Just Say "NO" to Cowboy Pinball

So, this is a post I started a month ago or so and forgot about finishing it. The story is worth telling though.

If anyone ever walks up to you and says: "Hey there, I will give you $100 if you will play cowboy pinball with me", just walk away...or maybe run.

Bull riding came to Greenwood the week before Thanksgiving. It was totally worth the $10 price of admission. We went with a bunch of friends that knew little to nothing about rodeo. That was fun for sure. They are all from New England and really were freaked out by the whole thing. The most bizarre things happened between the go-rounds when there were "halftime activities". Different than the half-court shot, but basically the same ideas:

1. "Fill up your pants with change" game- I don't know what the actual name is, but the idea is that the clowns have a giant wheelbarrow filled with $1,000 in change and the contestant gets to keep all of the change that can fit in their pants. So ends up that the lady that got picked is very attractive with quite snugly fitting pants...clowns came out of the woodwork to help load up her jeans. She allegedly had ONE minute, but they let it go on pretty long because she was jumping up and down excessively and what bunch of rodeo clowns don't want to watch a hot chick jump up and down?

2. "Cowboy Pinball"- This one is a dozy. Jake and I had never actually seen it, but had heard about it from last year's rodeo. The clowns drew 30 circles made of flour in the arena, took 30 of the craziest people you have ever met, and let them stand in the circles while they released a bull into the arena. The bull then runs around the arena scaring/pushing/ snotting on people pushing them out of their circles. The idea is whoever is the last person still in their circle wins.

This is all made more interesting by the fact that one of the traveling therapists decided to take part. Dave. Dave is awesome. He is a big dude from New York with a backwards Notre Dame hat and a totally great attitude about life. He will also do ANYTHING for money. And $100 was enough to get him to sign himself up for Cowboy Pinball much to the chagrin of his girlfriend (another traveling therapist). She had a friend who became a quadriplegic after he went running with the bulls in Spain...we didn't really know that when we were egging Dave on to go jump in the ring. Whoops.

Anyway, so big tough Dave is standing cool as a cucumber in the ring when the bull starts running through the group. Dave got pushed out of the ring early, but it was the clowns fault and we all went nuts so they put him back in. He made is down the the last 4 and then the bull ran right at him. So Dave tried to forearm shiver the bull and set his feet in the ground...but the bull kept pushing and shoved him out of his circle. Sadness. But then they regrouped and let really mean bulls with big horns out on the remaining 3 idiots so Dave was fine he got out when he did.

We were all "horse" from yelling and Dave was covered in bull snot on one arm, but now has a really great story for the folks back home!

Oysters and Thai food

Two of my favorite SC foods are steamed oysters and Thai food. I had both last weekend and am currently hungry..so that is what I am writing about. The steamed oysters are very SC, and Thai food is not...but we never had Thai until we moved here and now we eat it a bunch..so that counts for today.

I seriously never touched oysters until we moved here. I was terrified of them. I was convinced that all food poisoning was from eating "bad oysters" and that I would die from the grotty texture. I couldn't have been more wrong. They keep pretty well for up to 4 days after coming out of the water if kept in the right conditions, taste just just like the ocean, and are an awesome vehicle for any type of cuisine you wish to dress them up as.

All the above being said, I don't eat them raw. That is just too much. I need enough heat to stabilize the texture and make the shell open just enough to get the knife in. You can totally ruin them by overcooking them even a little. Chewy little hockey pucks. Undercooked is better than overcooked..just like steak. Shucking an oyster is a hysterical process..not like steak..trying to get yourself a steak from the animal would not be awesome.. You are trying to open a shell that's only job in life is to not let you in. It's really half the fun. The other half of the fun is figuring out what should go on them. You can make them bbq on the grill with a sweet and sour sauce; make them high class with the Rockefeller action; garlic butter is pretty awesome; but I love the old standby...old school. On a saltine or in the shell, cocktail sauce, lemon, hot sauce. Always a varying combination of the above, but always all in one bite. You can't two bite and oyster, that's just asking for trouble on several levels. You also shouldn't chew it a bunch, it's just a weird choice. It's not Laffy Taffy, it's barely a solid.

