Monday, March 7, 2011
The Food Emporium/My Apartment @8:23 pm
Union Square
Live from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Sunday Night! Starring the Food Emporium and featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen...please welcome the introduction to this post!
Okay, we couldn’t do Cheeseburger Saturday Night last night, because I wanted to go to the CineKink film festival and check out Leslie Hope’s film, GAYKEITH. So I thought I’d do the Cheeseburger thing tonight. The only problem is, it’s been raining all day and it appears to continue all through the night. I had a late lunch and don’t really feel like going anywhere and then it hit me: I could do the Cheeseburger Sunday Night at home. I’ve always liked to cook, but doing the 365 bars thing required me to be out every night and so I had a year of not cooking one single night. Well all that is about to change. Let’s go to the store and get the ingredients and start Cheeseburger Sunday Night!
Okay, it was just sprinkling when I left my apartment and now it's like a full blown monsoon out. Most of the pictures will be in color tonight, the city always looks like it's melting when it rains at night, and I want to capture that.
Union Square Park is about empty, it's really coming down now.
Ah, shelter from the storm, The Food Emporium.
Wow, it's empty in here, I guess people are staying in because of the rain.
I'm over in the meat section and listening to these two debate on what kind of frozen chicken they should buy. It's been over five minutes and I don't know what's more pathetic, the fact that they're debating about frozen chicken or the fact that I can't walk away from this.
Okay, they decided and now I'm all alone in the meat section and it's a little lonely here. I'm going to get the meat and get out of here.
I've never seen it this empty in here and it's kind of freaking me out.
Now I'm really freaked out! Who would put such a thing up! Let's get our stuff and get out of this place!
Sonyha was at the register and flashed a great smile for the MAD camera.
Okay, back outside, hopefully the rain has let up.
Goddamn, it's worse than ever out here.
A black and white shot of the trip home.
Okay, here's all the stuff I got: Sandwich Pal mustard, seasoned ground beef meatballs, Velveeta cheese slices, Coleman's mustard powder, a spatula and little onion buns. I decided at the store I'd make a couple mini slider cheeseburgers. I had a late lunch and I'm not that hungry, so it sounds perfect. Now time to start cooking, but first...
We must choose the proper music for the evening. I decided on the Hollies Anthology. They're one of my favorite bands.
And onto the boombox it goes.
And the first ingredient before we start cooking is beer! I think I'll have a large one, Veronica.
Here's the kitchen area of my apartment. It's small, but has everything I need for a cheeseburger meal.
I don't have an actual stove in here, but there's a microwave, an electric skillet, a crock pot and a toaster oven. All I need to put tonight's dinner together.
The burgers go into the skillet. They were already seasoned for Italian meatballs, so I just added some mustard powder and pepper to them and they're good to go.
I cut two of the onion buns in half and toasted cheese on them in the toaster oven. They look pretty good, right?
And the mini burgers are swimming in a sea of melted cheese, time to put this all together and plate it.
Burgers on one bun and some of the spicy mustard on the other.
Here's a slightly out of focus shot of them put together.
Very delicious, if I do say so myself and I just did.
And a closing obligatory bathroom mirror shot which also showcases my groovy polka dot shower curtain. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
I’ve never felt like the Hollies got their fair shake in the world of rock and roll. They were a great band and used some real different instrumentation in their songs: Steel drums, banjos, harmonicas and they had the best harmonies going at the time. And their drummer, Bobby Elliott was a first-rate drummer. Carrie Anne is one of my all time favorite songs by The Hollies and I think I’ve listened to it at least once a month since I bought the 45 in 1967 when I was all of nine-years-old. Graham Nash has said that Carrie Anne was a song about Marianne Faithfull, whom I have a sixth degree of separation story.
A few years ago my friend David Dalton who’s a writer and knows everyone, he knows your uncle, you just don’t realize it yet, sent me an email and asked me for a favor. He said it was Marianne Faithfull’s birthday coming up and he wanted a poster of a photo of when she met Bob Dylan in the film, “Don’t Look Back,” to give to her as a present. He knew I worked at a printing place and wondered if I could output it for him. That’s one of the perks of working at a print shop, when someone needs a print for Marianne Faithfull, you’re at the ready to do it. I cleared it with my boss, printed it and sent it to David in Woodstock where he lives. I found it funny that Marianne Faithfull, a woman I had one of my first boyhood crushes on would be receiving a print from me for her birthday via David Dalton. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and then a beer or seven and promptly forgot all about it.
