Yum Yum Eat Em Up

As you know, we like to tell you about great local restaurants, owned by local people.

It's one of "our things."

And in real life, we try to eat at very few chain type establishments.

Not cause we don't like them.

We just prefer to support local businesses.

And we really try not to eat at fast food places.

Sure, there's the late night JBC from Wendy's, or even a burrito from Taco Bell if we've really tied one on.

But all in all, we try to steer clear.

There's one place that holds a spot in our bellies, that needs satisfied every so often...

and that place is Burger King.

Damn, they do it right.

Yesterday we treated ourselves to some of there delicious morsels.

It was amazing.

Chicken sandwiches and Jr. Whoppers flew down our gullets with great haste.

It was food heaven.

Too bad the closest one is in Harmarville.



It's probably a good thing its kinda far away.

As the buttons on our shorts are already stressed enough.





Have a great weekend.

(You know you are getting some BK this weekend.)

Big-Timers

Tonight is a big night around here.

Not for all of us.

But, it's a big night for local softball players.

Tonight is the second annual All-Star Game down at
Wolfpak Park in the LB.

It may not sound like a big deal to most of our readers.

But to these guys that play ball down there, play with all
the passion you see in any big game.

And these men playing tonight are the supposed cream of the crop.

Now, we aren't totally sure on the times things are getting started.

But we assume we'll have someone involved tweet us the deets.
(Because obviously...everyone, including softball players, reads this site daily. Duh.)

So round up the kids (they do have a great park down there), and
head on down this evening, likely around 6:30 or so, and check
out some free sporting action.

With the buccos getting screwed nightly, it's worth a shot.

Ugh.

Would meals just apologize already for jobbing us?

Our Evening

So we spent last evening in LA.
(Lower Arnold)

It was an interesting night to say the least.

We frequented a new establishment to grab a bite and a
pitcher, while we watched the Bucco game.

The food/service/draft beer was pretty good.

What was better, was the people watching.

It wasn't so good in the early innings, but as the 7th inning
stretch rolled around, it was quite the scene.

All walks of life surrounded us, and we felt good about it.

See, as we pulled up, we almost had a change of heart.

There was a sign on the door about not wearing certain color
t-shirts, which luckily was a rule none of us broke.

And we didn't see any of the off-limit tees as we enjoyed our
evening.

So the clientele was quite honorable.
(Which is always a good thing.)


A woman, drenched head to jelly shoes, came in
with a story of how her friends threw her in the pool.

This must have made her hungry, as she immediately requested
a menu.

We understood, as a wet tookus always makes us crave bar food.




All in all, it was a nice evening out.

We'll surely be back again.

Random Picture Help

Every Monday for over the last 2 years, we've posted a
random picture featuring something local.

Many of our readers from around the country always tell
us how happy seeing different things from "home" makes
living far away a little easier.

We like doing it because it gives us a day off, for the
most part.

Now, we like randomly snapping pictures as we drive around this
great town of ours.

But we would also like to see the town through your eyes.

So we would like to ask you a favor.

Take some pictures of things around here.

Maybe you've already taken a good picture?

And send them to us, so we can post them for everyone to enjoy.


It's easy!

Our email address is

thenewkblog@gmail.com


Please know, that by sending us a picture, you are allowing us
to post it here on our site.

We don't own it.
We won't make money off of it.
Hell, we may not even look at it.
(That's a total lie)




We expect our inbox to be full by tomorrow...

Random Picture Monday (07-25-11)

This might be the most confusing sign ever.


It looks more of a "3 Stages of Phallus" sign than anything.

Goodbye, Friend

Godspeed, Seth.


We can only hope you have found peace.

Some Choices Are Impossible

Food.

We are passionate about it.
We love to talk about it.
We love to prepare it.
We love to eat it.

Many people/places get downright competitive over it.

Here are some of the more famous food rivals we can
think of...

-
Pat's King of Steaks
vs.
Geno's Steaks


Two delicious cheese steak shops that are right across
the street from one another.
-


-
Chicago Style Pizza
vs.
New York City Pizza
(aka: Deep Dish vs. Fold-a-Slice)

Two totally different styles that battle for pizza pie supremacy.
-


-
Kansas City Style BBQ
vs.
Texas Style BBQ

There is no loser in this race.
-


But a new rivalry is giving these others a run for their wieners.

We first noticed these food foes a few years back.

While we shopped for others people's junk, we kept catching
a whiff of grilled deliciousness.

We were on the corner of Vernon and Pleasant in the Mt. Vernon
section of the Newk, on a sunny Saturday morning of the yearly
event of yard sales.

