Dependable Zo.Ca.Lo…what do you have to offer to those meat weary folks? Apparently just one dish, an amazing dish I have never had before in my life. The lone vegetarian warrior on the entrees menu is the “Black Bean and Corn Relleno”. I really didn’t know what to expect, I just read the description: smoked tomato grits, smoked pico, cilantro buttermilk honey”, figured it was cool to eat and ordered. I should warn you, this isn’t some “I am on a diet so I am trying out vegetarian food” type of dish. This thing definitely has healthy quantities of butter and cream…perhaps French cuisine had an affair with a Mexican damsel from the south and many years later Mr. Frenchie comes back to town to find out he has a lost daughter…this is his little chalupita.

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Popularity: 39% [?]

Hubble Space Telescope recently released a group of 59 images of galaxies colliding for its 18th anniversary. The images are pretty cool, but one struck me as rather sexual.

Hubba Hubba!

As described:

Arp 148 is the staggering aftermath of an encounter between two galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion. The collision between the two parent galaxies produced a shockwave effect that first drew matter into the center and then caused it to propagate outwards in a ring. The elongated companion perpendicular to the ring suggests that Arp 148 is a unique snapshot of an ongoing collision. Infrared observations reveal a strong obscuration region that appears as a dark dust lane across the nucleus in optical light. Arp 148 is nicknamed Mayall s object and is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, approximately 500 million light-years away. This interacting pair of galaxies is included in Arp’s catalog of peculiar galaxies as number 148.

[Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University]

Popularity: 30% [?]

Foxfield is finally over and I’m sure that all of you are sick of hearing about it. But now is the time for the juicy stories, the digital evidence and the OMG part of the experience.

I saw very little, but I’m sure with all the cVillain eyes, we have something to share. I’ll be watching YouTube for videos as they pop up! Send in your images/video and we will post it!

So, what you got?

Update: The Videos start to come in!

Slap Fighting?

More after the break… »Read More

Popularity: 41% [?]

Hello all! I have just returned from a week in the crummy mid-west. Being there was a pleasant reminder of why I love Cville. I see that while I was away the boys went to play…and neglected the Free for Alls. Write Away.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Well, for music and the arts, make sure you check out cvilleMUSE.

Otherwise a few interesting things:

Foxfield, duh, on Saturday.

Michael (owner of Ventana) said he had 4 Feist tickets he’d be giving away this weekend to bar hoppers [via a Birdie]

Friday - R2 retro dance party.  60s to the 90s, no “80s frat house bullshit.”

As always, let us know what we missed! 

Popularity: 34% [?]

Foxfield is my absolute favorite day of the year, even more so than Christmas. Like the holidays my entire family and our friends all congregate to eat, drink and make merry. But unlike Christmas no one holds it against you if you have a little to much to drink, heck it‘s expected! So long as you can still shake hands and say “how do you do” with out falling off your kitten heels nobody really minds. And if they do, it’s forgotten by the time you get to the after party and someone else is drunk enough to go skinny dipping in the Koi pond.

Foxfield has always been a family affair and I guess you could even say Steeplechasing is in my blood. My dad was friends with the course designer and helped build the original hurdle course. My Grandmother owned a rather lack luster Steeplechaser that won it’s only race at Foxfield. My late Grandfather used to be the Timer for the races and my father has since stepped up to fill the post.

But the best part about going to the races was when Grandma “Posy” would pull out her wallet and hand it to me with the condition that I was the bookie for the day. I’d set up shop in the back of her old red “Woody” Jeep Grand Wagoner and take bets from our neighboring tailgates. For a dollar you could have your pick of a horse. It’s amazing how heady it is winning eleven dollars when you’re eight years old. Of course being 21 and hitting a trifecta (where you pick the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place horses to cross the finish in a single race), and winning $1,154.78 off a six dollar bet at the Saratoga Summer meet in New York sealed my fate and I have been an avid handicapper ever since.

So fellow Cvillians, as your resident “horse expert” I am here to share my knowledge and give you the edge for your own Foxfield tailgate this weekend. Whether it’s dollar bets on each horse or something else entirely (go ahead, be creative…), I’m here to decode the Foxfield program and shed some light who’s hot and who’s not.

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Popularity: 34% [?]

