A blog by Cameron and Shannon

As you may have previously ascertained, I enjoy a number of things about Taco Bell, the least of which is the actual food.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t by any means suffer through the food. A good CrunchWrap Supreme or Cheesy Gordita Crunch can really hit the spot, and does just that about once a week on average (Dear Anthony Bourdain, I’m sorry. Love, Cameron). But it’s not just the food — it’s the whole package. The imaginary food names. The awful typeface. The weird purple/pink/teal early 90’s semi-New-Mexico faux-adobe construction. The tiny list of ingredients (and the necessarily bizarre combinations thereof). The hammy commercials. It’s all very … endearing.

Just consider the just-launched and ridiculously-named “New 79¢ 89¢ 99¢ Why Pay More Value Menu” (note: if phrases like “Get Your Grub On” and “Why Pay Mo’” cause you physical pain, do not click that link.). For no particularly apparent reason, Taco Bell has chosen to yet again redesign its Value Menu — and this time there are new offerings. And if you should know one thing about me, it’s that I love new Taco Bell menu items.

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I didn’t originally set out to roast a chicken for this meal - I set out to make an Anthony Bourdain recipe of some sort. But let’s review: I’m a decidedly average (some may say “ridiculously unexperienced”) cook, while Bourdain is a 30-year veteran of French cuisine — and in his Les Halles cookbook, he isn’t about to cut you any slack. Ever. And he’ll call you impolite names every three pages. It’s rough.

Nevertheless, since I haven’t dropped the $35 necessary for his book yet, I googled “Bourdain recipe” and found Nick Kindelsperger’s entertaining Poulet Roti experience on The Paupered Chef (which, by the way, appears to be a real cooking blog, check it out). Hooray! A reasonably simple recipe with reasonably simple ingredients!

So, I set to it. Time to roast my first chicken!

Mise in place, sort of.

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Hullo, my good friends! Welcome to Marverous Dot Com.

I’m sitting on the couch, watching Anthony Bourdain watching an Ghanian tribe make cornmeal over a fire. I have a Guinness, because it’s St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a pleasant evening all-around.

However, I’m not that big a fan of St. Patrick’s day. I usually forget which day it is (this year included — I thought it was on a Tuesday and then Shannon pinched me when I picked her up from work) and I can’t say I’ve ever drowned myself in green beer and shamrocks. Plus, I’m not Irish — I’m mostly Cajun, which is cooler anyway.

On St. Patrick’s Day four years ago, however, I was on spring break in North Florida. I was staying with my friend Caleb in Branford, FL (pop. 695), and we drove to Valdosta, Georgia to meet up with a bunch of folks at the Wooden Nickel Pub. I met Shannon that evening. I also remember not getting anything to eat because I was low on money, and Ray played Hank Williams (I think) on the jukebox, and apparently the Wooden Nickel has since been closed down and relocated, and the food wasn’t very good anyway (or I was just bitter because I didn’t order any). In any case, today is our 4-year anniversary of Meeting Each Other.

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