07.01.09
Posted in Reviews, Greatest Hits, Other Fun at 6:58 pm by Chef Matt
Given that I’m not exactly a person who is awash with cash, I have to find ways to save money on a regular basis. Since I don’t like to cut corners on the ingredients I use in my cooking, one of the places I have found I save a few bucks is in the world of my drinking. Again, since I have a palate that can taste the difference between good and bad wine, I know what I prefer, but I can also taste a good value.
My times at Rustico taught me about the joys of very good beer as well. The resident beer snobs were amazingly knowledgeable, and I learned a ton. But what I also learned was that for personal consumption, while these assorted brews from around the world were indeed preferable, they were not exactly affordable.
So it is left to me to find beers that are affordable enough for drinking in the mass quantities I enjoy, while at the same time being drinkable enough to actually swallow without vomiting. And over the years, I have narrowed it down to three beers that are not only way down on the cheap end of the spectrum, but are also quite drinkable:
Miller High Life (The Low Life) |
National Bohemian (Natty Boh) |
Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) |
While Natty Boh is one of the harder ones to come by as its distribution is basically only in parts of Maryland these days, it is one that I had a long and lingering love affair with in college, so whenever I have the means, I usually buy it.
But the question is: which of these really is the BEST? For this, we are going to need a blind taste test!
The method was quite simple. I had my assistant pour each of these beers into a similar glass, and had him keep track of which was which for me. Meanwhile I tasted away and determined which was the winner. Hardly the stuff of higher science, but still, it looked professional enough.
Maybe not scientific, but at least it looks professional! |
Well, the tasting commenced, and armed with a series of sourdough pretzels to keep all the (lack of) flavor from blending together, I embarked on a tasting tour de force. I fully expected Natty Boh to be the hands-down winner followed by the Low Life, followed by PBR.
The results:
3rd Place: National Bohemian
This was a shock to me. I expected it to be the winner, and to win by a long shot. It was comparatively flat, thin and lacking in flavor that I would consider to be “beer-like”. I have always thought it was my favorite of the cheap beers, but in a side-by-side taste test, it really was not up to the challenge.
2nd Place: Miller High Life
This was not a surprise, I expected this one to be second place. Only, it came in second behind the one I expected to come in third! Anyway, there was a smooth, clean finish to this beer that I expected to find, but the really impressive thing about this beer was it had a head that persisted through the testing process. Hell, there’s still a head on what’s left in the glass as I type these results out.
The Winner: Pabst Blue Ribbon
I know, I’m as shocked as you. But really, with a name like “blue ribbon” how could it lose? (It was actually given it’s “Blue Ribbon” name after winning the title of “America’s Best Beer” at the World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago. To be fair, that was in 1893…) But there was no question that the biggest hops flavor and best “beer-like” taste was in this glass. It really was a run-away win. I confirmed this with other tasters I had on hand just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally gotten drunk in the testing process…
But it’s not fair for me to hand down the definitive answer, is it? Let me give you a chance to chime in. Here’s a list of cheap beers, feel free to vote on your favorite, or throw in some other nominations in the comments.
None of this will serve as the ultimate answer to this heated debate of course. But for my money, it looks like I’m personally going to heretofore relax with a Pabst.
Chef Matt
Scooped! I know, it’s hard to believe, but the same day I work on this blog post, the Washington Post does the same thing on one of their blogs. And their results came out in the order I expected! (1. Natty Boh, 2. High Life, 3. PBR…) Though to be fair, at least my post gives you the chance to post your vote…
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06.05.09
Posted in Other Fun, My Cookbook at 3:32 pm by Chef Matt
Those of you who have been following the story, know that when I was in culinary school, I had to take classes in pastry arts and desserts and so forth. It was fun, but it was hardly my specialty.
My carrot cake from culinary school. It tasted OK, but hardly one that should be sold professionally. |
I tried my best, and the food tasted OK, but I would never think of my making of cookies and cakes as being something I was particularly talented at - nor would it be something I would take up as my full-time profession.
It’s not that I think I’m hopeless. With practice, I can work a pastry bag with enough quality, and I know how to apply a crumb coat. I just think it’s that I know the life of a pastry chef is not for me, so I’m not going down that route myself. Getting up at 3 AM (or earlier!) and baking like crazy all day. It’s rough.
