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Way of the Warrior episode 373
The calvalcade of championships continues to turn as the UFC gets closer to rolling into 2018.
Ken Evans & Eric Hultgren breakdown what was supposed to be a #1 Contenders match between Rafael Dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler.
Plus the latest on Conor's 2018 plans and a suprise statement from Floyd Mayweather Junior.
The Bite: Chapter One
There was a din in the city, usually was at this time of year because Artprize had quickly become the most interesting art exhibit in the world. It had done this by taking out all of the barriers to becoming an artist and placing that uninhibited art throughout an entire city with very little in the way of what some might call “quality control.” But that was what made Artprize, cool. Anyone could have a go at the nearly 1 million dollars in prize money. The prize money, which had started at $250,000, slowly climbed up to what was now a lottery-esque number of 1 million dollars spread out over 10 winners.
Everyone is an artist. Now anyone can make art.
The city glowed, honked, and shouted into the late hours of the night as most of the nocturnal art goers gathering into the center of the city at what was known as The B.O.B which was a 100 year old building that had been converted a decade earlier into a series of restaurants and named “the big old building” but tonight artisan sausage and craft beers were not of much interest, what was of interest was a gaunt 20-something with sanguine colored skin and bags under his eyes who was holding court in the center of the parking lot.
The parking lot of the B.O.B has become the place for performance pieces. In earlier years there were men who painted themselves as amber statues, a replica of Saddam Hussein hung in effigy, the next year a man tried to hang himself in effigy not truly understanding the meaning of the word but hey, it was art. The following year there was a life-size dragon that was able to breathe fire and doubled as a DJ booth, and more recently a man who cut himself and used his blood to paint portraits of patrons who passed by.
If you were a performance artist, you got your art installed in the parking lot of the B.O.B if you wanted to win, and this kid wanted to win. What he had done to himself was both shocking and far beyond the “emo-kid” who wore all black and pretended he was sad because his iPhone X was the wrong color. The piece was a giant black obelisk that seemed to reach for the sky the surface of which shimmered with its own internal alien energy. On all four sides of the structure, there were holes similar to those one might find in the cribs in a neonatal hospital ward sealed with the same sort of suffocating rubber flaps that keep the infection from the infants. On this night, that was certainly not his intention.
He called his piece “the bite” and the performance was more cerebral than an overt performance. On the black surface of the structure would be digital photos of the artist looking as if he was suffering from ebola or some other terrible disease and each photo would be more visceral than the next. Onlookers would be encouraged to place their hands into any of the 16 holes around the obelisk and hold them there for as long as they could as the man inside, unseen and raging, would growl and thrust himself at the hand holes keeping the terror at a high level and filling the B.O.B parking lot will shrills of glee from the fear of being a victim of “the bite.”
Did you know the average person touches their face 5 times a minute? Take a second to take that all in, every 24 hours you expose your face to everything you have touched that day nearly 3000 times a day. It is a wonder we have been on this planet as long as we have, it is like we are just daring pathogens to test our immunity, our resolve as the human race. Well that resolve was about to be tested in a profound way that one night in September.
My wife and I took the kids around the city taking in the sights and sounds of 300,000 visitors over a 10-day stretch and while we had been to every single Artprize as lovers, as newlyweds, as new parents, and new parents two times over, there was something in the air tonight that was different than any other time we had been downtown. The sort of pressure you feel on the surface of a balloon moments before it explodes in a cacophony of carbon dioxide and loud noises. We just hadn’t heard the pop yet.
Smell, Taste, Feed...Repeat
I wrote this piece a few years back for the Grand Rapids Wine, Beer Food show that will celebrate its 10th anniversary and be taking place Nov 16-18.
There was a moment in my life where I was going to abandon radio and enroll in the French Culinary Institute, the same school that produced super celeb chefs like Bobby Flay who currently instructs there. However, I opted to stay in Grand Rapids and create a food life that included hours of watching the Food Network, creating dishes for my friends and family, and a travel life of searching for delicious.
So for two weeks in November foodies like myself get a chance to celebrate the amazing food right here in our community. Restaurant week (Nov 3-13) just ended, a chance for people all across West Michigan to sample spotlight dishes from over 30 area restaurants and before you have a chance to miss all things food, the Wine, Beer, and Food Festival invades the Devos Place this week. The Wine, Beer, and Food Festival take the finest restaurants, wineries, and breweries and puts them in one place where one can get a food education unlike no other.
Are you someone who is looking for more than just food and wine samples? The Wine, Beer, and Food Festival offers a pairing menu where area chefs take some signature dishes and pair them with wine or beer that brings all the flavors to the forefront of the meal. You can choose from Six|One|Six, San Chez, Bar Divani, Tre Cugni, and Reserve. The show kicks off on Thursday and never one to pass up an opportunity, I will be sitting down for the Reserve pairing which includes three dishes and three wines.
The first dish is a swordfish salad with Nicoise olives, the purple olives with a distinct sour taste that make a fantastic tapenade. Those two will join forces with Indian River Grapefruit, Upland Cress which is a member of the mustard family, undoubtedly to add a bite to off-set the sour notes of the grapefruit, olives, and pickled red onion. The salad will be topped with a saffron vinaigrette and will be paired with Bower's Harbor Chardonnay an oak-aged dry chardonnay from Traverse City that goes great with seafood.
The second offering is one of my favorites, a slow roasted leg of lamb with chanterelle mushrooms, pearl barley risotto and a sample of one of Reserve's most underrated dishes their roasted beet salad. This dish will be paired with a Cabernet Franc from Wyncroft out of Buchanan, MI. They make one of the finest “late harvest” Rieslings called December Harvest that is served by the glass at Reserve which one if not the only place that serves it by the glass.
The final dish seems more fitting for an Iron Chef episode than a tasting menu at the Wine, Beer, and Food festival. Behold, I give you a Semolina cake with water buffalo milk ricotta, Hasselman’s honey, hickory nuts, and spiced Mutzu apples. Mutzu apples also known as the Crispin apple is a great eating apple but holds up in the oven and has hints of honey in its taste which will be accented by the honey in the dish. This dish will be paired with a late harvest Riesling from Bonafide another Michigan wine to finish the meal.
$40 to get a seat at the table to taste the finest selections of food and wine from around the area. If you get excited about the adventure of food, the Wine, Beer, and Food festival is the perfect way to get some ideas to bring back to your own table for the upcoming holiday season.
What If?
What if you counted to ten before you replied to that email
What if you meant it when you say “I’m sorry.”
What if you bought a stranger coffee and didn’t tell a soul about it
What if you tried to learn a new language
What if you read a book this weekend
What if you meditated for just 6 minutes
What if you ran before the sun came up
What if you watched the sunset 4 times a year
What if you danced in the rain instead of bitching about being wet
What if you made a meal for someone close to you
What if you quit today
What if you started a new adventure
What if you just started driving
What if you asked her out
What if she said yes
What if you tried the fish
What if you ran for office
What if you asked for seconds
What if you started something without permission
What if you let the record play
What if you lit candles for no reason
What if you spent a day watching the grass grow
What if you counted the stars
What if you just said yes
What if you put your phone away
What if you took a nap
What if you got a massage
What if you caught a movie on a Tuesday afternoon
What if you lived more real life
What if you consumed less digital life
What if you listened and didn’t speak
What if you gave hugs
What if you took a moment to make your own list of things you would do if there were no boundaries to tell you why you couldn’t. What would that look like?