NFL Week 4: Taiwanese Cuisine

Well, another loss last night to the Ravens (9 in a row now), and another loss where we had a chance - maybe not a strong possibility, but at least a chance - to win. Weeden's pick 6 was obviously a key turning point, but the constant drops by Little stymied drive after drive. This team is young and will make mistakes - but these types of losses are a bit gut wrenching and painful.

Kind of like my experience with Taiwan food on our only trip there. I may have blogged about this in the past - ah! Here is the post! We landed Friday afternoon and headed that night to Taipei 101, the largest building in Taiwan and for a while, one of the top 3 tallest buildings in Asia. We got some dinner in the food court in the building. The boys had Subway; I can't remember what Janice got. I saw some noodles being made in one of the stands - mmmmmm! What a smell! I think there was chicken and some soup involved.....

I got my order, and it didn't smell as good. Janice now says that she remarked that it "didn't smell too good", but I was too hungry to put it down. I finished the dish and we had a good tour of Taipei 101.

It was about 2 am when I was in the bathroom with the heaves. I do remember sitting at the hotel breakfast buffet on Jan 2, watching the awful UConn - Oklahoma bowl game (Randy Edsell, anyone?) and sitting at the table thinking, "who can eat anything right now?".

That night, I was forced to roam the streets for ginger ale and found Shasta! So that's my memory of Taiwan food. Shasta. I guess Phil Dawson is the Browns' Shasta.

The post is going up early this week, as we head out of town tomorrow for Hong Kong to meet Don, Mike and the wives, and then off to Bali. I have the Ryder Cup on TiVo so we can all watch on Monday poolside/beachside.

On to the games:

NE 27, Buf 17. I don't get it - the Patriots are off 2 losses; they have to be desperate and I can't see Belicheck letting the Bills hang around.

Det 24, Min 23. I don't think Detroit's D is any good, and this should be close.

Atl 28, Car 16. A one-dimensional team (Car) will not go into Atlanta and stay within 7.

SF 24, NYJ 13. Boy, the Jets are struggling on O.  And I think the Niners will be eager to get back to the winning ways after losing last week.

SD 27, KC 24, OT. I just don't believe in Romeo ("We got the first pickle out of the jar") and the consistency of his offense.

Hou 27, Ten 13. Tennesse threw everything in the playbook at Detroit last week - Houston should easily stop them.

StL 20, Sea 16. Talk about a letdown here for the Seahawks. The Rams are decent at home.

Az 20, Mia 19. The Dolphins D is good - and this will be low scoring.

Den 27, Oak 24. Denver's pass D is not that good - and we saw what Oakland can do against an weak-to-average pass D last week (*Pittsburgh*cough)

Cin 23, Jax 20. OK, so I am starting to be a bit impressed with the Bengals. I have not seen the Jags that much.

GB 41, NO 21. Don't you think the Packers want to come out and score 3 TDs on their first 3 drivers, just to prove a point?

TB 26, Was 20. The classic "Bad O vs Bad D" game. There's also the good O (Was) vs. good D (TB). When in doubt, the go with the home team!

NYG 20, Phi 17. I think this will be a defensive game - Philly has a great D, while the Giants should be able to pressure Vick.

Dal 24, Chi 17. How are the Bears going to score? They haven't shown much on O so far this year.

Best bets: 16 of them. Last week: 8-9. Overall: 26-20-2
NE -4
NE/Buf under 50 1/2
Min +4
Atl -7
SF -3 1/2
SD -1 1/2
SD/KC over 44
StL +2 1/2
Mia +5 1/2
Oak +7
GB -7 1/2
NO/GB over 53
TB -2 1/2
NYG +2
NYG/Phi under 47 1/2
Dal -3 1/2

Supercontest: Last week: 2-2-1; overall: 9-5-1.
Preliminary picks:
NE -4
StL +2 1/2
SF -4
GB -7 1/2
TB -3

 

Barbed Wire, anyone?

This photo was snapped by a friend of mine - and I thought I'd share it. This was seen at the top of a 6-7 foot high wall outside a factory.

Talk about low cost! Is this how they keep the wages down?

