming of doors. This is all completely normal when it comes to annoying neighbors. Then her late nights started getting later. At this point, annoying neighbor became too much for other neighbors to ignore and the "shut up" shouts started. Now we have "shut up" shouts and intense expletives flying back and forth between apartments in the quad. All through this, the loudest one being Angela. I'm sure there were plenty of noise complaints filed with the office. There were none from us though, we didn't want to get involved. At some point, Angela's rage focused on the female neighbor directly across from her. They would shout back and forth the craziest trash talk you ever heard from two girls. One night, there was an altercation at Angela's front door. We knew it was the neighbor from across the way. There was a lot of screaming and the sounds of struggle. Eventually, the cops came and sorted it out, but later that night they were shouting at each from their balconies again. There were a couple of nights where things would fly off of Angela's balcony. One night, as we were sitting, watching T.V., we could hear Angela fighting with her husband upstairs. It started getting crazy with screaming, doors slamming and bumping and banging. Next thing we know, a glass flies off their balcony into the street and shatters. Then they were fighting on their balcony and this large trash bag of cigarette buds and ash comes flying down onto our balcony. We had cigarette buds fly onto our balcony before, but nothing like this immense bag of ash. Then the sirens started coming. Four police cars later, Angela was dragged off screaming. I was cleaning up our balcony when her husband looked over the edge of his and said, "Dude, I'm sorry." Angela was gone for weeks. It was so quiet. We missed her. Until that fateful day when she came back. And then I got to meet her! Her husband brought her down to apologize for all that she had done, including dumping ash on our balcony. When she apologized, I had no idea what to say. I think I said, "Okay, we all have those days." The funny thing is she is this little petite girl that looked so innocent. I was in shock. My wife was ticked. She couldn't believe she didn't get the chance to meet. her. Frozen Fury is the L.A. Kings annual preseason game in Las Vegas, NV. In my life, I've missed two, not including the cancelled ones because of lockouts. I was there for those, lockout or not. Frozen Fury is an experience for anyone, not just for L.A. Kings fans. It's been held at the MGM Arena every single year and the Kings opponents have almost always been the Colorado Avalanche. In it's infancy, the fan bases were pretty even, with Avs fans fighting to get tickets because they couldn't afford regular season games at home. After the Kings won their first Stanley Cup, and subsequent second Stanley Cup, the fan rivalry has become severely lop sided in the favor of Kings fans. Frozen Fury has always been a raucous, yet intimate affair.
Next year, that is going to change a bit. The game will be moving to the new Las Vegas Arena. The new arena is a $375 million project from AEG and MGM Resorts International. The arena is intended to help bring an N.H.L. expansion team to the city, as well as be home to all sorts of sporting and entertainment events. It will sport a state of the art facility with seating capacity for 20,000, a far cry from the 'great anywhere you sit' seats in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. This will undoubtedly change the feel of the experience of Frozen Fury. Hopefully, Kings fans will keep traditions going but I thought it would be fun to document the experience. Pre-Parties L.A. Kings fans and Vegas is just one big party. It's Vegas, right? Anyone can start a party anywhere in Vegas. But groups from fan sites and message boards(like letsgokings.com) always try and organize little get together's at various Vegas hot spots. My favorite has always been at Hofbrauhaus. It's not only a huge Kings celebration but it's also Oktoberfest. You'll get tons of beer, German food, polka, and of course, schnapps! This year's official Kings pre-party was at Tom's Urban, a newer restaurant closer to the arena. I didn't make it to the pre-party but made a stop by there before I left. Go if you get a chance. There is also a ton of Kings fans at various resort pools taking over, throwing around beers and blow up Stanley Cups. It's a good way to start game day. Luc Robitaille Celebrity Poker Tournament The last few years, Luc Robitaille and his wife Stacia have been putting on a charity poker tournament the day before the game. The proceeds of the tournament go to Echoes of Hope. I've never had the chance to play, but it's your chance to play with current and formers Kings players and other celebrities. Plus, there is a huge auction of Kings memorabilia. If you can't play, it's always fun to stop by and watch. MGM On game day, the MGM is crawling with Kings and Avs fans cheering and jeering each other to no end. Luckily, it's all in good fun. There are plenty of places to get your pre-game drinks going, but the Fat Tuesday lines seem to get longer every year. They even had ropes up this year to direct the lines. Octane 190 with the extra shot usually does the trick. The Gauntlet Before the game starts, a crowd gathers to form what has affectionately been dubbed, "The Gauntlet". The line for the MGM arena goes through the walkway between the shops and restaurants that are outside the arena. It's mostly Kings fans along the route, but pockets of Av fans can be found. Everyone who walks down the path has to endure the taunts or cheers of the drunken fans. More good fun. It seems the Gauntlet starts earlier every year. Broadcasters love to do interviews in The Gauntlet; Jim Fox seems to have the most fun with it. I can imagine this making a transition to the new arena in some form, it's just too fun. The Game The Game is always fun, even when the Kings lose. Sometimes it's too fun and you don't even remember the game. Every seat in the arena is a good one. You make all sorts of new friends, who you might see later in the night. Frozen Fury 17 saw the Kings dominate the Avalanche from start to finish, winning by a score of 4-0. Highlight of the game was Marian Gaborik scoring a goal from his knees from behind the net. After Game After the game, a ton of hockey fans let loose on the MGM casino and the rest of Vegas. This past year, I ran into a bunch of Canadians who weren't there for the game. Go figure, Vegas. I'm not sure what Frozen Fury 18 will be like. I'm not even sure I'll be there. I hope the traditions live on with the move. What I will always remember is the camaraderie of the Kings fans, Avalanche fans, and just hockey fans in general. It's an event that has been grown by the transplanted hockey fans who take over Las Vegas, NV for one crazy fun weekend. So, I lied. This will be the shortest post ever in this blog. We have successfully launched socialeject.com. I guess we are professional now. To follow socialeject.com, add us to your Favorites and check back often. Or if you are lazy, like me, you can follow us on Twitter. That's right, we joined that monstrosity. Don't worry though, we will not be annoying, in theory. We are just going to 'tweet' whenever we update the blog, so it's easy for you to follow Social Eject. We didn't want to do anything as intrusive as a mailing list and you can't follow Weebly Blogs, so this is the next best thing. Follow us on Twitter @socialeject or click the Twitter logo.
Our first real post is coming after this weekend. It's going to be all about the crazy experience that is the L.A. Kings Frozen Fury in Las Vegas! Get your best jaw drop face ready. Welcome to the all new Social Eject! I have a new host and a new attitude. No more diary blogs and self-involved nonsense. This blog will now be all about content worth reading, well at least to some people, I swear.
I was originally going to do a separate food blog, but I changed my mind when I came down to Earth and realized that I'm not a complete authority on food. I do however, know enough about food and manage to create amazing meals with little training and a lot of crazy swagger, that it's worth sharing some knowledge, if only to give my family some of their favorite recipes. The rest of the blog will be about music and society as seen through my eyes, including opinions, reviews, and even some non-fiction stories about my life in music. There may even be research involved. Thus ends the shortest blog you will see here. |
AuthorMusic, Food, Hockey, and Society through the eyes of a misanthrope named Quez Def. Archives
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