Michigan Misadventures, Madness, & Merriment, Part 1

Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Well, Kimberly and I were supposed to to leave for a ten-day trip to Michigan early this morning — Greensboro to Midland/Bay City/Saginaw Airport by way of Detroit — but during the night, we received an alert that our outbound flight was delayed long enough that we'd miss our connection to MBS. Our only option was to book a 7:00 p.m. flight out of Greensboro and arrive at MBS around 10:30 p.m. Thus, we went for it... but this flight, too, ended up delayed, so guess what? No Michigan trip for us on this day. We rescheduled yet again, this time for tomorrow — the 6 a.m. flight out of Greensboro, which meant getting up at 3:15 a.m. Then, of course, just before bedtime, Delta Airlines notified us that the 6 a.m. flight to Detroit was delayed an hour.

So... will we make it tomorrow? Who the fook knows?

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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Given our flight delay, instead of getting up at 3:15 a.m., we slept in late (4:15 a.m.) and hit the highway for GSO. We arrived on time, checked in, and... wait, what?! Our plane has no crew? Correct. We have no crew. So, for most of an hour, we're waiting for word on whether we'll actually get airborne sometime today.

Finally, the pilot and co-pilot stumbled in off the street and mounted up. They managed to get the engines going, but we didn't go wheels up until well after 8:00 a.m. Our schedule originally called for a two-hour layover in Detroit, so, given the extended delays, the chances of making our connection now — again — appeared slim. However, to their credit, the pilots made up incredible time in the air because, upon landing in Detroit, we deplaned, made a beeline to our gate, and somehow ended up with a few minutes to spare before boarding. Thankfully, the DTW to MBS flight went off without a hitch, and Ms. B.'s friend Darren very kindly came to pick us up and transport us to her folks' place.Yay! Thank you, Darren!

 

We spent some quality time with Del & Fern, who've both been through the ringers, health-wise. Then, after a wee bite of lunch, Ms. B. went to take to a nap, and I wandered down to find a fun, relatively new geocache in the neighborhood.

 

Once Kimberly was out of bed, we hied ourselves over to Meijer for provisions (always a necessity upon our arriving in Midland) and stopped for a geocache on the way (also a necessity upon arriving in Midland).

 

I discovered that we are (thankfully) missing out on some serious storms back home. A friend just posted the photo below from our neighborhood. They live at the end of a cul-de-sac, so they won't be going anywhere until that big honking tree is removed. I'm hoping the many monster trees that surround our house continue to hold out.

After showering and washing off the vestiges of airplanes, airports, and big box stores, Ms. B. and I drove into downtown Midland, grabbed a couple of geocaches, and killed some vittles at Beatniks. It's a relatively new restaurant she'd visited on a previous visit or two, but this was my first time. We sat at their nice outdoor terrace, and I quite enjoyed the atmosphere and dinner— banh mi buns and an excellent gin martini for me and veal & beef meatballs and a nice chardonnay for Ms. B. We wandered around downtown for a spell and stopped in for a final drink at Gratzi, a reasonably upscale Italian restaurant we've enjoyed a handful of times, though this time just for spirits.

 

Since this was our first night in Midland, we wanted to spend most of the evening with Del & Fern, so once back at Casa di Brugger, we settled ourselves in the downstairs family room, which is a long-time tradition with the folks, and enjoyed each other's company until it was time to retire. Since we'd started our day well before dawn, I'm surprised Kimberly and I lasted as long as we did. It's been over a year since I've been here, though now that I'm back, it feels like no time at all.

I had some coffee early in the evening, but it was obviously broken because I'm told I started snoring. So, I reckon we'll be hard at it again tomorrow. G'night, all.

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Thursday, July 23, 2026

I woke up to a pleasant chill in the air, rather than the disgusting, tropical humidity that has become the standard summertime environment back home. There are indeed times that Michigan's general climate suits me far better, but then... oh, my lord... here comes winter. Hoo dogs! Maybe it is not my environment...

 

Still, it was a beautiful morning for going out geocaching. After a light breakfast and plenty of coffee, I set out on Del's old bicycle for Stratford Woods Park, a couple of miles down the road. A good many newer caches had been placed there since my last trip to Midland, although even those now date back a ways. I ended up going bust on a couple of the hunts, leading me to believe those containers have gone missing. Happily, I found several others, a couple of which were tricky. Although it did get warm and fairly humid out there, It wasn't like trying to breathe the mayonnaise as it is back home, and I didn't suffer any assaults by mosquitoes. Now, here's a thing: Michigan mosquitoes may be the meanest, rotten, bitingest little fuckers I've ever encountered anywhere... well, except for maybe Venice, Italy. But Midland is the only location where I've had to give up on a geocaching outing due to mosquitoes.Thankfully, not today.