 

NFL Week 3: Xi'An (Shaanxi) Cuisine

First of all, a big welcome to China for our dear readers Don and Mike! They have landed here in China for a 2 week excursion in the Estern hemisphere. I have word that they already have their "children peeing in the streets" pictures and have seen more than their share of 40-year-old men's bellies. Congratulations! See you on Friday!

The five of us took a long weekend this weekend and went to Xi'An, home of the Terra Cotta warriors. The Terra Cotta excursion took about 3 hours total; to fill the day, we went to a silk factory (slash- tourist trap) and a home of someone living in a cave. Literally! We went to a cave to see someone's abode, which is a 10 x 30 dungeon with one bed, one light bulb (don't carry Martin in on your shoulders, as he is well within reach of the bare, single electrical cord that enters the cave), and a brick as a pillow.

The cave dweller, in perfect English, asked me "So how is Tim Couch working as the star QB of the Browns?"

Lunch was the local Shaanxi cuisine - and it was average-to-below average. A picture of the dishes is included here. A quick description, starting from 12 o'clock and going clockwise:

- a bowl of rice;
- steamed cauliflower (and Janice was the only one to touch this)
- cabbage fried in oil (which is a wonderful staple of many regional cuisine. The only way to eat cabbage!)
- some chicken mix that looked like Kung Pao Chicken, but without the spices and any heat at all (it was room temperature)
- some imitation pepper steak that was bland;
- some pork and vegetable concotion that looked bad but tasted ok;
- Chinese greens;
- egg drop soup.

Dinner that night was a 10-course dumpling meal, which was good (too bad my battery died, so no immeidate pictures). Xi'An is famous for dumplings, and many were good; however, the "vegetable" dumpings tasted a lot like ground-up Oscar Meyer Wieners.

So the meals we had were ok - until we got to the airport today to leave. We checked in, had some time - and noticed....could it be???? Yes!!!!! A Dunkin Donuts!

 I immediately ordered a Boston Cream donut, my favorite....aaah, the comfortable memories of a Boston Creme donut.....

....just like the memories of a Browns-Bills game. Many good memories here on games between the two teams:
- the 34-30 Browns victory in the playoffs in 1989, sending us to round 3 of the AFC Championship series with the Broncos; we would be the last AFC team to beat the Bills in the playoffs for 5 years.
- the Monday Night loss in Cleveland in 1995 when Al Michaels said "tomorrow" would be the day the OJ Simpson verdict would be announced;
- the memorable 8-0 victory in Cleveland in 2007 when Dawson hit two field goals in a blizzard (one, a 47 yarder,easily the hardest field goal I've ever seen hit on TV,including Vinatieri's). I watched this in warm Southern California with Derek.
- A Monday Night win in Buffalo in 2008 when Dawson hit a 56-yarder;
- The worst game I ever saw on TV in 2009; Derek Anderson completed 2 passes in the entire game......and we ended up winning, 6-3!

Buffalo-Cleveland matchups. It's like comfort food. It may not be good, it may not always agree with you, but it is something familiar......like a Dunkin Donut.

On to the games:

Chi 26, StL 13. I think the Bears D line will overwhelm Bradford and the Rams.

Dal 31, TB 20. Tampa has the worst pass D in the league - and that's Dallas's strength.

SF 20, Min 14. A closer game than many think, some letdown here for the Niners after the win at Lambeau and a Sunday night win at home.

Det 24, Ten 16. The Lions are desperate, and the Titans are pretty bad.

Was 31, Cin 21. I know a lot of people are talking about Washington's injuries on D - but Cincinnati's D is not that good. 44 vs. the Ravens and 27 vs. the Browns?

NYJ 23, Mia 13. I think the Jets D can stop an average-to-below average offense like the Dolphins.

NO 34, KC 31. I don't think the Saints D can stop anyone right now -even the mistake prone Chiefs' offense.

Ind 20, Jax 17. Should go down to the wire - and another Vinatieri FG.

Phi 20, Az 17. Both defenses are very good in this game - should be decided at the end by a FG.

Atl 27, SD 23. I worry about a letdown here for the Falcons - but the Chargers have not been tested at all yet.

Den 28, Hou 20. Talking about not being tested - the Texans have played the Dolphins and the Jaguars. That's not exactly two offensive powerhouses there. How will they do vs. a good offensive team?