And worst of all, in a baking recipe, you can make a little mistake at step 2 in a 12 step process, and not know about it until the end. And there is nothing you can do about it. When I mess up, I just reduce some wine and stock, brown some shallots and cover that mess up! Easy as can be!
No, my friends who are great bakers and dessert makers have always impressed me and while I don’t want to live the life they lead, I still have nothing but the highest respect for all of them.
As far as I’m concerned though, I think I’m gonna keep ordering cookies and cakes from the professionals. Maybe a “Dessert of the Month” subscription would be a better idea - if only to make people think I’m coming up with new ideas… 
Ooh! I get to use this photo again! Don’t they look awesome?!? |
But even still, I’m going to need to come up with some dessert recipes for my cookbook. I have about three done so far. I’m just going to have to learn how to make cannolis. Simple as that…
Chef Matt
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05.18.09
Posted in Reviews, Other Fun at 1:53 pm by Chef Matt
A short while ago, I brought to the attention of my US readers that the UK potato crisp company, Walkers, was having a contest to select their next flavor of potato crisp. Many of you commented on it, and some of you even thought it was funny.
An interesting analogy given one of the flavors… |
Hey, every now and then even a blind squirrel finds his nuts…
So as a service to you all, I hereby present to you the winner of the Walker’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest. (Yes, they really called it that…)
First, some more info on the contest. The first stage was where they asked the public for flavor suggestions. This resulted in over 1.2 million flavor ideas coming in. Yes, you read that right - the populace of England was creative enough to come up with over 1 million possible crisp flavors. The thing is, that based on the six they actually ended up choosing as their finalists, I shudder to think what else was in that pile. The finalists were:
- Fish and Chips
- Builder’s Breakfast
- Chili and Chocolate
- Onion Bahji
- Crispy Duck and Hoisin
- Cajun Squirrel
Good lord. 1.2 million suggestions, and “Cajun Squirrel” made the final six. Were the other people suggesting “Ear Wax and Denture Cream”?
For the record, that is to say, for people who are too lazy to click on the link to my original article (there’s another link you slobs!), the flavor I thought I was going to like the most was “Crispy Duck and Hoisin,” but it turned out that “Onion Bahji” was the best - and it was merely “Decent.”
But neither of those won. Thankfully “Cajun Squirrel” was also eliminated. The winner was (is):
Builder’s Breakfast |
Just based on how many “fans” there were of this flavor on Facebook, it was a runaway election, as their 1,900+ fans was way more than second place who only had 1,200 fans.
“Builder’s Breakfast” will now join such other illustrious Walker’s flavors as “Pickled Onion,” “Prawn Cocktail,” and “Tomato Ketchup.” (Yes, those are real.) In their never-ending effort to make sure that the world thinks the people of England are genetically engineered to have no taste buds, they have collectively chosen a potato chip that tastes of powdered eggs, tomatoey baked beans and bad sausage - served at room temperature on a potato crisp.
All I can say is: Good gravy.
A GIS for “good gravy” resulted in this being the first image. I think I’m on to something here… |
Hmmm… “Good Gravy”. That might have potential as their next flavor given what they seem to go for.
And I would like to be the person who suggests their next flavor. The winner of this contest, Ms. Emma Rushin from a town called “Belper” (really, I just can’t make this stuff up!) won a prize not only of £50,000, ($75,922), but she also gets 1% of ALL FUTURE SALES of this flavor! That is one hell of a great prize!
So in my never-ending effort to make sure I don’t do any work ever again, please, let’s start a letter writing campaign to Walkers to tell them to make the “Good Gravy” flavor. Just be sure to give me credit!
Thanks guys!
Chef Matt
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05.14.09
Posted in Rants and Raves, Other Fun at 12:58 pm by Chef Matt
When I first moved into my house, I remember one thing I really wanted to do was add a small kegerator for a beer keg onto my wet bar in my great room. I figured buying beer in bulk would help me save some money in the long run. Though it would kind of lock me into one particular type of beer for some time… But it would be worth it! How cool would it be to pour my own keg beer every day when I came home from work?…
But you know what? Times change, and tastes do as well. It has now gotten to the point where I actually have to think hard to wonder which I have had more of in my life - beer or wine. But the reason for that is mainly because of my recent increased like for wine.
