a buffet of bratwursts

This weekend I had the glorious opportunity to visit a local restaurant by the name of Schmidt Haus in German Village of Columbus, Ohio. There was a buffet of bratwurst, half-dozen array of amazing sausages, potatoes salads, sour kraut and red cabbage. For dessert we had a half-pound cream puff. It was though I had died and gone to heaven.

Locally established restaurants are definitely better than eating at chains.

Favorite Locally Owned Establishments:

Chaos Paradise in Cahuita, Costa Rica. Delicious red snapper and chicken sandwich with the sounds of reggae and beautiful view of the black sand beaches.

Marathon Junction at the Marathon Country Park in Wausau, WI. If you eat the one-pound Junction Burger you get a few tee-shirt and pride among your friends.

Mint Café, downtown Wausau, WI. Everything is green except the food. Great memories with mom!

Wildwater Joe’s, Daniels, WV. Try the Chili and Slaw dog. You won’t forget the bun and the price. Great deal.

Cathedral Café, Fayetteville, WV. An old church with healthy meals.

Khana Khazana, West Lafayette, IN. Indiana buffet at its best.

Spang’s, St. Germain, WI. Great thin crusted pizza and friendly staff.

Groute Constantia Stellenbosch farm, South Africa. Exotic meats, beautiful mountains and an unforgettable experience.

South Street Smoke House, Lafayette, IN. Almost as good as southern BBQ.

Buckingham’s Springfield, great BBQ west of the Mississippi.

Fried Green Tomatoes, Galena, IL. It’s all in the name. Better than the movie!

Casa Bonita’s, Denver, CO. Cliff divers, eat in a casa, and have amazing Mexican cuisine.

Purple Cow, Virginia Beach, VA. Wonderful milkshakes that turn your mouth purple.

McCord’s Candy in downtown Lafayette, IN. Get an inexpensive meal, homemade Coke, and memories of days gone by.

Rodity’s in Greek Town, Chicago. Opa! Great service and wonderful food.

Red Apple in the Polish District of Chicago. Nothing like perogies and dumplings on a buffet! Like going home for the holiday’s!

Jimmy’s, Philadelphia, PA. A classic cheese steak joint visited by everybody and everybody.

Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI. Nothing like a day of baseball and a brat covered in the secret sauce.

Ricardo’s, Greendale, WI. Pizza the ol’ Milwaukee style: cheese, sausage and mushrooms.

Ed Debevick’s, Chicago, IL. Their rude and crude, but the food is good.

Cousin’s. Something about the bread, but these subs and the cheesy broccoli soup rock!

Suberpia, Milwaukee, WI. The olive oil makes this sub sandwich a winner!

Saz’s, Milwaukee, WI. Best clam strips around.

Texas Inn (or the T room) in Lynchburg, VA. Who would have thought that an egg on a burger would be so tasty? Thanks Chris Korfman for introducing me to the cheesy western burger.

George Webbs, Milwaukee, WI. Breakfast 24-hours a day.

Favorite Chain Restaurants with a Memory:

Ryan’s Steakhouse, Beckley, WV. Nothing like hot rolls and a full belly as a college student!

Duncan Donuts on Harper Road, WV. Good times, great memories and few donuts after midnight.

Dairy Queen, Hinton WV. The view of the river is a great place for a date.

Nandos, Cape Town, South Africa. The chicken is spicy and I crave to go back!!

Culvers. Gotta love the frozen custard (turtle sundaes), butter burgers and fried cheese curds.

Taco Bell. Always a good idea on the front end, but regret it after the fact!

A&W Rootbeer (or Dogs & Suds). You can drive in and get your food at your car window.

