EVOL!

Well, I'm in a heap of trouble.

I'm a terrible liar, so only the truth ;)

I've been trying out old songs I wrote to see if they'll fly with my current drummer. And although I am not good enough to play any material but my own, I have been working up a rocking out version of Elliott Smith's Needle in the Hay. I am impressed by the little bits of color he puts into otherwise basic chords.

Not sure my tastes in Thai are that adventurous. My obsession is coconut milk curries in all forms and anything with basil. Ever had spicy duck basil or ground chicken basil? Today me and my wife had Thai for lunch at this new place and they had a green curry with chicken on the bone in it. Soooo good. Your sushi eating is making me jealous. The sushi I've had on the West coast is top notch. We have good stuff here, but we pay through the nose for it.

Heck yes!

I love Thai food. My wife had a Thai roommate at university and she taught her some of the lesser known techniques like using fish sauce for depth. We make ours with a ton of vegetables and seafood (baby octopus, shrimp, and mussels).

That looks so good. Coconut curries are a personal favorite of mine. I tend to load mine up with Thai basil leaves for that extra peppery kick.

This week my wife made chicken meatballs with mushroom gravy so we ate that with some sauerkraut and pierogies from a local shop. Living in Chicago with its large Polish population means outstanding pierogies.

You're ruining my lame attempt as humor. Last night was banh mi and spring rolls. Tonight is going to be whatever you can scrape together or what my grandfather called "must go", as it must go before it spoils.

A knuckle sandwich followed by a healthy slice of humble pie.

:( More than a few Korean places in Chicago have changed to BYOB and my guess is that they lost their liquor licenses serving minors. OK with me because I can bring my own brews. We tend to drink soju when we go to anju places. Its nickname is army stew since it is made with processed meats (Spam, smokey links/hotdogs, and bacon). The new trend is to add baked beans. Not high end food, but it is comfort food that will get you through cold winters.

Man, that looks so good! My mother in law makes galbi jihmm for jesa on New Years Day. The meat falls right off the bone. Great after a night of drinking. Last night we had my wife's homemade budae jungol since it is getting colder here.

Kalbi and nakji bo-kum?

This jam has been stuck in my head for the past two days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjYZToXuJaM

Michigan is a beautiful state with a lot of problems (which is why I left). My father was born and raised in Detroit well before the race riots of the sixties and my mom grew up in St. Clair Shores so I have a lot of ties to the Motor City. Breaks my heart because at one time it was the arsenal of democracy, the birth place of the automobile, Motown, The Stooges, MC5, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, hand tossed pizza, amazing Greek food, etc. The area I grew up in is picturesque since it is right on Lake Huron. Seeing a sunrise on the lake is a religious experience. If you are ever in that area I highly recommend stopping in Port Austin.

Ha, ha. Oddly, no. I'm from the thumb; about 70 miles North of Detroit.

I second what Rabs and rct said. To add to the travel question, we used to put our dogs in the equivalent of a doggie daycare where all of the dogs run around together and are not caged. All my dogs would do is sit together in the corner; meaning they were scared. Now we have a dog walker that comes to our place and take them out and feed them. It is so much better because the dogs get to stay in their own environment. One of our annual vacations is a trip to my home town in rural Michigan so the dogs go with us for that.

Love your doggies Guitar God. I have two Bostons at home too: one female we raised since she was a puppy and a male we rescued. The female is healthy as a horse, outside of being an excitement pee-r. The male has a lot of health issues. His allergies are under control now with Zyrtec and plant sterols, but he has bad knees (luxating patella). One was operated on when we got him and the other is starting to go. We don't think he'd survive a surgery since he's already gone through a round of heartworm treatment (that'll age a dog and put stress on their heart). My wife occasionally brings up that at some point in the next few years we may have to think about putting him down. Breaks my heart into a million pieces. When we got him, he wasn't socialized so it took a lot of training and patience to soften the old guy up. Now all he wants to do is sit on your lap and have his back scratched.

Your input is always a help and always welcome, brother. Free tacos! [thumbup] I forgot that this was the Friday of the month we get catered lunch so I had Lou Malnati's pizza. Then I chased that gut buster lunch with a beer, burger, and fries from Shake Shack for dinner. Blech. I'm 41, not a spry young man like you ;) Speaking of tacos, my favorite are tongue.

I know, which is why I am asking. We have a *huge* Mexican and Central American population in Chicago which means killer traditional tacos everywhere. We also have all of the Rick Bayless proteges doing their own killer take on tacos. That gives me the fish tacos from Habanero option. Flip side is that my wife does not like Lebanese food very much so I'm on my own when I want a falafel fix.

I am planning out my Friday lunch and wanted to solicit some suggestions: Schawarma and falafel or fish tacos?

My wife made salmon cakes and we ate that with oven roasted asparagus and other small things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9LY60XN_Xw

Goes well with his book, which I am in the process of reading. It's a thick one.

Right, but having it color coded and your curly brackets marked helps keep you honest. Perl can be the wild west.