Glorious Gastronomical Gluttony

I’ll be the judge of that.

I am, as my faithful fans know, constantly seeking the perfect burger. Some people love fine wines, others dark chocolate. Me, its the humble hamburger, invented when some angry cook smashed a meatball because it wasn’t cooking fast enough and put it in between two pieces of bread so someone could walk and eat at the same time.

This place, Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage had me at hello with the menu:

I nearly ordered the Dick Cheney burger, but someone the thought of that man made me lose my appetite.

And then there is this recent addition:

And, the decor, really really really interesting:

Love how Bill is wearing the dress (sorry for the blurriness):

Self explanatory:

Reagan sells cigarettes:

Onto the food. I’ll start with the good:

This is a frappe, which is New England for milkshake. Super sweet and absolutely delicious. Really really good.

And now for the hamburger:

WOW. I waited about a half an hour for my food. This thing finally arrived and I spent five minutes trying to figure out how I was going to eat this thing. I asked for extra bread and they said no. It was a double burger, two giant patties. Good lord. I finally used a knife and fork. Took out the joy of the burger eating. It was just too much. And then there was the name of this thing — the George W. Bush burger. I had to say I wanted George W. Bush. Why oh why?

The burger itself was charred on the outside. I’d give it a 6/10. However, those orange fries next to it, were made of sweet potato and completely divine. I kept eating and eating them.

I think this place is worth another visit. The Bush burger may not have been the best choice, so expect a follow up to this one.

Glorious Gastronomical Gluttony

I’ll be the judge of that.

I am, as my faithful fans know, constantly seeking the perfect burger. Some people love fine wines, others dark chocolate. Me, its the humble hamburger, invented when some angry cook smashed a meatball because it wasn’t cooking fast enough and put it in between two pieces of bread so someone could walk and eat at the same time.

This place, Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage had me at hello with the menu:

I nearly ordered the Dick Cheney burger, but someone the thought of that man made me lose my appetite.

And then there is this recent addition:

And, the decor, really really really interesting:

Love how Bill is wearing the dress (sorry for the blurriness):

Self explanatory:

Reagan sells cigarettes:

Onto the food. I’ll start with the good:

This is a frappe, which is New England for milkshake. Super sweet and absolutely delicious. Really really good.

And now for the hamburger:

WOW. I waited about a half an hour for my food. This thing finally arrived and I spent five minutes trying to figure out how I was going to eat this thing. I asked for extra bread and they said no. It was a double burger, two giant patties. Good lord. I finally used a knife and fork. Took out the joy of the burger eating. It was just too much. And then there was the name of this thing — the George W. Bush burger. I had to say I wanted George W. Bush. Why oh why?

The burger itself was charred on the outside. I’d give it a 6/10. However, those orange fries next to it, were made of sweet potato and completely divine. I kept eating and eating them.

I think this place is worth another visit. The Bush burger may not have been the best choice, so expect a follow up to this one.

A second first

Wait, who is this?:

OK, another chance to show my complete and total self absorption and vanity by posting a glamorous photo of myself. Well, and it also gives me a chance to introduce the newest member of my arsenal, the Canon Digital XSI. I have decided that in the 5 days I’ve had this camera that it is the greatest camera, SLR, digital or not ever invented in the history of the world. Or something.

But anyway, you, my viewing public can decide if the recent production from my new acquisition are good. Or not. Here goes:

In this picture above, this guy noticed I was taking his picture and decided not to run away. Believe me, after 10+ years of taking pictures, this is huge. More? OK:

I love these beams in the subway and I always try to photograph them. Usually looks like a blurry mess. I kind of like this photo. I’m not in love with it.

These however I do like, though they are from my usual bag of tricks. Boy, I do love the time exposure:

Time exposure of Grand Central, that is:

These were shot as 6 second exposures. The lens only goes to 22, so any exposures shot at a exposure time above 6 were blown out. Darn.

I took this shot:

And thought of all of my times, sitting in Sweden, watching Gossip Girl, homesick. I am indeed a weird creature.

