Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Am I a Bandwagoner??

As i was walking Lucy, i started thinking about the Sounders game this weekend. ever since i learned that the Sounders were becoming a MLS team, i have been hooked. my buddy Kovac and i decided to buy season tickets and haven't looked back since.

This weekend the Sounders played down in Colorado and i was actually a bit bummed that i wasn't going to be able to watch, let alone possibly listen to the game as i was camping at baker lake with molly and some friends. as game time approached, molly reminded me that it was game time. without hesitation, i jumped out of my camping chair, walked to the truck and turned on the radio. to my delight, the game came in on the radio. i went back to the fire, grabbed my chair, some beers and set up camp in the back of my truck with the game blasting out the back sliding window. i was in heaven. i haven't missed a game this season, whether it be actually going to the game, watching it on tv, or (as of this weekend) listen to it on the radio.

on my walk with Lucy i started to wonder, did i jump on the bandwagon? what made me start to think this was that there was a Sounders team before the Sounders FC. they were a USL team. what i am getting at is that i had never watched the USL Sounders other than when they might have been on the Fox Soccer Channel. of course i was a fan, but i didn't know who was on the team. i new that they were good, they won 3 USL Championships in the last 8 years.

as a Sounders fan though, there is always someone that can trump me. lets just say that 10 years down the road, the Sounders win a few MLS championships and all the sudden they become the Yankees of the MLS, i will be able to say that i was a season ticket holder from the beginning. however, i can be easily trumped by someone that said they were season ticket holders for the USL Sounders. i bet there are people out there that have followed them from the conception of the Sounders in 1977 in the days of the NASL.

the difference is this, the Oklahoma City Thunder fans didn't have to be Sonic fans because they were in Seattle. if you are a fan now, you didn't jump on the bandwagon of the Thunder because there was no Thunder. in the same respect if the MLS Sounders decided to be something other then the Sounders FC, let's say they were called Seattle FC, you couldn't be a band wagoner because there was no Seattle FC. my guess is that regardless of the name, there wouldn't be a USL Sounders. they would be squished out by "Seattle FC."

if the name is the only difference, other than the fact there was no MLS team in Seattle, then i am going with.........no, i am not a bandwagoner. however, i will always tip my hat and give reverence to those who were true fans of the USL Sounders, as they should for the NASL Sounders. maybe if the Tacoma Raineer's become a professional baseball team, i can say "i used to go to games of theirs when the were the Tacoma Tigers, and i saw Jose Canseco play for them." that would be sweet.

Friday, May 1, 2009

The Food Gems of Lynden

i was going to rant about the swine flu and just how ridiculous it is. i also had a thought, or more of a comparison, about T-Pain and Milli Vanilli ( i will save that one for a later date.) instead, i thought i would take you through my favorite food stops for lunch on any given day. these are not in any particular order.

1. Dutch Bakery

this place is known for it's homemade pies, rolls, and soups. i like to get a half dutch sub (which i think has got be a 9 incher) and bowl of soup. my favorite soup is probably the broccoli cheddar, though the cream of potato and beef barley are delicious as well. drawback to this place is you never know how long it is going to take to get your food, plus they always seem to try and add a little extra to the your bill. "oh, that will be an extra $.50 for that." that kind of thing. this is probably my standard lunch place, mostly because it is close, plus i love soup and sandwiches.

2. East Side

this is another dutch run place. it is more of a convenience store type place but they have sandwiches that you can't get most places. you can have a pastrami w/ havarti on a croissant if you want. i like to get pastrami w/ cheddar on a foot long. the drawback here is that East Side is kind of expensive and the only stamp your sandwich card once when you get the foot long. (they used to stamp you twice.) i go here a couple times a month, usually when i don't want to go across town.

3. Subway

love me some subway. if i don't go to the Dutch Bakery, you will usually find me here. the only drawback is it is all the way across town, and the traffic on Front street flows like mud.

4. The Taqueria (sp.?)

this place is an amazing mexican restaurant that reminds me of being in puerto vallarta having tacos. they make the best fish tacos i have ever had in my life. they make a standard issue halibut taco, but the also make a market fresh fish taco. i have had mahi mahi, marlin, swordfish, and shark tacos here. it all depends on what he can get. he has the market fresh fish delivered daily. i think the mahi mahi was my favorite, but any of those fish are better than anywhere else. another plus is he makes the pico de gayo (sp?) fresh while the fish is cooking (not fried fish by the way). i can really think of no drawback to this place, it is fantastic.

5. Dutch Mothers

obviously another dutch restaurant. this place, like the Dutch Bakery, is known for it's homemade foods. you can get a oven roasted turkey dinner complete with cranberry sauce, mashed potato's and roll. however, my favorite, this is up there with the best dish in lynden, probably just one notch below the fish taco's, is the chicken Cesar sandwich with fries. when you eat this, you can feel your heart because to swear at you and tell you, "next time you eat this, i am done, you hear me you son of a bitch?" basically it is a sandwich filled with chicken and Cesar salad dressing. the catch is the bread is fried in parmesan cheese to make, what can only be described as a pocket as opposed to two slices of bread. this sandwich is to die for and that is not speaking out of turn. i am sure that someone has directly died from eating this sandwich. you can watch the fat travel through someones veins when they eat it. god i want one right. the draw back is this place is kinda spendy and i don't want to die yet. i only eat here once every 6 months, but when i do, you know what i am getting.

6. the teriyaki place

last but not least, this place used to be a burger joint called dunny's. i don't know the name of the restaurant so we call it the teriyaki place. i go here probably 25% of the time. they make a great california roll, which to me says a lot about a restaurant. the pork teriyaki plate is what i roll with. there is not a lot to say about this place other than it is a solid choice, good food, decent price, though it has gone up recently.

there are a few other places that i left off my list such as; Jake's grill (i would go here over Bob's any day of the week and twice on Sunday. it's more of a western place that serves lots of slaw, sweet potato fries, pulled pork, and BBQ sauce. i just don't go here very often, it's kind of expensive and you have to have an hour to kill. otherwise, great place.) Bob's Burgers, Safeway (excellent chow mien), Quiznos, Nut House Grill, New York Pizza Company, Leg Horns, Dutch Treat (which i have never been too), and a few other places. there are plenty of options, i just have a hard time getting to all of them.