Steve's Pieces of +Awesome

Okay, a ninja cow is +Awesome for reasons I don’t need to explain. Seriously. Ninja… Cow…

Cats with opposable thumbs are +Awesome because they are achieving the second-last step towards world domination. Next step: sentience.

These sandwiches are +Awesome because they have awesome avocado, and fresh tomato, for a high protein, heart healthy, delicious lunch. Add a dash of sea salt and black pepper to taste. If you mash the Avocado first and use it as a spread, you can forgo on putting any butter or mayonnaise on your otherwise toasted tomato sandwich. 2 extra arbitrary points on today’s +Awesomeness scale because this picture has little tidbits of awesome oats on the top of the bread.

If you’re looking for +Awesome in Canadian television… don’t watch Trailer Park Boys, Kenny vs Spenny, or North of 60…. look no further than Corner Gas! Best. Canadian. Show. Evar.

This art is +Awesome! No it’s not photoshopped, it’s real. Gorgeous!

Carrier pigeons are +Awesome because they’re incredibly accurate, cute, reliable, and apparently faster than rural broadband internet.

Source: Janice Hillmer, and The Telegraph.

Autumn leaves are +Awesome because they exist at that perfect time of year when there’s no humidity, no snow, and the air is cool and crisp. Also because they make a wooded area feel like you’re on another planet for a short time.

The Settlers of Catan is +Awesome because it’s the finest board game ever made. With exactly 1 gazillion variants for the game, and dynamic board layouts, there’s no end to the awesomeness that grows out of an evening of Settlers with lots of food and good friends.

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Then there’s that fun little skip-hop that +Awesome people do when they’re crossing the street, and you’re trying to get by in your car, and they notice you and speed up for you.

Bill Nye is +Awesome because… well, really, have you ever seen Bill Nye the Science Guy?

Parents who mess up their kids (in a non-damaging way) are +Awesome, mainly because this one single incident is downright hilarious.

Popcorn is +Awesome because it’s food that you get to explode before you eat it.

Cheese Curd—real cheese curd—is +Awesome. But you have to know what “real” means.

This stuff from the typical grocery store…

…is garbage. Utter. Rubbery. Garbage. See that crummy dark orange color? It’s been refrigerated. It’s dried out. It tastes like ordinary cheddar, only it’s probably a little oily.

And this stuff…

… well this is a little better because it’s been shrink wrapped. Air + Curd = Evil. Air dries it out. Shrink wrap it, and throw it in the freezer right after making it, and you’re okay. This is the kind of stuff that goes on New York Fries’ Poutine, which is a darn good poutine:

See how that’s just starting to melt and get glossy under that dark beef-type gravy? That’s good… that’s what it should do. That orange garbage above will just disintegrate under this hot gravy. The white cheddar is more durable, and it’s maintained a little better.

But it’s still not proper cheese curd. For that, you have to go straight to a factory. As Wikipedia confirms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curd) the best curd is straight from a factory, and should be eaten within hours of manufacture. The reference to “rubbery” in this article is more akin to the kind of rubbery you’d get from properly cooked shrimp, or a really tender chicken… not the kind of “rubbery” I refer to above which is more like chewing a latex glove, or on part of a car tire. That’s bad rubbery. Wikipedia’s rubbery means “springy.” Yes, that’s what it should be.

So what’s fresh curd? Well, right after this takes place:

(see how it’s just starting to form?) you get the real thing.

It goes to this:

And then, it becomes the most heavenly thing you could imagine.

Ready for it?

THIS is fresh curd:

See how it’s still a little moist? See the wetness on the fingers?

It’s wet. It’s salty. It’s springy. It squeaks when you chew it. And it’s still warm.

That’s ++Awesome.

Getting twin yolks in an egg… not just once, but eight times in a row… is +Awesome.

Whether you like the taste or not… what makes them +Awesome is that wicked cool red stain they leave on your fingers.