Well, damnation. I'd had a (very mild) migraine yesterday during our flight up, and wouldn't you know it, here comes another one. At least this one was no worse than yesterday's, so I was able to continue caching without undue difficulty or pain (sometimes my headaches can turn pretty monstrous). After returning to la casa, I still needed about 3,000 steps to meet my daily goal, as my phone doesn't count pedaling the bike. So, I went out and ran around the neighborhood, much like I do at home, although it's considerably easier here because the terrain is mostly flat.

 

Mid-afternoon, I started cooking tonight's dinner: a hamburger soup loosely based on a recipe from Drew Cooks, which I follow religiously. Drew is funny as hell, and some of the recipes I've tried have turned out to be dynamite. Not necessarily healthy, but delicious. I always customize, improvise, or otherwise fuck around with every recipe that I attempt, and we always enjoy what I cook. It's my custom to provide at least a dinner or two for the family when we're here, and I think there will also be some Italian goodies in the works on this trip.

 

The soup turned out fantastic, by the way. It's like a delicious hamburger in a bowl.

After dinner, Kimberly and I went out and about for a bit, first to Clock & Candle Brewatorium, a relatively new establishment with a cool selection of their unique brews. I tried their Bag o' Beans Coffee Brown, which is brewed with the coffee made by Live Oak Coffeehouse here in Midland, which we love. Twas good. Then we shifted over to nearby Nord Social, which, I must say, played the best mellow, evocative techno music I may have ever heard. It was beautiful. Now, I understand that on some nights, it gets so crowded and loud that you can't hear yourself think. That's definitely not my thing, so I'm glad the noise level was tolerable. Ms. B. has been going through a hell of a tough time dealing with her folks' health situations for quite a while now, so she and I spent quite a while talking about her life in Midland, friends, current experiences, joys, stressors, etc. We've been together for roughly sixteen years, yet this turned out to be some of the most meaningful sharing of history and feelings between us, well, ever. This meant the world to me, and I think to her as well.

 

Tomorrow looks busy. I sleep now.

At Clock & Candle Brewatorium

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Friday, July 24, 2026

I woke up pretty early, had a quick breakfast, ran three miles around the neighborhood, and cleaned out some gutters for Del. Then Kimberly and I went in search of new phones because our current ones are going on seven years old and have been sputtering along for a while now. We'd bought them just before we went on our first Europe trip in 2019, so these critters feel like they're almost as old as we are. Kimberly had gotten her dad's new phone at the Walmartz on her previous trip here and was impressed by the gentleman who'd helped them. Happily, he was on hand again to help us. Indeed, he set us up with the best deals we could get, and now we now have new phones (which are in the process of updating as I write). I hope the new ones hold out at least as long as the old buggers. We shall see...

 

There — I took a photo of me with the new phone camera. Somehow, I think the old one picked up less of the ugly. 

 

It took a couple of hours to get the phones purchased and set up, so by the time all was said and done, the Great Starvation had gripped us. Lunch at Molasses sounded good, so that's where we headed — after stopping for me to grab a quick geocache. Molasses has long been my favorite BBQ joint anywhere... seriously, yes, in Michigan... and the foodz today was first rate, as always.

Since we've been out and about very evening since our arrival, Ms. B. and I opted stay home with Del & Fern, help them watch television; futz around with the settings, apps, and updates on our phones; and other such business. Till laters!

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Saturday, July 25, 2026

Up pretty early again today. Light breakfast, coffee, and then out to Stratford Woods Park again for some more woodland geocaching. The temperature was perfect — mid 70s with low humidity — and I found three fun hides. Then I rode a short distance over to what is apparently a popular local fishing spot called Three Ponds (maybe because there are three ponds here) to hunt a cache called "Fishing for a Cache" (GCBE9TX). This one was pretty challenging because it resides on a very steep bank close to the water's edge, and you really don't want want to lose your footing here, especially when you have a brand new phone in your pocket. Fortunately, I maintained my balance and happened to spy the cache in fairly short order (you can see it in the photo at left). A fun outing all around.

Kimberly and I had entertained the idea of getting pasties for lunch at Midland Pasty Company, but dang if they weren't closed today. If you don't know about pasties, well, by Yog, you oughta. And maybe watch Jeff Daniels' screamingly funny Escanaba in da Moonlight (2001). We ended up grabbing chicken from Popeye's, about which I have not one complaint. I love me some Popeye's chicken, and I got the wings with ghost pepper rub. Not as hot as all that, but delicious nonetheless.

