I'M BAAAAAACCCCCCCK!!!!!

I might not be Michael Jordan, so the media hype of my return may be minimal, but we have returned from our honeymoon. 

As promised, I took pictures of every single plate we ate (minus breakfast, I didn't think you needed to see a picture of 20 omelets). 

I will get those loaded up in the next few days, and let the excitement build until then ... and then the envy can kick in. 

Next weekend, is my Kickoff To Summer cookout, so there will be pictures of a feast coming soon. Also, now that the wedding has passed, we'll be able to get back to cooking and making everyone else hungry. 

And yes, I'll post a few more pictures from the wedding, so the ladies that follow can ooooh and aaaah over that as well. 

WE'RE MARRIED

Yesterday God did his part and held the rain off just in time for Dawn and I to get married. As we stood waiting to be introduced at the reception ... the bottom dropped (luckily we were under a covered area). 

At the reception, my dad and sister surprised us with Cocky (the University of South Carolina's mascot for those that may not know) ... and it was AWESOME!!!!!

I'll see ya'll in a little over a week ... it's off to Jamaica we go. 

Road Trip Across America and Great BBQ Joints Along The Way

Some people want to see the 7 Wonders of the World before they die, some want to see every NASCAR race track, some want to visit every NFL/MLB/NBA stadium/field/arena, heck some even want to visit every country, but then there's a different bred of people. There's weirdoes like me, that love BBQ so much, they want to visit the best BBQ joints across America.

Forbes.com put together an article for people like us and highlights 10 of the best ... not THE 10 best ... BBQ joints in America. 

I don't know about you, but I think a road trip hitting these spots would be what I would call ... AWESOME!!!!!

Now, we can't really get together and go on a road trip (well we could, but somebody would have to pay for the buses and ... I'm paying for a wedding so I'm broke), but we can always pretend like we are, right? 

So lets get go on this magical road trip ... Since this is make belief, everyone can meet up at our house, and take off from there. We start in Greenville, SC and we head up I-95 to Hot Rod' Real Pit BBQ in Wharton, NJ, then on up to Dinosaur BBQ, in NY, and then keep going to Sweet Cheeck BBQ, in Boston, MA. 

Once we've hit the North Eastern stops, we hop back on the magic bus and hit I-78 and I-70 to one of the 3 17th Street Bar & Grill in Illinois.

From there, it's a "quick" trip down I-55 to Tennessee where we'll stop at Central BBQ in the famous Memphis, TN. After eating some Q and visiting Graceland (no, you can NOT go to Memphis and not visit Graceland ... it's a rule ... I just made it) we get back on I-55 and then over to US-49 where we go to the Deep South and The Shed BBQ & Blues Joint in Mississippi.

Since we're back in the south, we throw in Willie Nelson and get "On The Road Again" (see what I did there?). Take I-10 to TX-304 till we reach Austin, TX and The Salt Lick.

With 7 spots down and 3 to go ... lets all take a breather, and throw back a few cold ones with the local Cowboys.

After we recover, it's "HI HO SILVER AWAY" up I-35 to what some call the BBQ capital (but we all know that's the Carolinas ... where it began), Kansas City, where we chow down at Oklahoma Joe's BBQ.

On the back straight away, but the next two stops, have some of the longest travels of the trip. Getting back on I-70 to US-285 through the Colorado mountains to Oak, The New Fat Alley in Telluride, CO.

The bus is starting to break down after all the miles we've put on it, but we can see the finish line. We're on I-40 for what seems like eternity until we've reached our finally stop in Casmalia, CA, The Hitching Post, which is very ironically named since I'm typing this up the day before my wedding. 

That was the longest, most delicious trip known to man. The bus exploded in the parking lot, so lets all just board a plane and get home so we can pass out in our own beds. 

If you want to check out the actual post by Forbes, you can check it out here.

Review: Southern Culture Kitchen & Bar

Southern Culture is a somewhat new restaurant in the Cherrydale area of Greenville. They took the place of one of the worst Italian restaurants I've ever been to in my life, so I am not upset about this at all (Dawn loved it, I hated it ... we see who's opinion was correct since they're out of business now). We've had numerous friends try Southern Culture out and recommend it to us, so for our last date night as a nonmarried couple, I "surprised" Dawn by taking her out there for dinner before we went to see Iron Man 3.

