How to use this Page

My muse paid me a visit this week and it's about time, too. It's been somewhat of a dry spell pursuing the continuing story of Julie, the park jogger, and her chance meeting with Sylvia, the ultimate pigeon lover. The story is slowly developing in an on-again, off-again fashion.

Yet another snippet:

An encounter with Hal the park supervisor, warns Sylvia that more significant steps will be taken if she refuses to cease and desist the feeding of her feathered friends.

 

Look at the time! Really gotta go. Don’t you just love these pretzels?

Add a Comment

Really.

So, this weekend marks the conflation of a series of somewhat disparate events that conspired together to culminate in some rather interesting culinary, err, mash-ups involving one or more of the Leitich Smiths (by which I mean, me.).

First, today marks three weeks since the Austin Marathon and, therefore, the official end of my "recovery" period (both in terms of workouts and dietarily).  Essentially, this meant that while I was not going to indulge my every dietary whim (Fannie May Mint Meltaways at every meal!  Jolly Rancher Watermelon candies on the hour!) , I was going to be less punctilious about what I ate.

Second, Cyn is at Vermont College teaching a workshop, which means there is a precedent for my undertaking some rather extreme dietary experiments. (For the record, at the end of the week long Pizza a Day diet plan, I lost 5 pounds).

So, anyway, the theme this time is hamburgers.  Of a rather exotic variety.  The first is the Great Dane Brat and Pretzel Burger at Great Dane Pub and Brewing Company, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Author E.M. Kokie introduced Cyn and me to the place after our round of school visits).

Behold:

This burger has a beef patty, a bratwurst patty, cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickle slices, and it's all served on a pretzel bun!  It is heart-stoppingly good, with a surprisingly subtle, yet rich, flavor -- and the salt chunks add a nice punch.  One of the best burgers I've ever had.  It's also enormous :-).  (I ended up eating the whole thing, even though I figured when I ordered it, I'd only have half).

While we were at the restaurant, I happened to remark that there was this place in Austin that served burgers on a -- get this -- donut bun, but that I had never been there.

Well, that place is Gourdough's Public House, a brick-and-mortar incarnation of Gourdough's Big. Fat. Donuts (one of the bright spots in Austin's food truck scene).  And, of course, tonight, I had to go there.

They have an entire menu based on donuts -- all the entrees come with a donut, and even the salads are accompanied by a garlic donut (Really).  And all the sandwiches come on a donut bun. 

Note, however, that while donuts, these are not sugary confections -- they are more on the savory side (I confess that I was skeptical at first, too, but it turns out these things are pretty darn awesome).  (The donuts themselves seem, in texture, somewhere between a traditional cake-style and glazed type).

Here are a couple pics of the Big burger, with pimento cheese blend, cilantro, red onion, and tomato:


     
The bun, not surprisingly, was rich, but it didn't overpower the burger.  The cheese was well-matched and I liked the cilantro as well.  And the chips were a nice complement -- I think fries would have been a bit much. (Verily).  All in all, another of the best burgers I've ever had, and I'm anxious to try other things on the menu, as well.

Oh, and I did sample one of the desserts: the leprechaun donut, in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  This confection consisted of a hot donut with a Guinness stout chocolate mint sauce.  (Read that again, and then look at the pictures):



It was amazing. Again, rich without being overly sweet -- the Guinness seemed to cut some fo the sweetness of the chocolate sauce, and the mint added a nice aroma.

Bon Appetit!


 

Add a Comment

.

Amid all the hoopla and foofarah, the millionth article about “The Twilight Hunger of the Walking Press Agents”, and way too many cosplay photos, I like to discover articles about lesser-known aspects of Comic-Con.

Usually, the articles are from a specialty website, finding a unique angle of Comic-Con and a specific profession.

For example, sanitation services.

Environmental Expert.com featured a press release/article about Waste Management, the San Diego Convention Center, and their plans to increase the amount of recyclables claimed from the convention, which totaled 98 tons last year.  They want to increase that to 120 tons, by encouraging consumers to use marked containers, exhibitors to donate materials at the end of the show, and by sorting garbage by hand.

With a second cardboard baler, they hope to reduce the number of trips to the El Cajon recycling center from 34 to 7.  Of course, all trucks will use natural gas.

(That 98 tons is how much was recycled.  Lord knows how much trash was hauled to the local landfill, or how many trees were sacrificed for handouts and fliers around the convention center.)

—-

On the other end of the waste stream, San Diego Pretzel Company celebrates 15 years of selling their “twisted treats” at Comic-Con.  (I’m sure convention veterans will have some salty comments below!)

