Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

That’s not a typo in the title, but the name of a pretty amazing restaurant I went to on Friday night. The Wherehouse is located in Newburgh, NY – a literal diamond in the rough. It’s on a 2 block zone that’s been cleaned up nice, and surrounded on all sides with some dicy spots. They serve up some pretty bangin proper BBQ (i had the brisket, and i’ll be going back for more soon). Friends had some burgers that looks on point as well. Loads of craft beers from around the northeast as well. But this post isn’t about the food. Really! It’s about the decor. Inside the dimply lit space, surrounded on all sides by exposed brick walls, you’ll find Bill Graham’s greatest hits all over the place. The records and posters on the walls here are mostly originals, which blew me away. Below are some photos i shot on my iPhone, so forgive the poor quality. This should just be a tease – go check this place out for yourself!

Step on up kids, a good meal and history lesson inside

First thing i saw when i walked in. Some of the best musical recordings of all time, front and center

OG Sticky Fingers album, in the plastic. Complete with real zipper and sidepipe

The owners personal photo of Mick and Keith preforming

Owners personal photo of Joey Ramone live.

Some of the posters covering the bathroom walls

probably my favorite one in the whole place

Eiki actually sent this image to me a while ago for a little art project him and I worked on...keep your eyes peeled for that in the coming months

One of the many nice perks I get out of my job here is the chance to travel to far off lands to approve product graphics. Recently, I found myself in Taiwan, where some of our boards are produced. It was my second time there, and I took some time one night to wander one of the main night markets to soak up some of the local color. Below is a collection of images from that adventure.

You can find just about everything you can think of in the night markets throughout Asia. They typically get rolling around 8:00pm, and go all night, shutting down past midnight. Locals, students and tourists alike flock to them to get a bite to eat, pick up some new clothes, see a doctor, get their hair done up all nice, or even get a shoe shine on the corner. The night i went, it was lightly raining on and off, so the crown was a bit thinner than usual I was told, but it was still pretty packed. I can imagine it being total chaos on a nice evening.

Some local fashions available:

Most Of The Time....what?

Yeah, you tell her, Taiwan!

Their fashion industry could benefit from a good English proof reader I think

That’s just a small sampling of t-shirt art, but i was really there to eat some weird food.

Spicy Squid Balls. Real good

Shrimp on a stick. Notice the heads still on - that's where all the flavor is. Americans are blowing it

After you order that duck breast at dinner, the rest of the parts make their way to this food cart.

Not to be outshined by the various food available, their signage and logos were pretty all time as well.

I stayed away from this one, only because i was afraid they mis-translated it, and 'cheese' actually meant 'horse' like in the logo.

The punk rock chicken industry is alive and well in Taiwan

Pork. In a box? Sign me up!

There you have it. Now it’s your turn – get that passport oiled up and get on the adventure circuit. Good livin’ kids.

Next time i’m in SF, you can bet i’ll be stopping by here and posting some photos of the food.

A couple weeks ago, my wife and I went to Gloucester, MA with her parents, brother, etc, for an epic week hanging on the beach, reading some good books, freezing my balls off in the water, and eating some of the best sea creatures i’ve ever had. If you appreciate eating the finer things from the sea, i highly recommend a trip out there.

Here is a photo journal of the trip. Some of the photo quality falls in the ‘questionable’ department, but, ya know, like, deal with it.

The view from the second floor. Not bad.

Pasta with lump crab meat, peas, cream, hot pepper

Grilled, sausage stuffed calamari

Woodmans - creator of the fried clam. Simply amazing

Steamed lobster. The claws were larger than my fist

oysters, horseradish. Again, fist sized

Steamer clams, drawn butter. New England classic

Proper lobster roll, grilled split top bun, amazing

Kobe carpachio, preserved lemon, garlic aioli

Fenway Park, $7.25 beer, section 30 grandstands, Wakefield's 11th win

cant get enough. Blue Point oysters, horseradish

We interrupt this Wednesday’s With Bill. Murray. to bring you the greatest import from Sweden. Ever. This product (literally) shit’s all over your hip Ikea bed frame.

And this is NOT a joke. Head on over to Think Geek to pick up your very own tube of this revolutionary product. 

You’re welcome.

Last year I almost missed Thanksgiving with my folks due to some issues getting out of Asia… This year I was in the good ol U.S.A. and had the time to get out of VT for a bit.  I went and visited my sister in the Republic of Pennsylvania and had Thanksgiving dinner with her and her family and also did some snowmobiling, it was rad.

I was thankful to be ‘home’ for Thanksgiving and thankful that I didn’t have to eat anything like this….

(above) Worm casserole at a hotel I stayed at in Asia.

(below) Live chickens on the way to the restaurant! I saw this during a drive to a factory.

Live chickens

This year I did not eat bird foot or chicken feet soup, only turkey and stuffing for me.

(above) I ate this bird foot. It was gnarly.