You could blow a week’s pay on fresh lobster, a bottle of bubbly and a quiet table with a waiter named Jean-Pierre to impress your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.

Or . . . you could surprise her with your, ah, thrift and willingness to stand out from the crowd by taking her out for the Valentine’s special at your neighborhood White Castle, where, just for this occasion, they’re offering a candlelit dinner, with tableside service and flowers.

They’ve done this before. Some people even dress up and rent a limo, says Jamie Richardson, a White Castle spokesman.

Source

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Diners at the Biscuit’s “N” Gravy and More restaurant in Port Orange received a surprise Wednesday when a car plowed into the side of the building.

A 92-year-old man was at the wheel when his vehicle crashed into the busy restaurant on Nova Road.

The driver wasn’t hurt, but the cook said a customer had just left the damaged seating area.

Investigators think Charles Pierce stepped on the gas instead of hitting the brake while trying to park, but instead of panicking and amid all that debris, he calmly got out of the sedan and placed his order.

The driver asked if anyone was hurt. There was very minor injury, but once Pierce was sure all was well, he dug in to his breakfast.

He was cited for reckless driving.

Full story

Berlin – German police are investigating a chilli sauce to determine whether it was so spicy that it was capable of causing grievous bodily harm when used in an attack.

Police took a sample of the sauce from a kebab stand in Bremen’s central train station after a kebab salesman threw it into the eyes of a customer during a fight over napkins.

“Legally, the question of whether the spiciness of the kebab sauce constituted ‘normal’ or grievous bodily harm must be addressed,” local police in the northern city said on Friday.

Officers broke up a scuffle that kicked off after a 23-year-old wiped his kebab-soiled hands on the stand because the salesman refused to give him a paper napkin. The seller responded by flinging a ladle of sauce in the man’s face.

The victim’s eyes became bloodshot and police are investigating why the napkin dispute broke out, a spokesman said. Both men could end up facing charges, he added.

Source: Reuters

Via Reuters (Robert Basler):

…if it’s August, it’s just about Oktoberfest over there in Germany. Isn’t this about the time they show some cute chick with those huge – watcha-call ‘ems?

They say it’s the “world’s biggest beer festival,” which I guess means they’ve never been to the Indianapolis 500.

While I’ve never been to Oktoberfest in Germany, I have been to the Indy 500 multiple times.  From Oktoberfest events here in the States I’d say that the Indy 500 (all three weeks of festivities) might be bigger, but the beer at Oktoberfest would probably be better.  There are too many folks here drinking things like Old Milwaukee & Pabst Blue Ribbon.

From corn ice cream to raw horse flesh ice cream.
Here are the top 10 worst:
Click here.

drunk tractor driver

Kevin Whitesell, 31, of Terre Haute, IN was taken into custody for drunk driving. He was driving a tractor while towing his wrecked car and crashed both vehicles into a creek Friday morning.

Source and photos: Click Here.

Heart attack grill

Stop on by the Heart Attack Grill. They’ll wheel you in. Yes, that’s right. More calories and lard than you can shake a stick at! The owner claims he gets 80 emails an hour from people wanting him to franchise.

Check it out the menu. Yum!
Image source: www.heartattackgrill.com

japanese-spa-industry

Japanese spa industry, under heavy competition, is trying new features to attract health-conscious bathers on February 25, 2007. This spa has a Wine Spa, under a giant object of a wine bottle. The spa management claims it has health benefits such as relieving fatigue, moisturizing action and anti-aging. (UPI Photo/Keizo Mori)

Via Reuters…

DUBAI – A group celebrating a birthday at a Dubai diner were cheered by a 25 percent discount but not necessarily the reason: “Bug on food.”

The restaurant cut the bill for seven customers at a birthday dinner after they found four insects crawling around their meals, the Gulf News reported on Tuesday.

Now seriously, would you pay for that at all?

German camping-supplies company markets a canned cheeseburger. Yum!

read on if you dare

A doughnut is not worth jail time…

FARMINGTON, Mo. – Authorities said Scott A. Masters, 41, slipped (a) doughnut into his sweat shirt without paying, then pushed away a clerk who tried to stop him as he fled the store.

The push is being treated as minor assault, which transforms a misdemeanor shoplifting charge to a strong-armed robbery with a potential prison term of five to 15 years. Because he has a criminal history, prosecutors say they could seek 30 years.

Masters said he didn’t even get to enjoy his ill-gotten gains: He threw the doughnut away as he fled.