Someday my wine collection will look like this… |
However, enjoyment of wine doesn’t mean that I need to buy a kegerator for wine. Sure, having a wine cooler may be a nice idea though for having a nice bottle of white ready to go at any given moment. But at the very least, it means having a wine rack of some sort. It is a stunning thing, but most wine in this country is consumed the same day as it is purchased, and if you are going to truly enjoy wine, you can’t go down that road. You have to buy good wines in advance, and store them for some time. And that means having a nice wine rack with which to do this.
I have a nice metal wine rack myself that also has a nice glass top to it which makes it work as a storage table as well. But I know someday soon I am going to have to increase my wine storage volume. Now all I have to do is find room for such a giant rack. Well, maybe I can put it where I has planned to put my kegerator…
Chef Matt
| Note: This is a sponsored post from PayPerPost. |
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05.08.09
Posted in The Story, Other Fun at 6:37 pm by Chef Matt
Sorry for the delay in writing, but I have been up to a lot here.
I just wanted to show you all the final shot in Meatpaper magazine of my tattoo. The end result of the photo shoot actually put into print.
The shot of me in Meatpaper. Any magazine this cool deserves your subscribing.
Click for image larger (legible) version. |
In case you all were doubting that this was real, I just wanted to show you that, yes, I really did take my clothes off in public for a good reason. In fact, the photographer (Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater) posted more of the photos from the photo shoot on Flickr. You should be sure to see all the tags she put on the photos - they are quite funny.
And of course, thanks so much to Melissa at Inked Rouge Chefs, who got this whole thing started in the first place! It’s been a surreal experience, and I can’t wait for the book to come out!
Chef Matt
P.S. I feel safe in the posting of this bit of the magazine because, heck, 3/4 of what is written there is stuff I wrote myself anyway… 
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04.14.09
Posted in Other Fun at 8:48 am by Chef Matt
In what was a complete run-away vote from the beginning, you have shown that the internet theme of passion for bacon has spilled over even on to this blog. “Bacon Wrapped” won with over 50% of the vote, so there was never a need for any sort of run-off vote anyway.
| What two words in direct juxtaposition elicit the best image, concept or feeling with relation to food? |
| Selection |
|
Votes |
| Accumulated Juices |
 8% |
7 |
| Deep Fried |
 13% |
11 |
| Rum Laced |
 6% |
5 |
| Bacon Wrapped |
 53% |
46 |
| Extra Butter |
 6% |
5 |
| Duck Fat |
 9% |
8 |
| Beer Braised |
 6% |
5 |
 |
|
|
| 87 votes total |
|
And while I can’t argue about the results of a fair poll, allow me just to use my soapbox a little to say that the current trend of all things bacon-related on the internet is getting a little worrisome. And perhaps a tad lazy. There are some great blogs out there of course - like Bacon Unwrapped - that focus completely on bacon, and I see nothing wrong with those since they are writing on a topic, and they chose the topic of bacon.
No, I’m not posting a photo of one of these creations either. |
But the fact that the internet can support several blogs on the topic of bacon means that others can score a quick spot of publicity off of making the most outrageous post on the meat. Like some kind of carnivorous arms race, everyone is trying to think up the biggest, most disgusting blob of meat involving bacon they can come up with to then cook, photo and blog about. The bacon explosion being the most egregious and infamous example of this. (For those of you who keep forwarding this to me, yes, I’ve seen it!)
That’s all I’ve got to say on the topic. I’m not planning on scoring any cheap hits off making some sort of bacon-wrapped jack-o-lantern or whatever either. (Feel free to use that idea come October…) And while perhaps I have seen the benefits of some bacon-related publicity inadvertently myself, I just want y’all to know I promise I won’t try to score any cheap publicity with photos of pounds and pounds of cooked bacon.
I’ll just quietly eat those giant globs of bacon I cook up in the privacy of my own home. As always.
Chef Matt
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03.19.09
Posted in Other Fun at 11:44 am by Chef Matt
Thanks all for your suggestions for what the best two word combination in the culinary world might be! Here is the original post if you are late to the game on this one. Anyway, I don’t want to have a first vote, and then a run-off vote, like I did for how to spend the “found $500″. So I had a meeting of the Deglazed Editorial Committee* and the top seven contenders have been chosen for you, the readers, to vote upon.
Cast your votes, and let’s see what the best combination is once and for all!
Poll Closed. You can see the results here.
*Deglazed Editorial Committee members (in alphabetical order):
Vote early and often, and thanks again for all your feedback and input people!
