No one is reading this blog, but I won't stop!

You know what was good, War and Peace and you know what's better? THIS BLOG Jerk-wad. Despite the reality that I am now writing to no one I will...Not...Stop! Why? I am very bored and find this entertaining (up to a point) More entertaining...?

(Dancing with Cats.)

In other news I will be spending the summer in Kansas City, KA which combined with Kansas City, MO is damn famous for BBQ, particularly beef brisket, don't know for sure I will have time to sample that or Stroud's famous fried chicken.

In recent developments I went to the Purple Pig in Chicago the other night with my Aunt who is a big fan, it was my second visit with her. It is a very good small plates restaurant, basically Mediterranean tapas. Everything here is simple and good and while not cheap  it is far from expensive especially given its Magnificent Mile location.  We had some really nice vegetable salads including fava beans with hard boiled egg and fried prosciutto. (I discovered in Guatemala fava beans are essentially the greatest food ever, wonderful earthy complicated flavor all on its lonesome) But a dish that really caught my attention that evening was an eggplant tapanada, chunks of marinated roasted eggplant with green olives, capers, and probably some other stuff in a vinaigrette served on toast pre spread with goat cheese. The contrast between the rich cheese and the acidity of the eggplant was not only really delicious but also really interesting.

Back in The USA!!!!

Back in the USA, Sing it now, back in the USA. MMM I can smell the apple pie. I can hear the band now.

So I've been back a couple weeks and update this blog occasionally if anyone still cares. Events that could provoke me blogging:

1. Eating BBQ

2. Getting Bored.

3. Eating something delicous

4. A Narcasistic apreciation for my own Cooking.

5. A Camera (B-day is July 15th)

6. Somehting exciting happens.

With this in mind you should know we stopped down at Dreamland BBQ in Alabama. It was quite an adventure. Dreamland is an Alabama instituition with several locations through out the state. We meant to stop in Montgemory but I had bad directions so we ended up having lunch at 3:30pm in the Birmingham location. This was fitting as it is the location I have visited on many rides through the state with my father and brother.

Now many, including my father belive dreamland has the best ribs (period). This was my first visit since Memphis which in retrospect lives up to its reputation as a serious BBQ meca. (time will tell if it is the best, I'm heading to Kansas City this summer). So the verdict:

As easily as people claim one rib is the best or pork but or whatever, I find it is often difficult to compare BBQ. The key to any good dish of any kind is a balance between diffrent flavors that leave the eater with a complex and satisifing experience, yet what those flavors or textures may be can be widely diffrent. For example what I loved so much about cozy Corner in memphis was the balance between the crispy texture, rich smoke flavor, the sauce, and then the subtle natural flavor of the pork itself. While I can say I prefer Cozy Corner, Dreamland has some great qualities that have a distinctly diffrent character.

Like I said Smoke, texture and spice were the Kings in Memphis, the main characters at Dreamland was the pig and the sauce. While not the best, these were the meatiest both in quantity anbd flavor of any rib. In Guatemala I noticed how much more flavorful pork was (though the beef was gross) and lamented the widely discussed blandness of American pork. These ribs were an exception they had a lot of that mellow bacony porkyness that is often overpowered by smoke in BBQ. At the same time smoke was definetly on the back burner for these ribs, the flavor was present but always in the background.

Now the Sauce at Dreamland is a perfect sauce for me. it's spicy, and by that I mean it has a bite, it's thin which I always prefer, tomato paste and corn syrup can go fu*k themselves when it comes to BBQ. The combo of the spicy thin sauce with the heavy meaty ribs defenitly elevates Dreamland beyond any average joint and surly has contributed to it's fame.

Though for the record I believe Hogly Wogly in St. petersburg is just as good despite not being famous.

P.P.S. Dreamland didn't used to have sides, just meat and potato chips. They should probably go back to this formula, the slaw was good but the mac n cheese was distinctly velveetaish.