A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a Jedi Kitchen Master created an epic breakfast to unleash the power of his Jedi Padawan. Using the Force™, he created three nonstick steel pancake molds in honor of his favorite galactic heroes and villains: Yoda™, Darth Vader™ and a stormtrooper™. Our Star Wars molds couldn’t be easier to use.

I was with you right up till that last part.  I happen to be the proud owner of a set of these too cool to describe pancake molds from Williams-Sonoma.

After the jump you can see my efforts to create the cool looking pancakes you see to the right.  Unfortunately my best efforts ended up looking a lot more like Chewbacca than Darth Vader.  Guess it was worth a try.

Maybe I was just doing it wrong – maybe I needed to wear a Star Wars apron or use a lightsaber spatula to make these work.  I’ll try again – maybe after reading the directions and see if I have better results next time.

What do you get when you mix beer, bourbon and BBQ?  If you said a headache the next day you are correct.  You also get a nice little festival in Cary where you can sample a wide variety of beer and liquor (more than bourbon this year) and get a little pig on.

This is our return trip to the festival and it was as much fun this year as it was last year.  No crazy Penn State fan this year but we might have had a moment had the “Star Wars” girl had a tattoo.  No we didn’t ask. Other items of note – Cara’s goat won a race in the Pig Races (goat vs. goat not goat vs. pig) we met a former WCU football player (whose name we missed), Star Wars girl, saw Ryan’s doppleganger, coffee flavored tequila and we traveled in style with Darrell in a large black SUV.  Big pimpin’?  Yes – yes we were.

I imagine we’ll be back for another round of B3 VIP  treatment next year.  No reason not to enjoy the summer with pig.  Pics are here.

I am not an authority on cheesesteaks – nor for the purposes of this post will I claim to be.  Cheesesteaks have roots in Philadelphia and to date I have not been anywhere but the Philly airport and that did not give me enough time to get a cheesesteak from any of the places famous for making such items.  So this review will not make any claims regarding how this sandwich may compare to anything outside of the greater Raleigh metropolitan area.  I’ve seen It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and I don’t want to disturb the crazies by making such claims.

All that aside and disclaimers out of the way – Anvil’s Cheesesteaks is likely one of the best in the geographic area from which I am allowed to comment.  The bread was fresh, the mix of meat, onions and peppers was right (not too much of one or not enough of the other) and the staff was really friendly.  It is a small thing but the nice lady behind the register introduced herself when she asked for my name on my order.  It is rare and very nice when that happens – makes you appreciate the small town feel of a place as Raleigh climbs towards being a bigger city.

The menu is simple and the food is excellent.  A sandwich and a bag of chips will run you well under $10 and I won’t be hungry again for a while. They are located in the Swift Creek Shopping Center off of Tryon Road so they might be a little out of the way for most people but worth the minimal amount of extra effort for the food and hospitality.

So we’ve got a few recipes floating around and we’re going to start putting them into a format that can be easily searched and now – added to by everyone.  So yes – I’ve named this new venture after Cara but I’m interested in seeing everyone’s additions to this cookbook.

We’ll also be doing this on the RenParkOnline Neighborhood site (soon) and I’ll cross post the best sounding recipes from both sites.  Feel free to comment on recipes you try and like or recipes you try and hate.  You’re likely to find both.  Also – let us know if this is an original recipe (no – not KFC) because those are the ones I really want to try.  I’ll occasionally post a good one or two up here but don’t worry – this won’t interfere with the regularly scheduled nonsense that can be expected here.

Click here to get started and I know – there isn’t a lot here yet.  So help out and post your favorite recipe.

After close to a month of online debate, a poll questioning BobG’s dedication to the cause and more trash talk than a middle school locker room the big day arrived.  A moment of full disclosure before we continue: I have run this race before.  I was able to finish a total of five doughnuts and it was disgusting.  I don’t know that I have eaten more than a single doughnut since.  So despite what you may read here I do have a great deal of respect for everyone that participated in the race.  It is not easy – if you think it is go grab a box of doughnuts and start eating.  Prior to doing it I thought the run was the hard part – after last year I know better.

All that being said congrats to all the runners.  Slide show with commentary after the jump so open the first picture and proceed to see the time line of events. I know we will have years of debate over BobG’s performance and the over 28 minutes it took him to eat 11.75 doughnuts.  We will also stand in awe of Eric’s friend Joey who ate a box of doughnuts in such a fashion that the cops almost arrested him for assault. (By my count Joey was done in around 5 minutes – that is under 30 seconds per doughnut.)

I know BobG isn’t pleased with his performance and will likely put such witty comebacks as “Those who stand and watch have nothing to say” on this post too. Well – I’ve see the climb and I’ve seen the pictures from the top.  I’ve got no reason to think I want to climb that mountain.  Congrats to him though on once again getting close – maybe you’ll have better luck next year or at least pick up that last quarter of a doughnut you left on the side of the road.