Anyone who knows me knows I’m a club or clubhouse sandwich guy. I’ve enjoyed them all over the world and I have been amazed at the variety. But John introduced one here that really made my mouth water. This is a Peking Duck Clubhouse. It’s made with spiced mayo and a pancetta crisp on fruit and nut bread from by Iron Chef America champion Rob Feenie’s eponymous Vancouver restaurant, Feenie’s’.

Rob also runs a successful assortment of other food businesses as well, but this review isn’t about Rob or his inventive sandwich talents, it’s about John Chow.

Why would a food aficionado or blogger want to visit John Chow’s site? Well for one thing there is unlikely to be anyone else who routinely spends the kind of money on lunches and dinners as John … I’m certainly too cheap and I like to read how the other half lives.

John covers food on an irregular basis but usually several times per week. The rest of the menu consists of some really great tips and how to articles about getting traffic to your web site, making money from your web site and conducting business in general. John owns and runs a large technical review style website which is his “bread and butter” and started his personal blog on as a way of sharing ideas and keeping in touch. John doesn’t position himself as a food blogger though, he prefers to maintain his main theme at all times, how to make money online.  It’s become wildly successful and you can certainly feel free to drop by and have a taste. If you are interested in more blog traffic, you too can write a review of his blog and likely get a ton of clicks.

My only two criticisms on John’s blog are the fact that he really needs to get a decent camera and/or learn about lighting because some of his photos have great subject matter but don’t have near the appeal they should due to incorrect lighting. Secondly, John should lose the phoney and childish “evil” persona he loves to use, perhaps to cover his shyness. He’s a businessman, a web entrepreneur, an ad company executive, writer, father, husband, good son and all that sort of stuff … he doesn’t need the “evil” tags any longer.

In a previous post, I shared how we picked up a few deli meats from Bretto’s Deli in Angeles City in Pampanga.   Here they are, the sandwich fillings and on the next page is the resulting sandwich…

I picked up some roast beef slices, pastrami, sopresa salami, gruyere cheese and some sub mini-loaves.  The tomatoes are from Dizon Farms which is available from the SM Hypermart which is so conveniently located just a 5-minute drive from our place.
Spouse and I were ready not to have any more pastrami or roast beef when we settled here – unless we wanted to pay a steep price for it.  But the prices at Bretto’s are very reasonable. And we had enough for several sandwiches with just a P500.00 purchase.  I wish I kept the receipt…but next time I’ll get their price list and post it here.
To make my loaves extra crisp, I first sprayed the crust with a little water and stuck it in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes.  The I slathered that with some horseraddish spread and mustard  and piled on everything you see from the first photo to make a satisfying carnivore’s lunch….ohhhhh yummy!

Mario Batali first brought attention to these colorful shoes.  He wears an orange one in the kitchen and his Time Magazine photo even shows him in a pair.  His website has them on the  front page.  It’s in About.com’s Brett Moore’s  list of suggested gifts for cooks.  Several celebrities have been spotted wearing them around town, including Google’s Larry Page.  Market Man just featured them recently on his popular food blog.  They’re fun, ugly, bright, gaudy and the kindest things you can put on your feet.

I’m talking about Crocs shoes that was started by a company out here in Colorado.  They were originally meant to be boat shoes and the holes were to let water, sand and debris go through the shoe.  I think the holes are great for keeping your feet cool in the tropics so I bought a pair before I went home for a short vacation last April.  They were invaluable through all the walking and shopping trips I made with my sisters who didn’t seem to like them very much.

I first wore them on the trip home.   LAX was unusually filled with hordes of travellers and there was a long walk from my domestic terminal to Tom Bradley International Terminal.  By the time I got to the gate, I was so pooped I fell on the first available seat.  Then I changed into my Crocs….then I got the stares!

But who cares when your feet are so comfy?  To this day, even here in Colorado where you’ll see more of them, I still get people stopping to comment on the bright yellow things on my feet. I’ve heard it all…”you’ll never get lost in those things” or “I’ve been looking at your shoes from a mile away” or “oh those are really bright shoes”.  And from kids,  who seem to love them, I have had the sweetest conversations as they sat on the shopping carts their moms were pushing.  So far the comments have been nice, but I’ve seen some of the looks and I just pity the fools who haven’t been converted.  I pity their feet even more!

Spouse has finally converted.  We’re moving (moved by the time this post comes out, hopefully that is) to the Phlipppines and I warned him about how hot and steamy his feet are going to get when I take him around there.  We got him a pair of beige Beach Crocs and he’s been wearing them ever since.  The best part about it is, he doesn’t get a back ache when I take him shopping!  I thought his back aches were only psychological because he hates shopping but I guess they were just caused by uncomfortable feet.  Who woulda thought I’d ever solve that little marital problem…LOL!

We’re planning to get another pair each before we tape shut our moving boxes.   I got my yellow Caymans at a local mall and they cost $30, not including tax.  But our local military exchange at Peterson AFB started carrying them in the summer so we got Spouse’s  there for $6 less, tax-free.  I got a kid’s Cayman for $20 there too, also tax-free.  I think it’s a good deal for all that comfort.  My 7-month old pair seems to be doing well and they’ve been heavily worn too.

The bright orange ones I got are for my toddler nephew whom I met for the first time in April.  He’s been known to dash out into the street barefoot and hates putting anything on his feet, even socks.  He was genuinely amazed at my Swiss Cheese shoes and poked his chubby little fingers into the holes when I wasn’t looking.  His mom and I are hoping that the bright color and seeing me in my shoes will convince him to wear his all the time too.  You never know with kids, but we have to give it a try or he’ll start pre-school barefoot.

We also have to be careful when he gets close to escalators though, kids wearing these shoes have been know to get caught.  Then again, shoelaces do the same thing, so it’s just a matter of awareness.