Come again? You don't eat WHAT part?

Pies are awesome.  Why?  They make you feel kinda healthy. 

Haha nope.  Not even close.  When it's time for dessert, I say go big or go home.  You don't eat dessert to be healthy.  Please don't tell me you do.  I won't look at you the same again.  And don't ever ever mention that you don't eat the crust because it's the worst part for you.  I'll keel over in my chair.  Actually, I'll steal your crust and then keel over in my chair.  But not because it was unhealthy and I had a heart attack.  Rather, because my mind was blown.  You just ate a whole piece of pie for Pete's sake!!...well, almost a whole piece of pie.

But for serious.  What's the best part of the pie?  What's the pie godbite?

I already gave it away.  Definitely the crust - super flaky, crunchy, buttery, and all other great adjective-"y" words.

And if you can also get your last crust-bite (add that to the godbite food dictionary) to contain some of the pie innards, you're a hero in my book.  I'll show you what I mean.

 Apple pie.  My favorite.  Sorry pumpkin.  You're right up there at the top, but you can't beat apple.

It's so beautiful.  Like some scenic landscape.  I made it my desktop background...until I found a better one. 

Seriously.  It gets better.

Inhale. Exhale. Just Breathe.

I'm pretty sure eating qualifies as anaerobic exercise - at least in my house it does.  It's not at all infrequently that my brothers and I receive the compliment (at least we perceive it as such whether or not it was intended that way) of, "Wow, you sure inhaled that."  It's a cliche phrase, I know.  But it means a lot to me, and I feel several inches taller as I gaze down upon the common folk who need to pause to breathe during a meal.

It'll probably be my downfall (the whole not breathing thing.  Not the superiority complex.  Though that may also backfire sometime).  That's cause it keep me from talking.  Well, most of the time.

I'm eating - I've got a job to do.  I'm eating - I'm a guy, and I can't multitask (it's not pretty when I multitask eating, let me assure you).  I'm eating - So I'm not really listening to you because I'm busy planning my Olympic-qualifying godbite.

Alas!  Whoever thought up going out to eat as a social event clearly didn't ask my input. 

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about that this last time I went out to eat.  The food was so good that none of my friends talked when the food came. 

Restaurant Week in Philly at Smith & Wollensky!!  Awesome steakhouse!

A moose watched us eat.  A little disconcerting.

Such good rolls.  This is my absolute favorite part of the meal - not really, but almost.  Foretelling good things to come.

Frodo Never Ate This Well

Mountains are cool.

Yeah they are.  You don't think they can be?  I'll convince you.

Just think Lord of the Rings.  Never seen it?  Think New Zealand mountains.  Can't imagine them?  Here's a little help.  (But seriously, if you've never seen Lord of the Rings or pictures of New Zealand, you need to get on that.  Watch the movie.  Search Google.  Right this minute.)

See, Mountains are cool.

But what's even cooler is making your own snow-covered mountain ranges.

Take that New Zealand mountain ranges!  You got nothin' on me.  Ok, well, this doesn't exactly look like a mountain range.  Maybe just a little.  And if you're trying to make an analogy between the two images and take the yellow as the "snow" covering the rock-crested mountains...well, eh...let's not take the analogy there.  Please.

So what is it?

Brownies...cream cheese...and PUMPKIN!!

There's no such thing as too much of a good thing.  Really.  Trust me on this.

Finished.

But what I hate about making my own food is waiting for it too cool.

I sometimes don't.  It's not such a good idea.  Your tongue can't taste anything for a week.  And that's just pure misery.

I'm pretty sure if you could slice open the New Zealand Mountains they wouldn't bleed golden goodness like this.  Though you might find a dwarven mine shaft...or a Balrog. 

It's the Great Pumpkin (Muffin), Charlie Brown!

I love Charlie Brown.  And I love Snoopy... and Linus... and Lucy.  Heck, I love Charles Schultz.  He was a genius.

I also love the beginning of fall.  Ok, ok, it's technically still summer. 

But my calendar isn't organized by days, or weeks, or even seasons.  In case you couldn't guess, my calendar is arranged by the types of foods that come out around certain times.

Let me tell you, it makes it so much more fun getting up in the morning knowing that September is national potato month.  It really is.  Check it out.

But anyways, my food calendar says it's fall.  Know why?

Cause pumpkin is everywhere!  Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin flavored lattes, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream, and on and on and on.

It is now socially permissible to consume pumpkin.  People give you weird looks if you eat pumpkin pie in the summer. Whatever.  Their loss.

My personal sign of the season is Dunkin Donuts' pumpkin muffin ("Dunkin" rhymes with "pumpkin" so you know it has to be good). 

There she is.  My first of the year.  It was a momentous occasion.

I really can't bare to let any of it go to waste, so I have to scrape off the liner.

Off with its head!!! - a decapitation of sorts...because the muffin top is the best.  Don't even argue with me.

And then I construct a topographical map to identify the best spot for the godbite.  I think you know where I'm looking.  Bottom left...crumb topping, icing, edge = deliciousness.  Yum-yums.

Then flipped up-side-down for maximal taste bud euphoria.

It was gone too fast. I wonder if they sell them in boxes of a dozen like with donuts.  Cause that'd be cool, ya know?

Triple-Double Happiness

Sorry Manning brothers, but I have a bone to pick with you.  Payton and Eli commit a horrible crime when competing in the DSRL.  I give them bonus points for having a cup of milk on hand because you can't get a much more classic combination than cookies and milk.  That said...they're licking the icing off of the Oreo!!!!  This isn't let's find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop (I never did have the patience for that).  It's an Oreo for pete's sake!  Everybody knows the icing is the best part, and you save if for last.  Or else, what do you do once the icing is gone, and you're just left with the cookie part?  Ok, ok.  I have met a few people who actually prefer the cookie over the icing.  That's just odd to me though.

