Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 13

Good intentions meet tempting reality--and lose

I had so much work to do tonight that I wanted to make dinner quick.  I had asked a local colleague for his favorite quickie burger joint, and he had suggested Mooyah.  A Mooyah restaurant was within ten minutes of the hotel, so I set out to get a bacon cheeseburger (my typical burger order) and a side salad.

Once in the restaurant, though, I noticed this laminated addition to the Mooyah standard menu.

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Note the second entry from the bottom in the right column:  The Hamburdog.

We're talking crack to an addict here.  Sure, it has a patty, and cheese, and bacon, but it also has a hot dog--as a topping!  Not to mention fried onion strings and jalapenos.

Oh, I had to taste this slab of American weirdness.  ("Slab of American Weirdness," by the way, is both my next band name and what I may put on a shirt and ask everyone who meets me to call me.  It could happen.)

Anyway, I still tried to hold to the shreds of my resolve by ordering it with a side salad.

Minutes later, this dish appeared.


I honestly did not know the burger came with fries.

The little cup does not contain dressing; no, it, too, preys on my weaknesses by being a chile-spiced queso.  Damn, but it was good on those fries.

Back to the burger.  Check out the side view of this beast.


Though I knew I would regret it, I had to pop the top on this baby and give it a look.


Oh, Lord, forgive me:  that is even sexier than it is disgusting.

Yeah, I ate every bite of it, and it was mighty damn fine.

I expect to pay for it later, but right now, I have no regrets.  Screw the good intentions; I, Slab of American Weirdness, devoured The Hamburdog.

If you're in Austin, you should eat at COUNTER 3. FIVE. VII

It's that simple.  COUNTER 3. FIVE. VII is the best restaurant in Austin, and you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't eat at it.  I had the privilege of dining there earlier tonight, and the food was once again spectacular--delicious and thoughtful and beautifully presented.

I know I've said it every time I've eaten at Counter, but it's been true every time.  I've eaten at a fair number of the world's best restaurants, so when I say the following, I say it with significant relevant context:  Executive Chef Damien Brockway and his team are producing truly world-class meals.

Support this restaurant.  Enjoy its food.  Learn how amazing the simplest of ingredients--think black beans or corn--can be in the hands of an amazing chef and his team.

Or just go because it's fun to eat and talk with the chefs and watch them prepare your food.

You'll have a wonderful meal and a good time.

Tell 'em I sent you and I said, hi.

Why I don't take selfies: A story in four pictures

Quite a few readers of this blog have bugged me over the years to post more pictures of myself, particularly when I'm in interesting places or at fancy restaurants.  Earlier tonight, as I was enjoying a delicious meal at Pau Qui's new(ish) place, Kuneho, I recalled these messages as I stared at my mocktail umbrella drink.

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The umbrella spoke to me.  I thought, hey, I'd look quite jaunty with that in my hair.

I then realized I have such short hair that I'd have to settle for putting the umbrella behind my ear, but I figured that would do just fine.

So I took this first selfie.


Now, please understand that this is my expression as I'm eating a wonderful dinner.  Despite how I look, I am in this moment rather happy.

I stared at the image on my phone and thought, hmmm, that's not the happiest expression, nor is it the most awake look.  Perhaps it's my eyes, I thought, which appear entirely too small here!

Upon which realization I shot this next pic.


One glance at this one was enough to tell me that I now looked slightly more menacing.  Again, though, for no clear reason I fixated on my eyes, which still seemed too small.

Time for another shot.


The best thing I can say about this one is that I achieved the goal of not having such small eyes.  Unfortunately, I did so at the cost of looking like a serial killer who's just broken out of maximum security and has been off his meds for about a month, living in the wild by scooping up road kill and eating it raw, bones and all.

At this point, wisdom prevailed, and I stopped taking selfies.

I think you will agree with me on two points:

1. I should not take selfies.
2. I rock an umbrella behind my ear.

Okay, maybe you will agree with me on only one of those.

If it's Austin and it's my first day in town,

then dinner must be BBQ, typically at Cooper's in downtown Austin.

And indeed it was.

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That's brain food, Texas-style, and it was delicious.

