So I drove up to NYC this past weekend for some good times and adventure. Some things went well, some things did not. Here is a brief re-cap in list format.
Fail#1 -Arriving late and parking too close to a fire hydrant
Fail#2 -Keeping my car there overnight even though I was warned by Nikki about it, and even after noticing a ticket had been affixed.
Result: Two tickets and a towed vehicle
Fail#3 -Attempting to visit my friend who works at the Sixpoint Brewery on Saturdays, only to arrive in Red Hook about an hour after they had closed up shop for the weekend (partial blame on the group I was traveling around with)
Fail#4 -Attempting to reclaim awesomeness with a tour at the Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg, only to again arrive just after they closed (again the group dynamic made it difficult to proceed with my normal levels of kickassitude)
Result: Incredibly thirsty
And now some good things:
-Having an El Salvadorian girl make an amazing paella from scratch
-Having an Italian girl cook an amazing pasta dish from scratch
-Having my clothes forcibly removed, being oiled up and massaged by a woman I had known for all of 7 minutes.
-Evaporator hits
-Breaking up a fight in a Williamsburg bar
-Drinking a crap-load of great Oktoberfest beers all weekend.
All in all, one can't really complain about that, no?
Love,
-Wrence
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Blind Pig & New Routines
After all the traveling I did in the last 5 weeks, it was nice to have a weekend to relax in Philly (yea, I just said that). Saturday included a weird pattern and some very welcome happenstance.First, I ended up covering for someone at work and had to come into the brewery for tours Saturday afternoon. I don't mind doing this at all, in fact I actually really enjoy it. Anyway, that morning I was thinking of calling up Snotty as I hadn't heard from him since like July; on my way out to the brewery he actually called me. Vague plans were made to meet up later for beers. I had a few errands to take care of before tours started, and while I was driving around swearing at New Jersey traffic I realized that each of the other 2 times I worked tours at the brewery I ended up meeting Snotty afterward at Justin's Restaurant. (1) (2) Since we are both piss-poor foodies, we ended up back at the Key this time as well. 3 for 3 for me. Also, now that I think of it, I ended up writing about each visit on here as well, so that's part of the routine now as well I guess.
This visit was another delight for the face, as Monkey sent us out a few special dishes he had prepared from a whole suckling pig that he had picked up that day. I never knew someone to confit a pig, and it was HEAVENLY.
OH: the best part - when I first arrived and started perusing the beer list I came across Port Brewing's Hop 15 and quickly ordered one. The bartendress informed me that they unfortunately just kicked that keg, and would be replacing it with "Umm...(she looked down at something written somewhere)....Russian River....Blind- "YES," I emphatically interrupted.
That's right, I was there as they put on a fresh keg of Blind Pig IPA, a beer I brewed back in my apprentice days at the beloved NorCal brewery. See above photo. Me So Happy! I had about 15 of them. I don't think I even bothered to drink anything else the whole night. Damn.
Hope you all are enjoying your September.
Peace
-Wrence
Monday, August 3, 2009
Pee Town
So the busy part of my summer came graciously to a close last Tuesday. For the next four weeks or so I will be working very little, although i will be in the office, and will be doing a decent bit of traveling on the weekend. This past weekend saw me head on out to Cape Cod. It's been something of a yearly ritual to make at least one trip out there every summer, and I was loathe to let this year be any different.
After waiting far too long to book a place, Angie and I settled on a decent, although pretty 'spensive" hotel right on the North Truro/Provincetown line. We were walking distance into town, which made it nice and easy. Friday night we hit up this place called Lorraine's, a pretty tight non-cheesy Mexican place that takes food and tequila very seriously. Angie had some kind of margarita, in keeping with the theme, while I opted for a Dos Equis...a favorite of mine since my days of chasing underage Jersey girls in Cancun. The menu was pretty legit and we ordered two specials...a roasted yellow beefsteaktomato stuffed with cous cous with some kind of awesome sauce that i can't even describe. Then I had grilled swordfish with lime-cilantro ajo and some kind of otherwordly potato dish that continues to make my mouth water. Angie had some kind of flautas or something. Solid place, and definitely recommended. Then we went off to get shitfaced...which was no hard task. I found a bar called Waydowntown, which may have been some kind of gay reference that was lost on me. But they were showing the Sox game, so it seemed like a decent place to hang out. They had a bunch of decent brews on tap, but I stuck with the Cisco Whale's Tail Pale Ale...and got sufficiently sloshed. After the game the drag show started, but this dude was the worst drag queen I have ever seen. If i had been a bit more sober I think I could recount better why he was so awful. Suffice it to say, I was looking forward to a funny little drag show, but this guy killed it....and I think the other four people in the bar would agree with me.