10 reasons why Rubber Chickens make great pets

1.    They’re House Trained
2.    They don’t eat much
3.    You don’t have to walk them
4.    They love to travel
5.    It’s easy to train them (to play dead)
6.    They make a great conversation piece
7.    They’re cute and they love to cuddle
8.    They don’t make noise or wake you in the middle of the night
9.    You’ll never have to take them to the vet
10.  Chicks love them

i learned a new joke

Some people accuse me of being corny. I think it’s because they just don’t get my humor. Seriously, I have a hard time remembering jokes. I have a storehouse of about about 5 jokes I use on a rotation (that I stole from other people):

1. Knock knock? Who’s there? Duane. Duane who? Duane the bathtub I’m drowning!!

2. What happened to the guy who farted in church? He had to sit in his own pew (my only religious joke)

3. What do you call 2 Spaniards on the back of a fire truck? Hose-A and Hose-B. (not meant to be a racial slur)

4. What do you get when you breed together a Rhinosurous and an Elephant? Elephino (my only dirty joke)

5. Why did the chicken cross the kitchen? to-eat, to-eat, to-eat (this is my new joke learned from PBS Kids last Saturday)

you’re weird

You know Christians are weird! That almost sounds like a sermon I heard this Sunday at church!? Thanks Kenny for shooting down my already avalanched pride. It was a great message though. The central theme was taken from 1 Peter 1:2 which speaks to the awesomeness of our salvation. I am weird because Christ has changed me.

I desire to be weirdly different than the world around me. Yet I do not want to be different because of silly sacred practices (like bumper sticker evangelism), rather an insatiable desire for satisfaction in Jesus Christ. I came to have a personal relationship with Jesus at the age of twelve within a conservative Bible church and quickly learned that there are things that are uniquely funny about the Christian community. God and living for Him, it was all new to me.

Thanks to a good friend I have located two very funny links that express some of the stange practices of the Christian community (Stuff Christians Like & Whirled Views). I can relate to a lot of these. Enjoy some laughs on me. I hope I am not that weird!

God of this city

Now that we are back in the US of A it is time to do a little of DR08 in L-town. I am challenged to share with our community the good news of Jesus Christ. May God use the E85 FUEL mission team to impact our city.

E85 FUEL, what does it mean? E = evangelism team; 85 = well the only thing I can think of is that we “partying like it were 1985″,  have our sights on the eternal as in “back to the future”, and are cheepy-cheepy like biofuel; FUEL = our student ministries. Quirky, I know.

nickname

What is in a nickname? A nickname is sometimes considered desirable, symbolising a form of acceptance, but can often be a form of ridicule. I have had my fair share of nicknames over the years. Some I enjoy, some are annoying, some are not worth repeating, and some are fighting words. Some of my most revered nicknames are:

tweedy [what ma called me as an infant because i had a big head and little hair]

Juice [what my ma and college girls called me]

JT [not after Justin Timberlake, but close friends who knew my middle name]

Hutts / Huttshead / Huttsinski / Huttsy / Huttster

Hut-hut-hutts [my 5th grade teacher Mr. Miller]

Hutts-is-nutts [dubbed Dave K.]

knuckle head [dubbed by Eric B.]

snuggle bear [what all the girls in high school called me] 

moco [means "booger" in Spanish, dubbed by my chilean sister]

PJ [aka: pastor Justin]

peej [aka PJ]

padawan [pastor Kenny's longtime name for me the newbie pastor]

the polish sausage [pastor Kenny's newest name, which compliments my heritage]

bearing the scars

I went to the doctor today. It has been over a week since I had fractured my nose. My visit with the doc lasted only 5 minutes. No, he didn’t fix much in that time. He only told me what my options were. As the doctor put it my nose has had a lot of “trama” over my life time [fracturing it now for the 5th time]. He said that I have broke it too many times just to crack it back in place. The only option I would have to fix it would be to do a complete top to bottom overhaul. In other words, plastic surgery. There is no way. I am not into this. I am sure the cost and pain would be outrageous. I suppose I will settle for the other option…to live with a crooked and bumpy nose. Not that it wasn’t crooked before!?