The whole activity is a very communal thing. Our friend was in Charleston and went to the pier to get them..we didn't realize how many she was getting. "A bushel" doesn't really sound like 50 pounds when you say it...it is when Jake drags them up the stairs like freaking Santa Claus. It was unreal how many we got. We could have done it a little more smartly, but then what's the fun? So anyway, we got a bunch of folks around a table, fixed really easy sides that you could eat with your hands, dumped the oysters out in big bowls on a table covered in newspaper, and got to shucking them. It's a messy, wonderful scavenger hunt for the biggest oyster as the shells pile up. The only unfortunate thing about shucking your own is that the clean up is a disaster unless you are eating outside. Doing it in an apartment is a terrible idea...but we did it anyway..that is how we are.

I talked so much about the oysters that I am freaking starving and so Thai food is not going to get any attention. It is my favorite because it has hot and sweet together in all sorts of combinations, and Jake always orders it "Thai Hot"..which is code for "Stupid Hot" and the Thai guy taking the order always laughs at him, and them comes back and laughs at him more later as we all watch him sweat all over his bald head!

If you had told me two years ago that my two favorite food in South Carolina would be oysters and Thai food, I would have never believed you. I think that this has been a wonderful adventure as Jake and I have no security blankets here, and therefore no reason to NOT try anything. We are also the instigators around here with our friends. We introduce people to these things that we have come to love (or at least tolerate) and that is a totally different type of fun. So, when we come back and invite you over for oysters or out for Thai food, just come along...it's probably going to be a good time.

Go Bananas Go Go Bananas!

Jake and I like to pretend that we like bananas. We buy them at the store regularly, we have them on the counter top well in reach for healthy snacking, potassium is good for you, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, so there is a very small window for when bananas are delicious. It it seriously about a day in a half. Once they hit brown, no one here will eat them...but we pretend we will. So they sit there until they are really rank, and then the pioneer in me won't let them go to waste and I put them in the freezer so I can one day make them into banana bread. Then one Tuesday night I find I can no longer put actual food in my freezer because of all the dead bananas I am saving.

After a marathon night of baking, I now I have 6 loaves of banana bread..some of which should go into the freezer...WHAT? I haven't solved my problem. Crap!

Fall Freaking Not Fabulous

Fall this year is ugly here. I feel cheated. We wait extra long for fall here of course, so I patiently waited my turn for the leaves to start to change. We have a really pretty tree right outside our door that turns the BEST shade of red during fall, like it is on fire. However, due to some sort of unsettling tree weather/happiness/poor self-esteem, the trees all decided to not change colors and then just drop their leaves in a pile. It's like opening an empty box on your birthday. Sadness. I waited my turn, didn't pay attention to the other trees because it was so pretty here last year, and now what? Nuttin'...

Worth the Work!

The outpatient department I work in (Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy) won the Outpatient Satisfaction Award for last quarter. Now, that means that we had the highest scores of any other outpatient department in the hospital on the surveys that we send out to our patients asking them to grade us on their experiences. I am just pretty darn excited. I am so pumped to tell the staff about it. Their hard work will be recognized and rewarded! Hurrah!

Halloween Costumes

So Jake and I went as "old people". Sounds like really boring outfits, but we wet all the way. Jake had a comb over wig, and I had a moo-moo and a gray "bun" wig. Jake had the tackiest shirt WalMart had to offer, and some really great clashing sweatpants to match. We had a great time. I make a really great grumpy old lady. I yelled "Dammit" a lot because I have decided that is what old ladies yell at the kids that mess up their yards or knock over their trashcans. At least, that is what they usually yelled at me...