As y'all know by now, I grew up a huge fan of all things martial arts. I was blessed to have a little sister and younger cousins on which to hone my deadly skills. I had unwilling and not usually cooperative sparring partners anytime I felt like it. Like I said, blessings.
One hot summer day, while in the supermarket shopping for a family bbq, 10 year old Todd and his little "brother" cousin Ryan ventured off to the magazine rack. Skimming across my usual grocery store favorite reads of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Muscle and Fitness, I see Kung Fu magazine with the headline "Learn the Dim Mak!" I knew what the Dim Mak was from countless movies and claims from martial arts masters that you could end the life of your opponent with one touch. I had to learn this invincible technique! Since young Ryan was conveniently next to me, I looked at the accompanying anatomy chart explaining in detail what points to touch to make my opponent immediately succumb in quiet agony. I used my tiger claw to gently strike under Ryan's armpit, then another spot above his shoulder blade. With each gentle tap I asked Ryan "you feel that...you feel weird?" Ryan was patient and unquestioning in his participation. Of course I didn't explain my intentions. Had he known the result of the technique, I'm sure he wouldn't have been so happy to let me practice on him.
The time came to leave the store and on the ride home, the horror began to set in my belly. What have I done?! The entire ride home and the remainder of the day I nervously watched Ryan, looking for any sign of convulsion or his imminent demise. How would I explain this to my Aunt and Uncle? I screwed up big time! This was 1988...Google or the internet hadn't been invented yet. Hell, we didn't even have a computer! If it were, I would have feverishly Googled "Dim Mak Undo" or something similar. That was the scariest, worst bbq of my life. I didn't tell anyone then, nor have I ever uttered this story to anyone since. Luckily, Ryan survived the night and we went on to have numerous adventures together as teens and adults. Some of which will be shared in future posts, others I'll save for drunken family get togethers.
My very alive and healthy cousin Ryan got these for me on his last trip to the Motherland...New Orleans. Upon first bite, I get an excellently textured kettle type chip with a generous amount of seasoning and spices. So much spice that it's too overwhelming to immediately seperate all of the flavors. As I continue eating the chips, I can taste all of the spices familiar to me from all of the crawfish boils my family had growing up. I can taste hints of cayenne pepper, paprika, smoky overtones, with brown sugary sweet undertones. Maybe its a bit psychosomatic, but I swear I even taste hints of crawfish. These are a bit salty, but in a good way. Especially if paired with your favorite ice cold beer of your choice. 4 outta 5 on the chip mack scale.
One hot summer day, while in the supermarket shopping for a family bbq, 10 year old Todd and his little "brother" cousin Ryan ventured off to the magazine rack. Skimming across my usual grocery store favorite reads of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Muscle and Fitness, I see Kung Fu magazine with the headline "Learn the Dim Mak!" I knew what the Dim Mak was from countless movies and claims from martial arts masters that you could end the life of your opponent with one touch. I had to learn this invincible technique! Since young Ryan was conveniently next to me, I looked at the accompanying anatomy chart explaining in detail what points to touch to make my opponent immediately succumb in quiet agony. I used my tiger claw to gently strike under Ryan's armpit, then another spot above his shoulder blade. With each gentle tap I asked Ryan "you feel that...you feel weird?" Ryan was patient and unquestioning in his participation. Of course I didn't explain my intentions. Had he known the result of the technique, I'm sure he wouldn't have been so happy to let me practice on him.
The time came to leave the store and on the ride home, the horror began to set in my belly. What have I done?! The entire ride home and the remainder of the day I nervously watched Ryan, looking for any sign of convulsion or his imminent demise. How would I explain this to my Aunt and Uncle? I screwed up big time! This was 1988...Google or the internet hadn't been invented yet. Hell, we didn't even have a computer! If it were, I would have feverishly Googled "Dim Mak Undo" or something similar. That was the scariest, worst bbq of my life. I didn't tell anyone then, nor have I ever uttered this story to anyone since. Luckily, Ryan survived the night and we went on to have numerous adventures together as teens and adults. Some of which will be shared in future posts, others I'll save for drunken family get togethers.
My very alive and healthy cousin Ryan got these for me on his last trip to the Motherland...New Orleans. Upon first bite, I get an excellently textured kettle type chip with a generous amount of seasoning and spices. So much spice that it's too overwhelming to immediately seperate all of the flavors. As I continue eating the chips, I can taste all of the spices familiar to me from all of the crawfish boils my family had growing up. I can taste hints of cayenne pepper, paprika, smoky overtones, with brown sugary sweet undertones. Maybe its a bit psychosomatic, but I swear I even taste hints of crawfish. These are a bit salty, but in a good way. Especially if paired with your favorite ice cold beer of your choice. 4 outta 5 on the chip mack scale.
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