Meat; Las Vegas; Apples
Jul/104
- This past weekend I was back home for the Selinsgrove Hops & Vines festival. Overall, I’d say it met my expectations. I drank samples of about 20 beers new to me and a handful of classics. The most impressive offerings came from a new brew pub outside of Lewisburg, PA named River House Brewing. They had a really decent Belgian-style dubbel and a mocha latte stout that was a hair too much coffee but impressive nonetheless. It was a little too hot for a festival which left us desperately wishing someone had a swimming pool.
- I went out to breakfast with my parents on Sunday morning after church to Bob Evans. I’m not a huge breakfast person but it seemed like a good idea. I ended up with a pretty terrific dish. Picture a bread bowl salad. Get rid of the salad and replace it with eggs, fried potatoes, tomatoes, green onions, bacon and cover it in Hollandaise sauce. Replace the bread bowl with a giant biscuit bowl. Incredibly unhealthy. Incredibly delicious!
- On Sunday night I met up with Erin for dinner. Her mother was passing through town and one of her mother’s best friends from the college days (and husband) happened to be in the general vicinity so they stopped by as well. We enjoyed some very nice wine along with an assortment of cheeses. Erin also put together a really cool appetizer that consisted of prosciutto wrapped around nectarines, grilled and drizzled with maple syrup (in the future I’d skip the syrup but the combo of the salty pork and grilled sweet fruit was awesome). For the actual dinner we went to the Northern Liberties section of the city to the bar/restaurant North 3rd. This place is on my Philly top 5. I love the atmosphere and the food is excellent (a few decent beers too). I had a pork loin that was simply amazing. It made me think of eating a great steak. It was like the white meat of steaks. The fact that it was rubbed in chili pepper and other spices certainly didn’t hurt either.
- We got hit with some serious thunderstorms tonight as I was driving home. This produced some really great looking rainbows. The coolest view was while I was driving. I couldn’t see it in the sky but it was reflecting of the soaked road and then in turn reflecting of the condensation rising from the road. Think the scene from Stars Wars where R2D2 projects the hologram of the princess and replace her with a rainbow. It was really cool. It was also really cool went I looked down on Conshohocken and you could see the rainbow ending on the roof of a building.
- I give credit to the Vitamin Water I drank on my way home tonight for the boost to go for a run. I got one with caffeine and it did wonders. I put in 5+ at a respectable pace and I felt pretty good. Listening to the band Dinosaur Jr. didn’t hurt either. I really haven’t been running enough lately but tonight was inspiration to keep at it. It also inspired me to finally sign up for the Las Vegas marathon.
- I’m on quest to find the best apple variety. This week I’m going to study the “pink lady” and “McIntosh.” Any guesses on what I’ll find to be the most enjoyable apple?
Random Thoughts
Mar/100
- I actually listened to my father and took my car in for a state inspection this morning. This required me to wake up at a decent time (9am) and get rolling. Considering how nice it was when I walked outside, I was very pleased with this decision. Unfortunately, I’m sitting in the waiting area but at least I know it is nice outside.
- I’ve decided to brew another batch of beer today. It is supposed to be sunny and 72°F so spending time outside is a must. I’m going to pick up supplies from a homebrew shop in Havertown as soon as my car is ready. I decided to keep this recipe simple and season appropriate. I’m going to do a wit beer (aka Belgian white). Should be ready for consumption by the start of May. The only two downsides to brewing today are that I can’t drink beer and I didn’t invite anyone over to help (which is probably good since I can’t drink and brew).
- My face is super puffy. When I get home I’m going put some ice on it but last night that didn’t seem to help very much. I look pretty ridiculous especially since my hair is all a mess and I haven’t shaved in a few days.
- I started looking at vacation packages for the December trip to Las Vegas. In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, I plan on running the 2010 Las Vegas Marathon. It should be a good time. I encourage everyone to come on out and either run or cheer. Either way, it’s Vegas baby!
- I really look forward to eating some real food. I’m not sure my mouth is healed enough to move beyond soup and mashed things. I might step it up to macaroni and cheese with some tuna fish for lunch. Erin indicated an interest in grabbing some outdoor seating on Main St. for dinner tonight. Sounds like fun, even if I have soup.
- I’ve been using a “netbook” for the last few days. In case you aren’t familiar with the term it is an extra compact laptop computer with long battery life and relatively limited power which makes it perfect for surfing the web. This particular model is the Lenovo S12. You can pick one up for $299 shipped. If I didn’t already have a work laptop that I use for most surfing I’d seriously consider picking one of these up. The touchpad on this model can be a little finicky and the keyboard is a little cramped but the battery life and portability are awesome. It also happens to be powerful enough to serve as a media computer for streaming Netflix to my TV (looked pretty much DVD quality).
