The second #SethBuyMeLunch lunch was a lovely discount-chicken affair at the legendary Zankou Chicken, West LA location. Our winner, Kerry Gordonson, enjoyed a shawerma plate with extra garlic sauce, while I opted for the tarna chicken platter (though honestly I could happily eat just a pile of their pickled turnips). More…
Seth Madej
Categories: #SethBuyMeLunch | Tags: food, Los AngelesClick here to comment
Yesterday I happily bought lunch for the first winner of #SethBuyMeLunch. Paul Fisher and the author met at Carney’s in West Hollywood, where they cordially dined upon chili dogs and all the trimmings amongst the fumes of Sunset Blvd.
Paul’s a likable guy and a fellow writer who came to LA a little over two years ago from the namesake of one of my least favorite Jersey bands, Wayne, NJ. He bravely climbed into his car and drove out here with no job and the hope that he’d get into USC’s graduate program in professional writing. Which he did, and finished. He interned at Conan for a while before joining me in the fast-growing field of unemployment.
Paul and I discussed his fondness for Boston sports teams, and I roundly ridiculed his love of hockey. Coincidentally, Paul played high-school hockey against Montclair High, the alma mater of the only other Seth Madej I know of in America, who led the Montclair Mounties hockey team to victory in the 2010 Montclair cup.
I enjoyed meeting Paul, whom I’ve followed on Twitter for a while. You should too. And if you want a free lunch from me, just tweet #SethBuyMeLunch on Monday. Details here.
Categories: #SethBuyMeLunch | Tags: food, Los AngelesClick here to comment
UPDATE 9/20/2011: I’ve slightly modified the contest “rules.” See below.
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As you’re likely by now aware, I am an unemployed writer. Also, being a relative newcomer to Los Angeles, I know very few people here, most of whom are employed. As such I spend the vast majority of my time sitting at home by myself. This, I can say from experience, puts one on the fast track to insanity. To make matters worse, science has proven that each Italian BMT one eats alone at Subway is the mental health equivalent of moving oneself into the carpool lane on the expressway to bat shit. So no more of that for me! I want to buy you lunch.
Yes, you. Every week, I want to take someone to lunch, to counteract the effects of the above and to maybe make that person slightly happier than they would be otherwise. If you want to have lunch with me, simply tweet me with the hashtag #SethBuyMeLunch. Every week I’ll pick someone, randomly or otherwise, to have lunch with and pick up the tab. We will do this in a public place, for protection in case either of us are lunatics.
To make this a little more interesting, here are a few rules that I’ll enforce or not enforce depending on how things go:
- The window for eligible tweeting each week is between 12am Monday and 12am Tuesday. Don’t forget to include the hashtag: #SethBuyMeLunch.
You must be available for lunch the week you tweet me.(UPDATED: After further consideration, this rule is now more of a preference.) Because I have nothing on my schedule between now and Thanksgiving, we’ll find a time that works for you.- I’ll meet you in a neighborhood of your choosing anywhere in the LA metro area, but not necessarily at a restaurant of your choosing. I am, after all, very poor, and I can’t have unscrupulous people trying to use me for a free lunch at Providence.
- You need to agree to have the lunch documented by photographs, post-lunch blog recap, or otherwise.
That’s really it. Tweet me. Let’s have lunch.
- Note: your lunch may vary from lunch pictured and may not involve silverware and may be eaten in a parking lot from the hood of a car.
Categories: #SethBuyMeLunch | Tags: food, Los AngelesClick here to comment
I’ve uncovered the shocking truth and reported it to Maggie Serota’s Daily Urban Legend. Click here. Your life may, nea does depend on it.
Categories: Writing | Tags: Daily Urban Legend, foodClick here to comment
I have nothing against vegan cuisine, but the names and photos from these VegWeb.com recipes are enough to make me forever swear off food in favor of a nutrient-rich IV drip.
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Two firsts for me today: I filleted a whole fish and I prepped and cooked a whole squid. I went about both the way you’d hack out a log jammed into your lawn mower, but it seemed to work okay. The fish was a sargo, which I’m told is sort of like a croaker. I just picked it from amongst the piles and piles of fish at the Tavira market that had just been pulled out of the ocean hours ago, because it looked to be about the right size and I guessed it would be the right balance of oiliness/meatiness. The squid started out about eight inches long and weighed about a pound before I removed the parts that I suspected would be unpleasant to eat. They both went, along with some chorizo and little tiny clams, into what turned out to be a lovely caldeirada, which is basically a Portuguese bouillabaisse.
I also have a couple of pounds of salt cod soaking in the fridge right now, enough for two attempts at bacalhau, a traditional Portuguese Christmas dish that we were served at the Douro winery where we spent the night on the way down here after driving through 500km of snow, ice, and impenetrable fog along switchback roads on the side of a mountain without a guard rail.
The point of all this is that right now I’m having such a nice time not doing any of the things that I’ve been doing the last 12 weeks that I might not get around to catching up on the blog like I’d hoped. Also we have the view out of our terrace to stare at (pictured), which takes a surprisingly large amount of time. We’ll see how it goes.
Categories: Madejcal Mystery Tour | Tags: around the world, food, portugal, santa luzia, taviraClick here to comment
I call it “Lady Donkey Balls.” Purchased from a vending machine in Finland. I think it is supposed to be a sort of kids’ novelty – like “Garbage Pail Kids?” It starts out sweet, but then there is a salty liquid inside. It’s really quite revolting.
Categories: Madejcal Mystery Tour | Tags: around the world, Finland, foodClick here to comment
I bought this sandwich at the bus station in Tallinn, Estonia and am now eating it on the way to Latvia. I can’t identify the orangeish substance on the bottom interior layer. It’s wrapped in some other unidentifiable substance that I originally thought was egg but am now not so sure.
The orange stuff has a texture somewhere between hard-boiled egg yolk and paté. This sandwich is hitting me with so many different flavors that I can’t tell which is the orange stuff. Nor can I decide whether it’s delicious or disgusting.
Ideas?
Categories: Madejcal Mystery Tour | Tags: around the world, Estonia, foodClick here to comment
I would be willing to bet the remainder of my jar of Nutella that I’m the only person
reading this who’s on a train to Luxembourg. (And even if I’m not, all that’s left in the Nutella jar is the stuff stuck to the sides that I smeared around with my fingers SUCKERS.) I’ve got about an hour and 45 minutes to try to write as much as I can, but I’m still two weeks and three countries behind. I think I’m going to have to accept the fact that once per week is the most I’ll be able to post updates, if I’m lucky. But while I’m rolling through the surprisingly lovely Moselle valley, let me tell you about Paris.
I’ll start with a confession. When the Eurostar pulled into Paris’s Gare du Nord, it marked the first time that I’ve ever been to a country in which the primary language isn’t English. And I’m 35 years old. If I weren’t married I wouldn’t admit that out of fear that I’d never be able to get a date. More…
Categories: Madejcal Mystery Tour | Tags: around the world, food, France, ParisClick here to comment
Quite possibly the only food I’ve been consistently avoiding since I was five. But I needed something economical and filling, and I was in Germany fer crying out loud…. Plus it came with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Surprisingly, it was entirely pleasant.
Categories: Madejcal Mystery Tour | Tags: around the world, food, GermanyClick here to comment