Chef Matt
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03.16.09
Posted in Reviews, Greatest Hits, Other Fun at 12:10 pm by Chef Matt
As a business, it is generally a good idea to “involve” your customers in the development of your product. It’s not only a good way to receive feedback about your product, but it’s also a great way to update your database with contact information on your customers so you can send them more ads.
You’re in the band now blue. You’re welcome. |
Probably the most notable example of this that I can recall is when M&M’s had the election for a new color M&M. They did this twice actually, once in 1995 (blue won) and again in 2002 (purple won). Anyway, hundreds of thousands of people voted - and M&M/Mars got all their info. How brilliant. It made the customers think they had a stake in shaping the future of the candy that tastes the same no matter what color it is, and now M&M’s could do much more targeted marketing to their customer base.
How could you vote against them?…
photo ©Cecilia Pollak |
When I worked at WWF, I helped do “voting” campaigns as well where people voted on their favorite animal (polar bear won), the cutest animal (panda won), and even the scariest animal (around Halloween - I forget which animal won). People had a lot of fun with it, and it helped us gather information on people who were interested in the work we were doing to protect endangered species.
So it was with great interest that I discovered Walkers Crisps (potato chips) is doing a campaign to pick a new flavor of potato chip over here in the UK. They had people suggest new flavors, then they developed a select set of them, and now they sell bags of these trial flavors that you can vote on through their website or by sending them a text message. Once again, it’s a truly brilliant campaign.
But as you are likely a regular reader of this blog, you know there is a big “however” that has to come in as part of this story. And yes, there is. The flavors they have developed are - for the most part - really quite disappointing and/or disturbing. I have tried them all at this point, and so I deliver now the list with some quick reviews.
I swear all of these flavors are real. I couldn’t make these up if I tried. Since I know some of them will be hard to believe, I’m providing links to each of the flavor’s “pages” on the Walkers Crisps website so you can see/vote for yourself.
This is what fish & chips are supposed to look like. |
1. Fish and Chips. Well, this IS England after all. It makes perfect sense to sell a crisp that has the flavor of the most popular bit of pub fare. The problem is, the “chips” part of “fish and chips” is a fried potato. So basically that part of the flavor is handled by the crisp itself. So what you have here is a cod-flavored potato crisp. Dreadful.
2. Builder’s Breakfast. Again, this one panders well to the demographic as it has the flavors of a traditional English breakfast all on one crisp. Eggs, sausage, bacon and beans. A noble effort for sure, but the reality is that there are only so many artificial flavors you can cram onto a crisp at one time. The result tastes like powdered eggs with cheap beans, and the great meat flavors are nowhere to be found. Additionally, there is a reason English breakfasts are served hot. These flavors just don’t taste right at room temperature. Horrid.
Looks good huh? What’s missing? Oh right - no potato chips! |
3. Chili and Chocolate.While I’m not a fan of the trend in the US to add an abundance of spice to everything, I think chocolate and spice have the ability to go together quite well. I thought maybe this one had a shot. One bite in, and I realized there were two elements to this flavor combination that are tantamount to enjoying their union. First, you have to use real chocolate and real hot peppers - not this artificial crap. Secondly, they can’t reside on a potato crisp. I have yet to find anyone over here who describes these crisps as anything but “awful,” so that will be my verdict as well. Awful.
4. Onion Bahji. England has a love of Indian food, so this is not as obscure as it would be were this to be offered in the US. (An onion bahji for the record is basically a spiced onion fritter usually made with chickpea flour, then pan-fried like a latke.) The take of this was to combine a mild sweet onion flavor with a mild curry flavor. The result is actually not bad at all on a crisp, which acts as the starchy base one would find in a bahji. Decent.
5. Crispy Duck and Hoisin. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely LOVE duck. That being said, Peking duck, served with hoisin is one of my all-time favorite ways to enjoy the bird. So I really looked forward to trying this flavor. The problem was, at NO POINT in the tasting of these crisps did I come across a flavor that even remotely reminded me of “duck” or “hoisin”. They tasted like BBQ potato chips with a mild onion flavor. While all in all, this wasn’t terrible, it was not at all what I was expecting given the name on the bag. Disappointing.