Pit 23, Oak 16. I know this is a game that the Steelers typically don't do well in, but I just can't see this Oakland team do anything against the Steelers D, which is great against the run.

Bal 31, NE 24. A tough game. I know Belicheck is great after a loss, but I can't see the supposed best team in the AFC lose this one to a one-dimensional Patriots team.

Sea 23, GB 20, OT. I just don't believe the Packers are themselves - yet. They are not playing close to a 15-1 team .

Best bets: 17 of them. Last week: 8-7-1; overall: 18-11-2.
Chi -7
Dal -8
SF/Min under 42 1/2
Det -4
Det/Ten under 47 1/2
Was -3
NYJ -2 1/2
KC +8
KC/NO over 53
Ind/Jax under 43
Atl +3
Den +2
Pit -3 1/2
Pit/Oak under 45 1/2
Bal -3
Bal/NE over 48 1/2
Sea +3

Supercontest picks: last week: 3-2; overall: 7-3
Chi -7 1/2 (oooh, that hook....)
Dal -7
NYJ +3
Den +2 1/2
Sea +3



 

NFL Week 2: Yunnan Cuisine

Spent most of the morning trying to upload those videos for the post below. It takes a while - I don't know what it is, but I can only uploade one at a time, then I have to restart the computer....painful.

As I said in the post, we really didn't know what to expect from the food last night at the Yunnan restaurant. It turned out that this was close to what people think of as Chinese food - without the rice!
Here is a picture of the dishes we ordered - I will try to explain each dish, starting with the black dish in the 9'oclock position, going clockwise:

- Black "fungus" with vegetables; the local mushroom, served with other local veggies. The mushroom was ribbon like and very floppy - and tasted just fine.

- Pork and pepper mixture, served with the lettuce you see in the middle. Very close to the "Lettuce wraps" you get at PF Chang.

- Chicken with the local mushrooms. Sense a trend here - what the local dish is? Strips of pork stir fried with the local mushroom. Very good!

- Lotus root in sauce. I'm not a big lotus fan, but it was ok, as it stayed crunchy in the sauce

- Spicy hot eggplant (in the hot pot). By far the spiciest dish on the table, the dish came out boiliing was a  stew of primarily eggplant and peppers. Once the temperature of the dish came down, we tried it - it was just about on the edge of my tolerance for spiciness.

- "Shredded pumpkin". That was the translation, but it was clearly not pumpkin. More like a squash/zucchini sort of thing; shredded and lightly sauced.

- Fried noodles. Simple and just a bit flavored - for Martin and Frankie

- Carrots with pork; the dish was 90% shredded carrots and 10% pork. I loved this dish the best, no extra frills in there with unneeded flavors. Just carrots and pork, with some brown sauce on it. Wonderful.

- Steamed buns with pork filling. Exactly what you would expect.

The grand total for these dishes, plus the tea and the 4 (1/2 liter) bottles of beer? 330 RMB - about 50 dollars - for all of us.

This dinner reminds me (hopefully) of this week for the Browns. I am expecting the worst - going out to an unknown Chinese restaurant with a 4 year old and a 21 month old toddler could be disaster. A disaster like Brandon Weeden's 5.4 QB rating.
However, it was surprising and exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. A diamond in the rough. That's about what I can hope for with the Browns this week. We all know the expectations - Weeden's a bust, Richardson can't run behind the line, Haden is out now, so teh D will suffer..... let's rise above all that and shock the world.

Let's put a little carrot and pork dish on the table on Sunday afternoon. Cmon Weeded - you are better than what you showed in week 1.
(and if he isn't, just please, have the dignity not to rub it into my face).

Onto the games.

NYG 23, TB 13. I see Tampa as a team that will consistenly score 10-17 points and use their D to win; I see the Giants as just desperate enough to score in the mid 20s.

NE 30, Az 20. Classic back-door cover. NE will be up 20 most of this game.

Ind 23, Min 17. Indy's front 7 is good and should shut down Peterson. I'll take my chances with Luck at home vs. Ponder on the road.

NO 27, Car 20. Yes, yes, I know I am falling for this one. I don't believe in the Panthers.

KC 20, Buf 17. I believe that the Chiefs can move the ball and score; I don't think the Bills can. (until next week? -ed).