It seems like almost every year the police make a huge deal about how this year is going to be different, about how Foxfield will ruin your career if you break the law.  Well, unless I have been living blind, in a shelter, veiled in secrecy, a huge number of people break the law at Foxfield.

Of the 24,000 people who visit Foxfield each spring, only 85 people were arrested.  If anyone does the math on that means that less than 0.4% of the people out there were caught breaking the law.  84 of those people were in the student section.  So, let’s figure this one out.

Let’s say half of the 24,000 are in the Foxfield section, and about half of those are underage.  That means about 6,000 people will be illegally drinking at Foxfield.  If 84 of 6,000 arrests were made,  that means about 1.5% of those breaking the law were caught. This doesn’t include people who are DUIing or people who are doing public intoxication type things.

Hmmmmm….seriously?!

So, if you get arrested, please note: you are REALLY unlucky.   Breakdown of those trying to arrest you:

81 Albemarle County Police

31 ABC Agents

17 Officers from the Sheriff Department

3 Bicycle Offices

110 RMC Private Security Officials

_____________

Grand Total: 242 People Trying to Get You

On another note, don’t resist arrest like this guy!  People, the bottomline is this:  We know you are going to break the law, but don’t drink and drive, don’t act like an asshole and you will be alright.  Remember to read our great Foxfield preview!

[via InRich. Pic.]

DISCLAIMER: We don’t encourage or support any illegal activities during Foxfield. 

Popularity: 36% [?]

My current car is wonderful, but about to lose its original warranty and since it is ridiculously over-engineered that means one thing… 132 miles after the warranty expires, it will turn into the bastard lemon car from hell and leave me stranded in the rain on a blind bend at 1am- without a cell phone signal forcing me to go knocking on the door of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre house. It will happen.I know.

I paid for an after market warranty but they require 3 weeks notice in triplicate by recorded albino elf delivery to get prior authorization for a replacement spark plug and will dodge out of paying any claim if you missed a service by 1 mile or failed to take the candy wrappers out of the ashtray. They are bastards. I know.

So the hunt begins for a replacement, and that means talking to car salespeople.

“May I take your number, in case we get disconnected? Area code first…..”

It seemed like an innocuous enough request. After all, getting cut off while on the phone does happen…. not often but on the odd occasion. So I doled out the requisite digits and the conversation continued. I was on the phone to Carmax at Pantops…but inquiring about a car at another location. He asked me if I wanted to initiate a transfer…. for the princely sum of $149 non refundable dollars.

Me: “$149? But I haven’t seen it .. what if I don’t like it or it has a big sploodge stain on the back seat?”

Him: ” You’ll love it… all I need is a credit card and it’s yours”

Me: “I no longer give my creddies out by phone” (NOTE:I had my Chase card number stolen recently. And they bought nicer things than I do and Chase were even kind enough to let them go $1500 over my limit)

Him: “If you initiate the transfer, then the vehicle is reserved. It’s a rare car….SOMEONE COULD BE BUYING IT AS WE SPEAK!!!” (Definite octave increase in voice) »Read More

Popularity: 37% [?]

If you are looking for the vegetarian deal of the century, then Eppie’s on the downtown mall is the place to be. Their menu offering is pretty meat heavy except for the side’s section, which allows you the choice of a veggie only platter in 3 or 4 choice combos with a generous piece of corn bread.

I opted for mac n’ cheese, collard greens and coleslaw. For around 6 bucks I received an impressive amount of food that I couldn’t even finish. Everything on the plate was good quality. Not to say there isn’t any room for improvement like making the collard greens in a more modern manner or using a different cheese on the mac n’cheese, but the value per vegetable was really good. They had a wide variety of sides on the menu which I will definitely go back for. For a southern food lunch, it was light and left me happy…happy to know even with western fare this vegetarian craze can be satiated!

I also noted one of the kitchen staff came outside to offer a bowl of water for one of the customers that had their dog with them. I found that to be a terrific gesture. Talk about southern hospitality!

Images most graciously linked from Flikr

Popularity: 33% [?]

Now that The Upstairs is open as of April 22nd, you can finally check it out.

As always, you have the review floor before we do.  Paco was our first taker, but as you check it out come back here and leave us a note.  We promise we won’t bite.   So, what do you think?

Popularity: 35% [?]