$4 BLT

Mmmm. I had this tasty BLT Saturday morning at the Farmers Market on Market Square. I wasn't planning on having breakfast but when I realized that I was slightly hungover and hungry but not wanting to have a sit-down meal I checked out the sidewalk food vendors. Cruze Farms caught my eye and I decided to grab a biscuit and go, but at the last second I changed my mind to have the BLT and I'm glad that I did. The ciabatta roll was an unexpected surprise and the large rashers of Benton's bacon were superb. Sitting on the curb eating my newly discovered favorite breakfast sandwich made my day, and that's saying something for 10 AM.

Mixed Bag - Random Shit

Well, well, whattya know? Somebody was able to cook a pizza and not burn the house down. And that somebody was ME! It wasn't too long ago that I came home after a night of boozing and decided to have a late night snack. They tried to warn me. Things didn't work out that evening but this time I managed to stay awake and remove the pie on time, cooked and seasoned to perfection. Suck it!!

Latitude 35 has been chugging along nicely since their grand opening. I've been several times for breakfast, lunch, dinner and just plain drinky-time. So far so good, though there have been a couple of hiccups you'd expect with a new establishment. Some have been unpreventable like when the AC units went out and it was a humid 85 degrees inside, or the 100 degree Sundown with Blues Traveller when an obese, unhealthy woman passed out on the patio right at the front door. Others small things like ambivalent service or poor sandwich construction will work themselves out over time. Behold the Cajun Shrimp Po'Boy (HL or MC's?):

and the Providence Brisket sandwich.

Both look and tasted delicious but damn were they a mess to eat. Another sandwich, the Waldorf Chicken (not pictured) wasn't so good IMO. Briefly: the chicken slab was at least 3" shorter than the baguette (chicken should be sliced) and the granny smith apples were too thick and bulky (I suggest a Julienne cut). But oh well, I ate the whole damn thing and sweet potato fries to boot.

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The 100 block of Gay Street is set to re-open with a ribbon cutting ceremony next Monday, July 19. It will be nice to see the new work they've done and much easier to drive or bike through that part of town. Just a week or two ago I was passing through and noticed a difficult step in front of Ollanty's Havana Nights:

Maybe if you got a running start you could make it in the front door. Hopefully they have repaired that by now. I've been there only a handful of times and can't say it is one of my favorite places but it always has friendly service and they have great happy hour prices so it is worth a try if you're looking for a change of pace downtown. Plus you can hide there and be certain that none of your friends will think to look for you there. (shit, not anymore).

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And finally here are some recent graffiti additions on the Wall St. side of 36 Market Square. Enjoy them while they last, according to the KNS Property Scope blog it appears the newly designed building will no longer have room for random shit painted everywhere.

The Mer-man? Mer-murder?

The Flying Vagina?

Lilo & Stitch reject?

Kegs

As with most of you, we've been enjoying our summer evenings and weekends by getting loaded. We've been bayoneting kegs like The Somme and at remarkable speed no less.

Back in the college days, most young men will eventually acquire a full set of keg materials. Usually, you can get the keg pretty easily. The basin or trash can, for reasons I will shortly explain, can easily be obtained although it should come last. The tap is where most of us dipshit collegians run into trouble, so for a while you have to pay the damn deposit at Pilot.

And it had to be Pilot, because back then the Cumberland locale was the primary keg arsenal for the UTK student. Upon retrospect, I do wish there were more options but there was a reassuring and remarkable simplicity to obtaining a keg on short notice. The big yellow Pilot trash cans represented the epitome of serious drinking street cred, if your kegger sported the obscene yellow and red bastards, you were at a professional party. Utterly bizarre hierarchy. Also, if you had a backup tap(hubris) you were not to be trifled with in any capacity. What kind of rat bastard psycho has that kind of walking around change at 22?

Over the years, my items were passed along to a younger generation...which was good and proper. It also helps that Mackey and HL have kegerators, so I am cheating. They at times seem beset with attractive keg options...what with our fine friends at Woodruff and Bearden Beer Market leading the way. Pilot abides, as ever. Krogers and some of the nicer Ingles supermarkets will sell kegs in some capacity, and we've even seen a quick trip to Wallyworld bear some fruit. With great keg, comes great responsibility so choose your primary provider carefully. I mean, at least as much scrutiny as one's physician, since you'll be needing a score of those(conjecture).