 

I remember what my nose doctor, Rocky [fitting name for a nose doc], in high school said, “Your nose makes you, you!? He is right. My already deformed nose has character… at least I need to keep telling myself that. Over the pst couple of weeks I have been working on a beard. Its my first time, and no pun intended it’s really growing on me. The beard is a good distraction from the nose.

 

It’s just one more thing to look forward to when I get to heaven someday. A new nose. As Jesus bears the scars of sin on His hands and feet, I bear them on my shnoze.

 

  

eulogy: dead by sled

I almost died yesterday. Okay, not really. I went sledding with some friends from church at Slatter Hill. The conditions were supreme. The snow was packed, the air was cold, and the orange-deer sleds were dominating the competition on the hill. For real, no sleds could challenge our speed.

Risking my life for the glory of the day I borrow a little kids can of Pam cooking spray. I lathered my sled up in buttery goodness and dared to conquer the slope. A few butterflies entered my stomach. My pride was at stake. I got into my sled and took the street-luge position. Pete gave a quick push and I was off.

My eyes were watering because of the speed. My bowls were about to explode in my snowpants. I was rocketing towards the road. I couldnt bail. Only chickens bail. I reached the bottom of the hill, but I had such great speed that I launched over the road rear the Purdue soccer field fence. The sled stopped. For a moment I basked in the glory!

TOP 10 LIST: you have been coming to FUEL a long time when…

10. You hear a whiner and your first thought is, “WHAA!”

9. You have a collection of blue pens at home you forget to bring back the next week.

8. You have enough take home papers and blank notes sheets to replentish the Amazon Forest.

7. You bring your own hat on your birthday.

6. You have pit stains on your black FUEL t-shirt.

5. You know what the acrostics FUEL, SNAC, GOSPEL stand for among many others.

4. You can do all the motions to “Every Move I Make” backwards.

3. Your favorite game is HUWA, and you try to teach it to others outside of FUEL and you wonder why they look at you weird.

2. You have been practicing since February for the annual ReFUEL Retreat t Un-Talent Show.

1. You catch yourself saying, “Eh?” every now and then.

The History of Huttsinski

3 generations ago my Polish Great Dziadzia (Gramps) and Babcia (Grandma) stepped off the boat from Poland into a new land. They took the train and settled in Milwaukee because it looked a lot like home (Warsaw area), but had a hopeful future because of the prosperous factory jobs.

 

At Ellis Island they were forced to change their names from Hutzinski to Hutts. I have grown to be proud of my Polish (and German) roots. I still remember spending time with Babcia Stella and my German great-grandma Alice. They would tell wonderful stories about life in another world.JUSTIN

 

You know you’re Polish-American if.. 

-You come from Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Hamtramck, or Milwaukee. 

-There is a large church called “Saint Alphonsis’,” ”Saint Hedwig’s,” or “Saint Casimir’s” within one block of your childhood home.

-Your knowledge of the Polish language is limited to ‘quirky’ words (e.g., dupa, gowno, gatki, etc), names for food (e.g., pierogi, kapusta, etc), and toasts (e.g., na zdrowie, sto lat, etc). 

-You occasionally add the suffix “-ski” to English words for no apparent reason (e.g., “I’m gonna go put the car-ski in the garage-ski”). 

-You call your grandma “babcia” or “busia” and your grandpa “dziadzia.”

-You know how to dance the polka, but you only do it at weddings. 

-You have one grandma that wears a babushka and galoshes every single day of the year and another grandma that wears a lot of chintzy jewelry and too much make-up. 

-You have a grandma who occasionally kills animals and uses every single part of their carcasses to make sausages, soups, dumplings, etc. 

-You know more Polish jokes than all of your non

-Polish friends combined.

-You have at least one uncle named “Stan,” “Stas,” “Casey” “Al,” or “Joe.” 

-You have at least one relative who works, or used to work, in a steel mill. 

-Your relatives exhibit fanatical devotion to local sports teams (e.g., Packers, Badgers, etc.)