Saturday we had a fucking glorious beach day during which we drank beer on the beach and eavesdropped on the conversations of those around us. The blanket next to us awas a bunch of late 20s/early 30s gay dudes who were hilarious. They were seriously all over the spectrum from fat messes to WWF style bodybuilders, but they all seemed to get along fabulously and were pretty funny to listen to. The blanket in front of us was a group of five dudes who were at least in their forties...also funny but for different reasons. Apparently one of these guys never gets laid when he goes to P'town, and they were giving him shit for it throughout. Bros will be bros....not much really changes when you come to think about it.
Saturday night we hit up Cafe Edwige, which was one of the better meals I have had in a good long while. Roasted quarter chicken, with roasted potatoes garlic, and asparagus. I really can't do it justice other than to say that it was one of the better cooked pieces of chicken I have ever had...which doesn't sound like it is saying very much, but it is. Angie had a corna nd lobster bisque followed by the special which was pan-seared striped bass. All reports were overwhelmingly positive.
Post dinner we grabbed a beer at The Squealing Pig, which also has a dope beer menu (including BBC Coffeehouse Porter) and then met Angie's friends who are an older couple of gay dudes who also had some friends with them. All in all, it was areally solid time and I managed to stumble back to the hotel without getting hit by a car, a dramatic success in and of itself.
Next weekend I am off to visit my Moms in NJ. Looking forward to seeing their new house and such.
Keep it reals ya'll.
&Ry
After waiting far too long to book a place, Angie and I settled on a decent, although pretty 'spensive" hotel right on the North Truro/Provincetown line. We were walking distance into town, which made it nice and easy. Friday night we hit up this place called Lorraine's, a pretty tight non-cheesy Mexican place that takes food and tequila very seriously. Angie had some kind of margarita, in keeping with the theme, while I opted for a Dos Equis...a favorite of mine since my days of chasing underage Jersey girls in Cancun. The menu was pretty legit and we ordered two specials...a roasted yellow beefsteaktomato stuffed with cous cous with some kind of awesome sauce that i can't even describe. Then I had grilled swordfish with lime-cilantro ajo and some kind of otherwordly potato dish that continues to make my mouth water. Angie had some kind of flautas or something. Solid place, and definitely recommended. Then we went off to get shitfaced...which was no hard task. I found a bar called Waydowntown, which may have been some kind of gay reference that was lost on me. But they were showing the Sox game, so it seemed like a decent place to hang out. They had a bunch of decent brews on tap, but I stuck with the Cisco Whale's Tail Pale Ale...and got sufficiently sloshed. After the game the drag show started, but this dude was the worst drag queen I have ever seen. If i had been a bit more sober I think I could recount better why he was so awful. Suffice it to say, I was looking forward to a funny little drag show, but this guy killed it....and I think the other four people in the bar would agree with me.
Saturday we had a fucking glorious beach day during which we drank beer on the beach and eavesdropped on the conversations of those around us. The blanket next to us awas a bunch of late 20s/early 30s gay dudes who were hilarious. They were seriously all over the spectrum from fat messes to WWF style bodybuilders, but they all seemed to get along fabulously and were pretty funny to listen to. The blanket in front of us was a group of five dudes who were at least in their forties...also funny but for different reasons. Apparently one of these guys never gets laid when he goes to P'town, and they were giving him shit for it throughout. Bros will be bros....not much really changes when you come to think about it.
Saturday night we hit up Cafe Edwige, which was one of the better meals I have had in a good long while. Roasted quarter chicken, with roasted potatoes garlic, and asparagus. I really can't do it justice other than to say that it was one of the better cooked pieces of chicken I have ever had...which doesn't sound like it is saying very much, but it is. Angie had a corna nd lobster bisque followed by the special which was pan-seared striped bass. All reports were overwhelmingly positive.
Post dinner we grabbed a beer at The Squealing Pig, which also has a dope beer menu (including BBC Coffeehouse Porter) and then met Angie's friends who are an older couple of gay dudes who also had some friends with them. All in all, it was areally solid time and I managed to stumble back to the hotel without getting hit by a car, a dramatic success in and of itself.
Next weekend I am off to visit my Moms in NJ. Looking forward to seeing their new house and such.