It's a really cool/neat little place with a rustic, backwoods feel to the environment. They don't clutter the walls with decorations, but what they do have is a few older photos and farm/country tools around. If you're able to get there at just the right time, they also have a few seats over by the fire place in the bar area to sit at to wait for your table. From what we hear, there's always a wait, so the chances are pretty good that you'll be waiting but slim that you'll actually get those nice seats. 

We didn't stay long enough to sample the music, but starting at 9p.m. on the weekends they have live music  that covers from acoustic to bluegrass and then over to jazz. The bands play on a large custom built stage to one side of the restaurant that's built from reclaimed wood. 

If this is your first time reading my blog, welcome and thank you, if it's not, then you know Dawn LOVES her some Shrimp and Grits. She acted like she was going to switch it up and go with something different, but I'm turning her into a food critic too, so she said she had to try them to compare. 

Yep, I'm that guy that now goes to a restaurant and takes a picture of his food. NO, I didn't have the flash on or anything to make the whole place turn around and give me weird lookds ... I'm not THAT guy. 

Dawn took a bite, and was hooked. She said it's not #1 on her Greatest Shrimp & Grits of All Time list, but it was definitely near the top. She kept offering me a bite, and normally I'll give it a try, but I had my ribs, and mac & cheese, and fries, so I was trying to eat what I could ... it cost enough, I wanted my moneys worth.

Now, to the ribs. I can't call them BBQ, because I think they use liquid smoke ... I'M NOT GOING ON RECORD WITH THAT, so don't hold me to it, the smokey flavor was just a little .. different. To their defense, they call them BBQ Ribs, so I can't be too upset with them. 

Let me start by saying, I can't stand "fancy" BBQ. It's just a pet peeve of mine, and no it doesn't affect the food so it really doesn't matter, but I can't STAND "fancy" BBQ. I don't need garnish on my plate of ribs. There's no place for garnish in BBQ. Back to being THAT guy, sorry waiting staff, but I am THAT guy that takes his garnish and throws it on the table. I try really hard to be as good of a patron as I can, but unfortuantely, the redneck comes out when certain buttons are pushed a little and ... that's one of them, I'm sorry.

To me, one of the most important parts of restaurant "BBQ", almost as important as the Q itself, is the sides. You have to have great mac'n'cheese, fries, and green beans or it just doesn't work (some may say cole slaw and other stuff, but I don't touch any of that sooooooo yeah). Their Cajun Mac'n'Cheese and fries were AWESOME. The Mac is one of the best restaurant mac I've had ... and I've had a LOT. 

When our friends would recommend Southern Culture to use it was always "Brandon, you HAVE TO try the ribs. They're awesome.", so of course, I had to try the ribs. TO ME, the ribs were way over done. I cut the first bone, took a bite, and the meat feel to my plate. I know, I know, everybody talks about "fall off the bone ribs", but this was different. I expect restaurant ribs to fall off the bone, but when I try to pick the meat up with a fork, it shouldn't disintegrate into my plate. I had to scoop the meat up on my fork to be able to eat it. I basically ate rib pulled pork. On top of that, as you can see in the picture, the outside was very dark and even had a little burnt taste in areas. 

Don't get me wrong, they weren't the worst ribs I've ever had in my life ... they just weren't the best either. Maybe it was a bad night in the kitchen. The one thing I will say, is the sauce was DELICIOUS. Why do I think it was so good? Well, it tasted identical to Sticky Fingers' Carolina Sweet. It was a little thinner than SF's is, but we both agreed that it was very close in taste. 

With the dinners and a few drinks a piece, our bill was right on $50, so it wasn't a huge blow to the wallet. Minus my unfairly high expectations on ribs, we both really enjoyed the atmosphere and food. Our favorite Jazz bar has closed down due to some shady management, so we'll be returning for sure, whether it's for the food or for the music. 

If you'd like to look over their menu, or find direction, check out their website here.

M.I.A. & DDP Yoga

I realize I've been M.I.A. so I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. As our wedding inches closer and closer, the spare time to think up/find and cook a nice meal, isn't there. 

On top of that, we've started doing DDP Yoga, and are trying to do part of the diet with it as well. Dinners have been grilled chicken, salads, veggies and other quick, simple, or somewhat healthy meals. I mean, you gotta look good for your wedding (and honeymoon), right? 