No, I did not eat it all.  Two of us shared it, and we didn't even come close to finishing it.

The mac-and-cheese contains bacon chunks and jalapenos, by the way, and it is both spicy and delicious.

Dessert was, of course, ice cream from a nearby Amy's, but I forgot to take a picture of my small cup of cold wonder.

Ah, the simple joys of the first night in Austin.

How'd the Local Author Tea earlier today go?

Thank you for asking.  It went rather well, as best I can tell.

The audience, which included only one male who later shook my hand and apologized for not reading SF and then declared that his wife had forced him to come, numbered over 20.  Even better, the people I did not know greatly outnumbered those I did.  I couldn't fit the entire audience into one photo from where I sat, so here's a little under half the room.

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Sue Scott, the librarian who organized the event, had cookies and tea and water waiting for all, as she had promised, and did a fine job of kicking off the event and asking for audience questions.

Because the other two panelists, mystery writer Sarah Shaber and romance writer Erin Knightley, worked in different genres, among us we represented the three major genres and so provided a nice set of viewpoints for the audience.  As it turned out, we three shared one somewhat unusual feature:  each of our first novels won an award that is well known in its genre.  We took turns and frequently ended up playing off each other's answers, which makes for a good panel and which is entirely too rare.

Because I head out tomorrow for a two-week business trip, I left as soon as the panel was over, but that is no reflection on the event itself.  It was a fun time for all, audience and panelists alike.  The Wake County Public Libraries and Sue Scott deserve credit for making it happen.  I thank them for including me.

Another PT person's sabbatical story

This time, it's a piece about Thom's sabbatical.



Thom chose to stay in this area and work at a very cool local charity.

I'm so proud of the work he and other PT folks choose to do during their sabbaticals.

The next upcoming film that looks to be pure fun

is Kingsman 2:  The Golden Circle, the sequel to the wonderful Kingsman film, which


The locale shift in this one gives me pause, but I am going to hope that the filmmakers handle it well and create a worthy second movie in this universe.

Regardless, I'm going to see it.

I'll report back late in the month, after the film opens.

If I'm slow to respond to you, it's me, not you

I've been using an outdated and unsupported version of Exchange at my email host service for many years.  They've been warning me for some time that they would have to update my email service soon, and today, they finally had to do the update.  It's now over, but I was without access to personal email for a while, and now my only access is via the web interface.  The next step is that I have to rebuild my account on each of my various systems and devices, and I have a lot of those, so it's going to take a while.

I'm catching up on email as I can via the web interface and will soon be doing so via an account on my main home system, but until I fix everything, I'm going to be running behind on email.

So, if you've written me and are wondering why I haven't answered you, it's not you, it's me.

I'll be back to normal in the next day or three.

Don't forget: I'll be at the Cameron Village Public Library this Sunday!

As I wrote in
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The library is supplying tea and cookies, and we authors will, I'm sure, be doling out tasty nuggets of writerly wisdom.  Or, we'll be talking; close enough.

If you're in the area this Sunday and have some spare time, come to the library and enjoy some tea, cookies, and conversation.

A miracle occurred at Panciuto last week

Last week, our family gathered at Panciuto, one of our all-time favorite restaurants, to celebrate (late) Ben's birthday.  During the meal, chef/owner Aaron Vandemark treated us to samples of two veggie burgers he's been working for some time to perfect.

This incredibly nice offer presented me with a dilemma, because I love Aaron and Panciuto and the great food there, and I will eat anything he serves--but I really do not like veggie burgers.  I've tried tiny tastes of quite a few, and I haven't liked a single one.

Still, Aaron made them, so I tried his.

That's when the miracle occurred:  they were amazing!  They had all the mouth feel and rich flavor of a good burger--and in the second case, of a good cheeseburger--but with none of the weight afterward.  They were simply fantastic.

If Aaron puts them on the menu, I will order them--but only sometimes, because he's still a magician with pork, which he serves often and in many ways, and which I adore.

I now must also openly confess that I have enjoyed--nay, loved--two different veggie burgers.  Unfortunately for veggie burger fans everywhere, you can't order them yet--but you should still go to Panciuto and try the food.  It's a wonderful place with a great team.