Daniel J Isom

I love to laugh so naturally I'm drawn to stand up comedians, sitcoms, and comedy movies. As funny as ensembles casts are on TV and in cinema, watching a single person stand up on stage telling jokes produces the best and hardest laughs from me. I'll laugh so hard that I'll cry, can't breathe, or even hurt my sides. Nobody makes that happen more than Bill Burr . His brand of angry comedy where he rants about everyday situations absolutely kills me.  Rolling Stone magazine called him "the undisputed heavyweight champ of rage-fueled humor". That couldn't be more true. Here's an example of said humor: On The PF Collective , we do a Top 5 topic every week and earlier this year we ranked the best stand up comedians; Bill was obviously my number one choice. His stand up is great but another big reason for that is his Monday Morning Podcast . Twice a week (Monday and then Thursday for the Thursday Afternoon Just-Before-Friday Monday Morning Podcast ) he

I work in a typical office setting with cubicles, desks, and florescent lighting. I keep a host of snacks in one of my desk drawers just in case I get hungry or don't want something that I brought for lunch. The one snack I always have is microwave popcorn. There is a lot of controversy across the country and probably the world over making popcorn at work. I completely understand why, its smell is pervasive and that can bother people. Whenever the microwave is used to cook something with a strong smell like fish or popcorn, it fills the office. Let me state this now, if you microwave fish at work then you should exile yourself from society. You're a bad person and everybody hates you. If you microwave popcorn, it all depends on whether or not you burn it. The smell of burnt popcorn takes hours to go away and will drag the morale of a work space down. I think people who burn popcorn, just once, should be banned from ever bringing microwave popcorn in again. I am not one of

Everyone Likes Different Games We've all been there before, you're really excited about sharing a game you really enjoy with your group and it goes over like a turd in a punch bowl. You enjoy the mechanic(s) of the game but one or more of the players don't. Some are able to power through to try and win. Others lost interest when you started explaining the rules. In either case, people aren't having fun because it's not the kind of game they want to play. On the other side of the coin, we've all been that person who has agreed to play a game we know we probably won't like. We do it because that's just common courtesy. There's some reciprocation expected by doing so. I'll play your co-op game if you'll play my hyper aggressive "dudes on a map" game. But even in that situation, everyone isn't happy. Each game shouldn't have one or more people who would much rather be playing something else. So what's the solut

We get a lot of gift cards to big box restaurants for various occasions. I had two of them to The Olive Garden and didn't feel like cooking, so I ordered meals to go. I leave work too early for the dinner menu but that worked to my advantage for the sake of this segment. On their lunch menu are four Breadstick Sandwiches . They took one of their claims to fame, their breadsticks, and combined them with some of their more popular dishes. I've had the chicken parmigiana once before and Christine has had the meatball version a couple times. I wanted to try something new, so I ordered the Spicy Calabrian Chicken. The description from The Olive Garden's website: "Lightly breaded chicken, fried and tossed in our spicy Calabrian sauce, plus tangy Gorgonzola and a savory Italian cheese spread on our signature breadstick. Served with Parmesan-garlic fries." From a nutritional standpoint, it's far from the worst thing you can order. Eating the sandwich, fries, and

I'm a horrible Italian, or at least that's what my wife says. She isn't wrong. The reason she says that is because I don't really like pasta with red sauce. If I'm out at an Italian restaurant, I will never order it. I may order something with red sauce like chicken Parmesan but I don't want the pasta. I would much rather have some oil or butter based sauce with a protein. That being said, we eat pasta with red sauce almost once a week in our household. Hypocrite much, Dan? The reason I'm willing to do this is because of the sauce itself. About once every other month, I make a double batch of my mother's pasta sauce. We have it for dinner that night and then I freeze roughly seven to eight more portions and freeze them. Then all I have to do is take some out, warm it up, and boil some pasta. It's a very quick dinner that's both filling and tastes great. If I want to make add a little substance, we'll have a salad and/or homemade bread.