Politics, Bison, Masons
Jan/104
- Great job Massachusetts! Scott Brown is going to bring change to Washington. Way to make sure that Congress doesn’t get anything done until at least the mid-term elections. It drives me nuts that you need to have the majority in Congress with a corresponding president. Perhaps I’ve overreacting and there are bipartisan things getting passed all the time. Does anyone know what the last major bill to become law got true bipartisan support? I can’t really fairly gauge how well Obama’s presidency has been going but I can tell you having 41 Republican votes in the Senate isn’t going to help.
- I was totally baffled at the grocery store tonight as to what I should eat for dinner. I wanted something simple that would not result in enough leftovers for 5 days like I normally cook. Tacos came to mind even though I just made some last week. I hate the Acme near me because ground turkey is never on sale and costs over $6 for a package. As I stared at the meat counter I spotted a package of Bison which was $5.99. Bison tacos? Ok. They turned out pretty decent though you can definitely taste that it isn’t beef.
- I really like Nate’s comment about the Masons from the last entry. It was so well written I’m pretty sure he didn’t write it and actually stole it from the Mason’s website or maybe Wikipedia. In any case, I seriously would like to join them irrespective of all the hype about them these days. It sounds like an interesting organization with lots of symbolic brotherhood stuff which I really appreciate and I really ought to do more for the community so it sort of just makes a lot of sense. Being that I don’t know any Masons in Philly, it might be a little difficult to try and join. I’ll at least keep it on the backburner.
- I’m currently reading the book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael J. Sandel which sounded really good on NPR but is a challenging read because it feels like a college reading assignment. Next will be the latest Michael Crichton novel (which is sort of weird because he died and then they found some manuscript and published it). Then perhaps I’ll read a book by comedian Chelsea Handler (E! nighttime talk show host) – she’s got a new one coming out in March.
- Conan O’Brien needs to go to Fox at 11pm. I will watch him!
- Jay Leno just asked Michael Jordan “can you still dunk” and Michael Jordan said “are you an idiot” and Mr. Jordan is correct.
- I’ve heard that if you cut beer / drinking out of your diet it is the key to getting that extra edge in getting in shape. That makes a lot of sense. It is easy to rack up a bunch of calories quickly and often when you are drinking you find yourself prone to eating anything available. It all makes a lot of sense, but honestly, why would you want to give up delicious brews? I just doesn’t seem worth it.
- Nate suggested that I use a tanning bed to fight the winter blues. Nate, do you remember when I took off my shirt that one time to go tubing down the creek and you nearly went blind from my whiteness? Bad idea. Maybe I can get my UV light by sitting in the basement with some blacklights, listening to The Doors and just chillin’ out.
Catasauqua, Dan Brown, Kegging
Jan/103
- This past weekend I went up to Catasauqua, PA to visit Steve and also hang out with Adam, Phil and Trevor. It was a very good time. We drank some brews, played some games and just generally had a good time. Oh yeah, there might have been a power hour in there for old times sake. Highlight – cheesesteaks from Mario’s in Northampton (awesome bread)
- I finished the new Dan Brown book today. I suspect there are a lot of critics out there of his style of writing but style aside, this guy does his homework. The amount of presumably factual historic details is mind-boggling. I wonder how long the research took. It is an easy read, entertaining and strangely similar to his other works. It will make a decently entertaining movie and will likely boost tourism for Washington DC.
- The four best shows on TV in no particular order are Anthony Bourdain – No Reservations, Man vs. Food, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. For as much food television I watch you might think I’ve got a strong desire to become a chef. That is definitely not true though I do enjoy cooking things from time to time. I couldn’t imagine cooking being a career and a huge time consumer in my life.
- I finally kegged the Troegs Mad Elf tribute beer that Adam and I brewed in early December. I tasted it uncarbonated and I think we produced a nice one. I’m particular interested in how clear it will be once poured. The beer was racked quite a few times and I was especially careful about not transferring too much trub (spent yeast and other particulate matter) along with the actual beer.
- I really look forward to the spring. This lack of daylight thing is starting to get to me. I’ve taken measures to combat it but I can only do so much. The biggest trouble I’ve got is waking up in the morning. It is such a struggle. I think I need to start saving up for a private jet and beach house in Florida so I can at least escape on the weekends to some warmth.
- Viking vs. Colts Superbowl with Vikings winning 27-24. That’s my prediction.