Phi 30, Bal 24. Baltimore coming off an emotional game (gack) and everyone is rating the Eagles too low.

Mia 20, Oak 16. A team coming off a late late Monday game flying to Miami for a Sunday 1 pm Eastern game? Yes, please.

Hou 27, Jax 17. I just can't see the Jags scoring more than 17 against the Texans' good D.

Sea 27, Dal 24. How many times does it happen in a year when a supposedly good team heads to Seattle and loses? Remember Baltimore last year?

Was 23, StL 21. I'll wait to jump on the RG3 bandwagon for a bit......

Pit 27, NYJ 13. Let's not forgot that the Jets still hav trouble scoring. I think LeBeau will have something cooked up for the Jets and Sanchez.

Ten 24, SD 19. The Titans did not look bad against the Pats last week, and I'm not sure about San Diego. Aren't they one-dimensional?

SF 31, Det 20. The new and improved SF pass offense vs. the weak Detroit secondary.

Atl 28, Den 27. Should be close and exciting the whole way.

Best bets: 16 of them. Last week: 10-4-1

NYG -7
TB/NYG under 43 1/2
Az +13 1/2
Ind +3
NO -2 1/2
KC +3
KC/Buf under 44 1/2
Phi -2 1/2
Bal/Phi over 46
Mia +2 1/2
Hou -7
Sea +3
Dal/Sea over 42 1/2
Pit -5
Ten +6 1/2
SF -7

Supercontest update: 4-1 last week. I will try not to make any obvious typos this week, Wiz.

Ind +1
Phi -2.5
Sea +3
Pit -6
Ten +6
 

Summary of a night out

The two older boys had a birthday party to go to last night (laser tag!), so Janice, Martin and I teamed up with another family (that had 2 boys also attending the party, so their 21 month old daughter came along) and we went out to an unknown restaurant in Guangzhou. It served Yunnan food,which is a province in Southern China - bordering on Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. The food was reviewed as "tasty, but not overwhelmingly spicy". Ok, we will give it a shot.

What a night. First, the beer:

"Wind, Flower, Snow & Moon Beer".  I think there were flecks of opium in there as well. Guaranteed to put you to sleep in 2 hours!


Then - the arrival of the food. We sat in the center of the restaurant at a round table - so almost all patrons in the restaurant can see when our food arrived:

We ordered 8-9 dishes in all, and only 2 of them arrived on the top of the waiter's head!

Then, the entertainment! Around 7 pm, a show was put on by the staff (who you can see were all wearing the native costumes). This lasted about 10 minutes.....I'm sure there is an ancient story behind it that I am blissfully unaware of.....

 

(having trouble uploading....)

 

As you can tell by Martin's reaction in the video above - yes, it was quite loud.

Finally, we have the audience participation piece of the night! Yes, of course, the restaurant staff had a dance where they did a "Locomotion" type dance around the room....and of course they would pick the American in the yellow shirt!

All in all, a great night. A review of the food is in the next post. We will have to get Freddie and Warren back here at some point to experience it.

 

NFL Week 1 : Malaysian Chicken Satay

Hello and welcome again to an annual tradition - Eric's Themed NFL picks! It was tough to pick a topic this year; it came down to:
"Review of Asian Foods" vs. "Best $25,000 Pyramid Winner's Circle subjects"
 By a flip of a coin, the culinary idea won. Maybe we will look at "Things that are Violent" next year.

So our first trip out of China was a trip to Malaysia in the fall of 2010. Our life was in utter and complete chaos at that point, so a friend of ours directed us to a resort in the city of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to head for the October vacation that year. And - best news - there was no need to go off the resort; they had 6 different restaurants in the place; we found out on that vacation that the boys loved the Hibachi grill. (sadly, there is no Benihana in Guangzhou).

The most famous Malaysian food, I think, is meat served Satay style - meat skewed on a stick. And when I think of Satay, I think of the peanut sauce.  MMM-mmmm! Hunks of chicken in the shape of a kids' popsicle that I can dip in a vat of peanut butter....

The reality, however, is not like that. The sauce was excellent - it was very much as I expected. The meat? Well, the amount of meat on the stick barely covers the skewer. It is like a pipe cleaner's worth of meat on the wooden skewer - so when you try to eat it off the stick, you have to watch out for slivers on your tongue. The taste was fine, but I expected more than just gristle on a stick.

