A refreshing and simple salad. ...more

March 25, 2009

Most big companies have a Great Wall of Vending in their break rooms. At the Tribune, we have a Soft Drink Treadmill, in which a rotating belt raises up to the bottle before sliding and lowering it into a dispensing pocket. We also have the Carbohydrate Free-Fall, from which an assortment of snack foods wedged in a corkscrew are pushed to their doom from various heights. We also have a rotating carousel of refrigerated entree items that I call the Wheel of Death. The WOD offers food that should never be sold in a vending environment. Like Riblets (described on the wrapper as "boneless pork rib-shaped patties). Like Lonesome Cowboy Sandwich. (Mmmm, tasty cowboy.) Or the creatively named So Good So Good. (It looked so bad, so bad that I didn't buy it.) Last week's lowlight: a Fried Chicken Snacker. Not sure what part of the chicken the snacker comes from, but it tasted like it was swathed in a soggy Kleenex. ...more

July 2, 2008

Charlie Alfonso Jr., 54, Tampa Height: 5-foot-8 ...more

May 23, 2008