David's Tangled Thoughts

Back in the early '90's when I was living with my grandparents in southwest Michigan, I was introduced to Hot N' Now as the go-to place for a burger.  As farmers, they were more conservative with their cash and Hot N' Now provided the most bang for their buck.  Their burgers sold for 39¢ which was a great deal less than McDonald's which if I remember right, were selling for 69¢.  In Niles , this caused a burger war with McDonald' s which began to sell hamburgers for 25¢ on Tuesdays as a special. There were at least three places in the area but they all closed.  They had started getting a bad rap with perceived degrading quality.  In school, us kids were apt to call it "Cold N' Later."  The last one that I saw was in Charlotte .  Since graduation, I had heard of rumors of Hot N' Nows existing in far flung pockets of Michigan but I had accepted that I would probably would never see one again. My sister texted me the other day and revealed

Insert Asian Jokes Here. St. Joe-Probably the last I'll see of the lake this year. Today I was invited to join my sister, her fiancé, and her future mother-in-law in St. Joe for taste testing a catering joint.  I’m all about free food and this especially since it’s going to be the best food I’m going to eat for the next two weeks until I get my next check.  A lot of it seemed like standard stuff that you would expect at a wedding but they also had some unexpected things. I’m not a vegetable guy.  I’ll eat them but I don’t enjoy them but they had a roasted veggies dish that was really tasty.  Even more surprising is that I enjoyed the zucchinis.  Ask my parents and especially my grandmother.  They will tell you I am zucchini hater.  Little bastards can’t decide whether they want to be pickle, an eggplant, or winter squash. There was one appetizer that they served which were called butternut squash ravioli.  It  wasn't  ravioli like you might think.  The filling

My friend, Kraig, and I saw Taken 2 this morning. Considering how much I like the first film I had high expectations. Alas, like so many sequels, this was a stinker. There were no memorable lines. The flow of the movie was disrupted by having a segment with Bryan and his daughter and then another following with Bryan and his ex-wife. Also, the antagonist and his goons seemed to be pretty weak. They knew they were dealing with a badass and it looked like they were trying to muddle through the operation. It’s no wonder they got mowed down. My tweaks: The Albanians already knew where Bryan was in Los Angeles. They would have taken his daughter and wife. They would have killed his wife causing him to go bat shit crazy and give him more reason to kill with such zeal.  My advice: save your money. Just forget that it exists and be content with the first movie.