Grade: B- .

This is how I feel about the Browns in week 1. In my mind, I envision a sharp passing attack coupled with Richardson being explosive in the backfield...the defense being as solid as it was last year....and with a break or two, this game could (and should) be winnable!

In reality tomorrow, I hope I'm not watching gristle.

On to the picks:

Chi 23, Ind 17 . We all will focus on Luck on this game, but the key is Indy's good D line vs. Chicago's weak O.

NYJ 17, Buf 13. Again, we all focus on the Jets O - when we should focus on the Jets' D. How exactly will the Bills score?

NO 31, Was 17. Now that the players are vindicated, I need to stop typing and get in on this game before the line rises any more.

NE 30, Ten 24. Is Jake Locker really the one to exploit the weak Pats' D?

Min 24, Jax 13. I like Min's D Line vs. Gabbert.

Hou 27, Mia 7. Miami has a good defense and will stop the Texans -but how will they score?

Det 24, StL 20. Detroit is a one-dimensional team, they have questions in their secondary and I trust Fisher as a coach.

Atl 27, KC 23. We'll see how good each of these teams are with this game.

SF 27, GB 24. I think the Niners will move the ball against the porous GB pass D, and their own D will do just enough to stop the Pack.

TB 20, Car 19. Layup made a good point here - the Panthers were not very good in the 2nd half of the season once people starting figuring out Cam a bit.

Az 23, Sea 20. Wilson, Wilson, Wilson. The previews of this game sounds like a Dennis the Menace convention.

Den 27, Pit 17. I'm interested to see how good (or bad) Pit's O line is.

Bal 27, Cin 17. Ugh - high emotions in Baltimore?

SD 24, Oak 23. Double Ugh. I have no idea about this one.

Best bets: 15 this week.
 Ind +9.5
Buf/NYJ under 38
NO -8
NE/Ten over 47
Min -3.5
Hou -13
Mia/Hou under 42 1/2
St Louis +8.5
Atl/KC Over 43 1/2
SF +5
TB +2 1/2
Car/TB under 47
Az +2 1/2
Den -2
Bal -7

A review of results:
2011: 143-118-12  (54.8%)
Overall - 6 year history on F&J:   733-670-46 (52.2%)


The Supercontest is back! The picks for this week:

Min -3.5
NE +5.5
St L +7
TB +2.5
Den -1.5

I welcome any of you (Wiz, especially) to post your choices here.

 

Modell

Well, I see the day finally arrived - Art Modell has died.

This is not going to be a post where I write my hopes on what he is doing in the afterlife. The raw emotion of the move has long passed, but there is still some anger at what he did. With the move, he ripped a key part of my 20s away from me. Going to Browns games were a social highlight back then - being part of a community, seeing friends in Cleveland - and being able to do that 2-3 times a year was a big part of my pre-marriage life. That was ripped away. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but still...part of my life that I will never, never get back. It still makes me sad.

Of course, I can't blame Modell for the current state of the Browns - in fact, can't balme him for the last 10 years or so of ineptitude - but a few things I do want to state for the record:

1. I am happy that he will not be able to pass the franchise on to his family. That was a stated goal of his when he announced the move - and he will not, was not, able to do that.

2. I am getting sick of the revisionist history on Modell. "Yes, he moved the Browns...a controversial move" , some of the reports state. "But while he did so, he made sure to leave the colors and the name of the Browns in Cleveland".

That is a complete and utter lie. Maury Povich, I believe, has the results.

Some facts, just for the record:

- When Art was in Baltimore annoucing the move, there was a banner behind him: "Baltimore Browns".
- There was Baltimore Browns merchandise being sold in Baltimore.
That's why:
- I was part of an effort to clog the NFL offices' fax machine on Jan 11, 1996, protesting the move and demanding our colors. It took me about 2 hours to figure out how to do this from my hom computer at the time.
- I was part of an effort to send flowers to every NFL owners' wife - flowers in Brown and Orange - demadning our colors and history to be returned.
- I was part of a team getting signatures for a petition to get the colors and history back.

Yeah, yeah, I know...some of you are playing the world's smallest violin right now. I understand that.
But let's not mis-remember what happened in the mid 90s.