Keep it reals ya'll.
&Ry
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tours at the Fish/Kite & Key
Holy Junk-show did we have TON of people in the brewery yesterday! I was there from 1-4 giving tours and I seriously think we got 100 people through in that time. Poured MANY a free sample and put a few into my own face as well. My last group was huge and I was actually starting to lose my voice by the end of the tour, which was a first.
Snotty showed up at the brewery, along with a couple of his bros. It was good to see some familiar faces there. We shot the shit & drank little cups of beer for a few hours. I think they enjoyed seeing the brewery, especially since I brought over a bunch of our beer last weekend to Snotty's BBQ and they were naturally curious to see where it was brewed.
____________
After shutting things down out at the brewery, I drove right back into town to meet Snotty and his crew at Monkey Boy's restaurant (last mentioned here). Well, it's not actually his restaurant, but he has been executive-cheffing things up there for the past 9 months, and totally rules at it. Seriouslyforeals. Last time we met there, he just started sending out courses and we basically died from awesomeness. This time was no different, except for the fact that I had my phone with me and decided to take pictures of each plate before I ate the Jesus-punching shit of it.
I now offer you gratuitous food-porn for the remainder of this post:
The last time we were here, Monkey sent us out something very similar to this, and I loved it - even though the idea of eating snails is still something I can't quite wrap my head around. Though it is not nearly even close to the most disgusting food item I regularly eat, it is just weird, right? Maybe it's the name...let's just start calling them "land-clams" - I think more people could get down with that. I thought this dish was awesome the LAST time I had it, and this time he added BACON. Enough said.
This dish was really a life changing moment for me & Snotty. I realized quickly that I had never been served a prawn with the head still attached. I obviously knew that this was the way to do it, intact body usually translating to freshness, but I had NO IDEA. Biting into this guy was like biting into fresh corn on the cob in summer: crisp, juicy, sweeeet as all hell. Like super sugar sweet fleshy prawny goodness! Did I mention how sweet it was? I couldn't believe it. This bore ZERO resemblance to those pre-be-headed pink rubbery shrimps I had been served all my adult life. When Snotty and I stopped to think about that fact, we became incensed! He put it best when he said "I've been paying people to shit in my mouth all this time."
There's not much to add about this dish other than it was awesome.
Same here.
_________
All in all, a strong showing for the day. Also I should note that this place has great beer. Among my quaffed were: Elysian's Jasmine IPA, Ommegang's Hennepin, and a few others. I got crunked and walked home around 9pm. I awoke in the middle of the night in my bed, but on top of my sheets and sporting a large ice cream-colored stain on my tee-shirt. Sweet.
-Wrence
Snotty showed up at the brewery, along with a couple of his bros. It was good to see some familiar faces there. We shot the shit & drank little cups of beer for a few hours. I think they enjoyed seeing the brewery, especially since I brought over a bunch of our beer last weekend to Snotty's BBQ and they were naturally curious to see where it was brewed.
____________
After shutting things down out at the brewery, I drove right back into town to meet Snotty and his crew at Monkey Boy's restaurant (last mentioned here). Well, it's not actually his restaurant, but he has been executive-cheffing things up there for the past 9 months, and totally rules at it. Seriouslyforeals. Last time we met there, he just started sending out courses and we basically died from awesomeness. This time was no different, except for the fact that I had my phone with me and decided to take pictures of each plate before I ate the Jesus-punching shit of it.
