Gluttony Boys (beta)

The door bell rings just before 7 AM on Saturday. Yes, seven A.M. on a Saturday. I know! It’s bad enough to be alert and functional (“Game On” as a friend would say) well before seven during the week, but on Saturday? This is a road trip day. We are heading down south to the “Old Pueblo” (pooh-way-blow), Tucson Arizona. We make one stop to pick up a friend and fellow GB activity participant before heading down the highway.

We have a day of sights and tastes planned, which include the Pima Air & Space Museum and the Titan Missile Museum. For those of us here at the GB office complex, an opportunity to experience marvelous feats of engineering AND enjoy some Sonoran Mexican food is an irresistible combination.

There are over 300 aircraft in five hangers and on display outdoors at Pima. Vehicles spanning decades of aviation history were everywhere! But walking around and under the SR-71 Blackbird made my day! It was the middle of the afternoon before we knew it and we found ourselves parched and famished.

For lunch we went to experience one of the Tucson culinary treats featured on the Travel Channel’s “Man v. Food” show. That treat would be the Sonoran Hot Dog that is served up at a taco stand in South Tucson called “El Guero Canelo” (ehl wed-ho khan-eh-loh). This location is literally a parked concession truck with a hut for orders and drinks with a separate grill cart. There is plenty of seating under a covered patio with picnic tables.

The place is bustling with locals. You know the fare is authentic border Mexican cuisine when you are in the minority standing in line to order. That’s right, some “gringos” found this place (note that 50% of the GB staff is Mexican-American, that means he can put this crowd at ease with a glance that communicates “These guys are cool”, “They don’t work for the Border Patrol” and “See y’all in church on Sunday”). I step up to the window and order a Sonoran Dog and a bottle of Coke, imported from Mexico, with a cup of ice.

Cokes and order numbers in hand we wade through the patrons and find a table. The speaker overhead crackles with periodic announcements that an order is ready. The numbers are called out in English and Spanish. I look at my receipt and note that I have number 279 or número doscientos setenta y nueve (dohs-see-en-toes seh-ten-tah ee nweh-veh).

My dog is ready. Fresh off the grill cart it is a bacon wrapped frank with beans, grilled onions, fresh onions, tomatoes, mayo, mustard and jalapeño sauce on a homemade “francesito” (frahn-seh-see-toh) french bread roll. The smell, flavors and textures combine to make a sublime scrumptious experience!

A bite of such a dog is usually followed by an ice cold beer. Alas, there was no beer cart or cooler at this place but we knew this going in, as their web site was devoid of any hard beverages listed. Upon sitting at the table we quickly produced a flask of Appleton Estate Jamaican rum and a plastic squeeze bottle of lime juice. With a quick glance around to see if anyone was paying attention, we combined the rum, juice and bottled Coke into the cups of ice to create “Cuba Libres” (koo-bah lee-brehs)! We are all about food and drink pairing, you know.

Next on the itinerary was the truly awesome Titan Missile Museum. The engineering effort to create this line of defense in the 1960′s (and operational for over 20 years) is amazing. The Titan II missile is 103 feet tall and had the largest single warhead deployed with a 9 megaton yield. This weapon would destroy everything in a 900 square mile area! The tour will take you down into the underground missile silo to view and participate in a launch demonstration. I highly recommend that you visit this museum if you find yourself in Tucson.

Just before leaving, we pull into “La Parrilla Suiza” (lah par-eeh-yah swee-zah), order a round of Negra Modelo (negg-rah, moe- alright, I’m DONE with the pronunciation tutorial) on draft with the “Queso al La Parrilla” appetizer; Melted cheese served on a table grill with flour tortillas. That’s right, MORE Mexican food. We reminisced, relaxed and ate. This day was great! We need to do this again.

El Guero Canelo  La Parrilla Suiza 

The coldest Blue Moon yet.  Iced and ready to go!

At the edge of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains in Northern New Mexico, one can get an appreciation for the vast nothingness that expands from the mountain foothills to the East. You can drive for miles and not see another vehicle. You can see plenty of deer, bison, antelope and cattle, though.

After spending some time exploring such a vast and open frontier, one naturally becomes parched. Thoughts turn to sustenance. Food and drink permeate the psyche, and by food and drink I mean pizza and beer, of course. And by beer I mean cold beer. As a matter of fact, there is a place east of Cimarron, New Mexico on the road to Colorado where U.S. highway 64 meets N.M. 505. Right there is Cold Beer.

I mean it. Once the wheels of the rental car had skidded to a halt and the dust from the parking lot cleared, there stood Cold Beer, New Mexico. The establishment was rather unremarkable, yet visitors are greeted with an icy stare that conveys the “you ain’t from these parts” acknowledgement.

While the barmaid rattled off an impressive list of brew on draft, one caught my fancy. Stella Artois. I was amazed that a beer from Belgium could be enjoyed ice cold in the middle of northern New Mexico. With a foamy moustache and a smile on my face, I ordered a pizza. Then I asked where I could wash up and was told that the facilities were located past the billiard table. Note that I managed to find the men’s room, opposite the wash room labeled “No Men“.

Alas, the pizza that was served at our table was less than bistro quality (more like Costco quality). But who cares? The beer was very cold and tasty. Indeed!

They don't call it "Butt Wiser" for nuttin'!

Every so often, someone has a party. There are many occasions for celebration, but on this night it was an open house potluck hosted by friends that had built their dream home.

We arrived bearing green chili and cheese enchiladas, that my wife had made, and a chilled bitch of a wine, but I was not quite ready for what was on display in the kitchen. Food. So much food of all types and tastes that the strain on my shirt buttons increased as a reflex. And liquor! There was so much imported beer, wine, and other spirits that a tear of joy welled up in my eye.

As wonderful as this was, the host came by our table with a bottle of Don Julio Anejo Tequila. We gathered around him like refugees at a Red Cross truck bearing sacks of rice. Then he LEFT THE BOTTLE ON THE TABLE.  I KNOW!!

I don’t recall much after that, apart from the beautiful home with a media room that reproduced frequencies so low that I’m sure I’m now sterile. I did chat with several interesting people as I went to and fro tasting this and drinking that. It was a gluttonously good evening.

You plop on the couch after a long day at work and put your feet up on the ottoman with a sigh of relief. Then you are reminded that tonight’s supper is your responsibility! Fear not as the fridge is packed with leftovers like beans (there are always leftover pinto beans), ground beef from last night’s tacos and homemade hatch green chili from last Friday. Throw them into a pot on the stove so that the simmering can commence.

Meanwhile you take out some Oscar Meyer bun length all beef franks and get them sizzling in a grill pan. When the dogs are just slightly charred and and the chili beans are nice and hot, lay out the buns and begin the assembly process: a dash of mustard, dog, chili beans and a drizzle of homemade chili con queso (nacho style) on top. Garnish with tostadas (i.e. taco chips for those of you that are confused) and more queso. Now you can sit down with your plate, an ice cold beer (of course) and relax.

Click on the image slice above for the entire plate! Don’t forget that there are GB photos, in large gluttonous sizes, at Picasa. Enjoy!