Phuket burger from Burger Guys in Houston.

This burger was the perfect combo of spicy, sweet, salty, tart and savory.  I am not a huge fan of tamarind, and the tamarind glaze on this burger was deliciously tart.  The beef has excellent flavor, definitely beefier than any burger I have had in a very long time.  It was messy, that is for sure.

We tried the Hatch green chili burger (the special) and it was really good.  I appreciate that they used regular jack cheese and not pepper jack like everyone likes to do.  It was very very juicy and really dripping wet.

I had heard that they had a Captain Crunch shake, and I was really wanting to try that, but they were out. :( Since I love cinnamon ice cream, I decided on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch shake and wow was it good.  Tasted just like the cereal with milk…so so so very very good.  I can’t wait to go back and try the Crunch Berry shake.

We also had the duck fat fries and they were not greasy, and perfectly salted.  With those, I had the blue cheese sauce, tabasco mash aoili, and siracha mayo (my new fave condiment).  The blue cheese was okay…just like creamy blue cheese dressing.  The siracha mayo had the perfect combination of flavors.  But the tabasco mash aoili…holy crap was this good.  My favorite of the three that is for sure.  We had the onion straws with the tabasco mash ketchup which was okay…they were a tad bit greasy, and we were so busy with the fries that was neglected eating half of the basket.

Overall, we will be back to try at least a couple of other burgers and the whole array of hot dogs.  I love that everything is sourced locally and the condiments are homemade and taste as such.  The staff is nice and everyone is so friendly.  Totally worth $30 for two people for everything we had.

Day 10 - Favorite classic movie

Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock

I am a major sucker for Hitchcock.  I went to a symposium in college about film noir, and fell in love with the genre.  This was the first movie on the list of classic noir.  Yes, this movie is old, and yes, it is in black and white.  But I truly believe that if this movie was in anyone else’s hands, it just wouldn’t have been as grippingly good.  This is such a classic and it is what I compare all other film noir movies to.

Day 09 - A movie with the best soundtrack

Hi Fidelity

I am sorry, but this is a pretty awesome movie.  What makes it even funnier, is that I know collectors who are like this…and they got that mentality spot on.  The music ranges from classic rock to new wave to pop.  How can you not like that?

Day 08 - A movie that you’ve seen countless times

Steel Magnolias

I can pretty much recite this movie line for line and laugh and cry at all of the same places.  I saw this movie when it first came out and loved it then.  Maybe it was that whole Southern woman thing…I don’t know what made me like it so much, but over the years, it has just never lost that touch with me.  I will probably always love it, but definitely don’t watch it as much, or at all really unless I need a really good cry.

Day 06 - Favorite made for TV movie

Grey Gardens

I have never been truly awed by an actor as much as I was by Drew Barrymore in this movie.  Wow, was she good.  I like Drew, don’t get me wrong, but I always believed her acting skills left something to be desired.  This movie put those thoughts to rest.  For the first time in years, I didn’t even see Drew in this character.  I actually didn’t see any of the actors as themselves, which is a true testament to the director as well as the actors.

Day 05 - Favorite love story in a movie

Bringing Up Baby

Okay…I am a sucker for Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.  The two of them together made this movie a true joy to watch.  I know it isn’t the typical love story, but damn…they did fall in love through their witty and wisecracking ways.  How can you not love that?

I really miss movies of this caliber.  So many movies these days don’t have this sort of chemistry that is needed.  Directors rely too much on action and explosions and not enough on actual acting and chemistry.

Day 04 - A movie that makes you sad

To Kill a Mockingbird.

This is my number 2 favorite book of all time and one of my top 5 movies of all time.  It takes place in an era where whites ruled and blacks took a backseat.  It was more prevalent in the south more than anywhere else in this country.  This, in and of itself, makes me sad.  I abhor racism in every single form.  In fact…I rarely watch movies or read books about racism because it just makes me so sad that people would discriminate based on the color of someone’s skin.

I believe that it was this book that brought out that idealism in me when I read it in high school.  I was 14, and impressionable.  This book definitely left a mark on me for the rest of my life.  I never watched the movie until a couple of years later, and it just compounded my feelings on the subject.  It was so well directed and written that I will always think of Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.  The character just suited him so well and he did such an outstanding job, I lost myself in the role he portrayed.  I still have a hard time watching this movie because it makes me so emotional and angry.

I find that a lot of the story holds true today in our world of convict first and then find out the truth later ideals since 9/11.  Truly a sad state of affairs really.  Are we so blind and dumb to not see that everyone is the same and those few people out of billions are the problem?  I read stories now about how people are becoming so violent against people of different ethnicities regardless of their religion or belief system.  I hope one day to see that we will all just get along and persecute people on the actual crimes committed…not the ones the government and ignorant people think they have in their heads.

But now that I got off subject…This movie is just sad and it breaks my heart every single time I watch it, but it is still one of my favorite movies of all time.

Veggie burger with guacamole & tomato salad from my house