Recently, during our trip to the Thunder Nationals, we had to go back to a fuck ton of bottled and canned beer which brings the usual logistical concerns. How much do we need? Coolers necessary? Of course, we started with a figure-and then doubled it. We still felt uneasy with that seemingly insignificant sum, so we invoked boozer pincet, by which we also buffet that beer with well over a gallon of liquor.

Terrible, terrible things.

Since it was frowned upon to wheel a keg in the grandstands anyway, we took our estimate for cooler ice and doubled it.

Still woefully inadequate, it turned out. Fortunately enterprising locals saved our asses by driving the ice truck from campsite to campsite. We salute this man for his American character and spirit. His timely delivery allowed all eight cases to perish with honor. He and Mackey engaged in a 20 minute conversation for some reason.

So as we return to the free-flowing greatness that is keg beer, we think back to that fuzzy and vague weekend with great fondness. At least kegerators don't require some hoary Norse iceman to pull our nuts out of the fire.

Sweet!

As you know, we are big Maker's Mark consumers. We've consistently chosen this winner for about a decade now due to its fine taste, great lore and tradition, and it's potent punch. But first, here's a picture taken from our recent trip to the Thunder Nationals.

The pineapple is emphasized. You can gauge this hefty bastard as a handle. We clobbered it, of course.

I digress, and now I get to my point. We Maker's Ambassadors have been told for months now to expect a new product from those fine people and we are thrilled with the release of "46" with the first bottles being dipped literally days ago. While it might be a while yet before we can drink them off the shelves, rest assured we'll give a full update.

Heheheh

Goodbye Manhattan's

A downtown / Old City favorite closed its doors just as I was reacquainting myself (and liver) with one of the coolest places I’ve known during the time I’ve been in Knoxville. It’s last call for Manhattan’s. The place had a good run. It was a dependable standby for drinks though lean and good years. It was never trendy, obnoxious, or pretentious. It was a smoking bar. They served good food at decent prices. The bartenders were bar veterans and usually drunks who worked their job honorably out of passion and commitment, not as privileged assholes. And they poured a good drink.

Some Thoughts

Things have been quiet around here for a while. Not that we haven’t been doing our share of drinking. Hell, maybe we’ve been boozing even more than usual, thus the lack of posts. Here is a bit of what’s been going on.

Pool drinking – Our friend upgraded his backyard pool to include a tiki bar that has kept things interesting. A pool is always a fun summertime destination. Throw in a HDTV, homemade kegorater, stocked bar/freezer and you’ve got some drinking to do. Wasted days and wasted nights indeed, thank you Freddy Fender.

Heat – if the insufferable heat doesn’t send you to the watering hole I don’t know what will. I mean, damn, it’s been too hot to go patio drinking. But I’ve noticed they’ll serve you indoors all the same. If that doesn’t work for you just load of the fridge with cold beer and sit on your ass drinking. I do it all the time.

NHRA weekend – a few of us loaded up and went to Bristol for the drag races. It was a hell of a motor event that impressed on many levels. More impressive was the sport-drinking we displayed. I won’t cover the entire list, let’s just say several cases of beer and over a gallon of Maker’s and Stoli didn’t make the trip back. Also a few other observations about the race:

• Bloody bulls and marys are a good way to start any day



• Lots of moustaches around the race track


• An alarming amount of male nipple rings on display


• Lots of rebel flags


• The campground ice delivery truck was impressive


• Mrs. Owl made an appearance
  
• Drunk breakfast tastes just as good on the road


• Sometimes you have to make your own shorts in the stands (not us BTW)
  
  

World Cup – Eh. We’ve covered this before. None of us are soccer fans. Nil. There has been a small effort to keep up with the USA squad but not much. I’ve personally been able to drink during two of our three games so I feel pretty good about that. The next game is this Saturday afternoon and I’m pretty sure there will be some beer consumed then. Looking forward to facing off against the Black Stars on their own continent.

Edit - Mrs. Owl is fashionably late.