3. When I heard that  the Browns were going to have a moment of silence for Art, I was livid. Who approved this? This had nothing but disaster written all over it. We would look either like wimps who sat there and took it, or "imbeciles" that booed a dead man. There was no good side.

Where was our lame duck president to nullify this? (And no, I don't  mean Obama. Zing! Bad-da-bum). Holmgren was probably in Seattle this week.

But then I heard that we won't have the moment of silence at the stadium, "on request from the Modell family". Ha. I mean, I'm sure David Modell has nothing better to do than to call up Roger and say "oh, yeah, I was mourning my dad... and I thought, "let's not do the memorial in Cleveland? K? thanks.".
If you believe that, then you must believe my Browns prediction this week - Browns 31, Eagles 17.




 

New German Wine available

Went shopping in one of the newer grocery stores in Guangzhou last weekend. This new store, called Ole', is located in the basement of a very new, upscale shopping mall. So technically, we can get our groceries after purchasing a bag from Prada, underwear from Calvin Klein, and a watch from Mont Blanc.

I went to the wine section to get a bottle of white - and lo and behold, I was speechless at what I found. This bottle sold for 240 RMB - about $35 or so.

Of course we purchased one - to save? Maybe I will open it up after the Browns win this weekend. Or save for Martin's 18th birthday....

(The decorations in the store are seen here. I guess they were celebrating the US Labor Day weekend holiday.....)

(Their wine section is extensive, and expensive. A bottle of 1982 Chateau Rothschild is for sale for 115000RMB - about $18000. Is that a good bottle? I was not allowed to take pictures of it....)
 

Sad news from Cincinnati

Receive some sad news from P&G over the weekend. My friend Keith, who I've known as a P&G colleague for 14 years, lost his battle with cancer Saturday night. Keith was diagnosed with throat cancer about a year ago; he underwent chemo for a while - but then he received some horrible news this summer that the cancer had returned and worsened.

Keith was a wonderful person to work with, but (more importantly?) he was a great friend and "rival". We were in the same fantasy football league for 12 years; we met in the playoffs about once every two years in our league.  He went to Stanford and was a huge Cardinal fan; I proudly bragged about the Terps' regional final win in 2001 over the Cardinal loudly in the office.

He also was a huge Bengals fan - we went to 2 or 3 games in Cincinnati when the Browns came into town - none more important than the week 16 game in 2007. I was going to see the Browns clinch a playoff spot! However, that did not work out as Derek Anderson and Kellen Winslow argued with each other constantly on the field during the game; we lost, 19-14, and ended up missing the playoffs the next week when Tony Dungy laid down and played Jim Sorgi on Sunday night vs. the Titans. Keith also introduced me to the weekly NFL pick 'em pool that I have been playing for the last 8 years or so.

Keith is survived by his wife and two children. He will be missed.

What's wrong with this promo?

Time for our annual trip into nostalgia with NFL theme songs of the past! Here is a link to a "The NFL Today" opening from 1977.

Go ahead and watch the clip first, then come back....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUUMMlGPeMA&feature=related

Question: How many fines would have been given out for all those illegal hits we just saw? I love the clothesline of the punt returner. And, of course, the Turkey Jones slam of Terry Bradshaw has a special place in my heart.


Bonus Question: Has anyone every heard of Tuborg's? Where in Baltimore was that brewed?

 

The longest 2 hours.....

I used to think that the longest 2 hours EVER in the history of mankind was.....

1. The two hours before the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced.....
2. From 2-4 pm on Masters Sunday, when the coverage was limited to 3 hours only on Sunday;
3. The two hours between church and the 1 pm kickoff of the NFL games when Layup and I were growing up....


But I know the true answer to that question....

the longest 2 hours of mankind is hosting a birthday party for 4 year olds. You plan it all out - you have 12 types of games to play; it starts at 3, ends at 5; people even arrive late to shorten the party! The games begin at 3:15; after the 10th game of "Duck Duck Goose" and the 13th game of "Simon Says", you look at the clock...

.. and it says 3:39.

What the hell? Who turned the clock backward? I still have to keep these kids occupied for another 80 minutes?

It's been nothing but birthdays for the past 2 weeks - Warren's was the 24th and Martin's was the 30th. I love them, but I'm glad it's over......