Alabama + Graffiti

- a lifestyle blog -

Oh Canada….

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So a few weeks ago, BJ went up to Canada.  I have forever been begging him to take as many pictures as possible, because he goes to so many neat places, and hello, how many times do I talk about food and fun places (okay, NOLA) on this thing….  so here we go! 

Schwabl’s :  Anthony Bourdain went here, so you know it has to be good!  They are known for their roast beef on ‘weck.  It’s some kind of bread with salt and other herbs baked into the top.  If you could zoom in (like I could on the iphone) you can really see it.  It looks delish.  And then the guy behind the counter. BJ had a pretty funny story about this place only taking cash and having to use the bathroom really bad, but I won’t bore you all with that tale.

Niagara Falls.  ‘Nuff said.

Porchetta (pronounced porketta) sandwich; roasted pork with crispy pork skin with lots of seasoning, on a homemade bun, and cracked mustard and hot sauce.  Apparently it was good.  There’s stuff coming out of his mouth just describing it.

And apparently this makes his mouth water even more.  This is Poutine (poo-teen), and it appears to be a heart attack in a box.  It’s French Fries with cheese curds, peppercorn gravy, with bacon and barbecue pork.  The third picture was to show that, indeed, BJ is not a cow and could not finished all of this. 
I also got a present from this fun trip; a stuffed moose.  That I promptly named Mountie….eh.

The Weekend I BBQ’d Across America *

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*not just BBQ. we’ll go with “fooded” across America.

the 12 hours to KC to visit dad for Thanksgiving was made better, obviously by all the food that i got to eat. first stop was in memphis, for what else? bbq! this place was visited by guy fieri on DDD, and also named one of the top 10 places you have to eat. yums~ their sandwich had this amazing coleslaw on it, and they had the big fat french fries, my favorite kind! and of course the potato salad, but you all know about my love affair with potatoes, so i’ll leave it at that.


up next is oklahoma joe’s in KC. i mean, look at those onion rings. i dare you to find a better one, oh, cuz you can’t. it’s like a heart attack in a bag, but who cares. i had just the normal pork sandwich, which is what they’re known the most for, even though KC is supposed to be all about the beef bbq. i digress. the other sandwich is called “hog heaven,”which is pork and sausage all on the same sandwich. they also have this sandwich called the “z-man,” and it’s brisket, with provolone topped with two onion rings. nom nom.

the last place is called Flying Saucer, and it’s more of a bar than anything else, with lots of beer! it’s down in the power and light district, and don’t know how it got missed the first trip to the district. by this time, i was semi tipsy…..


hence the tater tot photo shoot…but in all fairness, these things are probably the best thing i have ever put in my mouth. they are cheese and pepper tater tots with habanero sour cream dip. rocket tots rule.

and of course, what’s a night of debauchery without a random as hell photo shoot in the middle of a restaurant? i super love the one on the left. really. sike.

try all of them. but really try the tater tots. i can’t stop dreaming about them.

I Must Love “The First 48”

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Ok. Let me explain this title post to you. Have you ever watched The First 48 on A&E? (If not, it’s a show about trying to solve homicides in the first 48 hours after they find the body. Apparently this is when they have the highest chance of solving the murder). Well my current living situation (B to the Ham) has a season with it, and so does the city that I went to this past weekend. My favorite city in the US (NOLA) might as well be on it, but well, I digress…
Okay, so my Memphis trip!! First of all, you have to know that Memphis is centered around blues music and BBQ. It’s also not the safest place on Earth, but I will get to that later. If you are a vegetarian that can’t stand the sight of meat, I warn you not to proceed..(warning: picture overload!)

Our first plate of BBQ nachos of the trip. These are from Alfred’s, which is on Beale Street. And please let me tell you that these were as good as they look. Pork BBQ with Rotel cheese all over. A side of jalapenos and sour cream = perfection!!

The view down Beale Street after 9 p.m. If you do ever go to Memphis, make sure you get to Beale before 8 p.m., so you don’t get the pat-down and the wand. Yes, they wand you down before entering this street. We stood in line for 40 mins to get on a street.


One of the barricades to get onto the street.


The Memphis drink: Walk-Me-Down. Not weak!!

Mix all ingredients together in the blender with ice (duh). Enjoy!

This was my “special” Coke. I only put enough money in the vending machine for my Diet Dr. Pepper hanging in the back, but then I got a Coke too! Needless to say, I had to get a picture of it!

Oh, the duckies!! We woke up in time on Sunday to go to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. At 11 am, ducks march out of an elevator and into this fountain that’s in the middle of the hotel. They even had duck security! No joke! There were three guys walking around with headsets on making sure people didn’t interfere with the March of the Ducks. Click on the link above to read the history of the March.

