Roadkill: You Kill It, We Grill It

It's shocking, gross, disturbing, and it only happens in West Virginia. No, not incest, but the one and only Roadkill Cookoff. What would you be willing to eat?

In Pocahontas Country, WV, listed under "Exciting Events" the Roadkill Cookoff takes place in September. I couldn't even believe this was real, so I had to Google it, and lo and behold there it was. Featured in Lonely Planet and advertised on the county's website. As their saying goes, "you kill it, we grill it."

One travel blogger writes:

On a large, grassy field, the contestants were erecting tents, setting up grills, and preparing their meats and seasonings. Signs at the various stations advertised "Buzzard Breath Maggotini," "Turtle A1-A Road Soup," and "The Buck Stopped Here Pepper Steak." Boy, was I glad I'd skipped breakfast to save room for all this.

I decided to find out what might inspire someone to enter a roadkill cooking contest. Busily cubing pieces of venison for their "Deer Drop Chilli" were brothers Eric, Jerry, and Kevin Sarrett. "It's my thirtieth birthday and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it," said Eric. "I grew up here and moved to Florida, so I'm back, getting in touch with my hillbilly roots, trying to reproduce mama's good old cooking."

I wonder what the chances are of getting food poisoning after a visit to West Virginia's roadkill feast? I feel a little quesy just thinking about the cook off, let alone actually eating anything from it.

Nibble Nibble: The Easter Bunny's Gonna Get You

It's that time of year again! Yes, it's make-your-kids-sit-on-scary-Easter-bunny-at-the-mall time! To celebrate the season, let me leave you with these especially creepy human-size bunnies, primed and waiting for your children! Can you say nibble nibble?


For your viewing pleasure, here are few good creepy Easter Bunnies collections you should take peek at:

The Ultimate Collection of Strange, Creepy and Scary Easter Bunnies
Sketchy Bunnies by FAIL blog
The 65 Sketchiest Easter Bunnies

Your Lucky Day

I hope you find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Wear green so you don't get pinched.
And get kissed 'cause you're Irish(at least for the day).


Happy St. Patrick's day!

Day in DC

After months of trying lure them out of their cave in Pennsylvania, my parents finally came to visit me. The weather couldn't have been nicer on Saturday. I gave them a lovely tour of DC featuring...drumroll please...metro stations. Kidding!--that was just the secondary highlight. Mmmm, the smell of homeless men in rapidly moving confined spaces 100 feet underground.

For real, we hit up the American History Museum in DC, the Old Post Office & tour of the clock tower, the Washington Monument, an Indian restaurant, Dalchini, in Dupont Circle, and a winning Wizard's basketball game. My parents had never eaten Indian food before or gone to a NBA game so it was a day of firsts. Hopefully, I convinced them that they have to return again when the weather is even better for more fun DC touring.

Sock It to Me

The other day as I was changing my socks in the gym locker room, I noticed little purple threads in the toe. Immediately I thought, awwww, I love my mom.

There is nothing worse than putting on your favorite pair of socks only to find them all stretched out because a sock thief has worn your socks only days before you. When I was still living at home with 5 people in the house, my mom used to sew a few strands of different color threads in each of our socks. Each person had their own assigned color. That way when they all went together in the laundry baskets, we wouldn't have to fight over the pile of clean socks. Purple went to me, pink to my middle sister, blue to oldest sister, black to my dad, etc. This ridiculously easy, yet ingenious system, was very effective. My mom is so smart.

Online Calorie Counting

I've decided to make good on new year's resolution #1. Lose 9 pounds. But let's revise that to 11 now, since my progress in the new year has, errr, gone in the wrong direction. So, in order to help me achieve this goal, I've decided to start an online food journal.

In 2009, I maintained a spreadsheet of all the food I was eating, but mostly it was just me guessing calorie content and typing it in a huge excel file. The format was very basic, but I really liked being able to scroll back through the days and see where my eating habits were getting the best of me and what trends I could notice in the way I ate. Plus, it was an extra dissuasion to eat that entire slice of cheesecake that would run up my daily total by an extra 1,000 calories. But, unfortunately the spreadsheet lost my attention over time, mostly because it was boring and not telling enough.

That's why I decided I'm going to start an online food journal. I researched a few (free) options online, and decided to go with Everyday Health's Food & Fitness Journal. I like that it has tons of foods already in the database, so I don't have to do independent research every time I eat something. I like that it can add exercises too. I don't like that it doesn't compile reports other than for the present day in addition to a very basic weight graph. I want to be able to look back and see the nutritional and caloric choices I've made in the past week/month/year. Like am I getting enough protein? Am I overloading on sodium? How can I make better individual food choices? I am open to any suggestions you might have for better online calorie/nutrition trackers, but for now, I'm going to fill out this journal and hopefully get a move on my weight-loss goals.

Speaking of which, you should check out 344 pounds. A great blog from a normal guy who lost 145lbs and kept it off. I've been following him for awhile now, and he inspires me to get healthier too.