it’s the last day of 2005 i figure i might as well scribble something here. well…HERE’S TO YOU! YOU FUCKING FUCK! i’m currently hungry and running a little late. heading over to senor paul’s crib for hor d’ourves, dinner and to chill with friends, their friends, and their friend’s friends. don’t think for a second that i lost focus, i will be there to welcome in 2006, shitfaced and belligerent, with a bottle of veuve clicquot in each fist, and an incredibly attractive woman in each arm. it’s a good thing i have friends who will either watch out for me or just sit back and watch hilarity ensue so they can mock me for life. hopefully i’ll be alive tomorrow and wake up between succulent sweater puppies. okay…i have to get out of here. have a good one, i want to see all of you in two.double.oh.six.

-wallace

Sandwiches. They come in many shapes and sizes, I define a sandwich as anything between two pieces of bread. Open faced sandwiches include pizza. They fascinate me, I really do not know why. I have never said no to a sandwich, hogie, wrap, gyro, cheesesteak, burger, etc in my life. There is never a bad time to enjoy a sandwich, and no wrong way of eating one either, as far as I am concerned.

Maybe it is because I grew up with sandwiches, my mother would almost always pack one for in my lunchbox. Most mothers gave their kids pb&j sandwiches but my mother would do the whole toasted bread, condiments and tomatos on the side, lettuce, lunchmeat deal. Sandwiches just hit the spot, I guess they are somewhat of a comfort food for me. A grilled cheese and campbell’s tomato soup on a cold drizzly day will put a smile on anyone’s face, those that eat lactose anyways, and a seared fois gras with black shaved truffle theme burger would not seem out of place on one of Per Se’s fantasy menu’s.

Speaking of Per Se, Thomas Keller who is also the head chef and owner of Yountsville’s French Laundry is the architect behind the Spanglish Sandwich. If you have watched the scene in Spanglish where Adam Sandler slices through that decadent tower of food, the egg slightly drips down, then you have wondered how heavenly it must of tasted. It’s actually glorified version of the classic BLT, but with the Thomas Keller touch it becomes a blessing.

Two sandwiches that I believe everyone should eat at one time is Pat’s Cheesesteak in Philly (order the cheesesteak, don’t add or take anything away from it), and the Corned Beef on Rye served to anyone fortunate eneough to enter through Carnegie Deli’s doors in New York City. Both are landmarks and considered the best in their catagory, although I hear a rumor among Philly locals that a place called ‘Chubby’s‘ has a more delicious cheesesteak. That’s great, but anywhere close to home? There are quite a few here; Cheesesteak - Amato’s in San Jose | NY style Corned Beef or Reuben - Max’s Opera Cafe, many locations | Turkey and Jarlsberg w/rosemary - Printer’s Inc Cafe in Palo Alto | Crab Melt (hold the mushrooms, and order this with a bowl of chowder) - Pier Market Restaurant in San Francisco | Gyro - Yiassoo’s in Cupertino | Pastrami - Togo’s, many locations | Deli - Mr. Pickles in San Mateo or Neli’s Deli in Cupertino | BBQ Brisket Sandwich - Uncle Frank’s in Mountain View | Pastrami Burger - Tied House Brewery in Mountain View and San Jose | Bleu Cheese Burger (they’ll snare at you, but ask them to melt the cheese) - St. John’s Grill in Sunnyvale | 1/2 Sandwich 1/2 Soup deal - La Boulanger, many locations | Prochiutto, Mozzarella, Red Pepper Panini - Steps of Rome Trattoria

I could go on, but that Panini at Steps of Rome is really something, they start off by drizzling olive oil on two pieces of dense focaccia bread. This is not the spongy version we’re all accustomed to, but more like a flat bread. Then they add some mixed greens a nice cut of fresh mozzarella, if you never had fresh mozz it’s really something. After the mozz they stuff is with a generous helping of Prochiutto, which is an italian cured ham, delicious. They layer grilled red peppers on as the last ingredient then finish the sandwich by putting it into a panini press. The final result is a sandwich that is half the thickness of what it started out as, it is almost as the panini press squeezed more then a mouthful of flavor into each bite. My tailbone wiggles just thinking about this, it is truely that good. If you don’t like it I’ll finish it. It is served with a simple mixed green salad, and please treat yourself to a Peroni or some type of red.

