Having It My Way

I felt an unstoppable craving for burgers tonight, and I had to indulge. Not the first time I've explored this subject, but it is the first time in a while that I've made a burger of my own, and I think the results are worth attention:

Isn't she a beaut? I took a style cue from John Yobo and mixed some garlic into the meat, along with some chopped mushrooms. I'm having it on whole wheat toast with pepper jack cheese, stone-ground mustard, and fresh spinach. Watch your broiler times; mine came out a bit underdone at first. I'm sure the fine people at Burger King might have some tips for that. In the end, it was succulent and delicious.

Meat Me At The Crossroads

Consider the metaphor of the crossroads. Often it's seen as an area of uncertainty, where one must make a choice that can lead to an unforeseeable future. But while you may not know where you're going, where you are is perfectly clear: you're at the crossroads.

This certainty of the situation is embodied in the form of beef and beer as soon as you find Mike's At The Crossroads in Cotati, California. The mural behind the bar conveys the business proposition in no uncertain terms:

One Mean Burger. Don't say nobody warned you. The food is honest and to-the-point: burgers, for which all the ingredients were grown and raised in the area. Far a while the guy in charge of the place wouldn't serve fries, because they make things too much like McDonald's; even now they're only available Friday thru Sunday. All of the burgers include cheese by default. The philosophy is that they're not going to charge you extra for something they know you want; in fact they charge an extra five cents to take the cheese off.

Main Course:

The Krush Burger, side of potato salad, paired with a Lagunitas IPA. This 1/2-pound burger is topped with grilled mushrooms and onions in a Zinfandel glaze; tender, flavorful, and juicy, and well-met by the hoppy and lightly-sweet IPA. Excellent.

To let things settle, I strolled through the adjacent CD shop. That's one place where I can enjoy myself while having no idea where I'm going...

Hamburgers! The Cornerstone of any International Diplomacy

In my current job, I spend a lot of time traveling. I get to see places where I never imagined I would visit, and interact directly with people with highly varied lifestyles and histories. I think I never shared a stronger bond with these people than when we were able to come together around food. No matter the background, the dining room is one area where we all connect.

I returned this weekend from a fortnight in Curacao. There, my compatriots and I were having a conference with members of the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles & Aruba. As the station at Hato employs native Curacaoans, Dutch navy, and civilian Canadian pilots, this group was even more international than I'm used to. The conference was very productive, but everyone was looking forward to Friday, when Mr John Yoblonski (of Crawdad Boil fame) had promised to give everyone a hamburger cookout.

The tradition started when he and I went to Colombia, and when the facilities and ingredients are available, he's kept it going as a gesture of goodwill between nations. I won't divulge his special recipe, but it did involve me chopping up an obscene mound of garlic.

Mr Andrew Schmitt took care of the accompanying veggies, setup, and running raw and done burgers to their appropriate stations. The NA&A CG took care of beer. The burgers were succulent, with a rich garlic flavor that was not overpowering. The Dutch had them with a curry-infused ketchup that's a speciality on the island, but I prefer only onions. A properly-cooked meat needs no sauce.

As a special treat, one of the Curacaoans from the air station crew brought in homemade iguana soup. He made the soup from a dozen wild iguanas that had been shot and butchered that day. The iguanas were left in pieces on the bone and their juices created the broth, added to which were potatoes and other fresh veggies.


Since Summer 2007 I had been aching to try iguana meat, and finally this was my first chance! The flesh is tender and pink, tasting like a blend of fish and pork. The black, scaly skin is technically edible, but tough in most areas, so no one objects if you discard it. I loved it, and I see no reason that it shouldn't be on everyone's barbecue this Summer.