I saw this and loved how the people looked, with the little coming in through the back:

Smith’s Bar:

To me, this had this kind of movie made in 2008 about the 1940’s production design model kind of thing going for it. Except it was the real place.

To close it out, some random people in Times’ Square:

Check out the slack jawed expression of the guy to the extreme left.

Yes…

(and I refuse to believe this guy didn’t plan this), this man is asleep the entry sign to the Harvard T-stop:

Yes, Harvard currently has an endowment of $30 billion. Yes, Harvard is the largest landowner in Cambridge.

I feel smarter already

Where is this lovely house I just posted? Well, there will be picture hints and then a big reveal. First, what other place has entrances with these kinds of sayings on them:

Good lord. That is just rich. If you can’t say what it says, or actually have a life and don’t want to bother with trying to decipher what its says, here it is: Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Oh ma god.

If that is on the gate to entering this place, it is only fitting that it looks like this on the inside:

Give up? OK, we’re here:

Yup, I’ve gone back to school. My acceptance letter finally arrived, 13 years later. Better late than never. NOT! I once saw a guy entering the campus, probably through the gate featured above, wearing a Santa hat and a Speedo. He was relieving himself and dropping $5 bills. Did I mention it was December at the time?

Anyway, here’s another shot:

Look at this poor kid with the coffee in the front of the photo. And these people:

These are the kids who were just just accepted to this place. They all looked like they needed a long vacation and a few hugs. Ah, children, its all just starting for you. Just starting.

All the pretty houses

The blue photo is the original. Usually when I leave the tungsten setting on I like the picture initially, but not at all later on. This time I really liked it, but me I had to tinker all the time and hence we have 4 photos. I like the number 3 the best and the b&w was meant to invoke an American Gothic kind of feel.

But where are we….

Adios, tacky

Well, a few more shots I like that I can’t put into one category, but they are still getting posted up here.

First, nice tattoos:

Second, check out the Barbie dream home:

Third, this quintessential Florida image:

And that closes out our little time in Florida. Where will we go next?

The crossroads of tacky

I once heard Copenhagen referred to as “the crossroads of cute.” That’s a city I know and love and I think its an apt description. Now I think Florida should be called “the crossroads of tacky.” I’ve already posted some evidence up here as to why that is a good way to describe Florida, but you know I have more than just Santa walking his alligator to back up my proposed name change to the Sunshine state. Such a boring title. Florida’s license plates should say “Florida — right at the crossroads of tacky.” Deliciously tacky:

Buildings that look like birthday cake:

The hotel from your 1950s vacation:

Crooked:

And, my personal favorite. The tacky double whammy:

Bowling and beach. I can now finish my entry.

There’s something a little different about this beach

Now Miami Beach as its name indicates looks like this:

So, its pretty conventional in that sense, but most beaches don’t feature signs like these:

Thanks for the warning guys. So, when they find a way to deliver the internet via a pill that makes a web browser open before your eyes, you will be able to look at my baked self taking pictures? OK. Well, these are also preserved until the next Ice Age:

And, this is too:

Yes, sepia tone added in post production, but I like what it did for the image.

It is time for a new camera…..

The reason I started taking pictures was because the images would just appear in front of me and I wanted to capture them. Now for a while that involved using a camera and equipment the size of my head that totally took the spontaneity out of things completely, so I started shooting with this tiny little digital camera that totally changed the perspective on photographs. Sometimes I still get good results. Other times not so much.

Case in point — my shots of Miami Beach. OK, I am going to quote Tyra Banks right now, but I was walking through Miami Beach and it was “boom, fierce, boom, fierce,” like the shots were literally setting themselves in front of me. It was unbelievable. That’s only happened to me a few times in my life. Of course I don’t have a regular SLR or a digital one, so these things I’m posting are to show how amazing Miami Beach was and to remind me I do not need another pair of jeans or black cardigan from H&M.

Here goes with the photos (I don’t actually mean to rhyme. It just kinda happens):

This is the life:

So is this:

This was missing the word “group.” Just kidding:

What is this art deco manse?:

It is a:

Isn’t the world just nicer with some pink thrown in there and tons of sunlight?