Then about a month later I got a notice from some international mailing service saying they were trying to deliver a package from London, England, but I wasn’t at home. Of course I wasn’t at home international mailing service, you stupid twits, I was at work, maybe you should start a night route, we don’t all work 9 to 5 you know! Anyway, for weeks this went on. I would sign a waiver for them to leave a package, they wouldn’t leave the package, my bell would ring while I was sleeping, a waiver would be left and it never got resolved. Finally the package was left and when I eagerly opened it, inside was a Marianne Faithfull CD. It was her doing duets with other people. I wasn’t sure why this came my way until a couple months later I was talking to David Dalton on the phone about something totally different. All of a sudden in the middle of the conversation he said: “Hey, did Marianne ever send you that CD?”
“I got a Marianne Faithfull CD in the mail, but I just figured it was some promotional thing,” I told him, having forgotten about the poster for her birthday.
“Goddamn her,” he spat into the phone, “She really liked the Dylan poster, so I told her you went out of her way to do it and asked her to send you the CD with a thank you note, because I knew you’d get a kick out of it. She didn’t include a note?” He asked.
“No,” I replied, “that would’ve really been cool.”
“Fucking rock stars,” he moaned.
Fucking rock stars.
Further reading: New York Magazine, Wikipedia, Wikipedia and Songfacts.
Nightcap
Hey Carrie Anne, what’s your game?
29 Comments
Reader Comments (29)
Golly, the inside of your refrigerator evokes POP memories.
Raw beef: ALOTTAELVIS NOW.
Show us your tongue!
On second thought, don't.
Luv that Colemans Mustard
Nice evening at Chez Wombacher!
Good looking burgers, keep 'em off the Keyboard.
Always loved the Hollies.
Harmonies that are hard to beat.
Speaking of...
Here's hoping the pair decided on the frozen Chicken,
instead of standing there choking theirs.
Slider? I hardly know her.
Pray tell, why is the Son of Sam's dog hanging out in the chip aisle?
@Mike Foster: Memories!
@Terry: Great mustard!
@"Boris:" It was nice to hang out at home and cook. That couple ended up debating over frozen dinners. Yes, I followed them around the store, for some reason they amazed me!
@cp: I know, I thought that Son of Sam's barking dogs stayed inside his head.
Goddamn, those burgers look tasty! Nice job on them! Enjoyed the Hollies/Faithful story too. Fucking rock stars! LOL!
My two all time Hollies faves are; 'He ain't heavy, he's my brother' and 'Dear Eloise.' Had a Hollie's Greatest Hits album once, lost it when I sold my vinyl collection so I could keep eating once when I was out of work. As for the sliders; White Castle's got nothing on you...those things looked just as good as anything you ever got in any bar you've reviewed....
@CP; Yeah, If I had a dog like that in MY head, I'd be out shooting people and talking to demons too! Brrrr....
That mustard, Woeber's pal, I have never seen it down here. I like pickles in my gut bombs, but yours look really good. When you think of the summer of Love, 1967, the Hollies, Byrds, Springfield, Standells, Rascals, all come to mind. Most of these band were the beginings for some big time rock stars. I still cannot believe that the Moody Blues have never been inducted in the RR hall of fame.
I've always wondered how much of a kitchen are you have at your apt. This seals the deal for me, I could never live in NYC. But your burgers look great, without the mustard of course.
Favorite Hollies, besides the hits, are "Crusader," "Peculiar Situation," "Pay You Back With Interest," "Lullaby To Tim."
Stop me if I'll told you this Hollies tale from our Canterbury stay in 2004.
Too late!
Howard Fields’ scurrilous libel of Graham Nash as a “pompous, pretentious, self-important, self-indulgent individual” cannot go unchallenged.
Besides being a superb singer and songwriter, Graham Nash is a man of compassion and generosity.
My daughter Martha Foster is autistic. She is also artistic, and beginning in 1977 when she was eight, she began drawing CSN Christmas cartoon cards: the first depicted the trio as the Three Magi.
Because Susan Nash, a California girl, often visited Peoria kinfolk, such cards eventually came to Graham’s attention through Susan’s cousin, Janalee Croegaert.