—-

The San Diego Convention Center’s Panorama newsletter describes what’s involved, in this article from Summer 2010.

“Last year we served more than 17,000 pizzas, 28,000 hot dogs, 41,000 sodas, and 11,000 orders of fries at Comic-Con,” said Executive Chef Jeff Leidy. “It’s a huge undertaking. We have 40 cooks and 117 concession workers staffing 12 concession areas throughout the building, including Tides Restaurant and three on-site Starbucks.”

Here’s this year’s press release:

• Economic Impact: $180 million
• Direct Attendee Spending: $75 million   [Wait... $600 per attendee?]
• Tax Revenues: $2.6 million
• Attendance: 126,000

Last year’s numbers:

Economic Impact: $162.8 million
Direct Atten

6 Comments on SDCC12: Behind the Scenes, last added: 7/15/2012

Display Comments

jacob goddard said, on 7/13/2012 5:35:00 PM

It being non profit means either the con admin hope no one notices that they’re still non profit, or they have aspirations of a state funded convention like Angouleme.
Hoping for the latter.

Jimmie Robinson said, on 7/13/2012 6:33:00 PM

Torsten, GREAT article. I like the behind-the-scenes angle. More of this, please! I knew the waste was high, but I had no idea on the specific numbers.

Kudos to the SDCC staff for constant monitoring of the waste bins, too. I’m struggling to recall when I’ve seen an overflowing trash can on the exhibit floor during open hours. I’m sure they exist, but in my experience (during show hours) I’ve not seen one.

However, *after* the show is over, when everyone is tearing down their exhibits and consolidating their boxes with the remains… then I see a lot of overflowing / stacked / crammed / strewn stuff all over the place. As an exhibitor I’ve seen the show from the earliest set up to the midnight tear down.

Exhibit Packing / packages / shipping / involves a lot of waste, too.

Torsten Adair said, on 7/13/2012 7:17:00 PM

Sorry, Jimmie, but I’m in New York, so all I can do is filter the Internet through the baleen of my brain.

Now if one of our Team Beat Elite staff want to do some first-person interviews on site, we’ll run them!

As for state-funding… I suspect they could apply for grants and the such. I would like to see CCI replicate the amazing programming as seen in Angouleme and Erlangen!

Wayne Beamer said, on 7/13/2012 9:43:00 PM

Torsten: No comics convention as big as SDCC would ever earn, nor ask for, nonprofit status nowadays. Because of the sea change to a pop culture tentpole for corporations like Disney, Sony and WB, SDCC isn’t truly a nonprofit, thus it really ought to be a tax-paying entity.

Tom Galloway said, on 7/14/2012 1:41:00 AM

Wayne, you don’t understand the legal definition of a non-profit. It doesn’t mean the organization can’t turn a profit, even a substantial one. It does mean that individuals associated with the organization can’t take any money out of it for their own purposes (note: That does *not* mean the organization can’t hire people to work on it and pay a salary in line with their duties. But if, say, an admin who was the spouse of a member of the governing board got a $2,000,000 salary, the IRS would suddenly become very interested).

Comic-Con is almost certainly (i.e. I’m not bothering to actually look it up : -)) a 501c3 literary non-profit, so as long as its functions relate to literature (very broadly defined) and education (ditto), they’re a legal non-profit and will stay such no matter how big it gets.

Torsten Adair said, on 7/15/2012 4:48:00 AM

There are non-profit literary festivals in the U.S.which have larger attendance figures than CCI. There are non-profits with huge revenue streams (united way, red cross, girl scouts). One criteria: what does the organization do? Another: how much money is spent within the organization on administrative costs (salaries, transportation, coffee)?

GuideStar and other sources review charitable organizations, digging deeper than the IRS.

Add a Comment

Is it hot where you live? Its 100 and something here. Bleah.

Display Comments Add a Comment

October marks the launch of Auntie Anne’s Bookmark fundraising campaign to benefit First Book. The month- long effort, illustrating Auntie Anne’s commitment to community giving and improving literacy, offers Auntie Anne’s customers the opportunity to donate $1 to First Book in exchange for a keepsake bookmark. The bookmark also includes a coupon for $1 off the next purchase.

To make a local impact, the proceeds raised through the bookmark campaign will benefit communities of Auntie Anne’s participating stores. Participating stores have been matched up with low-income schools and programs registered with First Book, and proceeds will enable these schools and programs to purchase books on the First Book Marketplace. So visit your local Auntie Anne’s store today, enjoy a delicious pretzel and help support First Book and the programs we serve.

Add a Comment