Favorite TV Channels
Jan/101
I hate to admit it, but I wasted about 4-5 hours yesterday glued to MTV as I caught up on the series Jersey Shore. Trashy TV it is indeed, not even that interesting or well produced, but addicting nonetheless. No, MTV is not on the list of my favorite TV channels.
I recently discovered how to filter my DirectTV guide so that it only shows the channels I supposedly get. I still think it shows a few I don’t really get, but browsing the guide is much better now. Speaking of channels, I’m thinking about ditching HBO. I can’t really think of any reason to keep it. I don’t actively watch any shows and I get movies quicker via Netflix than them showing up on one of the many flavors of HBO.
Anyway, I was eating dinner and watching some stuff and realized I don’t need very many channels to keep me happy.
Absolute Favorites
1) Food Network
2) Travel Channel
3) Discovery Channel
4) Comedy Central
Occasionally Useful
1) ESPN
2) FOX, ABC, NBC (CBS sucks)
3) Bravo
4) E!
I would love if some legistlation got passed that would allow TV to be much more à la carte. I obviously don’t need nor want 300 channels so why should I have to take a package that gives them all to me? I’d rather pay per channel and get the additional programming on an OnDemand basis. Someone told me something like this is in the works, so I hope that is true.
2009 In Review
Jan/102
The latest lapse in writing is due to all of the reflection I’ve done to craft this post. Seriously! It is that time again to look back a year and reflect on the key points from the year; both good and bad. Overall, I’d have to say this was the most exciting and interesting year of my life. I present you with my top ten list of keys items from 2009.
10] Food – I did a lot of eating this year. I went out to a lot of interesting restaurants and also cooked a lot of great dinners at home. Some of my favorite home-cooked meals included parmesan crab risotto, spaghetti squash (Erin made it), turkey burgers and buffalo wing meatloaf. Some of the best dinners out included Morimoto’s, Zot, The Keg (Toronto Airport), Ummo (San Juan) just to name a few.
9] Running – I did a decent amount of running this year. I ran four races (two half-marathons, one 10-miler and one 5K). I decided that the Broad Street 10-miler is not as easy as I remembered it from previous years, 5K’s require you to run way too fast and half-marathons are a pretty good distance. I hope that this year brings even more races because they seem to be on the only way I can stay inspired to keep in shape. This year will definitely bring another marathon (most likely Vegas in December).
8] Tailgating – The trips up to State College were a little interesting this year. Erin got to see her first Penn State game and my whole family made it to the Syracuse game which was a lot of fun. I did one game without the rest of the crew which was very relaxing and fun. I also discovered that I need to find a way to be more involved in the operations of the tailgating crew if I’m going to get the best experience out of it. Since I now have a portable grill, I’m going to try and assist Derrick in cooking to some degree which will be a good thing.
7] New Roommate – Derrick said goodbye to Apple St and headed down to DC. It was a great run of three and a half years of sultanism. Due to me not properly anticipating the need for a new roommate, being too picky and traveling too much it took me 3 months to get someone new to move in. That was an unfortunate financial burden but a good lesson learned. I haven’t really gotten to know the new guy yet but he pays the rent and seems nice enough so that works for me.
6] Health – The year was a bit of a reality check for my health. It reinforced my personal understanding of the importance of health and dental insurance.
5] Brewing – This fall I got back into brewing beer. I did 4 batches and got help from several different friends which was nice (I also helped my buddy Kyle with 3 batches). I truly believe the quality is improving with each batch. One of the most fun parts was working with Erin to “revive” the Croft brand of beer with labels and a special pumpkin ale (The Croft Ale brand was part of her family in the early part of the 20th century). Perhaps if I can save up some cash I can invest in the makings of an all-grain brewing setup.
4] Soccer – Played a lot of soccer and I also stopped playing soccer this year. I didn’t win any sessions with my 3 teams but I played a lot of fun games and got a lot better at goalie. The highlight was definitely the beach soccer tournament where we camped on the beach and made it to the final game. Unfortunately, the traveling made it such that I couldn’t commit to the teams and that was a big disappointment. I’m hoping to get back into it this year.
3] Traveling – Speaking of traveling, this year was filled with it. I spent 67 nights in a hotel, took 39 flights, visited 6 different countries (technically 7 as I took a train through Hungary) and had a lot of adventures. It certainly wasn’t all fun as most of it was for work purposes. There were a lot of 4am nights though a lot of expensable meals and good beers as well. I’m glad I got a chance to experience the travel thing though I’d be happy if my career ceases to require so much.