A carpet of ferns in Stratford Woods Park

Big turtle, baby Gamera, or geocache?

View of the pond from "Fishing for a Cache"

Ms. B. spent a good portion of the afternoon working, running errands with her mom, and going shopping with friend Darren, so I devoted myself to working on the blog and some new fiction. Once she returned, I cooked up a couple of killer burgers and mixed vegetables for dinner. We then made ourselves almost presentable and ventured out to Oxygen, where I found a fookin' fine dirty gin martini. Then we wandered back to Nord Social, which we'd visited a couple of evenings ago. Here, they have this thing they call the Botanic Martini. I'm not sure it's really a martini, but it's certainly botanical, and it's one of the most distinctive, spicy libations ever to burn my lips. To say I fookin' love it is an understatement so grotesque it's like saying Kimberly is just kinda purty. Here's the description at the top of the menu:

At last, it was back to Casa di Brugger to spend a nice evening hanging out with Del & Fern. In the morning, we'll be off to the next phase of this particular Michigan Madness. And so, friends, till then.

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Sunday, July 26, 2026

It wasn't planned (not by a long shot), but I woke up very early, and so decided to tumble out of bed and get going. Coffee (lots), breakfast (a little), running (fast and hard), and then packing. Yep, one of the primary reasons for the timing of this trip — in addition to helping Kimberly's parents out at every turn — was to meet longtime friends and geocaching partners Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) & Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda) from Greensboro in Traverse City, MI, and take a boat trip out to Power Island in Grand Traverse Bay (in the southeastern arm of Lake Michigan) to hunt Michigan's oldest geocache, "Power Island" (GC35). They've been devising this plan for a while, and since Kimberly and I knew we'd need to come to Michigan around this time, the plans to meet up here wove together beautifully.

 

The only complication now is that there are potentially severe storms in tomorrow's forecast. We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

 

Anyway, Brugger and I left Midland at 11:00 a.m. sharp for a roughly three-hour drive to Traverse City. We stopped in Clare for lunch at Mancino's, listened to a lot of 80s music as we drove, grabbed a few caches, and arrived at our lodgings (The Vic Hotel) around 2:00 p.m. It's a cool place, very comfortable, with all the necessary amenities and more. Once we'd settled in, we decided to make our way around the town and see what we could see. The first place we found was Left Foot Charley Wine & Hard Cider, a few miles to the west, which frankly surprised us with its high quality. This corner of Michigan has long been known for its Reisling wines, but we discovered some utterly delicious reds and other whites here as well. Their Blaufrankisch stood out as particularly good.

 

From there, we ventured over to Rove Winery, a few more miles out of town, which might have been even better. Here, the tasting room and environs offered a lovely, panoramic view of the surrounding countryside, which struck us as rather akin to our region back home (Virginia's Piedmont). Their TrÍ red wine made me even happier than a slap in the belly with a wet trout. Make no mistake, wine-wise, we're not talking Europe, California, or Pacific Northwest, but compared to the up-and-coming wine regions of North Carolina and Virginia, these vintages more than held their own. They actually put the North Carolina stuff to shame (admittedly, not a huge compliment).

 

By now, we needed some solid vittles, so we found a lovely dinner at Harrington's by the Bay, which fulfilled all our cravings except for those of the economic variety. Hoooey, shit is expensive around here. After that, I found a couple of more caches, and then we settled in at The Vic to mellow out. Tomorrow promises to be a big day... I just hope the weather doesn't deal us any nasty blows.

 

Till then.

View of the countryside from Rove Winery

Oh, look. They have wine glasses in their hands. Go figure.

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Go to "Michigan Misadventures, Madness, & Merriment, Part 2"

A Storm-Defying Cookout — HA!

Old Dude, Samaire, Bob, Brugger, & Yvonne

For at least the past month, our southern Virginia weather has been fucking insane. For most of my life, this has been a temperate area, rarely suffering extreme weather, but now it's absolutely tropical. 100% humidity and in the mid- to high-90°F range every morning, and powerful, oftentimes damaging storms later in the afternoon/evening. Rinse and repeat (literally) every single day. It's never been like this here in my lifetime, and though there's naught one can do about the weather (especially since the Orange Fuckturd has basically declared climate change a hoax), I'm absolutely over it. It's wreaking havoc on our house, and the constant, excessive water is eroding away all the topsoil, particularly around the trees that surround our lot (any one of which might take us out if it falls — and a lot of trees have fallen in the neighborhood in the past few weeks). Not to mention there have been several record-level, damaging floods in this region (though at least they haven't reached scale of the recent Texas disaster, which killed people and ruined livelihoods).

