Life: So, yeah...food!

I realize I haven't done a great job of keeping you posted about life or food via my blog. Twitter is my new favorite tool for annoying updates about myself and you can find me @kristamaesmith.

But I do have a few things, I would like to share with you.

First in food.

April 5 is officially Cafe Rio Day in Utah. So thank Governor Gary Herbert for giving you a reason to sit down with chips, salsa, guacomole, relleno and margaritas today. Or is that just me?

Meditirina was kind of a let down last time I was there. The house made sangria was delicious and the patas bravas were as delicious as I remembered. However the Drunken Oreos were soaked, not dipped, in port wine, not a reduction sauce. All in all, Manfriend and I still had a good experience, but I think I'll stick with my own Drunken Oreos in the future.

And I'm on a mission to steal the bruschetta recipe from the Meditirina kitchen as well. Balsamic and tarragon soaked strawberries with chevre cheese on top of crisp, buttery bread. Mmmm....so good!

In the past two months Millies and the Soup Kitchen have been mainly responsible for keeping my grease quota. But I've blogged enough about them for you to know how much I love burgers and onion rings from both of these great Sugar House icons.

Second in life...

I'll be graduating May 29 at 1 p.m.-ish at the E Center in West Valley, UT. If you like me enough to read my blog, you are invited. Of course, leading up to that I'll be in a panic about finishing my senior project, writing a research paper, writing a film theory paper, editing the paper and writing a column. So in advance, I'm thanking you for your patience. (Especially, Manfriend!)

I'm in the middle of my application to teach in Taiwan, but I feel good about getting it done on time. Next weekend, I should be able to get the video done. Once I have my passport, I will be elligible to begin training.

Otherwise things are pretty normal. The St. Patrick's day party was fun. We played "Apples to Apples' for forever. Long enough anyway for me to leave and talk with Harry. The sidecars were awesome! The combination of one part cognac to three parts lemon juice is so good! I love the sour tanginess of it.

I'm looking forward to trying an old school daquiri with rum and lime juice, next.

The potatoe skins were pretty good. I completely forgot to add any butter. Luckily, no one seemed to notice. I think they were distracted by the bacon. Or the booze, whatever.

Finally I tested out the Black Magic Chocolate cake recipe Amber recommended. My version didn't come out quite as good. I think because I did a buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese frosting. So next time, Sis, my chocolate will beat up your chocolate. Or at least, taste as good. The cake was easy to bak and did well divided up into a dozen cupcakes and a 9" square cake pan.

The next shindig I'm putting on will be the Mad Men cocktail party. So get out your cocktail wear and tell me your favorite classic cocktail. We'll be partying Don Draper style following my graduation.

I know, you're excited. I am.

Carl's Jr.

I know, I know my profile says something about cheap, local eats, but I have to talk about fast food. I HATE IT!!!

This past week, I went to Carl's Jr. for the first time. I've boycotted the place since I first saw the Paris Hilton campaign. I'm not an extremist feminist. But come on, a place that sells hamburgers by having a girl in a skimpy bathing suit and heels "wash" a car is completely unappealing to any woman with a healthy sense of confidence and feminity.

Plus, Carl is angry. As local comedian Marcus says, "Carl's Jr. is pissed." Their campaign has gotten progressively angrier since it first began, "If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face."

I understand, I am not Carl's Jr.'s target audience. As a fast-food chain they are directly targeting young men between the ages of 18 and 24. Traditionally, the most difficult group to persuade. Talk about an advertising nightmare, and we lucky us see the results, apparently angry and sexy is the way to talk to men.

My virgin visit wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. The set-up is typical of fast-food restaurants trying to be more upscale. You order and are given a number. A server looking for your number then brings your food to your table.

The food itself was edible. The crisp cut fries had a nice seasoning on them, but weren't exactly fried or cut fresh. The onion rings were yucky. They consisted mostly of batter and the onions were apparently from last year's harvest. Nothing fresh, nothing well-cooked and nothing yummy about that!

From the way, Yanto's love ate her chili cheese fries. I'm going to venture they were pretty good. The one's I sampled were cheesy and spicy. Exactly, what I expect from my chili cheese fries.

I've heard from a couple of guys that Carl's is AMAZING! They love it! The portions are big, the food is yummy and "usually" the music rocks. I disagree. I see no point in supporting a national chain with substandard food and service when I can go up the street to a local place, be treated like a person (not a number) and eat good, quality food.

The environment is typical of any fast-food place, except for the even worse than usual pop balring from above. The employees are at best indifferent. The food is typical fast food. All in all, not some place I'm likely to go again. But if forced to choose between McDonald's and Carl's Jr. I may choose Carl's solely because they offer better chili cheese fries.

The key to a happy fast food experience? Low expectations. Really, really low.