Crap Guy Fieri Says

Watching Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, DDD, starring Guy Fieri, is a real treat not only because it is an entertaining show, but also because of what he says at every show.

I've been watching DDD for years and I've always enjoyed Fieri's showmanship. At some point I started to write down some of the catch phrases that he blurts out as he eats something on his show. I must say the word flavortown and phrases and that's all she wrote and winner winner chicken dinner must be his favorite ones.

Feel free to comment below and add to these phrases.

Without further ado, here are a few of his favorite frases.

• My sista from another mista
• This is a big deal for me.
• Too Legit to Quit.
• The dictionary definition of comfort food.
• The road construction signs on my heart.
• I've seen ridiculous in the burger world...
• This might have to been a contender. 
• It's got good tooth to it, good texture, good fat.
• It you have to go with a big burger, put mac-and-cheese on it is pretty gangsta.
• Some righteous pastrami on the East coast.
• ...and the locals are diggin' the new owners.
• it's monster!
• The anticipation is killing me!
• That's a ridiculous amount of <food name here>.
• That's one of the best <food name here> I've had!
• Look at this monstrosity!
• Dude, you have license on that!
• You know what? That's crazy!
• The sauce is dynamite.
• That smells dynamite!
• The glaze is dynamite.
• This dude has been knocking it out of the park...
• People must think, you guys are just crazy!
• I'm just a junkie for it.
• He's bringing a spatula out of retirement for me.
• That's off the hook, man!
• Feeds like a family of six.
• Kids must go bananas!
• That one, right there, might be going to the Fiery house!
• Eatin' some killer stromboli.
• Look at the mad skills on that guy.
• ...not super complicated, not overly processed...
• Nice job, brother.
• My sista from another mista.
• ...and that how we roll.
• Fantastic dismound, the crowd goes crazy...
• Enormous flavor!
• This is old school!
• I can't handle this!
• The pork belly turns into meat mayonnaise.
• It's like a brontosaurus burger.
• Ladies and gentlemen you are stepping into the ridiculous zone.
• It's a monster of an oyster.
• The guy is bananas!
• You need a napping center.
• ...and you are good to go!
• That should be illegal!
• Smells like Willy Wonka licorice town.
• Melt in your mouth tender.
• It's got good spice!
• It's like a canoe of pork.
• Look at that. Nice crust!
• The potatoes are cut into shoestrings.
• A little kiss from the cinnamon/nutmeg.
• ...and that's all she wrote!
• ...rockin' real deal vegetarian.
• This is the epicenter of real barbecue.
• Mmm, this <name of food> is the real deal.
• The heat is not too over the top.
• Outrageous texture.
• That is big flavor!
• The barbecue sauce is legit legit.
• That's legit right there.
• I think it'a about as legit as they come.
• That looks like a manhole cover in flavortown!
• Does Paul Bunyan work here?
• They've got a burger the size of a manhole cover!
• I don't know if I want to eat it or climb it.
• There is more lobster in this than the last dinner I had.
• I feel like I'm in lasagna surgery here at flavortown memorial.
• That is gangsta lasagna!
• The pork falls apart, a little bit of heat, old school, real deal.
• The sauce is out-a-bounds!
• ...you wanna meet me at this 45-year-old Italian joint where they're rocking it out ol' school?
• I love that noise, I tried to get it as a ringtone.
• It's an old school sauce, right upfront.
• Look at the festival of funk.
• So much salami call my mommy.
• Wow! You can serve this on my flip flop, it tastes good.
• Dude, you better be delivering.
• That roast beef is capital T tender!
• I like where you're going with this so far.
• I can eat that everyday.
• Out of the 50 that I've had, this is in the top 5%.
• I would like to have a birthday cake made of that.
• You are a dangerous, dangerous man!
• I've been stricken by chicken.

Happy trails to you, flavortown!