Once the wedding and honeymoon is over, I'll be right back at it, and will show off all the yummy food we have in Jamaica. 

Pork Loin Medallion Samplers

Publix had Pork Loins on sale, so guess what ... we got some. 

We've done the grilled balsamic garlic tenderloin a few times, and it's delicous, but I wanted to do something new. We busted out about 7 cook books to see if there were any ideas there, but didn't find anything that we had all the ingredients to make. Just before I closed the last one, Dawn pointed at one and said "we can try the medallions and just put some rub on them." 

Another problem we reached, is trying to figure out which rub to go with. She went through the BBQ cabinet  and pulled out 3 rubs for me to narrow down, but instead of of picking one, I thought we could just use them all and have a little sampler dinner. 

The 3 rubs we went with were the Flying Swine sampler pack from Tasty Licks, Simply Marvelous' Pecan Rub, and Bear Claw Honey Butt Rub.

Trimmed off the fat. 

These aren't perfect cuts, since the loin wasn't in the best shape ever, but they worked. 

Once everything was cut, we split it up to add the rub. On the ones in the bottom left I did the Pecan Rub, the top left is the Bear Claw, and the four on the right is the Tasty Licks.

The Tasty Licks Flying Swine was our least favorite. It was good, but just didn't have a whole lot of flavor. The Bear Claw Honey Butt Rub came in second for us both as well. It had really good flavor and maybe a hint of heat (either the rub did or some from the potatoes got on mine). Both of us said the Simply Marvelous Pecan Rub was the best of the 3. It had tremendous flavor and really was far above the other two. I don't know how she felt, but there was a huge gap between 1 and 2. 

The Day I Met Wrestling Royalty

I know this isn't food related, but my dad found the pictures, so I had to share. 

One of the most fun/coolest days of my life happened back in '96 at the last Wrestling event ever at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. The Greenville Memorial Auditorium was was our version of Madison Square Garden ... it was just a 1/4 of the size ... and was set to be demolished the next year for the new, bigger and fancier BiLo Center. 

If you were growing up in the South in the 80s and 90s, you were a Wrestling fan. If you weren't a Wrestling fan, then, I'm sorry but you missed some great entertainment. To say I was a fan might be an understatement. I still hear stories from friends about that time I climbed up on the cabinet and did a flying elbow drop onto the desk, or when me and a buddy used to have Wrestling matches before 1st period as every watched on. We even have video of me climbing on top of the carport and doing Jimmy Super Fly Snuka's splash and Macho Man Randy Savage's flying elbow.

Every single Monday night my dad and I (and my sister until she grew up and the phone was more important and sometimes she'd even hang up to join) would sit in the living room together and watch WWF Monday Night Raw and/or WCW Monday Nitro. With those two to watch, Mondays were never all that bad. Wrestle Mania was our Super Bowl, and we didn't miss a single one or many of the other pay per views (this was back when you could actually afford to purchase them). 

My uncle was a salesman and a gym nut, so he knew a ton of people. One of his acquiescence was the guy that was head of security for the GMA. He approached my uncle and asked if he'd be willing to help out and work security for the upcoming Wrestling event, because guys have started leaving for new jobs. He asked if my uncle would be willing to help, but also if he knew of anyone else that'd be willing to do it. My uncle gave my dad the guys number to call, and I didn't learn until a few years ago, my dad told the man that he'd work the event for free if he'd allow him to bring his son (me). He promised the man that I'd behave and if there was a single issue he'd grab me up and we'd both leave and he wouldn't be out any money or anything ... the man agreed.

When we arrived we both just kind of walked around lost for a little while until a big man approached us and started chatting with my dad. I recognized him as The Barbarian and said his wife and kids were sitting with the rest of the family members outside and that I could sit with his boys. All of these details may be a bit off, but hey, it was 15+ years ago and I was in heaven.

Throughout the night, I sat with the wrestlers wives/girl friends and kids and talked with everybody (hard to believe that right?). Periodically, my dad would come running out and get me and say "Hey, Head (my nickname from him) here's insert wrestlers name come take a picture."

