a malaysian abroad

This week, a malaysian abroad’s Stereotypes by State takes a slightly different approach than what was used for Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas and California for this week’s state: COLORADO.

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I recently found out that if you were to use Google™ to search for “I hate Colorado”, the first two hits you should see are posts by one of my Lost Blogs buddies who was writing about her experiences back in 2003, when she and family moved from Pennsylvania to Colorado.  If you don’t feel like doing the Google™ thing, here are the two posts: It’s official: I hate Colorado and It’s official: We really hate Colorado.  Please drop by and read the posts, and the comments accompanying them.  I think you get a “good” feel for Colorado, and people’s opinions/stereotypes of the state and its people, right here.

And then, there’s the tongue-in-cheek Rejected State Mottos:

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Colorado: Too wimpy to cross the mountains so we stopped here

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Back when the “Go West, young man” western expansion was underway, many came up to the Rocky Mountains and decided they had gone West enough. Did they know that gold awaited them on the other side? Or did they decide better to settle down in a place they knew, than to risk life and limb for the promise of wealth on the other side? I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to have decided to stay: perhaps this dismissive attitude towards Colorado is in itself a reflection of the Americans in general?

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Colorado: If you don’t ski, don’t bother

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Colorado is the state to go for skiiing, so I’ve been told.  The same Rocky Mountains that stopped pioneers also provide fantastic slopes for world-class skiing experiences.  Aspen and Vail come to mind, although there are plenty of similar resorts too.  Inherent in this “motto”, though, is the “unfriendly to outsiders” mindset that you might have picked up if you’d read those blog posts above.  Fun.

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But… don’t know where Colorado is?  Finally, here’s the map to help you out.  Its neighbours are Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, the end of the Oklahoma Panhandle to the southeast, New Mexico to the south, Arizona at its southwest corner, and finally Utah to the west.

As usual, if you’d like a serious, more comprehensive look at Colorado, a malaysian abroad points you the Wikipedia Colorado page. Up next is the last of the “C” states: Connecticut. Stay tuned!

p/s: How do you know you’re in the presence of a real Coloradan? Continue Reading »

… well, a malaysian abroad overheard a piece of fluff on the news recently, and thought to share it here today.  It seems that some guy from GQ magazine has named some pizza joint in Andersonville as the place for pizza in the whole of the U S of A.

First, I’ve got to get this off my chest:  GQ magazine?  GQ magazine?  Yeah, now that’s the authority on all things food, right?

Not.

Okay, now for the details: in the upcoming/just released June issue of the magazine, it seems that GQ’s food writer Alan Richman traveled over 20,000 miles to ten cities in the USA, consuming (but not finishing) 386 pizzas in 109 pizzerias before reaching his verdict: the best-tasting pizza is the Mortadella Pie as painstakingly created and produced at Great Lake, 1477 W. Balmoral Ave., Andersonville, Chicagoland.

A massive mortadella by antony_mayfield

So, what’s mortadella?  It’s an Italian cured sausage, made from mashed-up pork, and studded with fat from the pig’s throat.  In addition, it is usually spiced with pepper, and perhaps coriander or myrtle berries.  It might also be studded with pistachios or pine nuts.  Thanks, but no thanks — you lost me at “pork”.

If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, here is Great Lakes’ review page at Yelp, and the Metromix Great Lakes’ page. Two things that stand out: it’s SMALL (~one~ communal 8-seater table) and SLOW (over an hour to get the pizza!). But if you do try it out, do drop back by here and tell us all about it. Was a $22 pizza worth it?

Me, I’m no connoisseur of pizza. I do like my carbs, so I like pan-style pizzas; thin crusts are okay, but not my fave. Back when Pizza Hut went through its cheese-stuffed crust pizza, I totally loved the idea, but was very disappointed with the product itself. Back in college, I was addicted to the personal deep-dish pan pizza from Garcia’s. Nowadays, though, any pizza I have is the frozen type — either three-cheese or veggie — that I then jazz up with more veggies, sliced turkey sausage, bbq sauce and extra shredded cheese. Good enough for me!