We couldn't tell which direction it was coming from.

Turns out...

It was both directions.

And after a few more years of the big yard sale events, we
have come to know both dog makers well.

If you don't know them... you should.

And will, after today.

Separated by a soft 7-iron (about 155 yards), are the dog masters
known to locals as...

The Original Char-Dog
(on Vernon)

and

Frank's Franks
(on Pleasant)

Two distinct styles, and both delicious.

Some of the main features are...

The Original Char-Dog:
- Grilled heavy on a Weber style charcoal grill
- Offered w/w bacon or kraut
- The now infamous cardboard sign
- Underground/Cult type following


Frank's Franks:
- The signature Frank cut down the center of the dog
-Grilled tenderly on a gas grill
- Wide variety of fixins including Frank's Own Chili Sauce
- Claims to be the first to vend dogs at the MVYS



Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...


First off... Frank's Franks:





Here is The Original Char-Dog:



(Even the Mennonites love a good Char-Dog)


-

So, have you had either?

If so, which do you prefer?

This Sucks

We can't take the heat.

Seriously.

We're aren't the sveltest of humans.

And this heat is just brutal.

And it's expected to get worse???

Ugh.

Where's our Gold Bond?


Now turn off your computer, cause it's making it hotter
out there.

See ya tomorrow.

That is, if we don't sweat to death.





-

On another note...

Some people have been having trouble posting comments here
on the site.

We set it to a minimum security to where you have to
at least have a google account to post.

Let us know how that works.

Something Fishy About This Truck

Last week, just across the river, a local man went diving
in the Allegheny River, to retrieve his buddy's
submerged fishing gear.

Instead of finding some lures and poles, he found a 1998
dark blue GMC Sonoma.

The truck was registered to State Farm, and was reported
stolen back in 2003.

There are some strange things about this.

(As if a truck being in the river isn't strange enough?)

It doesn't appear on the national crime computer list, as
it should be.

The headlights and taillights were painted black.
(Which makes it very suspicious to say the least.)

The registration was renewed on the same day it was
reported stolen.



Hmmm...

One man comes to mind...







Franco will crack this case.



Police believe the pickup was in the river for 8 years.

We believe we've snagged this damn truck many a times
while catfishing.



We also believe this truck will be in the front row of Advantage
Auto Sales, right under the Doc Agostino billboard within a week.

Random Picture Monday (07-18-11)

The Mt. Vernon yard sales were bumping.

Did you find any great deals?

We Planned Your Saturday

You should do these things this weekend.

We are.


-
EKCC ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Time
Saturday, July 16 · 7:30am - 12:30pm

Location
EKCC, Corner of Powers Drive and 7th Street

More Info
$4 advance tickets available for adults, or $5 at the door
Children ages 4 to 10 are $3
Children 3 and under are FREE

Please help this local community group! The EKCC sews Christmas stockings for the troops every year, offers kid's bingo each summer for minimal cost, gives scholarships to graduating VHS seniors and helps the community in many other ways. Hope you can make it to this event! Please share with a friend!

Facebook Page
-

Mt. Vernon Yard Sales

They start early Saturday morning.
(As yard sales always do)

Go buy something, after you pack a bunch of pancakes down
your throat.

-


Have a great weekend!

Pointing Fingers

First off, this is our 600th post.

Woot!

We already know we're awesome,
but feel free to tell us again.




Okay, back to the Newk...

It turns out, the New Ken/Arnold school district has been flagged
for possible test cheating.

We are not happy about these allegations at all.

The Dept of Education lists 35 schools in Pa., that they say showed
answer patterns and erasures that make the results suspicious.

The tests they speak of were conducted in 2009.

Fort Crawford was named one of 13 schools in 09 as a national
Blue Ribbon school, based on the increase in average of the previous
scores.

Now those results are in question.

As well as many other things.

Jobs and salaries were determined by these scores, as well as additional
funding for the districts.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

But we are hopeful that everything comes back kosher.



Seriously... if we did that well, of course many answers will be the same.

Because the kids got them correct.






Meh.

We're tired.

Have a great Thursday.

Smoke Em If Ya Got Em

Being former smokers, we took an interest to the recent
trend of "loose tobacco" shops.

No, these shops aren't promiscuous.

They sell loose tobacco and rolling papers, and the taxes are
significantly less than a pack off the shelf.

From what we hear, a carton of name brand smokes costs nearly
$70 in our region.

A carton of self rolled snags?

That'll only cost you about $27.

And some of these places even have a big ol' rolling machine that
spits out your squares like you just hit the jackpot at the Rivers Casino.