 

So, when friend, fellow writer, and publisher of Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Samaire Wynne, invited Brugger and me, as well as friends Bob & Yvonne, to an afternoon cookout at her place, we all wondered whether the weather would simply up and squash our plans. But we nonetheless decided to proceed, and — despite the weather's earnest efforts — we had a hell of a fine, fun gathering. Yep, it dumped rain, and it hit us with thunder and lightning, but we persevered. Samaire had a large stand-up canopy that we braced to keep the wind from sweeping it away, and, fortunately, it kept us — and our feast — safe from the rain and generally comfy (excepting, of course, the 90°F temps and 100% humidity). We had some fabulous burgers, chicken skewers, egg salad, pasta salad, drinks aplenty, and other goodies. It felt like a much-needed balm for the raw nerves we've all felt over the past days, weeks, and months.

 

It's going to be a busy week, with some serious home repair/maintenance to do as well as a fuck-ton of writing (I've got two novels in the works as we speak). I hope we don't get washed away or flattened before this most unloved season is over and done with.

Another Milestone on That Long, Winding Road to Last Day

YESTERDAY: Another birthday, another day closer to death, blah-blah-blah. This is my first month on Medicare, so that's how many of these milestones I've passed on the long and winding road. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for every second that I still inhabit this planet; milestones just don't seem to mean what they used to. The main reason I even remembered this one was because I needed to make sure I changed all my old medical insurance information over to the new.

It was a mellow birthday, to be sure. I began the day with my usual long walk around the neighborhood. I've managed to put in at least three miles a day without missing a single one since early January, and, before that, missed days were few and far between. It's definitely made a difference in my physical strength and stamina, and, given the abundance of steep hills in this area, I expect the cardiac workout has been good for keeping the ticker on a healthy track. I could probably stand to focus on a more healthful diet, but at the same time, it could be lot worse. I've got a regular physical checkup coming up soon, so I'm hoping my doctor will give me a smile rather than a frown.

Ms. Brugger made me one of her classic birthday cards (see above) and, come dinnertime, treated me to one of my favorite desserts ever — a mascarpone and Irish cream whipped dessert with bitter cherries, a recipe she got from our friend Yvonne. I was craving Thai chicken & basil for dinner, and since it's one of my mostest favoritest things to make, I up and fixed it myself. Next week, it's Brugger's birthday, so we're going to have a fancier dinner outing tomorrow evening as sort of a joint celebration.

We've been on a WWII movie kick lately, so for our evening theatrical feature, we put on Tora, Tora, Tora, which she hadn't seen, and it's one of my favorite films. The Blu-ray has the extended Japanese cut on it, so we watched that version, which I think I prefer. That carried us pretty late in the evening, so before bedtime, I finished listening to the audiobook of Gateways by F. Paul Wilson, as I've been on a Repairman Jack binge lately. Paul has had some serious health issues, but I heard from him the other day, and it sounds like he's on the upswing. I very much hope so.

I received a ton of very nice birthday wishes from friends both online and in person, and every last one is deeply appreciated. Perhaps I can continue plaguing you with my existence for a long time to come. (Evil laughter...)

Laters, all!

My infamous Thermonuclear Thai Chicken with Basil

Ms. B.'s mascarpone & Irish cream with bitter cherries. Heavenly!

It's Just Overkill

After my morning walk, I planned to spend the rest of the day writing. I ended up taking a much longer walk than usual, and when I got home, it was lunchtime. So, I decided to build a fire in the fire pit and cook a couple of hot dogs for lunch. They were yummy. But while out there, I realized the yard needed some serious work, and... before I knew what had happened... I found myself doing serious yard work.

After that, my arms fell off, but I've still gotta write. I hope my laptop takes good dictation.

There Is Fire Where You're Going

Last night, friends Joe & Suzy hosted a chili cook-off with a bunch of folks, complete with awards for numerous recipe superlatives. Ten variations, with a wide range of ingredients, flavors, and spices. It may come as no surprise to most who know my tastes that I took the award for the deadliest heat (see the trophy at left).

I had cooked up a sizable batch of chili a few weeks ago and froze the leftover, which was almost a full pot in itself. The heat for this batch proved damned near inedible for some, and while I enjoyed its very rich, full flavor as much as any I've ever made, the fire was almost too much for me to handle. That, my friends, is some pretty special fire.

