Mashed Monday!

[Dave_P]

Hello everyone, my name is Dave and I will be your lunch reporter this week. Before we dive into it I'd like to say thanks to Philby for an excellent week of lunch reporting, very entertaining and well written, he's going to be a tough act to follow.

Anywho, here's a little about me, currently my official title is "Director of Audio Visual Services" though mainly I'm referred to as "A/V guy". I generally work with corporate clients in my current job so mostly microphones, flip charts, screens and projectors. I was born and currently live in Rhode Island, although I did spend a few years in Arizona and I frequent New Hampshire.



The smallest state in the US, RI has the longest name,The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. We actually just voted to keep the name, some people wanted to drop the Providence Plantations off the end, but the general population of RI does not like change, me included
It's a very unique place, the state is only 48 miles long and 37 miles wide. We have some of the best sailing anywhere (used to host the America's Cup), good fishing, lots of beaches, not very good skiing, decent hiking and biking, and great food. Here are a few food items unique to RI (or at least thought to be).



The Hot Wiener: aka gagger (pronounced gag-uh), aka gut buster

It consists of a hotdog (wiener) made from veal and pork, with mustard, topped with a sort of spicy meat sauce and diced onions. They are delicious, horrible for you, but they are a staple at 2am.

The Awful Awful: Awful Big. Awful Good. (that's what she said )

It's really just a big milkshake, milkshakes are sometimes referred to as a cabinet, I have no idea why , but an Awful Awful is much thicker. A very tasty treat in the summer, if you can drink 4 you get you the 5th for free! They also have Awful Awful Mondays where they are buy one get one free....wait... it's Monday today

Coffee Milk:

Just like chocolate milk, it's coffee flavored syrup you mix into your milk

Del's Lemonade:

Also great in the summer, it's kinda like a slushi, a little different consistency and made with real lemons

Quahaugs: hard shelled clams:

Although the clams themselves aren't unique to RI, what we make out of them is.

RI clear chowder: I'm not a big fan of this one


clamcakes (fried dough balls with minced clams mixed in):


or stuffies (a clam and bread/cracker stuffing, stuffed back in the clam shell and baked):


You can go down to the beach with a clam rake and dig these guys up pretty easily. Free lunch!

Dynamites:

Like a sloppy joe but on a sub roll (sub type sandwiches also referred to as grinders) and loaded with crushed red peppers, nice and spicy.

Johnny Cakes:


Like pancakes but made specifically from Rhode Island ground white flint corn.

Pizza Strips:

Rectangular slices of pizza crust covered with spicy pizza sauce, no cheese, served cold or at room temperature.

Also, apparently RI invented the Diner - Basically a mobile home but a restaurant, get yourself a truck and tow the restaurant to different locations
.




Do you guys have any foods that are unique to your state/country?


Lunch:

Here in the States we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving later this week, which happens to be my favorite holiday. Big meal, lots of family, football and there's nothing like a leftover roast turkey sandwich with stuffing cranberry sauce and gravy! Can't wait!

That said today's lunch is completely different. I will be dinning on a Subway 6" Tuna salad sandwich, on wheat bread with spinach, tomato, lettuce, pickles, onions and banana peppers. A bit on the healthier side of things after last night's pizza dinner I felt I needed some veggies.


G&L Topic: Pine

Pine seems to be the latest craze in "T" style guitars lately. A lot of DIYer's choose pine probably because it is cheap, relatively easy to finish, good tone(?) and Leo used it. Fender (Squier) has jumped on the pine boat with the "Classic Vibe 60's" guitar.

What are your thoughts on pine bodies guitars? How about a limited edition pine G&L ASAT? What pickup configuration would you want on it?

Personally I like pine, despite the fact it dings up easily. If G&L made a pine ASAT I'd like to see it as a "ASAT '50" type, maybe spice it up a bit with a single large MFD or even a Z-coil but retain the '50 type wiring scheme.

[RickT]

One of the best things in this part of North Carolina is the pig pickin'. It's usually a half or whole hog cooked over a gas or charcoal grill. When its done cooking, the meat is harvested and chopped up then mixed with a vinegar and red pepper sauce. Put that on a bun with some cole slaw and you've got one of the tastiest treats on the planet. Other things typically served at a pig pickin would be hush puppies, cole slaw, potato salad, boiled potatoes, and brunswick stew.

I don't know if I'd like a pine guitar. I did pick one up and play it the other day, but it didn't do anything special for me.

RickT

[zombywoof]

One of my father's best friends lived in RI and I still have nice memmories of going to visit him. The guy's home was about as old as the state and he even had a cemetery on the property which is about as cool as it gets when you are a kid.

Today I would guess RI is best known as the home state of Peter Griffin and Stewie.

I was born and bred in Brooklyn. After frequenting such delicacies as those offered by Rudy the knish guy it is hard to impress me when it comes to food. But that weiner sounds pretty darn good. Making me hungry just thinking about it.

Pine does seem to be all the rage these days. You know it has to be cool since Leo used in to make the first Esquires.

