Lexington's 5 Best Lunches

So I've decided to write up a post about what I think are the 5 best lunches in Lexington.  Qualifications include a price under $10 and a meal that allows for a continuation of daily activities.

5. Steamed Dumplings (New China) - By far the best dumplings you can get around. I prefer the steamed, but will occasionally get half pan-fried as well. The dipping sauce here is really what puts these dumplings ahead of the rest in town. Be sure to ask for chop sticks because they usually do not include them with the dumplings. I find them much easier to eat with sticks than with a fork.

4. Gyro (Fat Boys) - If you are looking for the best Greek food around, you won't find it at Grecian Gardens or Mediterranean Cafe. Fat Boys, the greasy burger joint has the best Gyros in the midlands. The tzatziki has a great flavor and consistency while the lamb/beef is cooked perfectly. I had considered not including Fat Boys because it's actually in West Columbia, but the quality of Greek food is worth the quick drive.

3. 5x5 (Mi Pueblito Taqueria) - It's unknown which days this special is available, but you can check yourself simply by driving by. Located behind Rush's, this is the best and most authentic Mexican restaurant in town. The 5x5 special is a great lunch option allowing the choice any combination of 5 items at a cost of $5. Usually the options include: rice, beans (fantastic), crunchy tacos, burritos, & enchiladas. I have been when the enchiladas have been replaced with cheese quesadillas. I'm not saying that this is the best dish available here (honestly I haven't eaten enough of them to know), but it's near impossible to find a better lunch value.

2. Singapore Mei Fun (New China) - A quite delicious noodle dish if you are a fan of curry. This dish includes pork, shrimp, chicken, mixed veggies, and rice noodles. It has a nice spiciness to clear out the sinuses.

1. Pho Tai, aka. #6 (Saigon Moon) - It's no secret that pho is one of my favorite foods. Pho Tai is rare beef over rice noodles with pho stock poured over. The rare beef is cooked by the broth. Other condiments are added by the individual such as basil, bean sprouts, jalapenos, lime, sriracha, soy sauce, fish sauce, and other available items. Until today I was just appreciative of having a place to get a bowl in Lexington.  In all of the places I've eaten pho, I would have ranked The Moon somewhere in the middle. Today, that changed. The broth had a much more rich and full flavor. After speaking with the waitress the mentioned that they had switched to a different type of cinnamon. I hope they stick with the change, but will continue to enjoy the pho either way.

Hummus Recipe

I normally post recipes to my food blog, but since I haven't updated either in quite a while I thought I'd just post this here.  The ole food blog of mine is pretty outdated and needs a serious overhaul (as of 4-18-12).  Maybe sometime in the near future.  Until then, here's the hummus:

2 cans of garbanzo beans
1 lemon
3 tablespoons tahini
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (cold press)

Drain the juices from the cans of garbanzo beans, save 1/2 a cup of this juice.  Dice up the garlic.  Add all ingredients including the 1/2 cup of juice in a blender.  Blend until creamy.  Add extra olive oil if needed to assist blending.  Garnish with olive oil and parsley.

Weekend/30 Min. Project: White/Light Box

This weekend I worked on a few projects around the house.  A few were completed, a few were not.  The cornhole boards did not get finished, but don't worry, I will have plenty of photos posted when they are done.
    One of the projects I completed was making this white box for shooting photos of objects.  So far I've spent a total of .69 on materials, the rest was stuff found around the house.  I basically used a cardboard box, some paper, tape, a box cutter, scissors, and 1 white poster board.
    The lighting I used on these shots was simply a lamp bulb from which I removed the shade.  I plan on using some better lighting in the future (clip on desk lamp possibly) to make these shots even better.
    The apple is a red delicious we got from a trip to the mountains.
    The bullets pictured below are just some FMJ .40s I had lying around.
    This will hopefully be a fun little inexpensive toy to keep around for shooting random objects.

5 Months, College Football, EPL, Champion's League

It's been five months since we cut the cord.  The time of year that concerned me most about making this move has arrived.  College football season and the beginning of the European soccer leagues had me concerned about making the move initially.  I have to say that so far I still have no regrets.  Between the major OTA networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox) and ESPN3 I can honestly say that I haven't missed anything I've wanted to see yet.  ESPN3's new Xbox app is amazing.  I actually feel sorry for those on Time Warner because they're unable to use it.
When I did have cable, I didn't have any extra packages. My current setup allows me to watch way more soccer.  ESPN3, Telemundo, or other streaming sites for specific games has been great for catching up on some futbol.
I just wanted to make a quick post updating my cord cutting situation and how pleased I have been with the available content.  I'm very excited to hear that Netflix and Discovery have inked a new deal this week as well. If only Hulu Plus could step up the game a bit and offer more device streaming for more programming.

Gmail.

Like many people, I love Gmail. There are many reasons to. However, I do think there are some very simple ways this already great mail provider could be even better.

One of the most unique features of Gmail is the way messages are grouped into conversations. Although this idea is a very nice way to group messages for easy browsing, it lacks one major feature. There should be buttons added allowing the user to add & remove messages from conversations. This seems simple enough but would add a whole new level to e-mail organization.

Multiple account login would also be very useful.  Even if you cannot use multiple accounts in one inbox, the feature to have new mail notifications from other accounts would be extremely useful.

Finally, another idea that may not be quite as popular, paid Gmail.  Gmail does a great job of making ads very unintrusive.  However, it would be nice if there was an ad-free paid version available.  I can't even say that I would use it unless the price was very minimal, but it would be a nice added option.

Those are just some thoughts I had on this e-mail service.  Overall it is great and I will continue to use it.  I'm also looking forward to seeing how Google+, Voice, Android, Docs, and other google service will continue to improve and integrate.

Posted via email from John's Posterous