I rarely use a set recipe for my dishes — I tend to start throwing stuff together and see where it leads. Almost without exception, this method has led me to some fantastic dinners, the obvious problem being that reproducing it reliably is usually out of the question. Regardless, here's a recipe that I'd say comes about as close as possible to this most deliciously painful concoction.

Damned Rodan's Nuclear Fusion Chili

What You Need (serves four):

• 1 lb of ground Angus beef

• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped

• 16 oz. can mixed chili beans

• 10 oz. can diced tomatoes with habanero peppers (I use Ro-Tel brand)

• 2/3 cup Clamato juice 

• 7 oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I use La Costeña)

• 6 oz. can tomato paste

• 1.5 oz. packet of chili seasoning powder (I use McCormick)

• tbsp chili powder

• tbsp cumin

• 2 habanero peppers, chopped fine

• juice and zest of 1 lime

For topping:

• green onions, chopped

• cilantro, chopped

• grated pepper jack cheese

What You Do:

1)  Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain the excess grease.

2)  Move ground beef to large soup pot. Add onion, chili beans (drained or undrained, depending on personal preference), Clamato juice, tomato paste, chili seasoning powder, chili powder, and cumin. Cook on medium for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.

3)  Add diced tomatoes, chipotle peppers/adobo sauce, chopped habaneros, lime juice & zest. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

4)  Serve with your choice of toppings.

5)  Break out the fire extinguisher.

Damned Rodan’s Fiery Thai Beef with Basil

It’s recipe time. I frequently make a Thai dish or two that generally turns out acceptable in the extreme. Granted, my Thai cooking is quite simple, but the results are always satisfying. Here is a rough outline; I always tweak it a bit based on ingredients — and time — I have on hand. The amounts are approximate; all can be adjusted to taste.

Damned Rodan’s Fiery Thai Beef with Basil
What You Need (serves two): 

2 eight-oz. Angus beef steaks, thick cut

1 cup jasmine rice

1/2 cup white onion, chopped

1/2 cup green onion, diced

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

2 hot chili peppers, sliced

2 tbsp hot chili oil to marinate; 2 tbsp to cook

1 tsp butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder (or, if you’ve time and inclination, roast your garlic cloves)

For sauce:

1/3 cup chili garlic sauce

1/3 cup fish sauce

2 hot chili peppers, sliced

juice from 2 limes

1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar

Prep:
For best results, marinate the beef in hot chili oil, garlic, and a portion of the sauce for an hour or so before cooking. Save the rest of the sauce either for dipping or to pour on individual portions. Make sauce by combining chili garlic sauce, fish sauce, 2 of the hot chili peppers, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, and brown sugar. Stir together thoroughly. Combine basil and green onions in a separate bowl. Cook the rice prior or during beef prep.

What You Do:

1. Pour hot chili oil into a skillet (preferably wok or cast iron). Heat to medium high.
2. Place beef in skillet. Sear both sides of the beef — three to four minutes per side. After the first turn, drop the butter into the skillet and add the lime juice, chopped onions, and sliced chili peppers. Note: Your eyes will burn.
3. When the beef is seared, reduce heat to low. Remove beef from skillet and cut into slivers, against the grain. Place slivered beef back into skillet and cook on medium low to — preferably — no more than medium rare.
4. Spoon beef, peppers, onions, and reduced sauce onto rice. If you wish, add additional sauce. Top with basil and green onions.
5. Partake of the goodies and scream in agonized ecstasy.

Pleasant Hill Christmas

Thursday, December 24, 2020
Last Christmas was the first I had ever spent without my mom being present. In the fall of 2019, she moved to a nursing home, so Kim and I made for ourselves a mellow Christmas at the old homestead in Martinsville — “Pleasant Hill,” as Mom loved to call it (see “Damned Rodan’s Christmas Special, December 25, 2019”). Now that Mom is no longer with us, Kim and I are once again celebrating Christmas at Pleasant Hill, just the two of us. In some ways, I feel Mom’s presence now more than when she was still alive but debilitated. Over a period of years, as dementia took an increasing toll on her memory, her identity, gathering as a family became more and more emotionally difficult, especially at holidays. Now that she is at rest, I find that I feel closer to her (as well as to my dad) because time and distance have somewhat dulled the pain of experiencing her physical and mental deterioration at close range for such a long time.

This afternoon, Kim and I got off work at lunchtime, so we opted to see if we might be able to continue one of our longstanding Christmas Eve traditions: visiting Grove Winery on our way to Martinsville. Happily, the winery was open, and — even more happily, at least for us — the few patrons on the premises were soon to leave, giving us plenty of space to ourselves out on the extensive patio. We enjoyed a tasting and a glass each of their wonderful Nebbiolo. We then hit the road for the old homestead.