A few words of advice:

1. Don’t steal doughnuts.
2. Don’t steal doughnuts and assault someone while in the act.
3. Don’t steal doughnuts and assault someone while in the act, especially if you already have a criminal record.

Read the full story at Yahoo! News.

And they say that the pumpkin crop isn’t good this year?

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. – An Oregon man won the annual pumpkin weigh-off here, presenting a gigantic gourd that came it at 1,524 pounds. Thad Starr, of Pleasant Hill, Ore., set a contest record with the pumpkin. He’ll get $6 a pound, bringing his winnings to $9,144.

But nine grand for a pumpkin is a bit out of my price range, especially for a deformed pumpkin that doesn’t sit upright. So maybe “they” are right after all. Luckily I’ve already picked up two decent pumpkins for $2.50 each.

Read the full story at Yahoo! News.

Miniature fast-food.

Read more here.

WEST VANCOUVER, CANADA — It was a real-life version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”–only in reverse–when a woman came home to find a young bear eating oatmeal in her kitchen.

The bear apparently entered through an open sliding glass door, broke a ceramic food container and started eating, West Vancouver police Sgt. Paul Skelton said.

“It sounds like a nursery rhyme, doesn’t it?” Skelton said. “At least we have a health-conscious bear on our hands.”

Three officers who went to the home Thursday couldn’t get the bear to budge, so they let it finish its meal.

“The bear didn’t appear to be aggressive and wasn’t destroying the house, so they just let it do what it was doing,” Skelton said. The bear finally left.

Source

Imagine going to the grocery store only once every 6 months. Imagine paying less than a dollar per meal. Imagine never washing dishes, chopping vegetables or setting the table ever again. It sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

But can a human subsist on a constant diet of pelletized, nutritionally complete food like puppies and monkeys do? For the good of human kind, I’m about to find out. On June 3, 2006, I began my week of eating nothing but monkey chow: “a complete and balanced diet for the nutrition of primates, including the great apes.”

The blog

MISHAWAKA, Ind. – Northern Indiana police are investigating a woman’s claim that a razor blade in a fish sandwich she ate cut the inside of her throat.

Lisa Griffin, 35, claims she bought the sandwich Monday at Rally’s Hamburgers, brought it home, took three bites, threw up blood and found a double-edged razor in her vomit. She was in good condition Thursday at St. Joseph Medical Center in South Bend, spokesman Mike Stack said.

Police said the throat injuries appeared to be consistent with razor cuts.

Craig Banser, who operates several Rally’s in the South Bend area, said the restaurant in Mishawaka set aside food products used at the time so police could check them and called suppliers.

“We haven’t heard anything since,” he said. “We’re just waiting to hear from police to see what they’ve found out.”

[Source: AP]

DES MOINES, Iowa — Wendy Dershem may think twice before leaving that egg roll on her plate at her next Chinese buffet.

The Des Moines woman, her boyfriend and her two children were kicked out of a restaurant last week after management accused her of leaving too much food on her plate.

“They told us we are not welcome there anymore,” said Dershem, a repeat customer at the Dragon House buffet. “We waste too much food. But the buffet is all you can eat. And you know kids. They won’t always eat everything and they want something else.”

Dershem said she paid her $5.95 fee but was abruptly told to leave after eating one plate of food.

“They just take one bite and throw it away,” said cashier Lin Huyen. “They take four egg rolls and crab rangoon, take one bite of egg roll and throw the whole plate. That is wasting food.”

Dershem said she was shocked by the scolding and complained to management.

Dragon House manager Kent Cao said his restaurant offers all you can eat buffet, not all you can waste. Dershem’s family took food, didn’t finish it and then piled on the same food again, he said.

“Shes done that too many times,” Cao said.

“We would welcome her back if she has respect and knows what she wants.”

[Source: AP]

Hungary workers get shock at bottom of rum barrel

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported.

According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out.

The website said that the body of the man had been shipped back from Jamaica 20 years ago by his wife in the barrel of rum in order to avoid the cost and paperwork of an official return.

According to the website, workers said the rum in the 300-liter barrel had a “special taste” so they even decanted a few bottles of the liquor to take home.

The wife has since died and the man was buried in a proper grave.

Source: Reuters

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The management of a restaurant has apologized after a diner found a piece of a human finger on his hamburger soon after a worker accidentally cut himself.

A kitchen manager injured himself and no one immediately realized he had lost part of his finger while others rushed to help him, said Amy Freshwater, a spokeswoman for TGI Friday’s.

