Tommy Chicago Hot Dog

In a mobile food truck parked in front of an old fast-food joint, Tommy Chicago Hot Dog serves a small menu that packs a solid flavor punch. At the 5-month-old drive-thru and walk-up, a modest menu of dogs, chips, potent garlic fries and homemade chili will see the addition of a few favorite sandwiches this week - meatball, pastrami, philly - and a half-pound dog.

Loaded with confetti-looking and unnaturally glowing green sweet relish, white diced onion and tomato slices, the Chicago is served on a warm poppy seed bun with squiggles of mustard and topped with mild yellow sport peppers and a Kosher dill. It's a must-eat. Belying its name, the Polish Fire Dog - diced onion, sport peppers and all - sadly did not deliver the lip burn we were looking for. The deep maroon-hued dog gets an A for flavor though.- Jason De Paul
[Tommy Chicago Hot Dog, 14905 Pacific Ave., Spanaway, 253.882.5561]

Ritual Refreshment

Like most junkies, I always know where I'm likely to get my next fix. At any given moment, I can tell you exactly where the nearest dealer lurks, and I often plan my day around taking time out for a quick high. Yes, I could quit any time - if I could withstand the torment of withdrawal, the shattering headaches and mood swings, the candy binges and resulting back fat, the terrifying sense that I might never be able to function again.

My drug dealers? Satellite Coffee Co. Mandolin Cafe. Batdorf & Bronson.

In a society determined to make us richer, faster, hipper and better, a beverage designed to make us jiggy wit' it was bound to become our drink of choice. But it hasn't made us smarter. Although we pay a lot of lip service to stopping to smell the roses, in reality, it takes Americans four cups of coffee just to get through the day. The myth is that coffee helps us in some way, but studies of caffeine's effect on the body indicate that coffee is merely the sweaty guy loading the brain on a roller coaster's first car, and the only way to feel better after coming down from that last cup of coffee is ride it again.

Tea, you are our only hope.

Tea isn't just hot water splashed on some dried leaves. It's little Muffy in a frilly dress pouring teeny cups for teddy bears. It's ancient Chinese doctors blending the fruits of the earth to cure flesh and British nannies sneaking behind the shrubbery snatching a few minutes for themselves. It's a ceremony and a getaway. It's mint for a bad hair day, ginseng for emerging deadlines.

It's also a monthly Asian experience at the Fircrest Community Center hosted by the Asia Pacific Cultural Center in Tacoma. The organization presents the "tea ceremony" on a Saturday, concentrating on a specific Asian country's tea techniques and history lesson, trying to take participants out of the rat race for an hour. In Korea, China and Japan, tea is meant to be enjoyed in a relaxing environment, not behind the steering wheel.

This Saturday, Jan. 9, tea will be enjoyed the Korean way in Fircrest. The calming begins at 10 a.m. Reserve your space now at 253.226.2742. - Jake De Paul
[Fircrest Community Center, Saturday, Jan. 9, 10-11 a.m., all ages, $10, 555 Contra Costa, Fircrest, 253.226.2742]