We had hoped to spend a nice evening outdoors in the company of our friends Stephen & Samaire, but inclement weather forced us to postpone the gathering. None of us are comfortable spending any length of time together indoors, so we’ll be hoping for better circumstances in the near future. Failing Plan A, our Plan B was to cook up a pot of chili (which we did); make some mulled wine (which we also did); bake a pumpkin pie (done); wrap presents and place them under the tree (done); and watch our traditional Christmas Eve movies, A Christmas Story and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (done and done). As it turned out, we had so much to do, trying to also fit in a social gathering would have kept us up even later than it is (currently 2:00 AM). Now that I’ve managed to crank out this portion of a blog entry, I think I will retire for the night. What’s left of it. Until later....

Ms. B. and Old Scrooge enjoying a windy afternoon at Grove Winery

Friday, December 25, 2020
For the past decade and some change, there has generally been geocaching on Christmas Day. Over the years, though, I have cached out such a radius that no caches remain for me to hunt in reasonably close range. But this weekend — and the upcoming week, since I am off work — may offer some decent geocaching opportunities. Here’s hoping.

Since it was a very late (or very early) Christmas Eve for Ms. B. and me, we slept far in excess of our normal hours this morning. Well, I did, anyway; sleeping late tends to be Ms. B.’s typical M.O. We opened our gifts — a wonderful haul! — and enjoyed some mighty fine apple fritters for breakfast. Coffee. Coffee! COFFEE! COFFEE!! I need more....

Then, right as we sat down to an excellent dinner... boom! Migraine. I’ve had far fewer of these damned things this past year than any out of the past eight or so, but the timing for this one sure sucked. Fortunately, the headache turned out to be relatively mild.

Upon arrival back home in Greensboro, I discovered what might be a troubling issue regarding Mom’s estate. But maybe not. I hope to have it sorted out shortly.

And so, I figure it’ll be a quiet evening but a busy week coming up, with quite a few activities on the docket, some fun, some less so.

I hope you’re having a fine time of it, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. G’day and g’night.

Dad is home. Woopee.

Damned Rodan's Buffalo Scorpion Wings

What You Need (for ten pieces):
For sauce:

• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup hot sauce (Frank's, Texas Pete, Tabasco, etc.)
• 1/4 to 3/4 tsp scorpion pepper sauce (Tropical Pepper Co.'s is good, though not as hot as some; adjust amount to desired heat level)

For chicken:

• 10 wing pieces (I prefer all drummies to flats)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp lemon pepper

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 250°. While waiting, thoroughly mix the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
2. Drizzle the wings with the olive oil and rub to coat evenly. Pour the flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and lemon pepper into a lunch-size paper bag. Dump the wings into the bag, close securely, and shake vigorously until the wings are evenly coated.
3. Place a wire rack in your baking tray and give it a good shot of cooking spray. Arrange the wings on the rack so air will circulate beneath the chicken. Bake at 250° for 30 minutes.
4. Crank up the oven temperature to 450° and bake for 40 minutes. You may want to turn the wings about halfway through. These will be good and crispy.
5. Just before the wings are done, pour the sauce into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then drop each wing piece into the boiling sauce (two or three at a time is okay) for about a minute, turning with tongs every few seconds. Boiling the sauce allows the sugar in the honey to bond the sauce to the wings.
6. Place the dead bird on a plate, devour, and holler.

Damned Rodan's FIERY Vindaloo

And here's another recipe — by request, actually. I've been fond of Indian food since I first tried Lamb Vindaloo somewhere or another, many, many years ago. Like most dishes I enjoy, I just have to try my hand at making it, and, like virtually all of these, I always wing it and hope for the best. For this dish, I start with mostly commercial ingredients but doctor up the works until it's deadly. Also, as with everything I cook, this recipe is little more than a loose guide; I inevitably vary things wildly each time I make a particular dish.

