Up until this past year, I'd only ever known P.J. was through the Internet. I used to write a blog entitled Electronic Breadcrumbs, which was all about geocaching. I believe this is how we first met, and when I got tired of writing that blog, I created this one and he eventually followed me over here.
Last summer, he went to a lot of baseball games, 75 of them in all. I really love baseball and I think in my best year, I probably went to no more than about 20 games, so 75 is an incredible amount. Anyway, his last three games were out here in Southern California late in September. He flew in Saturday morning and attended the Dodger game that night, then he and his friend drove down to San Diego on Sunday morning and I met him down there and we met for the first time. We then to the train from Qualcom Stadium to downtown San Diego and took in a Padres game at Petco Field, the first time I'd been to Petco. Monday night he went to Anaheim to see the Angels play and then flew home.
This story, however, is about where he ate. Since he's not from around here, he'd never been to In-n-Out. If you live in Southern California, or have lived in Southern California, you know what In-n-Out is. Best burger place ever. Consistently good. When my son went to England to study abroad, we stopped at the In-n-Out to get his last meal before leaving the country. That's where this photo was taken.
So P.J. and his friend went to In-n-Out Saturday night and ordered standard fare. I think he Tweeted about it and got a response back from one of his followers something on the order of, "Did you order off the secret menu?" THERE'S A SECRET MENU???
So needless to say, we went to In-n-Out Sunday night after the game. On the drive up there, we'd talked about the secret menu and other things related. They ended up in one queue and I ended up in the other. I did my standard order, "Cheeseburger, extra toasted bun, whole grill, fries and a medium drink." The server didn't bat an eye, although extra toasted buns and whole grill are not on the main menu. I know I've never seen whole grill on the secret menu. P.J. wanted something a little bit more "out there" so he ended up ordering fries "Animal Style." That's fries, with special sauce, grilled onions and cheese melted over the top. Delicious, but not really good for my waistline anymore, so I usually don't order it.
There server was very entertained by their order. You could tell they weren't regulars, because they stumbled over their order, but it was fun to watch. Regulars rarely stumble and if you click on the secret menu link I've posted, there are plenty of things that still aren't listed there, including the two I usually order.
Now, I think I want to go to In-n-Out and order a order of fries Animal Style and have them hold the special sauce just to see what they'd do. Cheese and grilled onions on fries sound good all by themselves.
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It's the penultimate day of this challenge and I can write about food, which works well for me. The title, however, is too restricting mainly because there's too many meals I've consumed over the course of my lifetime to just casually pick one thing.
I like food in general and this is one of the reasons I probably should be cutting back. Food likes me way too much, because it sticks around a lot longer than it should, although in the past year, I've been able to reduce the amount of food that hangs on to me, which is a good thing for my health.
I have to say though, that the one food I look forward to every year is my sister's cheesecakes. I don't know where she got started making cheesecakes, but it was a long time ago. They have become her staple item that she brings to our holiday meals. And it's not just one cheesecake but two different varieties. It gets to the point that when she asks what flavor I want, I just say, "Yes." This is unless she's decided to make a peanut butter cheesecake. Then the answer is always the other one, but that's a different story.
In reality, it actually helps that I know she's bringing cheesecake for dessert. I've learned how to moderate at Thanksgiving or Christmas, so I can always enjoy two pieces. Should she bring the dreaded peanut butter cheesecake, I know I can always have a slightly larger slice of the other one to compensate for the loss of that second slice that I would normally get. By the way, the one pictured is her pecan pie cheesecake. Yeah, it tastes just like a pecan pie, but in cheesecake form. It's just yummy.
I almost forgot about today's post, yet I'm actually posting earlier in the day than I normally do. I went on a hike this morning, got home and looked at my email and remembered that it was Monday, the first day of the third week of P.J.'s 20 days of Chill Writing challenge.
I will be the first to admit, that I'm not a connoisseur of stadium type food. Mainly because I'm pretty cheap when it comes to buying food from stadiums or amusement parks. If I can work around it, I probably will. Stadiums are easier since you're usually only there for a limited amount of time, so you can eat beforehand, or eat afterwards at places outside of the stadium/arena that are much more affordable than the Jacked up prices you'll find inside.
Amusement parks, on the other hand is an entirely different story since you're there all day and unless you want to go outside the park and get your food elsewhere, you're going to have to bite the bullet and pay the price. For a family of four, the price of meals at an amusement park is almost like buying another entrance ticket to the park.
But as I sit here thinking about publishing this, it comes to mind that I did buy a cheeseburger at AT&T Stadium last summer when I was there for my future son-in-law's last game as a single man. It wasn't so much the burger as it was the garlic fries that came with it. My daughter and my future son-in-law both said that I needed to get some garlic fries. Usually, when someone raves about something, the food doesn't live up to expectations. These did. I don't care how many people I offended with my garlic breath. These fries were that good.
Ten hotdogs? Seriously? The prompt is ten hotdogs? Or is it ten hot dogs? It does bring up an interesting question that has never really seriously been answered, which is why I think it's the prompt in the first place.
Why is it that most packages of hot dogs are 10, while the packages of buns are 8? I mean, to break even, you need 8 packs of hot dogs and 10 packs of buns so that you break even with the hot dog to bun ratio, but that's not really the end of your problems. Unless it's the 4th of July and the fireworks are bursting over head, you're going to lose some of those buns because there's going to be a build up of mold. Which means you need to buy more than 10 packs of buns.
Hot dogs on the other hand? Yeah, they're not going to go bad. Hot dogs are like McDonald's hamburgers. Leave them out for months and with all of the preservatives in them, they're still going to have nothing growing on them. Unless you buy Hebrew National hot dogs. Those might mold up after awhile.
Ah, the heck with it. Just open a can of chili, drop two hot dogs on an open bun, pour about a third of the can of chili over the top, the drop your favorite cheese on top of the chili. Heat and eat. Tomorrow, ride 10 miles on your bike, because it's going to feel like you ate 10 hot dogs by that time and you're probably good to go. But if you do that twice, then you'll have exactly the right number of buns left over for the rest of those hot dogs.
Except then, you'll have extra chili. OK. So instead of dropping a third of can, drop half a can. It's all good at this point.