2] Cat – I’ve always been fond of cats, most likely because I had a great cat growing up. After much debate I finally went and adopted a cat of my own. I looked at several shelters and went to visit a local rescue more than once. I finally did find a nice short-hair (the vet says she is a brown tabby but I disagree). I picked her for two reasons. She did not try to bite me or hiss at me when I petted her in the cage. I was starting to feel weird visiting all of the cat places. She was a little shy at first but has warmed up quite nicely. I named her Allagash after the great brewery in Maine. Given that she is a cat, she does what she wants, much like a sultan, but she is always very social with me and can often be found hidden under the blankets on my bed.
1] Erin – As I’ve written plenty of times, there was a period of time where I was feeling lonely in my single life and it frustrated me. It felt like I was wasting some years that would be better spent with a good partner who could join me in doing interesting things. I made an effort to change that. I met a wonderful woman name Erin. She’s great, but you already knew that. We’ve done a lot of great things together and she has definitely filled that void I felt. I can’t wait to see where it all goes next. Meeting her was definitely the best part of 2009.
Happy new year to all and hopefully 2010 will be just as exciting if not better for everyone
More Thoughts
Aug/098
- I had a dilemma over the weekend at the grocery store. Large 100 ounce bottles of Tide were on sale for$10.99 which is a pretty good price I believe. I don’t normally buy Tide as I’ve never taken the time to test out the quality difference between cheap and expensive brands. As I was walking to the checkout I saw an impressive deal. There were 68.75 ounce bottles of Arm and Hammer 2x concentration at a price of two for $5. I went for the cheap stuff. What would you do?
- I currently believe the Food Network is the best night-time TV channel.
- In the next 3 weeks I’ll be in Toronto, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Miami.
- I’m not sure if ramen noodles or generic mac & cheese is a more satisfying food.
- Would you agree the the messy a food is, the higher the probability that it will be satisfying (in the “comfort food” sense)?
- I think a “mistake” I’ve made many times in my own cooking and what I see on a lot of these cooking shows is that there is too much going on. If you don’t keep balance in mind you’ll end up with a variety of dominant flavors that are competing for your palate’s attention. I’m not sure what the magic formula is for cooking, as I’m not a chef, but if I figure it out I’ll write a book about it which will result in me getting a TV show which will then lead to me being named the next Iron Chef.
- You cannot spell “hoagie” like “hogie” but some people do.
- Getting a cheesesteak without cheese should not be allowed.
- With 26.1% of Americans being obese, I don’t understand how no one has come up with a great way to make tasty, though unhealthy food, processed in such a way that you don’t get fat. There have been various developments but not that one magic fix. It seems to me that you’d be very rich if you developed this product and I wonder how many companies are working on it today.
- Drinking a glass of wine or 1 beer while cooking should be a requirement in any recipe and not a thought to ponder.
Slap and a Burrito
Jul/095
- I want to slap someone from the Miller Brewing Company in the face for having a commercial trying to make a point about Miller Lite being triple hop brewed. The average Miller Lite drinker doesn’t even know what the hell a hop is so why make up some technical process to tryand make it sound like the beer is some special craft brew simply based by the unique process used to brew it?
- If I were Frank Sinatra I’d come back from the grave to slap P Diddy in the face and more importantly the marketing person who got him to be part of the Ciroc vodka commercial where they play one of Frank’s most known songs.
- Goat cheese is a terrible cheese. It tastes like a farm. There is nothing wrong with farms or the smell of a farm, but cheese should not taste like that. Cheese should only taste delicious.
- For a Klondike bar I really wouldn’t do much. I’d take out the trash or maybe vacuum the carpet but that’s about all.
- I’m happy that the Democrats now have the majority in the Senate so that theoretically they could approve all sorts of crazy stuff. However, since it is government, they will probably totally waste the opportunity to do something good with the country.
- I’m so excited that the US and Russia have decided to reduce their nuclear stockpile such that we can only collaborate to blow up the earth 455 times over.
- There are actual criminals out there that steal airbags from cars. One of my readers can attest to that. I don’t even know what to say about it. I think any car maintenance place that buys stolen airbags should be exploded immediately.
- Boats that decide to float up the Delaware river around rush hour and force bridges to be opened which in turn causes traffic backups should all immediately be sunk.
- Some day I want to understand the secret of how Taco Bell can make a grilled chicken burrito for 89 cents.
- I think the FDA should go ahead and evaluate the thousands of herbal supplements out there and let us know what we already know about how they don’t actually do what the claim.