“The manager didn’t even know it happened until he got to the hospital,” she said.

A wait staff member, unaware that the worker had lost a piece of his finger, served the plate to a dinner who immediately spotted the piece of flesh Tuesday night.

The manager at the restaurant at College Mall was treated at Bloomington Hospital and lost only a small piece of his finger, according to Freshwater.

“We absolutely acknowledge the seriousness of this incident, and we are very, very sorry that this occurred,” she said.

She also said the restaurant had been in contact with the diner several times and that she did not expect him to pursue any type of legal action.

The diner called police after finding the fingertip. An officer told the customer that it was not a criminal matter, Detective Sgt. David Drake said.

[via IndyStar]

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A woman who claimed she was trying to cheat on a drug test was behind a bizarre incident in which a frightened convenience store clerk thought she had microwaved a severed penis, police said.

The incident unfolded late Thursday afternoon when a man and a woman entered the store and the man asked the clerk, “Can you microwave something for me? It’s a life-or-death situation,” according to an account the woman later gave police.

The man asked for paper towels, wrapped an object in them, and had the clerk microwave the item for 20 seconds, said McKeesport police Chief Joseph Pero.

When it was finished, the clerk handed the item back to the man and saw what she thought was a severed penis, Pero said.

After news reports Friday, a woman called police to say she was with the man in the store and gave her account of what happened, Pero said.

The woman told police she was applying for a job and was required to take a drug test. She said the man had filled the device with his urine, which she planned to submit for the test, Pero said.

Read on…

DETROIT – A 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials say.

More…

Here’s how you can feel better about eating french fries:

Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel LLC is a Pennsylvania company dedicated to producing renewable, cleaner burning fuel from waste grease.

Read More…

Would you like fries with that?

Hungry!?

Where’s the beef? It’s at a Pennsylvania pub that serves the world’s biggest burger — weighing in at NINE lip-smacking pounds! That’s no whopper — you can actually get this meat monster for $23.95, loaded with all the fixings: Two whole tomatoes, a half-head of lettuce, 12 slices of American cheese, a full cup of peppers, two entire onions, plus, a river of mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard.

Pictures and full story…

Blog of some guy who eats a different bottle of hot sauce a day….yummy!

Read on…

More than 35 tons of tomatoes took a bruising Sunday when a semi flipped on an interstate ramp, closing a Downtown (indianapolis) artery for nearly eight hours.

The accident happened about 11:30 a.m. on the ramp from northbound I-65/70 to eastbound I-70, an area known as the north split, said an Indiana State Police spokesman.

He said the truck, carrying 77,000 pounds of tomatoes, likely overturned because it was going too fast.

…

“Well, it’s juicy tomatoes,” Short said. “Just imagine 30,000 smashed tomatoes.”

[see story]

It’s the kind of rescue that can only happen around the holidays. Two people were trapped in a burning car in the western suburbs when bystanders pulled them free, one of them using a frozen turkey he just bought to smash the glass.

More…

In a full-bodied blend of blasphemy and ingenuity, a Los Angeles couple is seeking to market a wine called “Jesus Juice” that bears a label showing a Michael Jackson-like figure appearing to be crucified.

Moonwalk this way to read the full story…

Did anyone else see the Alka-Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive Eating on ESPN last weekend? It made me want to barf, but I just had to watch.

You have to check out this article on The Daily News.

Diners can sample crocodile soup, rabbit ragout, roast wild pork, eel and pinenut ravioli, chargrilled horse fillets, honey-spiced duck, and golden-braised elk. All dishes come paired with one of six Monteith’s beers: Original, Celtic Red, Golden Lager, Black, Pilsner and Radler.

[see Stuff]

TAIPEI (Reuters) – It may take a strong stomach to eat curry or chocolate ice cream out of a toilet bowl, but a commode-themed restaurant in Taiwan does booming business serving up just that.

[via Reuters]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fishermen in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish on record — a 646-pound (293-kg) giant the size of a grizzly bear — and eaten it, the WWF and the National Geographic Society said on Wednesday.

[via Reuters]

The Chicago City Council has banned marijuana-flavored suckers and other candies after criticism they may tempt young children to experiment with drugs.

[via WebIndia123]

Not that it will totally stop it, but I surely can’t blame the city for their stance.

You know it’s a weird week when you open the paper and read they’re serving whaleburgers at a fast-food chain.

[via The Cincinnati Enquirer]