This is me and The Barbarian. He told us to give him our address and he'd send me a few things, and sure enough, a few weeks later I received a package of autographs of him and his Tag-Team partner Ming. At the time, Ming scared the living crap out of me, so I wasn't so heartbroken The Barbarian was alone that night.

Cobra was an up and comer at the time that ended up not panning out.

Eddie Guerrero at the time was a decent middle card fighter. He later on decided to start juicing and then blew up. He was on top of the ladder for years until his death in '05 from heart problems.

One of my dad's favorite Tag-Teams was the Rock & Roll Express. The team had broken up, but Robert Gibson was still doing some singles matches ... when he wasn't in jail or rehab. 

Now, one of my all time favorite Tag-Teams is the Nasty Boys. There's just not much better than a mullet and gaped teeth haha. Here's me and Jerry Sags

And here with Brian Hobs. You may recognize him from Hogan Knows Best. He was always working out with Hulk Hogan and one of his closest friends. 

"From Cobb County Georgia", The Big Boss Man was also a favorite of mine growing up. At this point his career had started to drop off a bit and he was fighting under his name Ray Traylor. He would go on to pass away in '04 at the hands of a heart attack. 

Now, this picture has a background story to it. When I took these to school I passed them around and one of the girls goes "oh wow, who's that hot wrestler?" I glanced over and said "Oh, that's Buff Bagwell." Well, a second or two later she goes "I mean the guy in the flag shirt. Which wrestler in that? He's hot!" I looked at her and said "THAT'S MY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!" haha

Chris Benoit is best known for going "crazy" in what's believed to have been roid rage, killing his wife and son and then himself. He seemed like an A-Ok kind of guy when I met him.

At the time, Chris was a member of the 4 Horsemen, so I had to get a picture doing the pose.

Double A, Arn Anderson was more of one of my dad's favorites than mine, at the time. He was always the "muscle" of the 4 Horseman. Notice his glasses in his left hand, my dad told him before the picture "take those glasses off. You can't look like a tough guy with those on." Arn laughed and took them off and said "is that better?"

"IT'S ME, IT'S ME, IT'S D.D.P."

Diamond Dallas Page has a new place in my life now. Dawn and I have started doing DDP Yoga to get in better shape for our wedding. I was a big enough fan of DDP's before, but now I haven't stopped throwing the Diamond Cutter in weeks ... Yes, Dawn thinks (might know) I'm crazy ... BAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!

OOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEAH, It's The Machooo Maaaan Randy Savage OOOOOOOH YEEEEEAH

Macho, I was a little bitter towards, unlike the other wrestlers, he never came out of the dressing room until it was time for his main event match with Flair.

As I'm watching one of the matches, my dad comes BUSTING through the door and all but yells "HEAD, COME HERE IT'S RICK!!!" I was having a blast talking with the other kids and watching the match so I turned with almost an attitude (as if I was supposed to know who this guy was) and said "Huh? Who's Rick?" The Barbarian's boys both turned and said "RIC FLAIR!!!!!" I didn't say a word, I leap AT LEAST 30 feet into the air and did a dead sprint out the door. As I got through the door I saw the last glimpse of his clothing going into the locker room and as I hollered "HEY RIC!!!!!" the door slammed shut ... I still remember standing there half heart broken because I was too late ... until ... the door swings back open and Flair says "did somebody holler?" and sees me and then says "Hey kid what's going on?" 

The Babyface, Macho Man went on to defeat, the heel, Flair in a match that had all of the classic wrestling moves (included Macho Man pulling Flair down from the back of his trunks making Flair moon the crowd). After the match, Flair took the mic and talked to the crowd out of character for a while about how much he appreciated the area and how he promised to be at the first event at the new arena. 

I can't remember if that promise was kept or not, but I was at both events at the BiLo Center that Flair announced his retirement AND later returned to the wrestling world.

The picture of me and Flair was put on my Senior Page in my year book, and hasn't been seen since. I asked my dad if he could find the DDP picture for me, and the rest if he could find them too. Not only did he find the book, but the Flair picture had some how made it's way back. When I saw it I ran back in the house and, like a kid again, started flipping the pages for Dawn to see as if I had just won a million bucks. 

I don't watch Wrestling anymore, but this day always holds a special place with me ... and it all is in thanks to my dad for working for free just so this little squirt could have the time of his life.