Seems like it would be nice and light and I am all for light. But the easily dinged part is a problem especially since I seem to have a knack for "relicing" guitars pretty quickly. But a pine body G&L might be nice since that thick finish they use would have to help with the ding issue.

[sickbutnottired]

RI -Sounds like you have some awesome snack food.

Pine G&L's? Sounds OK to me. I know wood matters, but I don't know how to guess. You would just have to try em out. There are a lot of different pine species, some can get quite hard.

To me individual instruments have their own magic. It's the guitar, the setup, and the player. Little subtle things make a specific guitar special to me. A few years ago I had two almost identical ASAT classics. Over the course of a few months I grew to like the second one I acquired quite a bit better than the first....nothing I could really say "This is different and I like it better", just very subtle comfort difference to me...All in my head? That could be.

[Dave_P]

Thanks for the replies! I've finally added in the pics as promised. Yes we do do food well here in RI, I must have been starving this morning when I wrote this

-Dave

[zapcosongs]

Great start, Dave!

Very interesting and tasty food descriptions and images. Lots of that stuff looks good to me (but don't tell my doctor!).

Around her in Maryland, the most important local delicacy is the crab cake. There are people (like me) whose lifelong quest is to find the holy grail: The perfect crab cake.

First you need some of these - blueclaw crabs.



You'll need to extract (or buy) the best crabmeat (lump backfin). Mix the meat with a little mayo, just a tad of binder (cracker meal or similar) spice it to your preference, then broil or fry. Enjoy as an entree, with saltines or on a sandwich. Yum! My very favorite meal!



Regarding using pine, I have no experience at all. I think it might get all sappy though. Like me. Again, nice start! - ed

[bassman]

Zapcosongs covered the crabs we have here in MD. I love getting them fresh from a pier, caught that day, and steaming them up to eat with friends and a lot of beer.

We have done that several times this summer. Its too late now though. Most of the local crabs have buried themselves in the mud and will not re-emerge until next Spring.

You can still get crabs but they are probably from Vietnam of Indonesia.

They are a great delicacy.

As far as pine guitars go/ they would be great to build at home. Just make sure that the wood s dry enough. You don't need sap coming out of your guitar. LOL

I have heard some pine Teles on the TDPRI page. They sound real good in the right hands.

[sirmyghin]

Canada : Butter tart . Dang they are tasty..

I would not buy a pine G&L or anything pine. Pine takes a lot to get a clear piece, needs to be seasoned forever, and it is soft (which will contribute to dynamics properties such as damping more than likely). People use it as it is cheap, and the whole 'Leo used it for this model way back when' is one of the biggest crocks ever. Early Fenders were known for the absolute garbage wood they were made out of. I would take pine to be no exception. Pine can be left in the past with 5-7 piece bodies.

[blargfromouterspace]

I can't wait to do a culinary tour of the USA. I'll most likely need two seats on the trip back. You lot sure know how to cook! As far as I know, we don't have a regional cuisine here in Victoria, Australia - Philby might know better. Maybe the Dim Sim, a mixture of pork or chicken with cabbage and seasoning, wrapped in a piece of wonton type batter and fried. They're pretty good, if you get a good one. You can get them all over Australia, mainly in road houses and those sort of places, Melbourne has claimed the intellectual property rights, so to speak.

I'd try a pine guitar. I haven't played one yet so don't know if I like it or not. I'd definitely go for a G&L with a single pickup. Putting it on a pine body would certainly distinguish it from the rest of the range. I hate the look of a natural pine guitar (looks like too man pieces of cheap furniture), so it'd have to be a solid finish.

[Philby]

Excellent first post Dave. I've just finished cleaning up the saliva off my desk after drooling over those tasty RI snacks.

One question: what is the incidence of heart disease in RI?

Australians and New Zealanders fight over who invented this wonderful dessert, the pavlova. It tastes better than it looks, and has a crispy sugar crust and light, soft marshmallow centre. It's a variation on the meringue and is often served as a Christmas dessert with summer fruit.



As for pine guitars, I've got nothing against them as long as they're playable and sound good. I've tried one of the Fender Classic Vibe teles and was suitably impressed though I didn't test its ding-ability. I've got a Japanese Fender strat made out of basswood and it's s a fantastic guitar, but it dings REALLY easily too. I'm prepared to put up with it for all the other good points basswood has (tone, light etc.). I'd treat pine exactly the same way.

Maybe a thick poly coat is called for with pine guitars (at the possible expense of tone)?

[Dave_P]

You guys have some great looking food out there too! In all honesty I try to avoid most of that stuff it's generally a once or twice a year type thing for me, if I could avoid the cookies and ice cream I'd be in good shape

Sounds like the pine may be best left to the DIYer's, one of these days I'll get around to building one, I have quite a few 100+ year old hand cut pine boards, now if only I had the skill, time, money, and equipment to turn them into guitar bodies

-Dave

[blargfromouterspace]

I just remembered now that when Redd Volkaert was in town for a guitar clinic he was playing a Tomkins guitar with a pine back and Queensland maple top. It sounded GREAT. He is one of the greatest tele players around, so that's not surprising.