And now for one that made my jaw drop when I first saw it. Arguably the total motivation behind this whole post:
No really, this bag is for real. It actually has a distressed looking squirrel on the fornt of it! |
6. Cajun Squirrel. Seriously. How did this happen? Someone thought this flavor up, submitted it, the board of selectors at Walkers green lighted it, some dude in a lab worked on making an artificial flavor that tastes like… this flavor… they put it on a crisp, made bags for it, and distributed them. SOMEWHERE along this chain of events you’d think someone would have stood up, thrown off the chains of procedural inertia and exclaimed:
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING!?!”
But alas, nobody did this, and these crisps were born. Yes, I actually paid for a bag of them so you could see them. And yes, I actually tried them. The initial flavor of them was again similar to a BBQ potato crisp. It looks like they thankfully stuck with the “cajun” aspect of the crisp, and downplayed the whole “squirrel” part. I was actually almost disappointed that these weren’t as horrible as they could (should) have been. But when I stopped eating them, the aftertaste kicked in. Perhaps this is where the “squirrel” aspect - or how they envisioned it - kicked in. It was ghastly. Like I had eaten some kind of old meat. It was intense. So I ate an orange, to sort of wash the taste out. But no - now I was stuck with orange and… umm… “squirrel”… It was a mess.
Even if I could tolerate the aftertaste, and thought the “cajun” crisp was OK, I still would be uneasy about eating chips that were purporting to be “squirrel” flavored. If somebody handed me a delicious crisp with a wonderful salt and vinegar flavor, I would be happy with it. But if they then told me that this flavor was called “Rabid Howler Monkey in Vinegar,” I would assuredly spit it out. It’s all about the marketing, and on this flavor, all I can say is: What the hell were you all thinking? Give it a miss.
So now it’s time to vote. The most tolerable is the Onion Bahji, but still it doesn’t inspire me to go out and buy a bag of them. I will therefore abstain, which means the good people at Walkers miss out on this chance to get my mailing address, email and phone number. They’ll just have to enjoy the fact that no matter which one wins, I’ll still be buying the regular old salt and vinegar.
Update 5/18/09: The winner in this contest has been announced! If you’d like to see which flavor won, and what the winner got as a result, you can read all about it here!
Chef Matt
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02.28.09
Posted in Other Fun at 3:44 pm by Chef Matt
Socrates ain’t got nothing on my philosophizing!
“I just drank WHAT?!?…” |
Another pseudo-philosophical question has crossed my mind when I was cooking the other day. I had set aside some beef that I had browned for a stir-fry, and was cooking the vegetables. The smell coming off the collective piles of food was just heavenly. My mouth was beginning to salivate in anticipation of my favorite moment of preparing any stir-fry - the moment when I can add the meat back into the pan.
It’s a sublime moment for several reasons. First off, it means you’re almost done! Secondly, you can begin to shape the sauce in the pan into something heavenly. But the real fun of it is the moment those lovely accumulated juices in the bottom of the plate storing the meat hit that hot pan, and erupt in a sizzle that just seems to scream out, “You bet your ass I’m cooking now!”
It almost seems impossible to me that there are people who actually don’t use those accumulated juices. They are one of the great elements to all cookery. If you are one of those people who wash them down the drain, I tell you what - put them in a Ziploc bag, and mail them to me instead. I’ll put them to good use.
“Duck fat” - such a great combo, they are tattoo-worthy. |
Murmuring to myself about “accumulated juices” (yes, I do this) the following thought came into my head: “Are the words ‘accumulated juices’ the greatest two-word combo in the culinary lexicon?” What two words in direct juxtaposition elicit the best image, concept or feeling with relation to food? As I gave it some more thought, I came up with some other contenders:
- “Duck Fat”
- “Extra Butter”
- “Foie Gras” (OK, that’s cheating…)
- “Artisanal Bacon”
- “Beer Braised”
- “Chocolate Covered”
- “Bourbon Glazed”
- “Bacon Wrapped” (from my wife)
- “Free Sample” (ha)
Anyway, I welcome any and all other ideas from you, and when we have a list, let’s put it to a vote! So let me hear your great ideas people!
Chef Matt
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02.13.09
Posted in The Story, Rants and Raves, Other Fun at 7:37 am by Chef Matt
It was 11:30 at night when suddenly the power in my flat went out. I wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, which is always the case when your power first goes out, but I knew enough to check the circuit breaker. Everything in there was in fine shape, so I decided to call the emergency number for the leasing agents. It was late, and it took a while to get someone to answer (the emergency number - go figure) but he was unfailingly polite given the circumstances. I explained that my power had suddenly gone off, while all my neighbors were fine, and he explained, “I’ll leave a message with your contact to call you in the morning, since I don’t think I could get someone to stop around at this time of night.”
