Metia Meets "The Man"

This reviewer doesn't make all of his income from this blog. OK, I actually don't make any money here. Instead, I have a job at a cool little company on the Eastside. Some of the things that makes this job cool are no dress code, "beer fridays", work from home, and they were nice enough to treat us to a little BBQ last week. They had many grand ideas for this Q, but they were all shot down by the same building management that forbade me from bringing my bicycle inside, so they ended up getting 60 pounds of takeout from Dixie's BBQ up the street.

Normally, I would not review an event such as this because our rating system is more geared for private parties, but since the BBQ scene has been a little slow the last couple weeks, I'll give Metia the spotlight.

1.Gear. Obviously, I didn't see any gear, but I imagin Dixie's has quite the set up. You can't give too many points on imagination, tho. 1 point.

2. Quality of Meat. There was chicken, beef, and pork. Tried beef and took some of the chicken home. It was OK. A good, tangy standard sauce, but the meat wasn't anything to get your panties bunched up about. After the feeding was over, most of my co-workers were moaning and holding their stomachs. Instead of wishing they could magically be un-full so they could eat more, they were wishing they could Ctrl-Z so they could feel better. And a side note about "the Man" sauce: I didn't see any of the sauce at our BBQ, but I've had it before and liken it to being maced in the mouth. No flavor, just pain. 1 point.




3.Alcohol. There was a wide selection of sodas and juices, but no booze. If we can have beer on Fridays, why not Thursdays? 0 points.

4. Side dishes. Beens, potato salad, Caesar salad. 1 pt.

5. Crowd. A lot of good people there. It was fun sitting w/ my fellow designers, but people didn't really hang out too long. Seemed like they ate, talked to the people they worked with, then went back to their desks. 1.5 points.

6. Music. Not even Musak. 0 pts.

7. Setting. In the "Big Kitchen" cuz they were scared of rain. 1/2 point.

8. Dessert. 3 kinds of cookies. The chocolate chip cookies were about 40% chips. Nice. 1 pt.

9. Did we like you? Nothing special in the way of hospitality, but it was free and very nice of them to do, plus how could I not like my fellow Metians? 2 points.

It's admitedly hard to live up to the Hardcore Meat standards, but not bad for a work function. 8 out of 18 points.

The Yost House

U S A ! U S A ! U S A !



This little shindig had a clear theme throughout the house... U S A !!! Everything was red, white and blue and freakin delicious! As one might expect from the 4th of July weekend, there were many BBQs going on, so the HCM team had to split up to cover all of the BBQ action. This reporter was lucky enough to get invited to Jen's mom's house ( ok, it's Jim's house, too) out past Gig Harbour.



1. Gear. Gas grill, basic tools. Nothing to write home about (or on a blog). 1 point.

2. Quality of Meat. Chicken: Off tha hook. Pork ribs: Whoa. Some links: Good for lunch. Now I must clarify that the ribs and chicken were actually baked, then warmed on the grill, but hey, they could have microwaved them for all I care - they were free and delicious. 2 points.

3. Alcohol. Beer and wine with talk of hard stuff somewhere. 1 point.

4. Side dishes. A wide assortment of salads, some cous cous and a Cowboy Caviar dip that had people freaking out. 2 points.






5. Crowd. Great diversity and range of ages. No fights. 2 points.

6. Music. There was music inside and it had it's moments. And the music that was timed with the fireworks made me laugh, but not in a good way. But then again is there such thing as bad laughter?... hmm... 1 point.

7. Setting. The house was right on the sound. We lit fireworks off the dock and they had a barge out in the water with real fireworks. Oh, and they had little towels for drying your hands in the bathroom. We even played lawn darts!! When's the last time you played lawn darts? 2 points.


8. Dessert. Lemon bars, apple pie, and brownies. Maybe it was my munchies talking, but those may have been the best brownies ever. 2 points.





9. Did we like you? Georgiann and Jim were first class hosts and fun to hang out with. Did I mention they fed a bunch of people they didn't know? 2 points.






15 out of 18 points - a rating to be proud of!