One of my favorite summer desserts is Poke Cake. If you're never heard of it, Googling those words will return over 28 million results. So what is it? True to its name, it's a cake that you poke holes in after baking. The holes are then filled with a liquid or filling like condensed milk, pureed fruit, chocolate cream, or pudding. Although there are almost an infinite number of combinations, the one I'm talking about today is probably the simplest version possible. All you need for this refreshing dessert is white  cake mix, a packet of your favorite flavor of Jello, and a container of Cool Whip. Here's how easy it is to make:  - Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 13x9-inch pan. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes. Pierce cake with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals. - Add boiling water to gelatin mix in small bowl; stir for two minutes until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water; pour over cake. Refrigerate for 3 hours. - Frost cake with Cool

In the world of tube packaged potato chips, there are really only two options: Lay's Stax and Pringles. Both of these products aren't technically potato chips, they're potato crisps. The difference between a potato chip and a potato crisp is that the former is fried sliced potatoes, the latter is a processed and formed snack item made up of potato and other starches. While I prefer an actual chip to one of these potato crisp snack items, if given the choice I'll take Lay's Stax over Pringles every time. Right off the bat, the biggest difference between the two is that Stax aren't as thin and wispy as Pringles. The thicker crisp provides better crunch, which has been proven to make food taste better . They also have a better mouth feel because they don't disintegrate immediately when mixed with saliva. The thickness of Stax also gives them the strength to be used for dipping. Try dipping Pringles without needing to fish out pieces from the dip w

I attended a mandatory cultural competency training last week that was probably the worst educational experiences of my life. Thankfully, it only lasted two hours and sixteen minutes. The section I work for organizes a similar training that lasts all day and is very engaging. It's for both state and non-state employees, where as the one I recently attended is just for certain state employees. I was hoping that our longer training would be accepted in place of the shorter one being taught from within our division. Unfortunately, that was not the case so off I went. Roughly forty people, from various sections and pay grades, sat at tables facing projection screens. We all filled out our little name card tents and waited patiently for the training to begin. One of the two instructors introduces themselves and gives a quick summary of the class. They turned it over to the the main instructor and that's when it all started to go down hill. We spent over thirty minutes of the s

When I saw an advertisement for a $4 Bobbie sandwich from  Cappriotti's , as a part of their birthday celebration, I decided I would buy one for lunch and do a review.  Some of you may be familiar with a sandwich review blog that I used to run called Syracuse Sandwich . The goal of the blog was to eat all the sandwiches in Syracuse and review them. Unfortunately, I was able to do 66 reviews before we moved to Delaware. I want to bring that back. Now that I've got that out of the way, let's talk about The Bobbie. It's essentially a Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich, one of my absolute favorite types. The sandwich has in-house roasted turkey, stuffing, mayo, and cranberry sauce. I've had this sandwich a couple times in the past but haven't been overly impressed. It was very likely that I would never buy one again, but for just $4 (50% off) it was worth giving it another shot. When you promote a sandwich as being voted as the greatest sandwich in America*, you

I'm surrounded by people for nearly every minute of every day. I wake up next to my beautiful wife and always happy son, James. Ben sleeps a little over a foot away from us in his toddler bed. Down the hall, Grace is sprawled across her queen sized mattress. Somewhere in the room, at least one of the cats is huddled against the wall waiting to be fed. I'm conscious and surrounded by love. During the week I drop Christine off at work, it's at this time that I'm am physically alone. The twenty to thirty minute drive to and from work are the only portions of my life where I'm not interacting with anyone directly. Once I'm at work, I have co-workers and work friends that I talk to about work and whatever else. I normally leave at 3 to pick Christine up and then we're back together as a family just a few minutes later. By 9 p.m. I am technically alone as the only person awake but I'll be asleep within the next hour, maybe two. On the weekends, we either