Part of the problem with the lights being out is that my flat is still full of moving boxes… |
Since the majority of my readers are American, allow me to translate that last sentence into American from British for you. “It’s nighttime you asshole, your lights are SUPPOSED to be out. Stop calling me, numb-nuts and we’ll deal with it in the morning.”
Morning came around, and with the lights still out, I called my leasing agent once again. He informed me that the house was under warranty with the building company still (it’s a new flat) and so any problems should be addressed with them. I called the housing company and they said that the leasing agent should be able to get me in touch with the power company. I called the power company’s emergency number (supposedly for outages) and nobody was there to answer the phone.
Sigh.
It was about this time that a thought began creeping into my subconscious like an unwelcome relative - I didn’t want it there, and it wouldn’t leave… I had been out of the country for 2 months… could it be that the electric bill had not been paid?
It was about this time that I decided to break a minor law, and open some of the envelopes addressed to my landlord that for some reason had been delivered to us. The first one was from the electric company. In large red letters it read:
“Good Lord Watson! Have a look at this!!” |
FINAL NOTICE OF OVERDUE BILL
Ah. For those of us in the detective industry, we call this “a clue.”
So I called the number on the bill allotted for “instant payments” and when I gave the overly-eager account rep my account number, he informed me that this account had been closed.
Wait. What?…
“Yeah, the bill you have there was paid, and the account was closed and transferred over to the company letting your flat.”
“So the bills have all been paid?”
“Yeah, you’re fine, we haven’t cut you off.”
I wasn’t sure if this was good news or bad news… It’s nice to know my credit rating was still intact, but by the same token, I was still - quite literally - in the dark.
So I called the building people again and explained that I had checked with the power company, and by their reckoning, I was supposed to have power. The incredibly nice lady at the other end relented, and sent someone around to take a look. This man confirmed that my lights were out and the circuit breaker was good, but he noticed that I wasn’t even getting power to my meter. “Well, that’s Southern Electric’s area. We deal with it once the power reaches the meter. You’ll have to call them.”
Back on the phone to the emergency outage number, I was relieved to see that someone had finally decided to show up to work. They offered to send a technician right around. About half an hour later, he arrived, and confirmed that my power was out (thank God, I thought there was some sort of collective insanity going around) and indeed it was not reaching my meter. His special power that separated him from the last guy who had stopped by was that he was able to go out to the street to make sure there was electricity coming in from the main power lines. A few minutes later, he knocked on the door to tell me that everything was fine at the street, which meant he had to send around a different kind of technician to work on it.
“When will that be?…”
Yeah. Creepy. |
“Later today mate,” he said with a wink. I’ve never felt more unsettled by a man winking at me before - and that includes the guy who did it to me in a strip club bathroom…
Several hours later, two men stopped around to take a look at the situation. These were the first guys who actually pulled out something I would refer to as “tools” to begin working on the problem. Obviously, these were the guys I needed all along because in no time, they had all kinds of cool gadgets that made variously-pitched beeping noises hooked up to my power lines, and within 5 minutes the obviously senior of the two men asked me, without looking up from his beeping device, “How many meters is it to your front door?”
“From where you’re standing?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know… umm… five? Six?” I guessed, looking down the hallway.
“Ah good, that mean’s we’ll only have to dig outside.”
Wait. What?
Apparently this beeping device could pinpoint exactly where in the line the problem was, and it was telling us all (well OK, just this other guy) that the problem was exactly 9.2 meters down the line. The two guys got out some more big beeping things to find the line in my driveway, and soon they were full on digging up the front of my house. God bless these two electrical company soldiers - through the dark and cold, they dug one hell of a trench and found the main supply line to my house, with a tiny nick in it, buried 5 feet below my driveway. They replaced it, and soon my house sprang to life with a fresh dose of electrical juice.
Total power outage time: 22 hours
Phone calls made: 9
Cost to me: £10 in cell phone minutes. (The repair was on Southern Electric’s dime.)
Cups of tea consumed by repair people: 7
Time to re-fill hole in front of my house: 2 days and counting… I wonder who I have to call for that?
Chef Matt
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