DAMNED RODAN'S FIERY VINDALOO (serves 3–4)
What You Need:
1 lb. lamb or chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (ground also works well enough,
    though I prefer the texture of the cut meat)
1 cup saffron or jasmine rice (makes about 3 cups, cooked)
3/4 cup chopped onion (I like to use green onions or shallots)
10-oz. can Ro-tel (Hot) diced tomatoes with habaneros
10-oz. jar Patak (or other brand) Vindaloo sauce
1/4 cup Patak (or other brand) concentrated hot curry paste
2–3 tbsp. curry powder
2 tbsp. hot chili oil
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. white sugar
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. lime juice
4–6 hot peppers (serrano, ghost, or tabasco are my favorites), chopped very fine
large bowl of fresh spinach leaves

What You Do:
In a wok or large skillet, heat the chili oil at high temperature. When the oil is hot, add the meat; after about a minute, turn temperature down to medium-high. Pour in the vinegar and add curry powder, cumin, sugar, garlic powder, ginger, and lime juice as the meat is cooking. Stir frequently. Once it's close to cooked through, add the Vindaloo sauce, hot curry paste, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and about half the spinach (place the rest on individual plates to make a bed for the rice). Continue to stir frequently. After five minutes or so, turn heat to low and let simmer, covered, for 30–45 minutes.

This is a good time to prepare your rice. Once it's done, spoon the rice onto your beds of spinach leaves and serve the Vindaloo atop the rice. Now, you do have a perfectly edible Vindaloo dish, or reasonable facsimile thereof, but it's not really good until the following day, when the ingredients have had more time to get acquainted. If I'm using lamb and feeling particularly smart, I'll marinate it the night before in rice vinegar, soy sauce, and just a splash of lime juice. (I rarely think that far ahead.)

I can't guarantee this will meet the expectations of your friendly neighborhood chef at the Indian restaurant down the street, but for Ms. B. and me, this stuff is just the ticket when the Indian craving comes a calling.

Damned Rodan's Ribs of Fire

Back when I was a fry cook at Shoney's — 1978–1979, there or about — I never would have imagined I might actually derive pleasure from cooking. Somewhere along the line, though, I took a liking to preparing simple but satisfying dinners for me and the occasional guest. Grilling up dead animal has always provided some measure of satisfaction, largely because my dad, when I was a kid, cooked mighty mean steaks and spare ribs, and it was a rare dish that could compete with them. His barbecued beef ribs in particular used to send me swooning, and it was only recently that my attempts to replicate them found even the smallest measure of success. My means to this end, however, could hardly be more different.

A while back, I was listening to The Splendid Table on NPR — a hopelessly stuffy and dry show, though nonetheless occasionally informative — and one of the segments highlighted a particular chicken joint where, after frying their bird, they dipped it in boiling barbecue sauce. Something about this process fascinated me, so I decided to give the same thing a try with my beef ribs. What a joyful decision this proved to be!

Needless to say, being an aficionado of the supremely hot, I doctor up the critter something fierce. Here's how I do it, in case you'd like to try. Note that the ingredients vary a bit, based on what I have floating around in my fridge and spice cabinets. I quite prefer charcoal to gas grilling.

DAMNED RODAN'S RIBS OF FIRE (serves 1–2)
What You Need:
4–6 beef short ribs
approximately 2 cups fiery barbecue sauce (see below for ingredients)
garlic powder
salt & pepper

The Sauce:
The exact recipe varies from occasion to occasion, but the hot stuff is always prevalent. Measures are approximate, to say the least.
1 cup basic barbecue sauce (I prefer hickory or honey flavor)
1/2 cup A-1 steak sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp hot sauce (favorites include Blair's After Death, Iguana XXX habanero pepper sauce, Krakatoa hot sauce)
1–2 minced hot peppers (ghost pepper, habanero, serrano are favorites)

What You Do:
Mix the ingredients for the sauce thoroughly. Liberally dash garlic powder, salt, and pepper on the ribs (this is the only preparation I do prior to putting them on the grill). Once the grill is ready, place the ribs on the coolest part of the surface. Turn frequently, keeping the smallest ribs farthest from the most direct heat. Just before they're ready to come off the grill — about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on their size — I put them all in the hot center for a few minutes to let the outside get crispy.

Shortly before removing the ribs from the grill, start the sauce boiling at very high temperature. Once it's bubbling furiously, dip each rib in the sauce for about one minute, so that each is nicely glazed.

Serve immediately. A cold beverage goes exceedingly well with these — though, when I'm feeling masochistic, I've been known to accompany them with a Damned Rodan's Dirty Firetini.

Try 'em... you'll like 'em.

Manhattan Mayhem

An early morning moon over Lake Anna, VA, viewed from 25,000 ft.

