patois vs. cant vs. shibboleth

This Winter Break i ate a lot of food that is not normally in my diet. A few days ago, my body staged a mini-coup to get me to stop eating, but until I had already had a hand in consuming this:

The pizza is a large pepperoni and mushroom from Two Friends Italian Market; the wings (from top center: Regular Hot, Hot BBQ, 24 Karat Gold, Jalapeno Teriyaki, Spicy Peanut and Shanghai Red) and deep fried pretzels are from Eli’s Tavern – still the best place for wings in the world as far as I’m concerned. Keep in mind this was for two of us – my brother and I, not a party as one might suspect. This was the latest in a long series of dietary abuses that had me in bed for over a day. Ah, but what a way to go! Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of the “Best Reuben in Erie” at McGarrey’s Oakwood Cafe. Next year.

I was overcome by traditional values this holiday and decided to bake cookies with my nephew and brother. This is them decorating the sugar cookies we rolled and cut out:





For a kid who doesn’t like to get messy, he got pretty messy. Oddly, he didn’t like any of the cookies we made (to eat), though he liked making them. Oh! And we made Venom gingerbread men. (Dominic’s favorite villain):





All-in-all, it was a wonderful holiday, but next year I’m going to add an all-you-can-eat salad joint to my list of places to go. It’s sad when a man can’t gorge himself of heavily sauced and deep-fried foods to his heart’s content anymore.