-Your grandma has a shrine in her broom closet complete with votive candles and a picture of the “Black Madonna of Czestochowa.”

-Your parents have at least one crucifix or religious picture mounted on a wall in their house with palms tucked behind it. 

-Your grandpa and other older men in the family habitually kiss women’s hands. 

-You regularly attend Friday fish fries, harvest festivals, parish carnivals, and/or bingo. 

-You like to put sour cream and horseradish on everything you eat. 

-Your family likes to play card games like hearts and sheep’s-head, and this often culminates in full-scale brawls. 

-You always prefer rye bread to white or wheat. 

-Your dad has forced you to eat horseradish, claiming that it will “put hair on your chest” (even if you’re a female!). 

-People in your family have their wedding receptions at places called “Polish Legion Hall,” “Sacred Heart Center,” etc. 

-You know the words to “Sto Lat” and sing it at birthday parties.

-You’ve waited in line at a church or bakery to buy pierogi….  we make our own pierogi!

-Words like kiszka, kielbasa, and kolaczki actually mean something to you.

-You know the difference between Czechs, Slovaks, and Slovenes, and you think they’re all inferior to Poles despite the numerous glaring similarities.-You actually know who Kosciusko and Pulaski are, and why they’re important. 

-You mention Nicholas Copernicus, Frederic Chopin, or Marie Curie (no, she’s not French) whenever people accuse Poles of being stupid. 

-You have at least one relative who plays the accordion.  

-You’re either completely overdressed or completely underdressed for every occasion.

-[If you're a woman], you wear make-up at all times – even if it’s 90 degrees outside and you’re 88 years old. 

-You make or are forced to listen to unnecessary speeches before proceeding with any group event. 

-You like corny expressions, puns, and/or stupid, infantile jokes. 

-You have a potato-shaped face, a huge dupa, and/or a ’Polish nose.’

-[If you're a male], you’re either as hairy as an ape or as hairless as a baby gerbil.

-[If you're a male], you have a mammoth gut and legs as thin as sticks. 

-[If you're an older male], you have an exceptionally large, Stalin-esque mustache and/or an affinity for gaudy jewelry (e.g., pinkie rings, ‘miraculous’ medals, etc). 

-Your family bickers constantly.-You have at least one bar in your house – usually in the basement.

-Your front yard is filled with lawn ornaments – (e.g., pink flamingos, jockey, Mary in the half shell, etc.)

-You have relatives who are priests and nuns.

-You collect “prayer cards” from funerals.

-You add a possessive “apostrophe s” to the name of EVERY business (e.g., Burger King’s, Blockbuster’s, etc).

-You or someone in your family owns at least one beat up, highly outdated Dodge (e.g., Aries, Aspen, Dart, Shadow, etc) or Plymouth (e.g., Acclaim, Reliant, Sundance, Volare, etc). 

-Your family owns a deli, bakery, sports bar, or funeral parlor (you know, to serve all the people who eat sausage and kolaczki!).  

-You’re haven’t been a practicing Catholic for years but everyone in your family insists that it’s “just a phase.” 

-You generally talk too much. 

-You listen to polka music and other “ethnic programming” on the radio.

-You cross yourself whenever you are shocked or disgusted.

-You honestly believe that Poles are the brightest, most beautiful people in the whole world. 

-People often have trouble pronouncing your last name. 

-You know that “head cheese” isn’t really cheese.

-You like, or know people who like, pickled pig’s feet and raw herrings in sour cream. 

-Your family is so loyal that even a second cousin would take a bullet for you.  

-You typically insist on doing simple, routine tasks in the most difficult, time-consuming manner possible. 

-You always point out that names ending in “-sky” are Russian, not Polish. 

-You make fun of everything you see on TV, but this doesn’t stop you from watching it for 8 hours straight every night. 

-Your family has 7 or 8 meals on major holidays and they always bake way too many desserts!