Comments on: Cheering the Hell Up, Day 13: Stuff I have learned on my trip to the Midwest

By: Erik

Erik — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 19:41:21 +0000

I have nothing to add to the fish debate that’s going on here, but all of this talk about fish sure is makin’ me hungry. I’m gonna go get me some fucking sushi right now!

By: Derek Lowe

Derek Lowe — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 02:32:35 +0000

Colleen, I wasn’t going after you, just one of your commentors. I remembered that you were from that part of the country, so you’re entitled to say whatever you want (just like I can make Arkansas jokes). Sushi snobbery is similar to wine snobbery, just (if anything) more annoying and less justified.

But since I mention Arkansas, let me put in a plug for fried catfish.

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 21:01:52 +0000

In Minnesota you can good, fresh fish in restaurants. So there. But not salmon or halibut, etc.

By: communicatrix

communicatrix — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 16:05:41 +0000

Derek – I think we have to go with the “30-minute fuggedaboutit” rule here on fish ANYWHERE outside of the body of water they’re hoisted out of. As in, if the restaurant is more than 30 minutes away from a major international airport, fuggedaboutit. And don’t get me wrong: I {heart} the Midwest (I’m from Chicago…we’re diehards) and all that. But fish is notoriously difficult to cook well, and there is a small percentage of cooks who are adept with it. Charlie Trotter could kick the fish-cooking ass of 99% of the chefs in the L.A. metro area, but Bloomington is so small, they don’t have a Charlie Trotter. Even the “nice” restaurants may not have a chef who can cook fish.

Besides, it was (mostly) a fucking joke. I like fucking jokes, ‘k?

John – I’ve talked about fish enough. Let’s talk about your house. No, wait–let’s not. I’ll just get depressed…

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:51:04 +0000

There does exist in the world something called “fresh-water fish”.

Our house here is appraised at $100,000 — 5 bedrooms, double garage, basement, air conditioning, 1/4 acre with trees, bat infestation.

In North Dakota you can get a pretty good, livable house for $20,000. 15 years ago it was $3,000.

By: Derek Lowe

Derek Lowe — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 20:30:53 +0000

As for Writeprocrastinator's comment above, what with those airplane and freezer thingies they have now, fish can actually be transported for some distance and remain edible. Note that expensive toro in Japan often comes thousands of miles before it's eaten. Note, also, that even the sushi you're eating there in the narrow cultural habitable zone along the coasts has almost certainly been frozen.

By: communicatrix

communicatrix — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 20:51:41 +0000

Neil – too close for my tastes, but there’s also a kickass independent coffee shop that almost makes up for it.

Dave – the only thing to do in Indy is absorb the scenery, I guess…

By: Dave Greten

Dave Greten — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 20:28:11 +0000

Bizarre! I guessed your photo was taken in Bloomington. I was there just a couple of weeks ago. Not much to do in Indiana, but the people are nice and polite.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 22:25:03 +0000

Is there a Starbucks anywhere near that $200,000 house?

By: communicatrix

communicatrix — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 20:20:01 +0000

~Dawn – I’m in beautiful, downtown Bloomington (IN, not MN). College towns…the last bastion of civilization in flyover America.

WriteP – SF was my first choice of places to live after I graduated; Berkeley was second. Unfortunately for me, NYC was cheaper. Oh, well…

Laura – “You’ve lived too long on the coast, my friend.” Tell me about it, sister…

Fred – Careful, son. Those crackers have good aim.

BF – Oh, come on: the TransAm bit was poetic license. It could have been a Pinto, for all I know. But it was yell-o. And they were brothers—or at least, they were “bruthas”. I don’t know if they were brother “bruthas”….