It's been a long while since I've spent some quality time with the young 'un, so early Friday morning, long before dawn reared its sleepy head, it was off to the Greensboro airport to catch a plane for New York City (via Washington-Dulles). A couple of relatively brief hops later, I was on the ground at La Guardia, where I soon met Allison, though not without a wee bit of confusion. Note to kid: passengers on United Airlines usually disembark at the United Terminal. We cabbed it back to her Manhattan apartment, where she introduced me to my grandcat, Sutton, and promptly put on some episodes of Dexter, a show I've never seen, and made me watch them. Sometime later, I discovered I was completely hooked. For the rest of the long weekend, Dexter was playing constantly anytime we were not out and about. Then the nefarious child got me playing Angry Birds on her iPad, and it was at that point we began to fear there would be no leaving the apartment for several days.

The bully and the troublemaker: Allison "Shogunmouse" and Sutton Rainey

Leave we did, however—for some geocaching. There are a few not far from her place, so we went out around the neighborhood and did a little hunting (and finding) as well as grocery shopping. Since we're both operating on a fairly tight budget, we opted do most of our dining in. The kid is not a half-bad cook and, that evening, provided us with some fabulous beer-butt chicken. Last night, we had some of her homemade buffalo wings, which completely rocked (I kicked them up a notch with some habanero sauce, of course). We also discovered at her nearby grocery store these little individually packaged Table Talk pies, which we determined are delicious beyond the bounds of reason. The chocolate eclair and blueberry varieties are especially noteworthy.

Several times over the weekend, I discovered I could not shift from this position.

Saturday evening, we lit out for midtown Manhattan, met Allison's friend Andy, and paid a visit to New Hane Sushi in Midtown East, an unassuming, very small, and absolutely wonderful little joint that made us all holler a bit. I ordered the fusion sushi plate, which was a dozen different types of sushi, all served with different sauces—every one fabulous. From there, we grabbed a few caches and then headed to the Empire State Building, for a late-night visit to the observation decks. I've been to NYC a number of times, and I'd visited the top of the World Trade Center back in 1999, but this was my first Empire State Building experience. I really, really enjoyed it, particularly the 86th floor, where you can go outdoors...and claim a virtual geocache—"The Empire Strikes Back" (GC4D7F). Your ticket to the observation deck entitles you to a free drink at the ground-floor Empire Room bar, but it was closed for a private function. Thus, Shogunmouse, Andy, and I decided to discover some nearby watering holes. We tried one called The Mason Jar, which specializes in bourbon. I opted for a dirty martini; I probably should have sampled the bourbon. From there, we found a little restaurant called The Barking Dog (where a very friendly dog named Wilson actually did attempt to get service but was permitted to sit only in the outside seating area); I have no idea how good their food is, but the bartender— whose name was Sonia, I believe—treated us more than right, and we enjoyed a number of happy concoctions.

Afterward, Andy went his way, and the child and I caught a cab back to her place. Hard to recall for sure, but I think we watched some more Dexter.

New Hane Sushi restaurant on 3rd Ave.

View north from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building


L: Andy Callander and Damned Rodan at The Barking Dog;
R: There's no cache here, but there ought to be.

Last night, it was out to the Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St. Mark's Place, where Andy regularly plays guitar and sings at open-mic night. It's a decent little dive bar in the East Village, and it was here I discovered the Fugazy Fireball, a powerful little formula of jalapeno-infused tequila, lemon juice, and pama (pomegranate liqueur). A dynamite drink, to be sure. Spicy and tangy, with a lingering pepper burn. It was also here that I succumbed to irresistible pressure from my daughter, borrowed a guitar, and belted out a song ("Love My Way," by The Psychedelic Furs, or something akin to it). Most enjoyable. During a break, I went out for a walk through the Village and soothed my caching fever.

Today, the flights back home. All smooth, except for there being no air conditioning inside La Guardia, and the heat was bad enough to give me a case of the near swoons. Unhappy Rodan!

A couple of random New York moments. Seen from the bus while heading down to Midtown: some guy walking down 2nd Avenue carrying a car door. Today in a restroom at La Guardia: a dude farted so hard it shook the whole row of stalls. Potent wind!

Finally, a strange case of synchronicity—or cats texting each other. Sutton, Allison's special needs (and thoroughly sweet) cat, has a habit of sticking his feet in his water bowl and then jumping on people. I experienced this a couple of times, and yes, you get some kind of wet. Although Frazier has been known to dip his paw in the water bowl to test the temperature, Sutton's brand of gratuitous paw-soaking has never been among my cats' bad habits. It wasn't, I should say...until I came home. This evening, Chester and Frazier have both soaked their feet and gotten me—not to mention the floors and furniture—quite damp. Yes, I've already called Allison to air my grievances, but I'm not sure any felines were listening.

I leave now to dry off. G'night.