If you were really into Vine before it got shut down, you probably know SungWon Cho a.k.a ProZD . I didn't find out about him until I saw some of his YouTube videos retweeted by people I follow on Twitter. Many of his videos are recordings of him playing multiple characters, often making fun of tropes in video games and anime. He also hilariously covers topical issues like the recent Laurel - Yanny debate. Speaking of that, I've probably watched his video on it a dozen times and shared it with others because I find it so funny. Here it is: Professionally, SungWon Cho is a voice actor and has done work on various video games and TV shows. I wanted to take a minute to highlight him because he's one of my favorite YouTube personalities. Some of his other content includes unboxing videos, board game reviews, and trying various foods, often ramen. If you like to be entertained or have interest in any of the topics I listed, go check out his channel . I promise you won't

I was very sad to hear of Anthony Bourdain's passing. This post isn't going to be about his suicide and everything that entails. Instead, I want to share a quote from one of his books that I think about almost every time I cook. About ten years ago, I was really into him because of his books. The stories he told in  Kitchen Confidential  and  Medium Raw  were fascinating and gave you a window into the world of professional kitchens. In Kitchen Confidential , he said: “Garlic is divine. Few food items can taste so many distinct ways, handled correctly. Misuse of garlic is a crime...Please, treat your garlic with respect...Avoid at all costs that vile spew you see rotting in oil in screwtop jars. Too lazy to peel fresh? You don't deserve to eat garlic.” Ever since I read that quote, I've only bought fresh garlic. I keep garlic powder and salt in the pantry for making dry spice blends and for baking, but you won't find the jarred stuff anywhere. Because I make a

I follow author, Chuck Wendig , on Twitter. As of the writing of this post, I have never read any of his books. The reason I follow him stems from the hilarious conversations he has with another author that I follow but haven't read, Sam Sykes . He also tweets out a lot of funny material and some great photos. About a month ago he wrote this post  on his site about a sandwich that the New York Times published, a pickle and peanut butter sandwich. He tried it but that was just be beginning. Since then, many of his fans have tried the evolved version, The Wendigo, that adds both mayonnaise and bacon. I've seen dozens on photos in my Twitter feed about it and since I'm such a lover of sandwiches, I have to try it. Now I've had peanut butter and mayonnaise before because that was another oddball that people say everyone should try. I've even heard of the sandwich that the NYT wrote about; it's popular among pregnant women apparently. But this combo seemed quite

Watching the World Cup less than an hour after getting married...best husband ever. Today is my 8th wedding anniversary. Christine has been putting up with my shit for nearly 14 years, but at every major anniversary we start the day by saying the number of years followed by "of your shit" to one another. I couldn't be happier to be married to such beautiful and caring woman. I count my blessings every day that I haven't sent her running for the hills. In the eight years that we've been married: we sold our house in New York, moved to Delaware, bought another house, adopted two cats, and brought three children into the world. I'm a very lucky man to have Christine by my side every day. She's an unbelievable mother, friend, and partner. I look forward to the life we're continuing to build together and can't wait to see where time takes us. I'm so lucky. Happy Anniversary Christine. I love you.

Last Thursday night, the Washington Capitals rallied to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. With a 4-3 win, they won their first Stanley Cup in the franchise's history. This Stanley Cup Final was really something special because it pitted one of the all time greats, Alexander Ovechkin , against an expansion team that nobody saw doing this well. With the Golden Knights making it to the final, it was also first time since the St. Louis Blues that an expansion team made it to the championship. But when St. Louis did it, they were in a conference of six brand new teams so somebody was going to make it. I got back into hockey this year to support my favorite team, the Colorado Avalanche. They had their own amazing season, going from the worst team in the league to winning a couple games against the best team in the Western Conference in the playoffs. But the rise of the Golden Knights was the story of the season. The fact that they did as well as t

Shitty things happen in our lives sometimes that we have to deal with. I mean, you could choose to ignore them but that's not normally the best or healthiest response. When you're put into a position  that you think is less than ideal, how you choose to resolve it could have consequences if you're not willing to let it go. You could lose out an opportunity, a job, a relationship, or any number of other things. However, maybe taking a stand and be willing to lose out will ultimately be in your best interest.  There are pivotal points in your life where just letting a thing go will make it easier for everyone. But that doesn't mean by conceding your feelings that you aren't going to be negatively affected. Because even though you've let it go, you're still holding on to the thought of what happened. Depending on how dramatic or involved the situation was, it could stick with you for life. You'll look back and wonder if you made the right decisio

