My blogging efforts this year have been an effort to retake my posts from the Facebook Social Media Industrial Complex.
Food posts are a staple of my social media posts but it feels weird putting them here on the blog.
It’s not really any different from drinks posts, I guess? All of which is a long-winded way of saying, “look at these steaks”.
Fooling around with video shot from my phone in the car holder. I’m sure there is a non-youtube option for presenting the videos but I haven’t figured that out yet.
Mr. Submarine is one of these old-style Richmond sandwich shops that fell under the radar when we became a “foodie town”. The dedicated customers never left but it looks like a place that time forgot (and almost ran over judging by the mangled tables in front).
Some of the tennis guys were hyping this place, and I had never been, so I gave it a run for lunch.
I went with the Club Sub and the Chicken Parm. I didn’t toast the Club, which might have been a mistake. Both subs were plenty big. The fries were fine. I’ll re-run the Club next time but toasted and I’ll see how the Steak and Cheese is.
Surrounding Counties Specialty Coffee Explorers Club is a coffee and breakfast spot that just opened near our house. I am pleased at this development.
It was a big scoop of grits topped with pork, hominy tomato chow, jack, pickled onion, chives , and bbq drizzle. With a side of Sub Rosa toast it’s plenty of tasty food for $9.
We get a handful of these perfect weekends here in Richmond. Warm in the sun, cool in the shade, low-low humidity and a hint of a breeze.
Really delightful.
We took the opportunity to try eating at a restaurant patio and came away relieved. 6’-10’ between tables, all staff masked up, and minimal shared surfaces (glasses and flatware and whatnot).
This kind of thing is only possible when the weather’s nice so I’m glad we got it in before things get gray.
The Solid Sundays keep on rolling.
Last weekend I competed in the 2020 RVA Open, a weightlifting meet here in town. I was trying to get a competition total of 179kg, which would qualify me for competition at the 2020 American Open Series, which starts in March at The Arnold. I went a couple of years ago and it was a good time.
Here’s my last lift of the RVA Open:
This 105kg clean and jerk was a PR for me and secured a meet total of 183kg, more than enough to qualify for the Arnold.
As always, I have to give tremendous credit to my coaches, Chris and Maddie from The Weight Room (the best gym in RVA).
I copped this sweet medal:
Got a photo with these class gentlemen from my session:
And then rolled over to Banditos for food and cold ones with my family:
Like I said, solid.
I went with a Man O’ War cocktail for last night’s podcast recording.
4 ounces good-quality bourbon or your favorite rye whiskey
2 ounces Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
Brandied cherries or lemon peel for garnish
This recipe makes two cocktails. Everything in a shaker and strained into a rocks glass. The tart/sweet balance is well done. I would have this again.
I’ve been a member at The Weight Room for over 5 years now. It’s been a great place for me because I like the lifting, but more than that, I like the people and community. I’m making a concerted effort to try to hang with those people in a social way when the opportunity arises.
So I sure as hell wasn’t going to pass on a Friendsmas with this guy.
I bought a sourdough starter this month and I’m trying different things with the loaves. High on my list was a Shooter’s Sandwich. I’d made one before but it looks like that was before this install of WordPress, so I can’t link the post. I really do need to go get the old Movable Type posts and get them imported here (or somewhere).
I’m calling this iteration of the Sandwich “half-assed” because I didn’t grill up some steaks or sautee a bunch of mushrooms and onions for it. I used some leftover pot roast, American cheese and roasted turkey from the deli counter, and a few generous spoonfuls of muffuletta olive spread. It should be a fine sandwich, even if it’s not up to the Edwardian original.
It’s a precarious stack, but you really do need a lot of pressure to get things good and squished.
I wasn’t kidding about the precariousness and I was punished for my hubris. This scared the crap out of us when it toppled. The dumbbell hit the table, rolled off, and then hit the floor and rolled some more. It was a near-disaster.
First cut seems to suggest that the squishing was successful. The real test will be at lunch. My only real concern is about whether or not I should have gotten some mayo or mustard in there.
I was right, this one needed some mayo. Partly because the loaf was a few days too old, and partly because the muffuletta spread didn’t bring enough oil to the sandwich.
I can make this again, better. I still want to be able to do it with just cold cuts, which means a solid mayo application with a healthy dose of spicy brown mustard. I bet it would work as a club, with turkey and bacon and ham. Once I get the cold cut version down, I’ll take another swing with some steaks.
