Hello Brother

TESTING TESTING 1, 2, 3...

Well Hello BROTHER!  My name is Ben. But everyone online knows me as Erni.  Eatin Erni.  I've always wanted to write one of these things.  I never have though, so please be nice in the comments.. or don't, be crazy and unhinged, that's actually sort of what I'm all about.

-HOW I GOT HERE-

I was asked by a friend on TikTok to tell my story on how I went form average dad to RED LUCHADOR MASKED FOODIE GUY!  It's a long story, but I will do my best to keep it short and entertaining.  I'm not sure if I can mention her on here?  Oh, my goodness I'm already terrible at this.  Did I Mention I type like I speak normally?  Ok good we are all set then.  IT IS STORY TIME.

-THE STORY-

Hi, I am Erni.  Eatin Erni to be exact.  But I haven't always been Erni, however I have always been eatin (L O L).  I started this foodie internet journey a few years ago.  It started with one tweet and 0 followers.  It's turned into over 50,000 tweets, tens of thousands of interactions and conversations, thousands of friendships, and some of those very close friendships of people I have to this day never met but shared deeply personal stories with. 

It all stems from one passion from one man.  The passion is food, and that man is my father.

In order to tell the story properly let's turn the year back to the 1960s and a boy named Jimmy who was born in 1961.  Jimmy had many brothers and sister.  All older other than his twin brother.  All of his siblings and the neighborhood kids would all be out playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. (that's just what they did in the 60's).  But not Jimmy.  Jimmy was in the kitchen asking his Granny what she was cooking.  "what's that" He would ask as she added each ingredient to each dish.  This went on for years Jimmy watching his Granny cook and asking questions of why this and why that.  Granny was always more than happy to teach of course which led to a great bond between the two of them. 

Many years later Jimmy would start a family of his own.  He would cook up all sorts of meals.  Meals everyone has heard of for sure, but he would always find a way to make it better.  He would reinvent food until it was perfect in his eyes, and it was never perfect in his eyes so he would continue to strive to make it better.  Jimmy all had four children all who had friends, and boy would those friends ALWAYS be at the house.  Jimmy always was in the kitchen cooking something feeding those kids.  "Jimmy always cooks for an army" is what they would say.  He would cook BBQ chicken wings on the smoker. hand tossed from scratch pizza... the largest most delicious pot of chili you could ever imagine, with three types of beans and two types of quality deli pepperoni!  Everyone always used to tell him he should open his own restaurant.  He would always reply "I don't need money, I'm rich in family... I just like to feed people" You see Jimmy just wanted to make people smile and laugh.  He did that with cooking and feeding folks... feeding his own kids... his kid's friends.  I mean now a days I have my kid's friends over and I'm ordering a pizza.  Not Jimmy though... he would fire up that kitchen and have something ready in an hour. And it was always five-star worthy soul food. With laughter and jokes along the way.

Fast forward......

Jimmy's kids got older and had kids themselves.  He would not go on to take over his Granny's roll in the kitchen and take his grandkids in the kitchen and teach them all the ins and outs of the kitchen.

What goes in this dish what goes in that, how to toss a pizza dough and how to stir a pot of chili. 

Oh, the luchador mask... right.

He got these Luchador Masks... I think off amazon years ago.  He brings them over one day and says... "I thought you and Curly Top could wrestle with these"

Side note, Curly top is my son at the time 4 years old.  Jimmy, my dad nick named him Curly Top on account of his curly hair.  They were absolutely BEST FRIENDS!  Anyways, he gave me several luchador masks that I ended up just putting in storage for years.  Used them that day and that was it.  Curly Top and PAW PAW would go on to cook together very often over the next year.

THE END OF ONE AND THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER...

You guys new this was coming right? How could you not.  Every great story has a tragedy, right?

If you haven't already figured out, Jimmy was my father.  My best friend.  My hero.

February 2021, Jimmy, my dad, my best friend passed away at the age of 59. 

My world was crushed.  An entire light of the world snuffed out. Forever. Gone. Not to be replaced. 

Or was it...

I battled for days... weeks... months... I thought... my dads light in this world cannot be snuffed out so easily.  This isn't right... this isn't fair.

I needed to honor him.

I needed to extend his light even though he was gone.

So...

It started with a tweet.

A tweet turned into another... and another

And that turned into what has now become a character of a guy named Eatin Erni.

I cannot cook like my dad... and to be honest most people can't (not to shit on everyone's grandmas lol)

And here we are today...

Putting ranch on chocolate brownies

Sardines on Fuit loops

Playing with mousetraps and pizza Lunchables..

The mission for me is simple

Put smiles on faces and laughter in souls

I miss my dad every day so much it hurts.  But I know putting his cigar smoking face on a t-shirt and slapping on a red luchador mask and choking down some down some tuna juice is just what the Laugh Doctor ordered.

My message is this. Life is hard. It is really REALLY hard.

I just want to try and make it enjoyable for those going through it.

Smiles on faces, LAUGHTER IN SOULS