I am going to make a spanglish sandwich now. You can as well! The recipe is right here. You don’t have to pay Thomas Keller $180 a plate to enjoy his cuisine ;o)

-wallace

I’m not sure how I can explain this without going through last night’s turn of events, but I just wanted to let you know drinking half a pot of coffee at 2am is not the best idea. Especially if that pot of coffee had “Denny’s” on it. It tasted like warm watered down something or other.

Anyways…turn your pc desktop into a mac. click here to download objectdock, yep… I have reached the next rung on the ladder of boredom.

I found this somewhat amusing, it’s a louis vuitton monogram tile. You know…for that little asian girl in all of us. compliments of knoxvegan

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It is a solid sixty degrees fahrenheit in Cupertino today. The overcast makes things cold and gloomy, the fact that my window is open probably is not helping the situation. Being the lathergic person I am this morning, I’m going to leave it open. Overcast and a chance of rain does not make me feel any better, in fact I truely hate rain. Other people, especially Audi folk love rain, they love driving in it. I don’t get it, I hate getting my vehicles dirty. oh wells, I don’t have a choice today.

It just occured to me that my usual breakfast joints, besides whole foods market, are closed this morning. (I actually doubt whole foods is even open) Anyways I have to wake up and get out of here, as my folks, family, pooch, and some friends are expecting me at the Evergreen house.

So I hope you get everything you had wished and hoped for all year long, after all you did behave right? My list is short this year. I only asked for Jessica Alba in a teenie weenie red bikini. Have a safe and memorable day, I’ll catch some of you soon.

-Wallace (starving)

Well boys and girls…

Welcome to the rebirth of aristo(zero)krat.com. I’m sure there are a few questions so let me do my best to provide answers.

Why did I decide to let www.aristOkrat.com go? - Simple. It was hard eneough to have people type in aristoKrat.com instead of aristocrat.com, then you tell them that the letter ‘o’ in aristOkrat.com is actually a zero (O). It just baffles most minds, hard to believe…I know. I also did not want this site to be confused with or have any affiliation with aristokratcouture.com, which is its own entity. Owned and operated by a fine group of people.

A Decadent Existence. Why? - Why not? Really. The ugly subject of mortality has been a repeating subject matter in my life, and the only thing I’ve learned from it is that we all have one shot. It sounds cliche, but I truely believe we should make our lives count, live for something, live for ourselves. Life should be something of a celebration, and this is exactly what this blog is experimenting with, which brings me to my last topic.

A Blog? This is unlike you. - Yes, those of you that have known me throughout the years know I am a very private person, and to share my life on the world wide web is something that just doesn’t add up. So that being said, what gives? Due to a current venture, I am forced to experiment with blogs, I need to obtain a better understanding about how these things work and the entire ‘blog culture.’ I am looking very much forward to this and hope to be surprised. A person once told me, “You only regret what you don’t do, you never regret what you have done.” This doesn’t make much sense, as I’m sure you immediatly thought of something you should not of done. The point is I made a vow to put a end to; “what if” “if only” “should of” “could of.” It’s time I jumped into this thing with both feet. Those of you bugging me to join Myspace, Friendster, Linkedin, Xanga, etc…my apologies but that will not happen. Not now, not anytime soon, not ever.

So, with that being said. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to make out of this, I’m still trying to figure out the software, but I have a good friend who’s guiding me through. Check out their site, they review cult movies and such, dreamlogic , cool people.

-Wallace Chane