In defense of buffets and Senor Juan en Oaxaca

There are two stereotypes surrounding buffets, especially Golden Corral. The perception is old folks crowd these places for lunch. Alas, it is true. I went there today, and aside from the people that worked there, I was the second youngest person there.......Shelisa was the youngest. Sterotypes are often founded in reality.
The second sterotype is that buffets have lousy food, but the virtues are its being cheap and plentiful. While the offerings are Golden Corral are simple (and their Caesar salad scares the living S**T out of me), the food is tasty. The variety is on par with restaurants. The thing about buffets is they can be a dog's breakfast of styles. They don't have to be a particular ethnicity or style. Even the Chinese Gourmet does this. Perhaps 1/3 of the fare is actually Chinese.
What these buffets do is find a particular item other places serve. Something that draws people to a particular restaurant i.e. the biscuits at Red Lobster, and serves them up.
So let's examine my food today. Hush puppies. Nothing like putting some "south in your mouth". I am not aware of anyone else that makes them. Cheese pizza. It was OK, but I just wanted a small slice. Potato casserole. Restaurants call them 'au gratin'. Golden Corral's were good. The last three offerings I had from 'gourmet' sources were underbaked, bland, and too salty in that order. Dinner roll. Perfectly done, fresh and warm, yummy honey butter. Clam chowder. Good, not great. The aforementioned biscuits, not quite as good as Red Lobster but pretty good still. Asparagus. Steamed spears that we just a bit overdone. Still pretty good. Chocolate covered bananas. Better than Disneyland since they were ready to eat and not frozen solid AND I didn't have to listen to "It's a small, small world".
The best thing I have ever eaten is a fresh, perectly ripe peach. The only thing that gets close is perectly ripe pineapple. The best 'dish' I have ever eaten is a pasta dish called "Stallone's favorite" at the Spice Market in Vegas. Yup.......Buffett food!



While eating, I found myself lost in thought. What would happen if yours truly decided to emigrate to Mexico. I would probably move to the Oaxaca region. It is more mountainous like home, but more importantly it is the culinary heart of the country. I thought to myself how things would play out for me there. I speak a little Spanish, and I would obviously try to learn is as quick as possible. Still, when I see other Americans, I would likely speak in animated English to them. I doubt anybody would say to me, "We speak Spanish here......LEARN IT!!". I have always found Mexicans to be hospitable. I suspect they would be very patient with me while I learned the language, their customs and mores, and adapted to their culture. I suspect that even though I am a large and pale gringo, after a few years the people would proclaim, "he is one of us now". Of course, that is assuming I either hide or stop being a vegetarian. That is one thing I don't think they would accept.

It pains me to defend Bush, but I find myself doing it progressively more as I digest his presidency. We need a comprehensive and humane policy towards immigrants from Mexico. It's just those damn Hondurans we gotta watch out for! (Just kidding about the Hondurans). There is much talk about the new law in Arizona. As distasteful and wrong as it sounds to me, we have to admit they have a HUGE problem. The federal government has failed to do anything on a national level, so they felt compelled to act. So I will learn more as I am able. I will observe to see what happens. I will pray that it will generate action on a federal level.
The drug trade, and the money and violence that are it's companions, are the biggest problem as I see it. People coming up here to work, and send their kids to school is decidely not the problem. The drug trade remains divisive and complex. It is being tied in with the immigration issue and attempts are being made to make them the same thing. They are not.

Simplicity

It's one of the things that I increasingly appreciate as I get older. As I get older, I also understand the complexities and nuance of issues. Without sounding like I am blowing my own horn, I am a pretty smart guy. In short I get it. What I 'get' is the entire Taoist imperative of understanding complexity in that which appears simple and understanding the simplicity in that which is complex.

I have read that Napoleon, in formulating grand strategy, would bring in a lowly corporal and lay out the plans he had. Were the corporal unsure of certain aspects of the plan, then things would be reorganized. Apparently French corporals were unaware of just how damn nasty the Cossacks would be during the Russian campaign......but I digress. Keeping strategic plans simple and understandable is crucial. Leave operational issues to the individual field commanders. So what am I really getting at?

Three rants today that's what.

1) Ronnie Lee Gardner. He's that fine citizen that killed a guy in '84 at a bar. Shot him in the face. In '85 while being charged with the original crime, was passed a gun and made his escapse. He shot an attorney that was getting a drink and hindering his escape. He also managed to wound a bailiff. It is now 25 years later and they are only now getting around to executing this guy. I am not an attorney. I lack the knowledge of the appeals process and all the wrangling and timetables that accompany it. Yet, I have to wonder........after all justice delayed is justice denied. If anyone is reading this, I realize that innocent people have been executed in the past. Others on death-row have been vindicated and freed. I also agree that it is better than ten guilty go unpunished than an innocent is wrongly punished. We all praise the rule of law and procedures and order. But secretly we thirst for blood. I am a vegetarian, or rather I won't anything with a face. I cannot stomach cruelty to animals. Yet I would be like Torquemada, and able to sleep like a baby were I to be in charge of Ronnie. I realize this all sounds a bit like Hitler. I despise Nazis and white supremacists. Where I dying of something terminal I would be like John Wayne in his final movie "The Shootist". I would keep it fair however. I'll use a couple of bats just to keep it fair. If I went into the compound of one of these hate groups and I were armed properly, I would stand a very good chance of killing them all and making it out alive.

2) Bank regulations that are being proposed by the Obama administration. There is all this stuff going on about Goldman Sachs benefitting from betting against sub-prime mortgages. The same sub-prime mortgages that they were pimping. Let me make it simple. If a investment practice or vehicle is too complex for me to understand then it should NOT exist. Things are only and always made complex in order to screw somebody. Don't regulate derivatives. Ban them. Make the rules simple. Make how things work simple. Reduce the sheer number and complexity of these things and do it now. Yes folks, it really is that easy! Some might say that I don't understand markets or how the international economies work. Really? And who caused this? It wasn't me.

3) Muslim (or any other) extremists. The boys that make South Park were threatened by some New York based group of Taliban wannabees. South Park is offensive to be certain. It is also funny. It has bashed my own faith in different episodes and just about every other faith too! These guys even made a movie called Captain Orgazmo about an LDS missionary. Offensive? Yes. Misinformed? Yup. Funny? Admittedly.........at times. So back to the death threats. This is something that transcends politics and gets the heart of being an American. We have free speech here. These people that enjoy it, have to take the good with the bad. You can argue, and persuade, and express disgust. You cannot threaten to kill. I didn't particularly like the last President, though I will admit he did some things right. Unfortunately he did some other things colosally wrong. When people shouted "No more Bush!" I joined in. When left wing nut-jobs talked about killing Bush I would get in their grill and explain for better or for worse he is still the C in C. I am also still under oath to defend this country from all enemies foreign and domestic.

So taking my cue from Jon Stewart, and with a 'gospel' choir to back me up. I'd like to sing out. To Ronnie Lee, Goldman Sachs, and Muslim extremists. To the tea-partiers, minutemen and everyone else that hates people because of their skin color. GO F**K YOURSELVES!!!