Some awesome thoughts on a Thursday night

A collection of random musings for Thursday, September 13:

Best. Salmon. Ever. Worst. Photo. Ever.

With a tip of the hat to our friends Vanessa and Cecil, who prepared this dish for us at their home earlier this summer, we present to you Salmon on a Plank. This photo certainly does not do this delicious dish justice. We soaked a cedar plank in water for 30 minutes before topping it with a piece of fresh salmon. Then we coated the fish with a mixture of mayo (hey, I said "delicious", not "heart-healthy") and smoked paprika and put the plank on the grill for about 15 minutes. Served it up with some roasted sweet potatoes with rosemary and garlic and some homemade stewed tomatoes. A trifecta of awesomeness. 

Speaking of Vanessa and awesomeness...

My word of the summer has been "awesome". Don't know where I picked it up or how long I'll be declaring everything as, well...awesome. But I've learned to be careful. We were at Vanessa and Cecil's house, sitting on their front steps, enjoying a glass of wine, and Vanessa was telling us about some rather difficult times she had recently experienced. And I looked her straight in the eye, and with all sincerity said to her, "Well, Vanessa, you look awful....I mean AWESOME!". The bewildered look on her face was priceless, and of course, I fell all over myself apologizing to our hostess. Be careful out there, folks...

Definitely not awesome

This guy is being called the "real-life Popeye" -- but wasn't it Popeye's forearms that were huge? And I don't think Popeye used anabolic steroids or stuffed smoked hams under his skin like 31-year-old Moustafa Ismail appears to be doing. His 31-inch biceps have just been named the biggest in the world, and he claims it's all natural. "My friends in the gym just couldn't believe how much my arms seem to grow so I began to really focus on getting bigger," he says. Those horrendous bumps look like something that should be surgically removed. But sexy, no?

If you're "pee shy", don't visit the Standard Hotel in NYC

So you're partying at the Boom Boom Room at the ritzy Standard Hotel on West 14th Street in Manhattan but need to visit the rest room. "How lovely," you think, as you take a seat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, taking in the splendid skyline, assuming, of course, that these windows are "one-way". Uhhhh...nope! Passerbys are getting an eyeful of these "public pissoirs", these "societal stalls", these "community crappers". "I saw people waving at me! Sitting on the royal throne, you don't expect a public viewing!" said David Langdon from Melbourne, Australia. 

And how was your day?