Jammie Dodgers (U.K. Snacks, Part 1)

A nerd’s got to eat.

I had a list of souvenirs I needed to bring back from the U.K. -- Englandy toys for the kids, some kind of William & Kate bric-a-brac for Kelly, and so forth. But more important than all of that, I needed to get my hands on some Jammie Dodgers.

Jammie Dodgers are the Eleventh Doctor’s favorite snack, and I wanted to bring back enough to have a stash on hand -- at least enough to last me until this year's Doctor Who Christmas special. And when I found them on the shelf at Tesco, I discovered there’s such a thing as Toffee Dodgers too, so double score.

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Lunch Blog in the UK, Part 3: The Prince of Wales

Monarchy eats free on Tuesdays.

It’s no secret that British food has a justly deserved reputation as being less than stellar. However, at The Prince of Wales, they will totally give you fried cheese as an entrée, and I am 100% on board with that.

But first, the appetizers. Today’s special was Haggis & Macaroni Bites, which I incorrectly took to mean as haggis served alongside macaroni bites. Since I’ve never had haggis before, I was excited to try it, but this turned out to be little nuggets of haggis and pasta fried up together.

So while I still don’t rightly know what haggis tastes like, these went to show once again that you can fry anything and it’ll taste just fine. Even more so if you put a whisky sauce on it.

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Parisi Café at Union Station

Let’s hop aboard the coffee train.

Robert and I recently attended a tasting event at Parisi Café. Located in Union Station, this is Parisi Artisan Coffee’s first venture into the restaurant business, and it opened in September. Now while I don’t know much about coffee, I do know plenty about sandwiches, so I was excited to try the food.

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Lunch Blog in the UK, Part 2: Café Rouge

"Hey brother, can you spare some change for a down payment on a croissant?”

Since it’s right by the London Underground station, Chris and I stopped at Café Rouge on Tottenham Court Road for breakfast. My croque madame was tasty. I also had a rather delicious Americano, because, hey, I’m American, and regular coffee isn’t on the menu anyway.

But what I really want to talk about is the bum that was there.

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30 Rock's Buffalo Chicken Shake

All that wingy deliciousness, now with significantly less of that annoying chewing.

As previously mentioned, WGN America invited me to New York for a 30 Rock Superfan roundtable last month. However, they had an ulterior motive for extending an invitation to this Superfan in particular -- three days before I flew out, WGN America issued me a challenge.

Make the Buffalo Chicken Shake.

You read that right -- the Buffalo Chicken Shake. It's from the beginning of the 30 Rock episode "Khonani." Liz Lemon sees a sign on the door of a restaurant that says "The Buffalo Chicken Shake Is Back!" It’s onscreen for maybe three seconds. I told WGN America that clearly when 30 Rock’s writers put that sign in the show, what they were doing was daring me to make the Buffalo Chicken Shake a real thing. I accepted the challenge.

Here’s the video from WGN America of me and 30 Rock writer Tracey Wigfield making the shake. Keep reading after for the recipe and how I came up with it.

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Fast Food Mascot Halloween Costumes That Aren't For Kids

Shaw did some new illustrations for this guest post I wrote for The Pitch's Fat City last Halloween. Enjoy...if you dare.

Ronald McDonald is a friend to all children. Ronald McDonald with an ax? Not so much. Here are five Halloween costume ideas based on fast food mascots and how to make them.



5. Wendy the Roller Warrior: Rebelling against the wishes of her father, Dave Thomas, Wendy is trading in old-fashioned hamburgers for a life on the track. Who knew she was such a badass?

Dress like Wendy, and add elbow pads, knee pads, a helmet and roller skates. Or, to go a more traditional Halloween route, just be Slutty Wendy.

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Lunch Blog in the UK, Part 1: The Jack Horner

Here we go, guv’nor.

So I got to go to London the other week for my job. I believe the official reason I was selected for the trip was because my agency wanted to send our foremost expert on both Doctor Who and British Alternative Rock of the ‘80s & Early ‘90s. (Who’s got two thumbs and is totally psyched for The Stone Roses reunion next year? This guy!)

And since I was going, of course I’d have to make a point of checking out some of the native cuisine -- even though it’s frequently described as “lousy.” Before I left for my trip, I figured British food had probably just caught a bad rap. But then I saw “mushy peas” on a menu and I realized they’re not even trying to make their food sound good.

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