Brilliant menu choice.....(rant)

[Dave1982]

So I'm at this convention. $50 for the evening activities including dinner. And one of the main courses was stir fried SPAM with vegetables over rice.

Stir fried spam? Really? REALLY?!

I have just one question for whoever made that decision: are you HIGH!?

I understand that the $50 doesn't just go towards the dinner, but come on. I expect something better than that for that kind of money.

[Exaspera]

Did it just look like Spam, or was that written on the menu?!

Where the hell was this convention, Arkansas? (Certainly not to offend ANY of the smart Razorbacks here.)

[Dave1982]

Oh, it was written right on the menu (or rather, the sign next to the station that was serving it). "Stir fried spam" and a list of veggies.

And this is in Kentucky.

[Exaspera]

LOL! I was close!

[malmalthekiller]

Spam is actually extremely popular in Hawaii, where some restaurants are making "gourmet" food with it, even sushi rolls.

[Exaspera]

Years ago I had a tour of a Hormel meat plant in Indiana-all of the way from the .22 to the top of the head to the cans of Spam at the end. I will not eat Spam, Sam I Am.

[AdminAssistant]

Where the hell was this convention, Arkansas? (Certainly not to offend ANY of the smart Razorbacks here.)

Screw the Razorbacks, go State! (Why yes, I am an Indian Red Wolf )

[Jester]

Dave, did you TRY the stir fry? Because you never know....it might have been good. As someone said, there are some gourmet applications being tried with it.

Hell, I remember a while back being at a 10 Cane Rum promotion and actually enjoying a 10 Cane mojito. And 10 Cane is repulsive. The Spam of rums, if you will. And yet the 10 Cane mojito was rather tasty. Which I guess just proves that if you add enough sugar, anything can be tasty.

And this is in Kentucky.

I think you just found that answer you were looking for.

[Dave1982]

No, I didn't. I've tried spam before and didn't like it. Plus it was full of green peppers (which i hate) and mushrooms (which I also hate). if it had been say, chicken, I would have gotten it and just gone around the peppers and mushrooms, but considering that it was spam, I just decided to pass.

But speaking of rum, I did get me a lighter fluid rum and coke from the cash bar. it wasn't that good (Myer's white rum) but since I hardly ever drink anymore it did make me feel a little better. (not insulting rum in general, just this brand)

Incidentally, this was the first time in my life that I have not been carded for alcohol.

[Jester]

But speaking of rum, I did get me a lighter fluid rum and coke from the cash bar. it wasn't that good (Myer's white rum) but since I hardly ever drink anymore it did make me feel a little better. (not insulting rum in general, just this brand)

You won't insult me by insulting various rums. There is a lot of crappy rum out there. Hell, over the last year or so, my bar has made a point of getting rid of the chaff we had and focusing on the better rums. And we still have 150+, thank you very much.

Now, I almost asked, "Wait, Myers's has a white rum?" and then I remembered that I had recently discovered that on my own, at a recent Key West event, and tried it. And just like 99% of the clear rum out there, it tasted pretty much like turpentine, though I am sure it mixes well. (I always try a new rum straight for the first time, just because I am a rum guy and from that I can usually tell how it will be chilled and/or mixed.)

When it comes to Myers's, their Original Dark can make an ordinary cocktail extraordinary, by straight it is kind of one note. Myers's Legend, however, is an excellent sipping rum.

And yes, it is Myers's. Two s's. If you ever want to win a bar bet, challenged whoever you are with, or even the bartender, to correctly write down the name of that rum. 99.99% of people will write "Myer's." Some will write "Meyer's." But the fact is, it is "Myers's." People won't believe you, some knowing the rum very well....until the bottle is broken out, and they really LOOK at the label for the first time. I know that I blew New Boss Man's mind with that one the other day. And he's been in the industry longer than me! (There's a reason I'm his "Rum Guru.")

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That reminds me of the two college newspaper conventions I went to up in the Twin Cities when I was in college and writing for the college newspaper. It was $50 a head to cover the hotel room and registration. We'd drive up there Thursday night after our newspaper meeting, get there around midnight and turn in, and then registration, activities and rotating sessions would happen between 9 am and noon or so, and then a keynote speaker for about an hour at 3 in the afternoon, and the rest of the time was yours, so we'd go bar-hopping, or to the Mall of America, or just wander the streets. Hey, can't beat that for 50 bucks.

Anyway, Friday night there was a reception for all the people at the convention to get together and socialize or something. At the reception, the hotel served us pizza.

Pizza that obviously had been frozen.
Frozen pizza that had obviously been cooked some time before and then left under heat lamps.
Disgusting frozen pizza that had obviously been cooked some time before and then left under heat lamps. I swear they must've fed us Tony's pizza, which I grew up choking down because my parents liked it but I hated it.

Come on, this is a big fancy hotel in the middle of downtown Minneapolis, we're filling up a bunch of rooms that might sit empty without us, frozen Tony's pizza is the best you can do for us?