Remember the joy of trying to pry the two ends of the Oreo off and the rush of intense exhilaration when one cookie comes off clean and the entire piece of icing is left sticking to the other half?  It's not weird that I get excited by that, is it?  There are also mega bonus points for getting the cookies to come apart without breaking!  I know some avid backers of the twist-and-pull method while others, myself included, make use of the classic thumbs-as-a-wedge (man that's nerdy) approach to separate the cookies.

In the era before double-stuffed, I'd make my own by combining the two halves - I was so ahead of my time.  And then Nabisco made possible the world of the quadruple icing Oreo combination when they rolled out the double stuffed!  Wow was that good.  Tip top godbite material right there.

And now they've given us...the Triple-Double Oreo.

Not only is it twice the icing, but it's double the flavors.

Just like those double-decker PB&J sandwiches that all the cool kids ate at lunch.

Almost like a vanilla, chocolate, twist soft-serve cone...but not.

Using the thumbs-as-a-wedge approach.

 

Clean off both sides...

...and then combine...

...for one awesome cookie.  Consuming this cookie in anything more than one bite will place you in direct violation of the godbite.  It also almost reminds me of a double patty hamburger slapped between two pieces of fried chicken.  I actually haven't eaten anything like that, but I'd like to.  

How do you separate an Oreo? Weigh in on the poll on the right side of the page.

It's Just The Icing On The (Carrot) Cake

Friday was my birthday, and my friends surprised me at Ben and Jerry's!  They're awesome!

I got a waffle cone with their two newest flavors: Pumpkin Pie & Schweddy Balls.  Pumpkin Pie was soooooooo good!  Schweddy Balls not so much, though I should've been able to guess that from the name.

Then my parents came to visit my brothers and me at the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday to celebrate....and brought carrot cake!!!

My dad's birthday is two days after mine (today!) so we made it a joint celebration.

Happy Birthday Dad! 

And believe it or not, there is a proper way to eat a cake.  All headin' for the godbite of course.

First the bottom is carved out...

...followed by an excavation of the top leaving the perfect icing to cake ratio...

...eaten from bottom to top leaving just the top corner of the cake and all that walnut, carrot, rich cream cheesy goodness for the godbite.  Yes, that whole piece did go into my mouth.  I'm not ashamed to say that it did.

And that's my brother's work.  On his journey to the godbite, he prefers more icing, less cake (I can't criticize).  So he goes at it like a surgeon...

...and enjoys it like a pro.

Which leaves me wondering where the phrase "It's just the icing on the cake" came from.  Both the cake and the icing are most definitely required for ultimate enjoyment.  I love cake, but would I eat it without icing?  Nope.  Could I sit down with a tub of icing and eat it?  Yup.  Together though?  Even better.  It's not just the icing on the cake.  It's the critical element for an extreme godbite.

Fat Sandwich godbite

So when do you start a blog?  When you get a good idea?  When you have some down time?  When there's nothing better to do?  How about during one of the busiest times to date in your life?  College...senior year...applying to medical schools...traveling for interviews....yada yada yada.  Why not though?

So many years ago my brother and I were eating lunch and he stops and turns to speak to me.  This in and of itself is highly unusual because it's become almost an unwritten law in our house that when there's eating to do, everything else must wait (also because if you take your eyes off your food someone might steal it.  I'm one of three boys).  So he says, "You know that last bite of any sandwich?...that last one that you want to be slightly bigger and better than all of the others?  It's my favorite part of the sandwich."

I couldn't contain myself with the excitement I was feeling and shouted, "Yes!!!! It's the godbite!"  It's the last little piece of heaven of almost any food.  From ice cream, french fries, and cake to pasta, fish or even fillet mignon.  Turns out, the more people I've talked to, the more people I've found who know exactly what I'm talking about!

So back to my original question - with my passion for the godbite, my love for eating food, and the fact that every single background on my desktop is a picture of food (except for the few pictures of my dog an cat) it was time to start talking about it.  Who doesn't like talking and listening to people talk about food?


And what better place to start than the R U Hungry food truck at Rutgers University in New Jersey.  It's so good! You gotta go there!  They make these awesome creations called Fat Sandwiches.

Yeah, that's a fat sandwich.  Almost anything an everything you could want goes on one.  This one is called the Fat Beach (a polite phonetic substitute for its original name).  It has cheese steak, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, ketchup, lettuce and french fries (a given on any or their sandwiches).  Could you ask for anything more?

My brother, Logan (right), and I (left) thought we could because we decided it needed a bit more ketchup - personal preference though.  We also think synchronized food eating is the newest up-and-coming sport.

Big bites are definitely the way to go.

Like I said...big bites.  No foolin'.

Even if you end up not being able to chew said big bite.  Hey, it happens.

And sometimes you just need to pull a french fry out and eat it on its own.

That just leaves the matter of the Fat Sandwich godbite.  Of course it all comes down to personal preference, but the middle of this sandwich is where at the good stuff is at.  You get a bit of everything.  So you have to eat from each end until left with a perfect, somewhat too big to chew piece that you stuff into your mouth and hope no one is watching until you have time to wipe off all the ketchup from your nose, chin, and back of your arm (hey! how'd that get there?).  Is eating a sandwich that way difficult?  Yup.  Sometimes it'll shoot out the opposite end if you're not watching, but in the end, the godbite makes all the effort worth it.