In 2004, while I was teaching in Canterbury, England, I wrote Janalee asking her to suggest Nash sites in Manchester, which we were planning to visit. Instead, Susan arranged for three passes for an opening gallery exhibit of photographs from Graham’s brilliant book, Eye to Eye.
We spoke not a word of this to Martha. A long bus trip on March 11 landed us there and we walked to the gallery. Graham broke off a reunion conversation with Hollies singer Alan Clarke and swooped down on Martha, embracing her and kissing her cheek.
“Martha! I’m so glad to meet you,” he said. “I’ve been enjoying your pictures for years. Now it’s your turn to enjoy some of mine.” And he gave her an inscribed copy of his book.
It was the happiest day of her life. “I feel like a fairy princess,” she said back at our hotel. To this day, that book and the hand-knitted scarf Susan gave her remain her favorite heirlooms.
Mr. Fields’ nasty note was a surly screed slandering one of the nicest men in pop music. Shame on him.
--Mike Foster, Metamora, Ill.
Published as the lead item in “Please, Mr. Postman” letters to the editor page, Goldmine Magazine, May 11, 2009
I think "Fucking Rock Stars" is a great name for a band.
I love love love the Hollies...
and i want one of those burgers now!
I love to follow people in grocery stores when they are indecisive and weird.. as long as they don't smell i am ok with it LOL but are they ok with it?..nah.. sometimes i talk to them to make them even more nervous..
we had a store called food emporium in washington.. it was pretentious and pricey and i only went in twice.
"don't know what's more pathetic, the fact that they're debating about frozen chicken or the fact that I can't walk away from this." AHHAHAHHAHAHHAHhaHAHAHhahahahaha. I wouldn't have been able to walk away either Marty!
That photo of the dog with white human teeth = totally-super-creepy.
Looks like you make a mean cheeseburger! Yum.
@Jaws: My favorite Hollies songs are all of them. And they were tasty burgers. Nice to be able to cook at home for a change!
@Al: Glad you included the Standells in your list, great band!
@kari: Small living spaces are NYC deal breakers for a lot of people. I knew you wouldn't like the mustard!
@Mike Foster: I have heard that story, but it was great to read it again! Shows that not ALL rock stars are fuckers!
@Gidgie: I love to people watch in grocery stores! When you come to New York I will make you a burger!
@Meleah: I have no idea why that sign was hanging up in a grocery store, but it creeped me out!
@Gidgie: I bet Fucking Rock Stars would have the best groupies ever.
Man, you whip up a MEAN looking slider! I cracked up when I saw you had to buy a spatula hahahah!!!
Love your kitchen. That blew my mind.
the burger looks yummy! great stories by both you at the end and mike f. in comments.
Does Veronica live with you?
gee did MAD ever consider that following sum chicken discussin' folk around might have freaked them out?...then damn aphoto w/ a a mouth full of teeth back to back...beautiful smiles both...that rain did look awesome...oh well it is march...
Maybe he went home and ceIebrated with a coupIe of cheeseburgers
rr
@Clacky: Thanks, it was tasty and fun to cook after a year of eating at bars. Yeah, my cooking utensils are pretty sad. I've got two spoons, two forks, a knife and two plates. The plates are black to match my clothing. Hey, thanks for the shoutout in your beer review!
@Everyone: Check out Clacky's beer review column over at his blog: http://twe.ly/y9fb
@rita r: It put the yum back in yummy!
@tehennessey: Yes, it's the nickname for my right hand, if you get my drift and I know you do!
@rr: I pretended like I was looking at stuff, so they wouldn't get weirded out. I didn't use a flash for the photo, so they had no idea. And celebrate I did!
"a knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork..."
rr
@Raginrr: Nice. Tex Perkins.
@rr: That is indeed the way you spell New York! You did it again, my friend!
Nice work on the sliders, Wombacher! And coolio bathroom shot. Your curtain looks way better hanging up than lying in the toilet. HA HA HA!
@Biff: How right you are, painful memories!
The Hollies are awesome. Excellent choice. But I have to say I'm a little suspicious of those seasoned meatballs. What were they seasoned with anyhow?
@Fat Al: Italian sneezenings I think. Atza spicy meatball!
Great story Marty! Loved it!
@Tiki Bar Susie: Glad you enjoyed it and good to hear from you!