Red Square wrote:

otisroom wrote:

Graham Hick wrote:Dear Mandroid2.0

Recently I have discovered a hot dog chain known as "Weinerschnitzel". It's not Hot Dougs and it's not Vienna Beef, but they offer pretzel buns for their dogs and I have to say they are quite tasty. Am I betraying my Midwestern roots? Have you ever had a hot dog with the pretzel bun?

Thanks
Graham Hick

I would eat anything in a pretzel bun. Like you could put a dog turd in there and I would probably be able to choke it down.

weinerschnitzel's are crap and that's basically what you'd get...

Wait a minute. You don't like bacon. Bacon! The queen of all things fried! I don't think you are allowed to seriously opine about food, Red Square.

Weinerschnitzel isn't really crap, but it's not incredible. They at least have an all-beef dog and the pretzel bun is pretty decent. I had the all-beef chili dog on pretzel bun that last time we were there and it was good.

Dear Mandroid2.0,

I've got to write my wedding vows. I'm not really sure how to go about this. I want it to be touching and heartfelt, without resorting to cliche and cheap sentimentality. I'd also like to inject a touch of humor. (Maybe a joke on the whole "OBEY" concept). any suggestions/advice?

Also,

Should men get pedi/manicures? What about using conditioner. Sculpting facial hair. This could really solve some disputes at work.

Thanks for your advice, whatever it may be.

Pasta wrote:Dear Mandroid2.0,

I've got to write my wedding vows. I'm not really sure how to go about this. I want it to be touching and heartfelt, without resorting to cliche and cheap sentimentality. I'd also like to inject a touch of humor. (Maybe a joke on the whole "OBEY" concept). any suggestions/advice?

Also,

Should men get pedi/manicures? What about using conditioner. Sculpting facial hair. This could really solve some disputes at work.

Thanks for your advice, whatever it may be.

1. Quote 2pac
2. Get a lineup and her name cut into your hair
3. Pedicures are very effeminate, but if you have enough money it will just look like you had too much money and, rather than letting it go to waste, you spent it on something that, on a man with a lesser income than yours, would look effeminate and girly.
4. Make a joke about the night that you met at the club

Pasta wrote:I've got to write my wedding vows. I'm not really sure how to go about this. I want it to be touching and heartfelt, without resorting to cliche and cheap sentimentality. I'd also like to inject a touch of humor. (Maybe a joke on the whole "OBEY" concept). any suggestions/advice?

Also,

Should men get pedi/manicures? What about using conditioner. Sculpting facial hair. This could really solve some disputes at work.

It sounds like you're on the right track with personalizing your vows and since I don't know you or your fiance, I can't off any specific suggestion. Most of the people I've seen write their own vows pulled it off successfully without too much cliche or smarmy drivel, so I'm sure whatever you do will be wonderful. Perhaps you could ask your friends and family for input or inspiration? I like the idea of adding a little humour to the vows, so maybe you can make a little joke about some ridiculous situation that you two have been through together; something that is funny in retrospect.

When I got married in Vegas on a tour, our minister was a former bass player who'd toured with Little Richard and Chuck Berry. We didn't really request any specific ceremony, so our minister chose to do one wherein the vows were based around snippets from the lyrics of classic rock songs. It was a little cheesy but it was also a Vegas wedding, so the cheese worked well. I mean, my ex-husband did wear lime green monster fur pants to the ceremony and the maid of honour was a stuffed yellow duck with a red mohawk and leather jacket. The wedding wasn't exactly going to be in an issue of "Martha Stewart's 'Living'."

I think that pedicures especially and manicures depending upon what a man does for a living are perfectly acceptable for men. There is nothing masculine about gnarled, calloused feet with ingrown nails. If someone's career is something particularly tough on the hands or something where hands are looked at/touched by others, there's nothing wrong with a manicure. In general, I think that pedicures are more useful and necessary since people are universally pretty rough on their feet what with walking and running, standing, wearing ill-fitting shoes, etc. One of my favourite parts of manicures is when the manicurist ends the session with the hot wax dipping, which totally soothes the hand and wrist muscles.

As for conditioner, I think that many men equate it with "detangler," which it does help with but isn't the only reason to use conditioner. If you have a very dry scalp and problems with dander, conditioner will help. It's sort of like lotion for your scalp. It also helps control frizz which can be important for certain hair types. Back when I had naturally curly hair, I pretty much had to use conditioner or I would wind up with the dreaded frizz-fro.

Sculpting facial hair is definitely acceptable, though it should generally be done in a way where it doesn't look like the man sculpted the hair using a stencil. Blending is key here. I know that you might be avoiding the neck beard but you have to GENTLY blend the no-hair region to the hair region, not have a distinct border landing on the edge of the chin. That sort of look usually results in a man looking like a douchebag.

Heliotropic wrote:3. Pedicures are very effeminate, but if you have enough money it will just look like you had too much money and, rather than letting it go to waste, you spent it on something that, on a man with a lesser income than yours, would look effeminate and girly.

Around here, one can get a good pedicure for $15. It's not terribly expensive.

Mandrexel, what should I do with the massive number of venison steaks that are now chilling in my freezer?

Marsupialized wrote:Mandrexel, what should I do with the massive number of venison steaks that are now chilling in my freezer?

Eat them. With relish. Seared blood rare.

Kerble, can we sticky this as a general Advice column, ala Ann Landers/Dan savage?

Marsupialized wrote:Mandrexel, what should I do with the massive number of venison steaks that are now chilling in my freezer?

1) Find local butcher shop that will make them into sausages. There is a wonderful butcher shop on Hwy 29 just north of Green Bay that will make venison into beef sticks, jerky, burgers, or sausages. You just drop the deer off and they'll make it into whatever meats you request. If you could find something like that, I would suggest that. Of course, you could probably grind the meat into burger meat using a food processor, too. Venison burgers are pretty damn good. You could probably make some chili out of that, too. Combine the ground venison with beef if you want to cut the gamey flavour.

2) Venison steaks are sort of tough, so I'd think that one of those recipes where you flatten the steak with a rolling pin or meat mallet (thereby tenderizing it), cover with a mixture of, say, sauteed onions/spinach/black olives and seasoning, and then browned on the stovetop before placing it in the oven sort of like one would cook a roast would work well. Maybe make some au jus sauce to go with that? Or some balsamic reduction?

3) Venison and beef stroghanoff? Italian venison sandwiches? Philly Cheesevenisons? There's always stew for the tougher cuts of venison.

4) Do you have a tenderloin by chance? If so, you can butterfly it and stuff it with all sorts of wonderful things and then tie it back up and grill it. I bet some really strong blue cheese or goat cheese and toasted nuts would be lovely. Or marinade it in the marinade of your choosing to add flavour/tenderize it, grill it, and then top with a gorgonzola cream sauce. I bet that would be good.

Marsupialized wrote:Mandrexel, what should I do with the massive number of venison steaks that are now chilling in my freezer?

do you just have steaks or do you have a whole deer? I have a good recipe for Deer heart.