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow

It's 1:22pm, February 12, 2019, and in Orange County, NY, it's been snowing for several hours already. I'm indoors trying to concentrate and come up with a strategy on starting seeds indoors. Looks like I will have to bite the bullet and get two fluorescent lights for the seed project to be successful. You see, the seeds will not germinate unless they get lots of light and heat from the lamps.

Minimally, by the end of February I will need to start my asparagus seeds indoors, if I want to harvest a few spears next year. As it turns out, asparagus will grow year after year, but it takes at least two years for it to establish itself.

Who am I kidding here? I have spring fever and I'm daydreaming about my garden.

This is the view from inside the house.

Keep dreaming!

Great Vegan Lunch!

YES! A healthy and very filling lunch.

Ingredients 

• One wrap,
• some delicious hummus purchased from All Things Delicious in Pine Bush, NY,
• a spoonful of ShopRite tapenade,
• two sliced dried figs,
• a few leaves of Romaine lettuce, also known as Kos (a Hellenic/Greek island) lettuce,
• some of my delicious homemade sauerkraut,
• some extra Romaine lettuce leaves. 

UPDATE! I created a nifty video showing the making of this delicious and easy to make wrap.

YUM! Delicious, indeed!

Keep spreading the hummus!

Squirrels and Chipmunks, Go Away! Really!

After being struck with an acute, incurable case of spring fever, I went out in the backyard earlier today seeking relief from the symptoms of it. I took a look around the raised beds and I saw these holes in the garlic raised beds that were made by our "resident" squirrels.

Looks like the squirrels created these round little nests, but luckily didn't bother with the garlic bulbs. I read online that squirrels don't like garlic, but my boys don't seem to mind it. Perhaps if I made little squirrel garlic sandwiches and left near the beds they would get the news.

Next year I will replace the chicken wire with one that has much smaller holes. The one I have now is about 1.5" wide and squirrels get through it. I will buy something much smaller in diameter and show them who's the boss.

GO AWAY SQUIRRELS!!!

At the Supermarket

Recently I was food shopping at Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh, NY, and I couldn't help noticing their wide array of Hellenic, Greek (Hellenic is a synonym for Greek), products.

Near the deli counter I saw a cardboard box with Hellenic writing: <<ΔΙΑΤΗΡΗΣΤΕ ΤΑ ΣΕ ΔΡΟΣΕΡΟ ΚΑΙ ΞΗΡΟ ΜΕΡΟΣ>>, which translates to "Keep them in a cool and dry place". In Hellas/Greece, if you want to place quotation marks around text you use << and >> and you don't surround the text is quotes. It's very funny watching a Greek/Έλληνα, do air quotes. I've posted a YouTube video explaining Hellenic air quotes.

I went around the box and I saw it was full of KRISPIES crackers made by the legendary Papadopoulos company.

As I moved closer to the cheese counter I saw a display of Kefalotiri (Κεφαλοτύρι) by Krinos. Kefalotiri or Kefalotyri is a traditional Greek cheese that is a very hard, dry, light-yellow with a sharp flavor and it's made from sheep or goat milk.

Further down there was an impressive display case with dolmas. You may see it shown as dolmades or dolmadakia. In Greece, people almost always use the diminutive version of words.

• They don't say dolmades, they say dolmadakia
• They don't say psomi (bread), they say psomaki
• They don't say kafes (coffee), they say kafedaki
• They don't say computer, they say computeraki
• They don't say Vaggeli (my Hellenic name), they say Vaggelaki

I think you get the idea with the diminutive of words.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the dolmas was made in Politika (village name), Evia (region name), Greece! Ach! I spent such quality time in Evia when I was a young lad! Well, I had to buy several of those cans to support the Evian economy.

Pallirria is the name of the company and they have an array of products.

Later on and back at home I eat the dolmades (plural of dolmas) with olives, feta cheese and bread.

Happy eating Hellenic foods!

Education, Education, Education. Read all about it!