Just before James was born, Walmart started offering grocery pickup in our area. They had displays in the store encouraging customers to try it out. On the display was a handout explaining the benefits and gave a code for $10 your first order. We figured it was free money so why not try it out; I haven't gone full on grocery shopping since. It's such a great system that I thought I would share some thoughts on it in case you're interested in taking advantage of it wherever you are. Let me say now that I like going grocery shopping. When we lived in NY and shopped at Wegmans , it was one of the highlights of my week. If you've ever been to a Wegmans you understand what I mean. But we don't have the mecca of grocery stores here in Delaware so my options are limited. Walmart has the best prices, Savings Catcher , and now a service that saves me both time and money. I no longer need to walk through a ginormous store and then stand in line because they never have

When it was time to make lunch on Sunday I wasn't really feeling anything so I went with the old standby, a grilled cheese sandwich. While a non stick skillet was warming up, I got out a couple slices of bread, a couple slices of cheese, and the butter. As I started to spread the butter onto the bread, I remembered a conversation I had with my mother when she was visiting recently. I don't remember how we got on the topic but she reminded me that making a grilled cheese in the oven, opposed to on top of the stove, produced a more consistent and overall better sandwich. That reminded me of grade school and how crunchy the cafeteria's grilled cheese sandwiches were. They have to make them in large batches, so filling a sheet pan with them is obviously the most efficient way to do that. I've made hundreds of grilled cheese sandwiches in my life and have made them in the oven before but normally opt for the traditional skillet method. Since I was in no rush, I turned

I love candy, especially those that are chocolate based. I try not too eat too much of it but there seems to be some floating around the house, year round. I was going to wait until Halloween to post this list but I'm not a fan of the shrinking size of candy that's given out during that night. I don't want a little bite of these candies, I want the full size bar/bag.  Making a top 10 list was pretty easy, but there were a few types of candy that I enjoy that didn't quite make it including: Butterfinger, Twix, Hershey Bar w/Almonds, and Skittles. 10. Pay Day As you'll see from the following selections on this list, I'm a big fan of candy that either has peanuts or peanut butter in them. Pay Day's are a go to candy bar when you want something sweet and really salty. The solid log of caramel doesn't do a lot for me but when combined with salty peanuts, there is a texture difference that's rather satisfying. 9. 3 Musketeers 3

This is a post that I've wanted to write for a while now but didn't have the words to write down, not sure if I do yet or not but let's see what happens. I've been struggling in a few aspects of my life for quite some time but perhaps the biggest of those struggles is finding a purpose when it comes to a career or job. I've never really been sure of what I've wanted to do for work. I've had lots of ideas and tried a few things but none of them have ever stuck. I only took the job I'm in now because of the benefits and to get my foot in the door to eventually move up to a different position in the State. But now that I've been here for over six years, there isn't a job I'd want to do within this system. Working in an office is one of the most boring things I've ever done. I'm over qualified for the position I'm in and was told as much by my former supervisor just weeks into the job. "So go do something else," you

I've found the balance and it stuck throughout May. Now I'd like to increase the amount of each one. Let's see what I got done last month: 1) Bake more bread from scratch I really wanted to make fried chicken sandwiches on challah bread buns so I took out the two remaining balls of dough that I had frozen and turned them into 8 rolls. Unfortunately, they came out to dense to use for a sandwich so I didn't get to make the fried chicken yet. I should have realized that they wouldn't be light enough after eating the loaves I had made in April. They still were great toasted with a little butter. I was going to make Italian bread  for Grace but I kept forgetting to order the couple of ingredients I don't normally keep on hand. But I still wanted to make something so I made a couple small rustic loaves. I didn't realize that I was almost out of bread flour but I had enough for half a recipe. As it turns out, Grace LOVES this type of bread as well. We