The fine people at these shops will even blend different tobaccos
to get close to the normal brand you smoke.

Not bad.

And not only are they cheaper, they just might be better for you.

Healthy cigarettes?

Not quite.

But they do have none of the over 600 additives put in store
bought smokes.



Now, lawmakers are getting pissy, because they don't want to
lose out on tax money.

God knows they can't afford a salary cut.

(Did you sense the sarcasm in that last sentence?)

So who knows how long these shops will remain in business.

But, for now, you can head up to Natrona Heights Plaza and smoke
to your heart's (er... lung's) content.

Back Back Back...

We are baseball fans, here at theNewk.

Last night was the All-Star Game Home Run Derby.

After we got done cleaning up branches and crap in our yard,
thanks to the storm, we cracked a cold beer and watched
some long-ball hitters.

We tried like hell to find a story to write about, but nothing
interesting jumped out at us.

So here is a story about one of our little league games from
many moons ago...



The score was 5-7.

We were on the losing side of that score.

It was the bottom of the 5th, and the bases were jacked full of Eagles.

Our fearless leader, who was already 3-3 for the day, with 2 dingers
already under his belt was at bat.

The pitcher had a look of fear in his eyes, the likes of which had never
been seen at the Valley 4-fields.

And the catcher had bubble guts, something fierce.

Not only could he hear the rumbles of the catchers belly, he caught
a whiff or two of some nerve ridden stinkers.

Knowing they didn't want to walk a run in, they decided to pitch
to the NK All-Star.

That was not a good idea.

The first pitch he saw got smoked over the right field fence and
into the creek.

As #21 trotted the bases, the catcher's stench was blown off along
the base paths.

As he crossed home plate, he got a smile and a wink from his
proud father.

The final score was 9-7.

And the team got taken to dairy queen on Freeport Rd.


Now that... was a good day.





We love baseball.

Random Picture Monday (07-11-11)

Biff Never Dies.

Have A Great Weekend

Rough night + Long day = This post.

Nobody said we were perfect...



Actually, we may have said that a bunch of times.

Is It Worth It?

We saw some numbers from local municipalities, talking
about how many fireworks citations were given out
over the 4th.

Leading the way was Harrison (Natrona/Heights) with 20.

Their number was likely higher due to a house catching on
fire last year due to fireworks.

Coming in second was Tarentum with a solid 7.

Well done to them.

Oakmont had 3 complaints, but the suspects fled the scene
before the police arrived.

Brick roads make for slow driving.

Washington Township had no complaints, and no citations.

Boring. Pfffftttt.


Arnold, New Ken and Lower Burrell have not released any figures
as of yet.

But if the Newk cops were citing people, it wasn't hard to find em.

Rockets were whizzing by our windows till well in the morning.

Not that we're grumpy old codgers.

We liked them actually.

We're just saying.


We were safe though, cause we had our sparklers going.

Yeah, we're badasses.


Weeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weed And See... Ya

It looks as if the money for the Weed and Seed program
has dried up like some old chronic.

The program that was helping clean up violent crime and
drug sales in the Newk started back in 2002.

It has resulted in thousands of arrests, and taken many drugs
and guns off of our fair streets.

But the fight to get funding back is long from over.

Mayor Guzzo is planning on fighting for those funds to be restored.

And we are in his corner, if he were to need a little extra muscle.

And we mean little, cause we aren't nearly as
powerful as we'd like to think we are.

We hear State Rep. Evankovich is also on the case.


We fully believe this program has help the city.

We would like it to continue.

Maybe we should all write the governor?

Whirlwind Weekend

Seriously, it's Tuesday already?

What the hell happened to the weekend?

We remember having fun.

But that's about it.

We also remember our neighbors blasting off fireworks
until about 2:13am this morning.

But we didn't mind at all.

We don't mind at all that our neighbor's son rides a beat up
girls bicycle, but they have enough disposable income
to light up the sky like the, well... Fourth of July.

Maybe you'll get that new bike next year, Tommy Jr?


We really aren't feeling all that great today, so we're gonna
wrap this thing up for today.

We hope you had a great holiday.

Email us some pictures of your party.

We'll post em for everyone to enjoy.








-




HB, A!
29 ain't so bad.



GL, C.

Random Picture Monday (07-04-11)

Happy 4th!

Long Weekend

We are taking a long holiday weekend.

We have tons to do.

Most of it involves drinking of some sort.

We got started last night.

We don't feel great at the moment.

We'll talk to you soon.

Be safe.
Have fun.
Don't blow off any of your fingers.




Happy 4th!





-

Those of you waiting for your Biff shirts, they should be
there today.

Thanks again!