Recently I visited the village of Walden's Josephine-Louise Public library to lookup gardening books. The Josephine-Louise Public library is part of a much larger system of libraries that affords its patrons the opportunity to access books from many libraries. How cool is that!

I ordered two books written by Ruth Stout and earlier today I went to the library to pick them up. Here they are, side by side like two happy siblings.

I would love to write more, but I'm going to get a large glass of water and get comfortable to read my two books.

Happy deep mulching!

Greek Style Green Beans in Instant Pot - Φασολάκια Λαδερά

In Greek, this dish is called Φασολάκια Λαδερά (Beans in Oil) – pronounced fah-so-lah-kia la-deh-ra. It is a very simple recipe and it seems much more like a "stew" to me.

The ingredients are:

• 1 1/4 lbs green beans with two ends cut;
• 3 1/2 large tomatoes grated;
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste;
• 6-7 large mushrooms sliced;
• 3 large potatoes cut in large pieces;
• 3 medium onions sliced;
• 1/4 cup olive oil;
• 1 tablespoon sugar.

To Serve:

• Feta cheese, feel free to exclude this to make this a vegan dish;
• Bread.

To cook this delicious dish I used my Instant Pot, my newest acquisition. I remember my mom using her pressure cooker back in the 1960s at our home in Nea Smirni, Greece (1, 2). My parents had friended a family, Mr. and Mrs. Koutelaki, that repatriated themselves from Istanbul, Asia Minor to Nea Smirni, Greece. Mrs. Koutelaki taught my mom how to use the pressure cooker. We didn't call it "pressure cooker", though, instead we called it "Düdüklü", a Turkish name, that's what Mrs' Koutelaki called it. The pressure cooker reduces the cooking time by a lot. If you are not using a pressure cooker you should cook this dish for about one hour, with the pressure cooker, though, you only need to cook it for 20 minutes. 

I created a YouTube video that shows the complete process. Here it is.

Happy cooking!

Doing "air quotes" when talking in Greek

If you want to quote a word of phrase in the Greek language, you must surround it in << and >>. That's right. They don't use the quotes as in the English language. Have you ever wondered how Greeks do "air quotes"?

Do you remember Chris Farley's air quotes bit on SNL?

Video #1

Video #2

If you are curious about that, you need to watch the following video:

Feel free to comment about my <<Mr. Pickle's>> hat that was given to me as a gift during a visit to California.

We've made another video about Greek gestures that is a real hoot.

Keep air quoting!

Doing "air quotes" in Greek

Yes, more Greek gestures.

Here is a YouTube video I recently uploaded that shows you how to do air quotes in Greek.

Feel free to comment and follow my YouTube channel, God knows I need all the attention I can get.

Happy communicating in Greek!

Sally's Fish Market

I am writing this post to credit Sally's Fish Market, located in Newburgh, with all the fresh fish that I use in my recipes.

Their address is:

270 South William Street

Newburgh, New York 12550

Sal himself hand selects the produce down at the Fulton Fish Market at Hunt's Point multiple times a week. The produce is then brought back where the crew is eagerly waiting to fillet the fresh catch, ensuring the freshest fish available. The counter help is knowledgeable and friendly.

Last time I visited their store, they were giving away several food-grade plastic containers and I took advantage of this very generous offer. I will use these containers for growing seeds and small plants.


I always support small businesses and Sally's Fish Market is my go-to place for fresh fish.

Keep on fishing!

Determining Plant Hardiness Zone

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which you can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a particular location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature.

To determine your hardiness zone, simply go to planmaps.com, enter your zip code and press the "Zoom to Zip" button.

The site will provide a detailed map with the hardiness zone. In my case my hardiness zone is 5b or 6a. The lover the number the colder the recorded temperatures.

Each zone is identified by a number and a letter. The numbers goes from high to low or from warm to cold. The letters go from "a" to "b". The letter "b" indicated colder temperatures as compared to "a".

Click inside the map to see the exact hardiness zone for your zip code.

Happy gardening!