A month ago whilst watching the between-inning entertainment at the Cyclones game, Heather and I had a revelation and came up with the ultimate end-of-summer Birthday party: Field Day!

If I have learned nothing else this year it's that kiddie themed parties make the best parties and this one was no exception. Much to the joy of our fellow Prospect Park goers,there were egg-on-a-spoon races, three-legged races, potato sack races, and (supremely hilarious) dizzy bat races.

Oh, yes, and goodie bags for all. Nothing like drinking beer out of a silly straw.










































I'd also like to introduce you to a little game called "Louisville Chugger" - thanks to Chip and Meredith and their recent trip to San Diego. Louisville Chugger involves cutting the end off a whiffle ball bat, filling it with beer, chugging that beer, spinning around the bat for as many seconds as it took you to chug the beer, and then trying to hit the beer can...madness and hilarity ensues...

I can't get stupid blogger video to load, but if I ever do I will post the video.

Oh me oh my, I am so behind!

Before posting the rest of the BBQ tour, I must catch up on a few other recent events...

FIRST: Labor Day. Which found me once again in Point Pleasant NJ drinking, playing drunken putt putt, and eating Kohr's frozen custard.















SECOND: Steph left us for Arizona. We sent her off with a night of monopolizing karaoke at Moonshine. I sang "I'll Be Missing You" by P.Diddy to her and it made her cry. No, not because my rapping was that bad (it was.) but because she was touched.









We'll be missing you, Steph :(

EMILY AND SAM ON THE NC BBQ TRAIL - DAY TWO

Day two found Emily and I in Beaufort, the third oldest city in North Carolina, taking a census of wild horses. Yes, you heard me, wild horses. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are full of tiny uninhabited islands...uninhabited except for feral horses. These horses have been there since settlers left them there hundreds of years ago. Emily's family friend, who runs a local charter fishing boat, signed us up to help out with the census on Carrot Island, part of the Rachel Carson preserve. Dropped off on the island with a clipboard and a map, Emily and I trekked through the woods and sand all Croc Hunter style - the piles of horse poo everywhere were sure to lead us to some real live horsies...





We found one on its own in the woods, but finally found the mother load down at the watering hole. So neat. It made me falsh back to my days running around the backyard with Heather pretending we were Misty of Chincoteague...yeah, we were those girls.



















All that horse counting worked up an appetite, so we got some tasty treats by the sea.

Nothing like a fried clam sandwich.



Emily had some fresh shrimp.



Then we hit up the beach...Nothing goes better with a bikini than a knee brace...



But, I took the knee brace off so I could go swim in these amazing waves...one-legged...



After freshening up, we went out with our "local" friends for a little "local" fun. The first place we went was this place called The Backstreet Pub - which was a really neat little bar where the fishermen hang out. After a few beers we grabbed some grub at Clawson's. I had some seriously delicious scallops drowning in parmesan cheese.



Yeah, I sure showed them.

I love that this was a top headline for the Dallas newspaper...

But, in other news, ouch.

EMILY AND SAM TAKE ON THE NORTH CAROLINA BBQ TRAIL - DAY ONE

When I read about the North Carolina BBQ Trail months ago, I knew exactly where Emily and I would be going on a road trip this year. Of course, with 25 restaurants on the trail and only 5 days of vacation, I knew we couldn't visit ALL of them, but goshdarnit, we sure were gonna do our best.

Emily picked me up from work Thursday night and we headed south in her Jetta. We stayed overnight with her cousin outside of DC and then it was off the next morning for our first BBQ stop - BUT FIRST we made a pitstop in Fredericksburg, Virginia for Carl's Frozen Custard. They still use an original frozen custard machine from the 1940s and DAMN it's good. The vanilla is like eating frozen whipped cream - And I know what frozen whipped cream tastes like, I used to secretly eat Cool Whip from the freezer with a spoon. Definitely worth the stop.

We stopped for late lunch/old fogie early bird dinner around 4:30 at Bill Ellis Barbeque in Wilson, NC- a buffet! Basically, you walk in, pay your entry fee and then go hog (ha, no pun intended) wild - but, as the signs around the restaurant remind you, "eat as much as you want, but eat what you take."

Now, North Carolina BBQ is all about pork. You've got your pig pickin' (which we had here) where you pull pork straight off a pit-smoked pig and, more often, chopped pork. Finely chopped pork looks almost like tuna salad, whereas the coarse choppped (my preference) is a little bit chunkier (duh). As for the sauce, it varies around the state (I will explain this more later) but is generally a thin sauce with a mostly vinegar base.

BUT, like I said, here we got to pull the meat straight from the dead pig. MMMmmmmm.









Bill has his own fleet of semi trucks to deliver his delicious pork nationwide - yippee!





With our bellies full we drove west toward Beufort, where we would relax on the beach and trade BBQ for seafood for a couple days...

Sunday night we had a little dinner party to mourn the loss of Julia (she's moving out of our apartment and in with her boyfriend). I was already going through BBQ withdrawal and also wanted to share my wondrous epicurian jaunt through North Carolina with the gang, so I made a slow-cooked pork shoulder, long and lean hushpuppies (my new favorite thing in the world) and some Western Carolina slaw. Western Carolina slaw is like regular cole slaw except it has a little bit of ketchup and bbq sauce in it. MMMMMmmm. A big success all around, I'd say.

Did you know a whole pork shoulder only costs $6.10? If they didn't take ten hours to cook, I'd be making at least one a week from now on.



Don't worry, there were veggies involved too.



Hushpuppy dough.



Hushpuppies (or as I like to call them "Fried Gold").



Let's just take a look at one last beauty shot of that pork...



DAAAaaaang, Gina.

The end of an era.



Friday night was the last ever FC Kitchen Sink game. What with me having torn my ACL, Steph moving to Arizona, and assorted other drop-outs, there aren't enough players for the team next season. Hopefully after surgery, I'll be able to be back on the pitch one day...

Another era ended on Thursday night.

We've been going to The Heights for like 8 years now, but no one really lives up there anymore and Steph's moving so when Emily and I got back from North Carolina, we went out with the Columbia girls for one last Heights happy hour.





uh, yeah, and we taught Katie what "motorboating" is.

Emily and I just got back from our North Carolina BBQ tour and I promise to post pictures and commentary soon.

Until then, here are some news items that excite me:

I'm glad to hear about the new American Gladiators.

Could I unknowingly be the best in the world at something?

What about descendants of Robert E. Lee - are they invited?

I finally did it.
I actually managed to injure myself.



This has been my view since Friday.

Okay, that's a lie. It would be my worst nightmare to be stuck inside. So, I've been venturing out on crutches a little bit - much to the chagrin of my armpits and right leg, which is doing all the work.



I did make it to Coney Island for the Cyclones game on Sunday. We were supposed to get Marty Markowitz bobbleheads but they were all out when we got there. I was pretty sad about that, but the sausage, beer and cotton candy made it a little bit better.



I finally get to go to the doctor tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I didn't actually tear anything.