Bánh mì burger.

I call this my banh mi burger, though it's a very loose interpretation of the classic Vietnamese sandwich. Ground pork is combined with liberal amounts of fish sauce, garlic, serrano chilies, scallions, and cilantro, then slathered with sriracha mayo, and topped with basil, tomato, etc. It's un-friggen-believable how much flavor this sandwich has. Salty, sweet, and spicy, this burger has it all.

To make this monster, I busted out the grinder, broke down a 3.4 lb pork shoulder in to 1-2" cubes, and chilled the meat for about half an hour.

Gaga over goat.

I love goats. Not only are they cute as hell, excel at weed control, and produce the most amazing milk, but they're damn tasty to boot. Goat is one of my favorite types of flesh, and it's leaner and lower in cholesterol than both lamb and beef. Yet, you hardly see goat on restaurant menus, meat counters, or butcher shops in this country, except for joints that serve or cater to certain ethnic groups, and that to me is a travesty.


I've been plotting a traditional barbacoa-style whole goat roast ever since I found out one of my neighbors owns a Chinese pig box, but I thought it might be best to start small before I embarrass myself in front of my whole neighborhood. So, last weekend I drug the wife out to the University District farmers market and picked up a goat roast from  Toboton Creek Farns.

A random goat we met in Hawaii. Looks tasty, no?

A better burger.

I love burgers. Yeah, I know you probably do to, but I really love hamburgers. Like women, burgers come in all shapes and sizes and I like them all equally, though some are more equal than others.

West Coast style burgers (a la Red Mill) will do in a pinch, but I'd give a kidney for a bacon cheese Whataburger, and I would most certainly do unspeakable things for a double double from In-N-Out.  I like burgers with fried eggs (of many avian species),  green chilies, peanut butter, onions of any persuasion, meat (bacon, ham, salami, etc etc etc), pickles in any guise, ripe tomatoes, and I'm not a bigot where condiments are concerned.  I even like burgers that aren't really burgers in the classic sense. Lamb, chicken, all manner of fish, pork, mushrooms, eggplant, et alia, all make for excellent burgers. 

I like thin patties fried up on the griddle, fat, juicy, and obscenely rare patties from reputable joints, and burnt hockey-pucks from the backyard grill. And don't get me started on cheese! The possibilities are endless, which is what makes the humble hamburger such an amazing thing to behold.

What the hell?

So yeah, it's been a month since I last updated. Not particularly proud of that, but you know how it goes. Things have just been crazy around Casa de la Spangler lately, and between work, traveling, being good dog parents, sinus infections, and family visits, I just haven't found the time to write. I'll try to be better about it in the future.

On the upside, I have been using my time wisely. The wife and I went to Maui for 6 fabulous days and got some much needed downtime. I won a performance award at work, so they flew us out, put us up in a kick-ass resort, fed us well, and treated us like royalty.  Resort living ain't necessarily our thing, but we rented a car for a few days and explored the island. We had lunch at one of Bev Gannon's restaurants, saw kite / wind surfers riding 30' swells at Hookipa and the best Hawaiian Ices at a little shack in Kihei.