mychai's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memphis: Blues, Bars, and BBQ! This ended up being the best weekend possible to go to Memphis. It was great to get out of Picayune for a couple of days. Actually, last week was my last week in Picayune. I had Memphis this past weekend and another trip this coming up week that I will detail later in the entry. It's a device I use to make you read the whole thing. Is it working? But despite an undesirable beginning, Memphis ended up offering quite a wonderful ride. It was chock full of culinary surprises that made it a great weekend trip. And, I got to see the Former Bartender Tricia again. She's doing well, and she thanks you for asking. Friday I left Picayune at around 4:30 on Friday afternoon. I know it was 4:30 because I left during the mid-break of "Dr. Phil." I love me some Dr. Phil, and it was rough pulling myself away. Tricia, the last I heard, was planning on leaving Columbia at around the same time, so that's why I chose to leave so late. At around Hattiesburg -- an hour into my trip -- Tricia called and said that she was working late. This was actually not bad to hear. That would mean that I could take the drive at a much more leisurely pace. I called again at around 8:30, and she was just getting out of St. Louis. It didn't appear that I would see her at all during the normal operating hours of Friday. Driving into Memphis, it had started to sprinkle and look generally nasty. But I had my CD player blasting, and I was having a good time driving into the city. Until I heard a weird noise that wasn't a part of the usual "drive down the interstate" menagerie of noises. I turned down my CD, cracked my windows, and realized that the noises were all of the city's tornado alarms going off! I turned on the radio to listen to emergency alert tones on every station saying that tornados were touching down all over the city and to kiss your asses goodbye. But the weird thing was that it was just sprinkling out. I wasn't at all nervous. I figured it was just a strong thunderstorm, that there were areas of strong wind sheer but nothing actually bad, and heavy rain, but the broadcast media outlets were having fun blowing it way out of proportion. Which is exactly what the case was. Spending eight years in the broadcasting field has taught me one thing: take everything broadcast media says with a whole box of salt. Once I got to the hotel, they wouldn't let me up into my room because of the tornado warnings. After about 30 minutes, I was finally allowed to check in. Tricia called freaking out about having to drive through a lake that had formed over I-55 in Arkansas, and she made a special request for there to be beer waiting for her when she arrived. If thou asketh for beer, thou shall receiveth beer. She didn't get in until around 2:00 in the a.m.. I was pooped. She was pooped. I told her I liked sleeping late. She told me she was a morning person. That was the extent of our conversation before going to bed. Saturday She woke up early and showered before I even started to stir. We had no idea what the agenda was for Saturday. On our way from the parking lot to inside Waffle House, I saw a newspaper article talking about how the storms forced everyone at the World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest to flee. Food contest? Cue the Scooby-Doo "rhuh?!" It was more out of sheer luck that we drove straight to the BBQ contest. We had no idea where Jack Park was, and so when we drove right to it off of the interstate, we were more surprised than excited. But that changed really quick. I was giddy with excitement! Have you ever been somewhere that showcased over 250 groups of people whose only goal was to cook the best barbeque in the world? I can now honestly say I have! We walked around for a little while and saw a tent that had different events going on inside. We happened upon the finals in the regional "Hotwing Eating Competition." There was a guy there from Washington D.C. who was competing. Another guy was from Buffalo, New York. Two people were from Memphis, and one of the guys -- he took a vacant seat -- was a bum. Serious. After twelve minutes of wolfing down some serious hotwings, the winner was announced. It was a local guy -- a serious competitor in the eating circuit. He holds records in eating some kind of sausages and chinese dumplings. He was one. big. dude. He ate 3.95 lbs of hotwings in twelve minutes. While they were cleaning off the wings, they announced that a lady from the Food Network was going to come and give a cooking demonstration. I told Tricia I really wanted to see this, and offered to go get some beers so she could keep cool while we watched. When I got back from getting beer, the cooking lady was asking for a volunteer who thought he knew how to fry chicken. Know whose hand went up first? I'll give you one guess. And guess who she chose!! Yep! Me!!! Her name is Paula Deen. Have you heard of her? I had seen her show once or twice, but it is hard to catch. The important thing is, I was cooking in front of a huge crowd of people with a celebrity from Food Network. Wow!!! After we finished cooking, Paula gave me a big hug and told me I was cute. I got her autograph, and for the rest of the day I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera! Ugh! I got a good laugh when she was telling a story how she met her fiance. I was supposed to stand there and be quiet. But I instead reached in front of her and grabbed a piece of fried chicken she had just made. It was yummy! After we reached the apex of my life, we walked around to see the competitors. One of the people competing was Al Roker, of NBC's "The Today Show." He was working hard and wasn't doing any chit-chatting. His ribs looked good, though, and I enjoyed watching him cook. We walked around a little while longer before leaving and heading towards downtown. We went to a mall and ended up cooling off by watching "Matrix: Reloaded." In a few words, I must say I didn't like it. It was nowhere the caliber of the first movie. From what I have read and heard, I ain't the only one who didn't like it. When the movie was over, we went to Beale Street and down to B.B. King's. That's always a great place to go if you want some good, live blues music. And we weren't disappointed. There was a seven-piece band there with a big, black woman as the lead singer. She was fantastic at singing and knew how to make you feel good. I actually drank the requisite number of beers that lowers my inhibitions enough to dance. Tricia and some old black man danced. Then I went and asked a woman -- an older woman -- who looked exactly like Carmela Soprano to dance. Carm and I cut a little rug for a while before both Tricia and I decided that we were too tired to have any more fun. Tricia slept all the way back to the hotel. Once we got into the room, I had to pee, so I went and... umm... peed. When I left the bathroom, I could see that Tricia had already gone to sleep. I wasn't far behind. Sunday We woke up, got dressed, checked out, and headed back to Beale Street. We wanted some lunch, and we ate at some restaurant I can't remember now because it is so late at night. We both got the BBQ pork sandwich because it was supposed to be the best on Beale Street. Don't trust a guy about how good the food is unless he has all of his front teeth. That's my new rule. It was OK. It just wasn't the best I'd ever eaten. Oh, and just for fun, I drank a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon. I'd never had it before, and it was more for nestalgia than for the desire to drink a good beer. Tricia laughed at me. After our lunch, we had to part ways. It was a good trip. So, now I am back at my dad's. I'm waking up early tomorrow because I have a lot I need to do. Why do I have so much to do, you ask? Well, I have a whole new trip that begins tomorrow at around 6:30 in the evening. Remember that chick I did some travelling with a few months ago? Well, we are going to go hit one more city before I go into the Air Force. I am flying into Atlanta tomorrow evening. Some of her family lives there, and her brother is graduating from high school. She invited me to come along since I have never experienced all that is Atlanta, so off I am going. It will be a lot of fun. I am excited to be with Nicole again! I've missed her something aweful. And you know who lives in Atlanta? Alton Brown, another chef on Food TV. Can we make it two in two weeks? We'll definitely try. So, tomorrow's entry will be written from Atlanta. But that's it for tonight's entry. Sorry it was so long, but I had a great weekend. 11:49 p.m. - Sun., May. 18, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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