NFL Week 15: DongBei Food

Dong Bei in Mandarin is "East North" - so we are talking about Northeastern Chinese food, like from the Beijing area. (Yes, the "Bei" is Beijing does mean North; Jing is Capital. So Beijing is literally "North Capital". Is there a South Capital? Yes, yes there is - there is a "Nanjing", which was the old capital in the old dynasties....)

(And that ends the Mandarin lesson for today. )

There is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant right near work that served Dong Bei food - and I go there about 2 times a month. The food in there is very much like the American Chinese food that you may be used to. The steamed dumplings. A Mongolian Beef that is a stir fr y with peppers and onions. The vegetables - oh! The vegetables!

I think I have said it before, and I will say it again here...the Chinese have no idea how to do meat. However, they do wonders with a vegetarian dish. They have this eggplant and potatoes dish that is lightly covered in brown sauce and stir-fried ---- oh, that could be a main course that I order in the States.

And there is bread in the Dong Bei diet! The southern cuisines in China do not have any sort of bread - that's why it's so hard to get a good sandwich around here - but the Northern cuisines have enough wheat to make bread-like things. One of the dishes is "Straw Hat bread"- which is a light doughy pancake fried on a shaped griddle to look like a Farmer's Straw Hat. Everybody dives in and pulls apart the steaming hot bread as it arrives.....

The wildest thing I ate there was the ....donkey. It was a donkey dish served with green onions and cilantro, stir fried (of course). With the sauce, the stir fry and the vegetables, I can honestly say it tasted very similar to pork. The donkey meat did not have a discernable flavor to it at all.

(Or, I could say that it tasted like ass. Thank you! I'll be here all week!)

No cute segue to the Browns here. I feel like I am Dick Clark doing the $100,000 tournament on "Pyramid". We are at week 15, and we still are somewhat in the race on the fringe. No time for the Mystery 7 and the "7-11". We need the following events to occur:
- Dallas to beat Pittsburgh
- Pitt to beat Cincy next week
- Bal to beat Cincy week 17
- The Jets to lose once
And if all that happens -which is not that farfetched - then if we win out we are in. It starts today vs. the Skins.

On to the games:

Atl 30, NYG 27. I think the Falcons will be ready to play, and their D is still good.

Bal 24, Den 23. Yes, we think Bal is a very weak 9-4, but what about Denver? Who have they beaten? (For the Browns, I think we are rooting for a 59-0 Denver win).

GB 27, Chi 17.  The Packers can effectively clinch here and the Bears are heading downhill.

Hou 31, Ind 17. The Texans will be pissed.

Jax 20, Mia 13. I think Miami is mailing it in now about what happened at Candlestick.

NO 34, TB 20. Why am I still picking the Saints to score in the 30's? Maybe because tampa has no pass defense.

StL 23, Min 13. The Vikes are a horrid road team.

Det 27, Az 24. Nothing can be as bad for the Cardinals as last week's result.

Sea 24, Buf 13.  Not sure how Buffalo will score in this game.

Car 27, SD 20. OK, the Chargers and Norv had their last hurrah last week - now it's time for them to pack it in.

Oak 27, KC 24. Usually, these sort of 2-win vs 3- win games late in the season are fun.

Pit 17, Dal 13. I believe in both of these defenses and in neither of these offenses.

NE 23, SF 20. Yes, I think the 49ers can handle Brady and the offense.

NYJ 20, Ten 10. The improbable Jets' playoff drive continues on.

Best bets: 17 of them. Last week: worst week of the season at 6-11. Overall: 117-100-6.

NYG/Atl over 50.5
Bal +3
GB -3
Hou -10
Ind/Hou under 47.5
Jax +7
NO -3.5
StL -2.5
Az +6.5
Det/Az over 43.5
Sea -4.5
Sea/Buf under 43.5
Car +3
KC/Oak over 43.5
Pit/Dal under 45.5
NYJ +2
NYJ/Ten under 41.5

Supercontest: Last week: 2-3; overall : 36-32-2
GB -3
Jax +7
StL -3
Car +3
NYJ +2