Angela L. Das

A "hodad" is a 50's term for surfer groupie

It started, as it has for so many since, with Guy Fieri’s show on The Food Network.  The show, plus the appeal of seeing something on TV one Saturday morning, liking it, and driving 3 hours to go and see it for myself. It also starts with a literal starvation for a decent burger while living in London (a matter not addressed by English restauranteurs until relatively recently).

A good burger shouldn’t be hard to make. I’m not for over-seasoned beef, over-cooked or processed into perfect looking, 12 cm diameter patties. Good bread, good meat, good salad and good ketchup should be all that is required.  And, generally speaking, the number of napkins used to eat a burger with any kind of social etiquette is directly proportional to the excellence of the flavour. My order of 1 hamburger, 1 side of onions and 1 strawberry milkshake took approximately 11 napkins to consume gracefully, scoring Hodad’s an 11 on a normal scale of 1 to 10. Good job, guys! (more…)

Pea Soup Andersens & Why I think the Danish Are to Blame for Buellton

To begin at the beginning for, yes, Part II of the story, Buellton is a city in the Santa Ynez Valley that can be found by veering off the US 101 north of Santa Barbara. By forcing yourself to slow down to an abrupt halt in order to stop there (on your way to far prettier places), you would actually be demonstrating the fundamental principle of inertia. This is, by no small coincidence, the very definition of Buellton’s disposition.

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