Shawarmania IV

In the global battle of who's kabob reigns supreme we have a winner. London (you know fish, chips, maryfuckinpoppins) comes out on top with a shawarma to end all discussions, and even give Chubby's a run for it's money in the late night food chain. Ok well there is probably a spot in Beirut or Damascus that is better, but since I didn't go there, I'm declaring London the winner. We found a spot, and well I can't quite remember the name, it's right in the Mayfair area by Hyde Park and it's been cranking these puppies out en mass since 1818. Among the sea of shisha bars along with Iraqi, Iranian, Egyptian, and Syrian eateries this place was by far and away the place to get your grub on a Friday night. You get three choices, lamb, chicken, or mixed and then come the goodies. Pickles, tomatoes, onion, some sort of white sauce, and a delightful hot sauce load up a pita full of love. Being the twentysomethingish kabob I had in the trip, it definitely rocked and set itself by far and away above all else. It was even better than the two I had earlier that day.












Latro Amigos.

Jamon

In sunny España, there exists a magical creature who gives the world such goodness; it is called pig. From this creature locals in Barcelona have figured out a way to create salty cured goodness from this guy and use it in as many forms as possible. The premier is Jamon Iberico and it is delightful, along with the other versions of salty porkness. So far I have had this bad boy on a sammich with butter and a bit of tomato(exquisite if I don't say), on a plate all by it's lonesome, in tube form, in a cup, on a leg, in a potato croquette, as a topping for melon soup, on a pizza, and in chips. They love this stuff so much that they even have a cured tuna dish that tastes exactly like, you guessed it, ham, which by the way is extremely expensive but well worth it. Taking my own jamon experience to the next level, le rickster and I took the old melon and ham trick and spiced it up a bit haribo style. Yall can call this one the North Line Special and the recipe is listed below. Ferran Adria if your reading this, I expect some credit when you take it big time.

North Line Special
1 Haribo Gummibear(preferably extra squishy like they been in a pocket for a while, and flavored green, red, or clear)
1 Lays Sabor Jamón Presunto Chip

Combine both ingredients and drop it down the mouth. Repeat as necessary or until gummies or chip run out. Don't worry your taste-buds will thanks you.




North Line Special


Ham Chips


Ham Pizza


Ham tubes


Ham legs


Ham Cups

I forget the ham sammich pic, which was probably the best tasting one but just imagine a bunch o really good ham on a torpedo like bread and there ya go.

Ciao Amigos.

Best Bar Eva

So we have sent all the kiddies home from each and every trip so far without as much of a hiccup( ok well there was an incident in Japan that was almost malo but we made it out relatively unscathed). Now it is time for a couple of days of R n R before heading home. The first location of R n R 2010 is Barcelona where the rickster and I have encountered the best bar ever invented. It's called a park, which we have many of en Los Estados Unidos, but here they sell beer at them. Probably not officially, but there are plenty of young gents slanging estrella's for €1 and the service is excellent, and you don't even have to tip. Pretty sure as long as you be drankin they be selling so technically this place never closes, amazing. Well I'm off to find the barkeep. Ciao.


Slainte


Our bartender.


Crazy Germans
Latro Amigos.

Hurling

Keeping up with the sporting event theme, we took the young lads(that what everyone calls us here) to an Irish classic, hurling. We had a rough go trying to get into the game as the tickets are sold by the government and apparently there are only like three places that actually slang them officially, and one cornerstore that said they could, yet somehow realized they actually didn't have tickets after we gave them nearly €400 for tix. We got our money back and even had a young Dublin girl ask each of our 23 guy exactly where they were from, priceless. After that debacle a few of the lads felt they had enough and rolled out. Yet a couple of them remained and we luckily scrounged up some tix and made our way into Croke Park for some old fashioned fun. The game was Tip vs Galway, and was a heated match that went down to the last few minutes for Tip to emerge the victors. We were able to ask a couple of locals about the rules and figured out how the game goes. Essentially it's like this: you have a bat and ball and then hit the ball all over the place trying to score 1 point for hitting the ball through the football style uprights, or three points to get the ball into the goal on their respective ends. Oh yes and they beat the shit out of each other everywhere in-between. So much so, that a bunch of current and almost college laxers declared that it was the most gnarly sporting activity they had seen in quite some time, while wearing short shorts, Katy Perry style. Even saw a dude throw a rusty-gate with authority and not get a penalty. A gentleman's sport indeed.






30, 000 of our closet Irish fans.


Short Shorts!








Game on.


The agony of getting whupped by Tip.

Latro Amigos.

Boat Race

In the aftermath of the world games in Manchester, a few if the teams decided that their work wasn't finished. Ze Germans and Welsh squads came settle age old scores on a unique and zany way, boatrace style, but there were a few other interlopers who wanted to show their stuff. In the morning before the US-Canada championship game, these lads got after it in fine fashion. They started with a food based boatrace including hot sauce, raw eggs, something mayonnaisey, and some other concoction that I couldn't quite figure out. The stuff was so yummy that I'm pretty sure one of the contestants liked it so much he did it twice(actually he threw it up in his cup and then drank that, crazy germans). After that the beerfest style traditional boatrace took place, with chants singing and spilling. It was the real deal with a referee to keep everyone from cheating. In the end it was ze germans who emerged victorious and lubed up to watch the US retake the world lax title in what was a pretty amazing game.






















Latro Amigos.

Man U

Today was our first day off from lax in Manchester, so we decided to take the lads to visit Old Trafford Stadium and the home of Manchester United. Besides the fact that I got iced while grubbing some hot wings getting ready for our tour, it was a quite successful trip. During the tour you get into all the good spots in the stadium including players lounge, locker room, players bench and field. They even line up the tour group in the tunnel with the PA system on to walk out onto the pitch. I felt like a young Wayne Rooney, or that dreamboat Christiano Ronaldo. After the tour you end up in the Man U shop, where you can buy all sorts of goodies, so if you were expecting a gift from me I just hope your not a Chelsea fan.




































Latro Amigos.

Land Crushin

In between all the laxin in the land down under, I have also designated myself to the official Land Cruiser challenge of finding the most bodacious Mad MAx style vehicle in all of Australia. From Western Australia to New South Wales there have been some gems. Unfortunately I was unable to snap a pick of the zebra striped bad boy I saw cruising on the way to the animal farm, which was by far the awesomest. The creativity of these was also sweet as many of the had modifications for combating wild Roos and drogos out in the bush. No stateside posh family cruisers here, only the real deal. Also try and spot the Mitsubishi imposter trying to bite Toyotas mad style.





















Latro Amigos.

Foooooty

So at the end of our laxin in Australia we hit up a footy game in Sydney and supported my new favorite team the Swans. It was no Denver Broncos game, but a real hoot none the less. I bet if Timothy Ryan Tebow played down under he would do quite well, because he is a winner. During the match we figured out how to root our squad on properly, by hurling insults at the North Melbourne Boguns( auzzy slang for redneck). Our efforts were rewarded with a mighty swan victory and oddly enough I even knew the words to the victory song as it was exactly the same as the Notre Dame fight song, with a few changes. Here are a few pics of our wondrous adventure.


















Latro Amigos.