4th of July Break
Jul/090
This 4th of July break was particularly important for me. The magic date at work was July 6th for things to start picking up again. I really wanted to get a good deep breathe and a chance to lower the blood pressure as the next 5 months are going to be a long episode of me running up and down eastern North America.
- Thursday night I met up with Erin and her friends at Paddy Whacks for live band karaoke. I refrained from singing due to a soar throat (for real, sort of) but did enjoy the observations. I made a promise that next time I’ll give it a shot, and I will.
- I spent most of Friday napping and watching season 4 of The Wire. What a great series. I’m glad I don’t live in Baltimore.
- On Saturday I did some house things like laundry and general cleaning. I also went to Target. I got some random clothes items like t-shirts and a pair of totally DB sunglasses. The only problem is that I accidentally bought children’s size XL instead of men’s.
- Saturday night was a party at Erin’s. Thanks to many many block parties and the close proximity to the Ben Franklin parkway (music/fireworks) I spent 50 minutes trying to park my car. Then by my own mistake, had to walk 7 blocks with a tank of propane. A whole bunch of people showed up and it was a very festive atmosphere.
- We took a short walk down to the art museum to watch the fireworks. I must say they were quite impressive. The best part was how I took 215 pictures and ended up with about 6 ok shots. I was shown at least 1 point and shoot and 1 cellphone that were more impressive than my shots. However, I learned some good lessons and look forward until next year when I can try again.
- The night continued and so did the party. I played DJ for about 20 minutes and there was some serious dancing going on. From there, the flip cup picked up and the night continued on. It was a very enjoyable party.
- Sunday entailed some party cleanup which went quite fast. I was on broom duty and I think I did a fair job. In no time it looked like there was no party the night before. From there we took a visit to the Bishop’s Collar for brunch. I’ve never really been a fan of brunch until quite recently. Perhaps it was the beautiful weather, the beautiful female accompanying me or the Russian River Pliny the Elder on tap. In any case it was a very enjoyable meal.
- I really did get the opportunity to rest up over the course of the long weekend and I think it made a huge difference in my demeanor for Monday. Good times.
View on Current Events
Jun/093
- Cheating in any scenario is a pretty terrible thing, especially when married, but I’m less concerned when it happens and the couple has no children. The thing about the Mark Sanford situation that really gets me is how he’s got all of these children and he pretty much shows complete ignorance to them by letting this happen. I’m sorry, but if you produce children I don’t care how much you hate your spouse or how much in love you fall with someone else, game over, too late, suck it up and realize your days of lustful romance are over. You’ve got a family and the only excitement you should be pursuing is the excitement you get from raising your kids. I’m not in Mark Sanford’s shoes and I never hope to even be confronted with such a situation but I am quite positive that he is a little weak bitch.
- I think I read somewhere that Farrah Fawcett did something with Charlies Angels. That’s all I know. I’m sorry she passed away and that her last days were a painful battle, but I don’t really know anything about her so the event means very little to me. While I hope ABC plans a 1 hour special when I die so my story can be told one more time, I’ll understand when there is some blogger out there that doesn’t care that I died because I’m just another human.
- I think I could honestly see North Korea trying to launch one of their dinky missiles at us. That part doesn’t worry me. It is the retaliation that scares the hell out of me. I would hope that we use conventional weapons and not even whisper the N word. Or even better, just use some high tech crazy satellite technology and vaporize Kim Jong-il once and for all.
- I think the analogy from either the Daily Show or The Colbert Report on Iran’s future was well said. They will either become North Korea or China. We don’t care for either country, but I’d rather take a structured state and productive member of the global society rather than a rogue nation trying to launch pathetic dinky missiles at Hawaii.
- Did that guy who didn’t win the Iran election really have a chance? Seriously. I appreciate the effort of the protesters, but going and pissing off the government isn’t really helping to change your country. I’ve got nothing against Iran and I actually like trying to say the name Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It has a pretty sweet ring to it. It is a dangerous state that is a risk to the well-being of the US, but I’m sort of happy that Obama hasn’t gone all crazy and made some sort of bold claim like Iran has some WMD’s and we should remove them. I imagine they actually do have WMD’s, but we should be trying to steer that country in a direction that does not involve violence to solve problems. I think this is possible.
- As for the “King of Pop” I was a little shocked by the whole thing. He made some music. He did some really weird stuff. South Park made fun of him a bunch. Again, he was just another human being and while I understand all the hype around the situation, I also find it a little bit stupid. However, that is how our society works when someone famous passes on and I don’t think that will ever change. What did he mean by “ABC, it’s easy as 1,2,3″? I think that perhaps Nate might be the only one that understands this but didn’t the good doctor Ben teach us something about ABC?