When staying home is a better option than going out, pop the popcorn, pour the Coke and grab a great movie.

Here are my top ten of all time:

1) It's a Wonderful Life

2) The Bucket List

3) Meet Joe Black

4) Raiders of the Lost Ark

5) Silence of the Lambs

6) The Godfather

7) Forrest Gump

8) Casablanca

9) Star Wars

10) Love Actually

Plus One...

11) Patton

Make that top 12

12) Groundhog Day

I would challenge anyone re my top 5. My second 5 may be open to opinion. But these are 10 dandies

Best Movie Series:

1) James Bond... 

2) Harry Potter...

3) Indiana Jones...

4) Star Wars...

5) Anything Steven Segall...

All of these are great. I could spend the rest of my life just watching these over and over again, while I methodically eat myself to death

TEM

It has been a while. Lot's has happened, but one thing has not. My appetite remains. My new format will be list driven. I love lists. I make lists of everything. We need lists. Fittingly, my first list will be for Greenville pizza. Over the last 30 years the pizza scene has changed drastically. Over the past 3 years the pizza scene has changed dramatically. Here is my top 10 with a few honorable mentions that are very close to the top 10.

1) Sidewall (While the pizza is #1, DO NOT leave without trying their homemade ice cream.
Especially if it is Rocky Road day. NEVER have I had better ice cream)
2) Stone Ave - Atmosphere helps put Stone #2
3) Frankies - Take out only. Not much atmosphere
4) Grimaldis
5) Sciortinos
6) Barleys
7) Tonys (Haywood Rd only)
8) Kitchen Synch
9) Mellow Mushroom
10) Titos

• Della Ventura
• Wild Aces (Greer)
• Bada Bing
• Toss
• Vics
• Brushy Creek
• Bertolos

No frozen pizza makes the list (rightly so) and only 1 chain - Dominos

Enjoy
TEM

How great is Asheville?

I have never met a person who did not like Asheville, Actually, I rarely don't hear "Love Asheville." And why not? The vibe there is wonderful. So laid back. So retro. Artsy. Hippie. Nice and cool in the summer. Cold ass freezing in the winter. And the food. Oh, the food. Every unique kind imaginable. One restaurant better than the next. Recently, I found Curate. A Spanish, Tapas, Eclectic (aren't they all in Asheville?) Wonderful gastro experience. We began with fried eggplant drizzled in wild mountain apiaries honey and garnished with rosemary. I could have had three servings (I hate the tapas part). Then, of course, it was time for galician style octopus served warm with sea salt (I have octopus almost every night...don't you?), add olive oil, spanish paprika and yukon gold potato puree. So unique. So flavorful. So, you've never had spanish paprika? On to lamb skewer marinated in Moorish spices and served with homemade pickles. Who'd a thought that the pickles would be the secret to the good. If you try this at home, be sure to use Moorish spices. Lessish spices are just too mundane. We finished off the mini-feast with toasted bread topped with fresh tomato, olive oil and manchego cheese. Ok, not dessert, but just as fulfilling. When next I am in Asheville, I hope to return to Curate. But can I? There are so many great places to experience and I am but just one eating man. Oh, and did I mention what a difference a really good bottle of wine makes to the overall enjoyment of a meal. ALWAYS splurge on a good bottle. Best investment you will make all meal long.

Miles to go and pounds to eat before I sleep. Thanks Steph. TEM

I'm Sorry

I have been derelect in my duty. I have not updated my blog in a good long while. No excuses. One day I was writing, a blink later it's today. So, my promise is to do better. Much better. To catch up as such, here is a download of food for thought (in no particular order or priority):

• I recently went to Vegas. Yes, I saw the sights, blah, blah, blah. It strikes me that nothing has changed in Vegas for the past 40 years. Oh, there is more bigger and fancier and gaudier, but it is really just the same. Sad. Sad for the people who waste their time and money. But, I would like to mention a meal I had there just last week at Spagos, the brainchild of Chef Wolfgang Puck. Excellent and quite the experience. My Sea Bass was superb. As was the Blue Crab appetizer and the house coffee. And, thanks Steph for great winre selections. A couple of side stories. I mention the coffee because it was great, but not as great as the last time I dined there. Seems that Puck decided to brew his own brand a few years ago so he dropped Peete's coffee. Peetes is better. Buy it ans try it. The famous unibroe actor Eugenne Levy recommended it to me the last time I was there and I have been a fan since. Of the the coffe that is. I was already a fan of Levy. I ordered Sea Bass because I always order Sea Bass when I see it on a menu. It is rare. It is even more rare to find it in the grocery store. If you do it is extremely expensive. I don'y know why, but I do know it is the best fich out there in my opinion. Salmon is great and I even like Talapia and sometimes Grouper. But Sea Bass is the King

• Pizza in Greenville - Things have changed. Tony's is still the best, Sciorpitinis is new and a very close second. I understand that Bada Bing (new)  is right up there as well, but I have not been able to try it yet. I', told by Pauly a definite top 5. Vic's (new) downtown is very good and a great value. Possibly in the top 5. Aces in greer is a new arrival on the pizza scene and many rank it near the top. For me, definitely top 10. Possibly sneaking into the elite top 5

• Many, many new restaurants have arrived of late and many more on their way. Almost all either downtown or on Woodruff rd

• Cudos to Greenville. I understand we are now being considerd one of the top food cities in the country. Not a shock, but it is a surprise. We do have some great places to dine, but so do other cities our size. Maybe I am in the forest and can't see the trees. I'll keep eating the nuts and berries

