The Really Big Question...

Merry is great, thinking about goals and highlights and stuff. I, on the other hand have been thinking about much less (or perhaps more) weighty stuff. Namely burgers, whose is better.





Five Guys started as a Washington D.C. area chain but has since branched into many parts of the county. They offer burgers and fries and that's about it.







In-n-out I think we all know, so I won't say much about it.

To be honest I've already made up my mind. Both resturants opened in Utah recently and I've tried both. In-n-out's big plus is that it's cheap; that having been said, the burger was small, unexceptional, and hardly worth the hype. The problem with In-n-out, and most of the other burger joints is that they seem to have forgotten something important along the way, namely beef. The beef on their burgers could be switched with the beef from any other burger place and no one would notice the difference.

The fries were even less interesting than the burger and could have been served at any burger joint in town, in fact I will go go so far as to say that each of the big three (you know who they are) serves better fries than In-n-out. The strawberry milkshake I ordered was depressingly reminiscent of a McDonalds milkshake and did absolutely nothing for me except shorten my life a little (yes, in California it is heresy to mention McDonalds and In-n-out in the same paragraph).

Ewww gross, if I'm going to stop my heart early through the consumption of fried potato sticks, it sure as heckfire ain't gonna be these ones

Five Guys, on the other hand, is a spiritual experience every time I go. The burgers get all the free toppings you could want, the beef is delicious, and the buns hold together even though they can get a bit overloaded. The fries however, are one of the best things about Five Guys. They are made in the fine tradition of English Chips, fried to a golden brown, more than enough to satiate any Irish potato lover.

An image so inspiring it should have been painted by one of the old masters...or at least silk screened by Andy Warhol

I must also admit a sentimental attachment to Five Guys. When I spent a summer in the District (for the uninitiated this is Washington D.C.) I had no money and so lived on rice and beans the entire summer. In spite of my poverty however, I still went to the Five Guys in Georgetown and ordered a cheeseburger every Saturday. For someone who's been living on 800 calories a day (for once I am not exaggerating), those burgers are absolutely delicious.

So that's it. In-n-Out stinks, Five Guys is much much better, I've said it and I won't take it back. The gauntlet is down.

Thanksgiving

We had a WONDERFUL time in Arizona for Thanksgiving. There was lots of food, lots of playing games, and lots of kids! All of my siblings were there, with their spouses and kids. At one point we were all there, except for one of my brothers-in-law. I think that's the first time we've all been together like that in a LONG time.

I loved eating all of the Thanksgiving food! Dave and I both felt like we ate too much, but it was so good! Especially the green olives! :D

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family or friends, and that you're getting into the Christmas spirit!

And also

I'm thankful for a warm house to live and good food to eat! This is such a blessing that Dave and I enjoy. We aren't literally starving college students, and that is mostly because my aunt has been kind enough to let us rent her basement very cheaply. With the rent that we save, Dave and I are able to live comfortably. We don't have to worry about making ends meet every month, although we are frugal. And there aren't a whole lot of things that we are pining away to have. We are content to just be comfortable, poor college students. We're not getting ourselves into debt so that we can go on crazy expensive vacations or go out to eat every night. And we're happy!

So, take home point: I'm glad that we are so happy with our lives that sometimes we don't realize how poor we are!

A Perplexing Conundrum

As many of you know, Merry is gluten-intolerant. I knew this when we started dating and it didn't really bother me too much because there are some great gluten-free foods and even if there weren't I would give up gluten for Merry any day of the week. However, we have discovered since our marriage than I am allergic to xantham gum. Normal foods containing xantham gum have very small amounts and don't bother me; gluten free foods of necessity often contain quite a bit more (relatively) because the xantham gum takes the place of gluten and binds everything together.

The upshot of all of this is that Merry can't eat glutonous pizza and I can't eat gluten-free pizza; since we're still poor college students we certainly can't afford to make/buy one of each every time we want pizza so for now we are just doing without and mourning the loss of one of our favorite comfort foods.

Ah pizza, how we mourn your fall
and weep your early demise
To be cheesy was delicious
But put that on crust? divine.
Alas, the crust was the end
And in it we see only hunger's pall
And though we cross Rubicon and Rhine
Never again your name we will call.

What the Heck is a Whoopie Cake?

Some of you may have been wondering as you read Merry's last post, "what the heck is a whoopie cake?" well, whoopie cakes, or more accurately, whoopie pies are an Amish pastry concoction consisting mainly of sugar, chocolate, and marshmallow cream. Why are they called whoopie pies you may ask? Well, legend has it that when the amish farm workers would open their lunches after a hard morning on the farm, they'd see the treat their wives put in and say, "whoopie!"

I don't really believe this account of the name's origins because it's far more likely that the amish guys opened their lunches, saw that treat, and said, "Hey, Brother Obadiah, I've got a tasty cookie/cake thing that I will trade with thee for half of thine vanilla pudding." I think they're called whoopie pies because they were first popularized by Whoopi Goldberg in her lesser known film: Ghost II, Pastries Past.

In Ghost II: Pastries Past Whoopi plays a chef's assistant who can put the chef in touch with his long lost love. There was also a rat who would stand on the Chef's head and controlled his cooking; needless to say, the chef was a pretty messed up guy. Anyway, they (Chef, Whoopi, and rat) invent whoopie pies as a way to bring back the chef's long lost love. It doesn't work but they discover that the little cakes are quite popular and start a highly successful franchise selling whoopie pies all over the country.

"I love these Whoopie Pies, they're worth way more than half a vanilla pudding" -Whoopi Goldberg