These ducks? Also living the high life on their roof-top penthouse.

Before we went home, we knew we had to try some Memphis dry-rub ribs, so we went to this cute little dive called Central BBQ.


The inside.


Cute little cup. Plastic! Woo-hoo already paid for souvenirs!!

The BBQ nachos at this place were not as good as the one’s at Alfred’s. They still pass the “I’m going to eat you” test.

And then the full slab of ribs. Don’t worry. We didn’t eat all of this in one sitting. We each had two ribs and packed it up to take it home. You can order these bad boys from the link up top if you want. I highly recommend that you do so. Sooooooo good!


Have I mentioned that Memphis is not a safe city? Well there were policeman everywhere. And not just any policeman…super hot ones!! I have never seen so many attractive police officers in one city. These 3 were no exception. I’m sure they would have let me take their picture if I would have just asked, because not only were they the hottest ones ever, but they were always talking to regular people.

So if not for the BBQ and music, take the trip down to see the hot policeman! Oh yeah, there’s some history there too. You can see the Civil Rights Museum, where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, and where he was shot from. This, unfortunately didn’t make it into our trip, but we only live 4 hours away, so we’ll be back.

I will post pictures and possibly video from the ballroom portion of my trip tomorrow. I need to gather all the courage in the world to be able to put those videos up!

Vegas Fun-ness – Fremont Street

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Fremont Street is amazing. This is the street everyone thinks of when they think “vegas.” It’s the street that has all the old casinos on it, plus the landmarks that most people associate with Las Vegas.
I love anything bright. Neon is no exception. I only wish I would have been alive back during Vegas’ hey day to see it how it was, because as you will see, it has definitely been modernized.
The actual Fremont Hotel and Casino. Sorry, some of these pictures came out a little blurry. The signs are soooo bright, and I’m still getting used to my camera.

The Four Queens Casino.

The view down Fremont Street. You can see the dome-like thing built above. They did a light show on this at some point in time during the night. It was neat, but I really wish they would have left this street alone. They also pedestrian-ized it, so you can walk up and down this street with no fear of getting hit by cars.

The cowgirl. I can’t find out where my picture of the iconic cowboy went. I’m a little upset about that, too. Hubs has a black and white that was taken by his grandpa from back in the day downstairs, and it would have been pretty awesome to have those side by side.


Binion’s Casino.

The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. You can see the stage with the band on it. There were about three of these stages all with live music. It was sooo crowded there, and some crazy drunk lady decided that she would scold hubsy about something. She had about three teeth (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but he couldn’t understand her for anything.

In the middle of all this fun? The Golden Goose- a Gentlemen’s Club. Oh yes, I kid you not.

A chandelier inside the hotel that’s connected to the Golden Nugget. Did you know there was an actual golden nugget somewhere in that casino? We walked around for a good fifteen minutes looking for it, but to no avail.

Some other fun things about Fremont Street:

  • You can zipline straight through the middle of it. We didn’t do it, mainly because it cost a pretty penny, but it did look fun.
  • Miller Lite Cans, 2 for $4.
  • Street food vendors. Yummmmmm.
  • Cute little street vendors with little treasures to sell.

It was so much fun. A trip to Vegas should definitely include a trip to Fremont Street!!

Delta Sucks

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Yes, how true this statement is….
I am actually supposed to be in Kansas right now. I’m supposed to be at the shooting range with my dad shooting a .45. I’m supposed to be eating a gigantic steak and twice-baked potatoes, and hanging with my dad and step-mom.

So why, you ask, am I blogging from Birmingham?

Well, let me tell you…

Yesterday was my last day at Penske Truck Rental (HALLELUJAH…worst place ever. Never work there), and so I had a flight to go see my dad. The flight was supposed to take off at 5:45, and when I got to the airport it was showing to be on time. I had about a 40 minute layover in Memphis before catching my flight to Kansas City.

So I get my gummi bears and a water and am chilling at the gate. Then a girl from across the way goes, ” Are you on the flight to Memphis?” I nod my head yes, just assuming she was making sure she was at the right gate. And then she goes, “Did you know we’re on an hour delay?” I’m like “whaaaa?” So I call my dad, and I’m like, “uhhh?” We eventually just said that we would have to reschedule, after my dad had to argue with the people for a refund (which he got, because I’m guessing it wasn’t the perfect weather stopping the plane from going).

He’ll be coming out here for July 4th now, with Kansas City steaks and ribs in hand.

But moral of the story: I will NEVER, EVER EVER book a flight on Delta again.