TEM

A New Pie in the Sky

Breaking News! There's a new pie in town...Torrellis Pizza. It debuts at #2 knocking Bertolos to the second five and knocking Morettis, Titos and Barleys each down one notch. It's very, very good pizza. Real New York City pizza, even though the owners are from Pennsylvania.  Still, a notch below Tony's on Haywood, but not too far behind. The crust is thin and perfect. The sauce is excellent.  If you have a very large appetite and a very large truck, try their 28" pizza. I've never seen a pizza box so large. Special note: I had heard they had a fantastic hamburger. They do. It is one of the best in town. Located near BJU on Wade Hampton, it's not much to look at from outside, but it's clean and simple inside. The waitresses and owners are very hospitable. Good for Torrellis, we need more good pizza choices. It will drive out those imposters preying on the ignorant. TEM

The Eating Man for President

I've decided to run for President. As your President, one of my first Presidential orders will be to institute an official national food. Just like we have an official national anthem and an official national flag, I propose we have an official national food...Chex Trail Mix. It's a diversified food that is fair and balanced. It is sweet and salty and crunchy. It is filling and fulfilling. It represents a wide array of food groups. There are representatives from the fruit group, the pretzel group, the cracker group and the nut group. Fruits and nuts...that's what made this country great. Let me be perfectly clear, the official national food will not be Chex Mix alone. No, it must be Chex Trail Mix. The secret ingredient that makes it the perfect official national food are M & M's. THE SINGLE GREATEST candy in history. With M & M's,  all things are ok and our national security can remain strong

Tell your friends and family to vote "The Eating Man for President" (by the way, I'm running VERY independently since I am a Liberative Republicrat). I have no budget and I plan on not spending any money on this campaign. I ask that my loyal followers, all seven(7), lead the grass roots effort

Now, I know I can't make it all the way to The White House on just this one official national food platform. So, here are some other ideas I'd bring to the table:

Let's get back to our heritage:

* Focus the federal government on one thing and one thing only - defense/national security. That is what our founding fathers had in mind

Make the tax system fair for all:

* Eliminate all income, property, investment, business and other taxes. The ONLY tax we would all pay is a consumption tax. 5% Local, 10% State, 15% Federal... 30% total. If you can't afford the tax, don't buy it

* There will be no more tax returns to file and there will be no more IRS

* Give to charities because it's the right thing to do, not because you get a tax deduction

Here's the fix for Social Security:

* Keep Social Security but fix it. Make eligibilty one age and one percentage for payback...age 67 at 100%. No more choices of 62/66/70 for 80%/100%/120%. Same age for Medicare benefits, raise it from age 65 to 67

* Raise the FICA contribution from 7.65% to 7.95% for both employee and employer

* Remove the cap on earnings. Pay into it based on what you earn and raise the payback accordingly on a sliding scale

Elected Officials:

* Elect people who will be servants of the people. Require on-going polling of their constituents to make sure the elected official is voting as their people wish. NOT as they wish

* All elected officials will serve ONE six year term with NO relection option. Enough with politicians spending most of their elected time campaigning to get reelected, instead of doing the job they were elected to do

Immigration:

* Illegal aliens have 90 days to become legal immigrants through a short but complete process. After that, they will be permanently deported

* Past that 90 day deadline, no social services will be available to them (healthcare, education, legal representation, entitlements, etc)

* Employers found employing illegal allens after 90 days will be fined one million dollars and ten years in prison per illegal employee (that should stop the problem by itself)

* All U.S. citizens will carrry proof of citizenship

* An electronic fence will be installed across the U.S. Northern and Southern borders

Unemployment:

* Incentives for all U.S. businesses and business owners

* Special incentives for manufacturing in U.S. Strong disincentives for US companies manufacturing outside U.S.

* Level import/export playing field

* Cap unemployment benefits at 39 weeks

Other:

* Create a national lottery

* Countries must repay (cash and/or trade) the U.S. for assisting in their national security. No more free policing of the world

* Legalize, regulate and tax certain vices for adults over 21. Why should gambling casinos, horse racing, and jai alai only be beneficial to certain states and/or indian tribes?

These are but a few of my initial platforms as I begin my run for President. I will continue to develop more ideas and you can be sure that while I ponder these in deep thought, I will be munching on my Chex Trail Mix. Vote early and vote often. TEM

Up, Up and Aweigh

Just a found a new gem in Greenville thanks to my friend Austin. The next time you find yourself near the downtown airport and you are hungry (that would be 24/7 for me), take off to Runway Cafe. At the end of Airport Road Extension is the old downtown flight school now turned restaurant. What a great place. You sit inside or outside right on the runway and watch the planes take off and land. It makes for great theater. I'm told that if you drive up in your plane you get a 20% discount. Sure wish I had a plane. The food was excellent. I had their Yeager burger - angus beef or a spicy black bean patty with ham, homemade pimento cheese, lettuce, tomato. I, of course, had the beef. Delicious! They have Kittyhawk pesto chicken salad, Rickenbacker swiss/steak sauce/fried onion burger, Earhart fried tilapia, Orville Wright chicken wrap, Lindberg quesadilla...you get the picture. Soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, wraps. Lunch and dinner. Beer and Wine. I was full and ran out of time, but next time, I'm having their fried oreos for dessert. $2.99 for 5. Burgers, wraps and sandwiches are $7 - $10. Runway Cafe is a great little place to land. TEM