I now offer you gratuitous food-porn for the remainder of this post:
Course 1
Spicy home made kimchi with
chillis and basil oil
Justin fermented the Kimchi himself, and it was impressive.Spicy home made kimchi with
chillis and basil oil
Course 2
Escargot with bacon over English muffin
bread with poached egg
Escargot with bacon over English muffin
bread with poached egg
The last time we were here, Monkey sent us out something very similar to this, and I loved it - even though the idea of eating snails is still something I can't quite wrap my head around. Though it is not nearly even close to the most disgusting food item I regularly eat, it is just weird, right? Maybe it's the name...let's just start calling them "land-clams" - I think more people could get down with that. I thought this dish was awesome the LAST time I had it, and this time he added BACON. Enough said.Course 3
Prawn with corn/shrimp nugget
& kick-ass sauce
Prawn with corn/shrimp nugget
& kick-ass sauce
This dish was really a life changing moment for me & Snotty. I realized quickly that I had never been served a prawn with the head still attached. I obviously knew that this was the way to do it, intact body usually translating to freshness, but I had NO IDEA. Biting into this guy was like biting into fresh corn on the cob in summer: crisp, juicy, sweeeet as all hell. Like super sugar sweet fleshy prawny goodness! Did I mention how sweet it was? I couldn't believe it. This bore ZERO resemblance to those pre-be-headed pink rubbery shrimps I had been served all my adult life. When Snotty and I stopped to think about that fact, we became incensed! He put it best when he said "I've been paying people to shit in my mouth all this time."Course 4
Marinated tomatoes on toasty
bread with goat cheesy goodness
Marinated tomatoes on toasty
bread with goat cheesy goodness
There's not much to add about this dish other than it was awesome.Course 5
Sliced steaky bits over beans & bread
crumbs, with some sort of reduction sauce
Sliced steaky bits over beans & bread
crumbs, with some sort of reduction sauce
Same here._________
All in all, a strong showing for the day. Also I should note that this place has great beer. Among my quaffed were: Elysian's Jasmine IPA, Ommegang's Hennepin, and a few others. I got crunked and walked home around 9pm. I awoke in the middle of the night in my bed, but on top of my sheets and sporting a large ice cream-colored stain on my tee-shirt. Sweet.
-Wrence
Friday, July 10, 2009
Say Cheese!
Just a quick hit here....I figured that there may be people who might have missed this like I did and might find it equally infuriating.
Apparently, as a last act of antagonism, the Bush administration raised the import tarriff on Roquefort cheese to a level that essentially made it impossible to buy in the states (read about it here). I guess the Obama administration eventually removed the ridiculous tarriff, but it still makes me mad that it ever happened in the first place. I mean....I can't say I eat it that often, but it's good to know you can get a good hunk of Roquefort when the mood arises.
Here's to cheese!
&ry
Apparently, as a last act of antagonism, the Bush administration raised the import tarriff on Roquefort cheese to a level that essentially made it impossible to buy in the states (read about it here). I guess the Obama administration eventually removed the ridiculous tarriff, but it still makes me mad that it ever happened in the first place. I mean....I can't say I eat it that often, but it's good to know you can get a good hunk of Roquefort when the mood arises.
Here's to cheese!
&ry
Thursday, July 9, 2009
My week so far
So after all that busyness described below, I am in a very enthralling period of latency at the moment. I have basically had this entire week off and have been spending a good deal of time at home. I recently decided that I no longer want to be overweight and have used these days to concentrate on reading my latest book, eating right and going for runs.
Boston Organics has made the former a lot easier. I can't remember if I have mentioned them before, but Angie and I have been getting deliveries from them "on the reg" for the past few months. This week's bin had an assload of awesome shit in it. Kale, collards, three zucchini, a big ass bunch of red leaf lettuce, the biggest fucking cucumber you have ever seen...I mean seriously...THE BIGGEST CUCUMBER EVER. So far I haven't been able to get myself to chop it up and saladify it...I am afraid it is going to try to run away or start begging for its life or something. Did I mention that it is fucking huge? So, yeah...Boston Organics makes it easier for me not to eat like shit.
I took advantage of the time and brewed a batch of beer on Sunday...a hefe...and will be brewing again on Saturday. I am giving the hefe a short primary because I usually wouldn't give it a secondary at all. However, since I need the big boy carboy for my next brew I am cutting the primary a little short and will give it a short secondary. The next brew on the horizon is the first one expressly designed and brewed for Angie's sister's wedding on 9/5. I am planning on pitching onto the cake of my summer blonde ale that I brewed 6 weeks or so ago. I also have enough hops left from recent brews to bitter with those. So my LHBS trip this afternoon was solely for the purpose of grabbing some grainage. Psyched to see that they got themselves a fancy new persian-style runner-type rug on the grain/fridge side of the shop. Classes the joint up a bit. Anyway....the 'pe looks a-like this:
8# British 2-Row
1.5# Munich Malt
1# Crystal 20
.75 oz Saaz 6.8%AA (60 Minutes)
.75 oz Tettnang 5.1% AA (30 Minutes)
I might throw some whole leaf Palisades in there for dry-hopping but I am not sure yet.
The cake I am throwing it on is Wyeast 1272
Anyway, I do most of my computing on Angie's lappy...but ProMash is on my desktop (yeah I still have one). So I was feeling lazy and googled "brew calculator" and came up with this place. It's not perfect, but I am willing to give it a shot for a bit as I simultaneously keep up with ProMash. I made a profile and stuff, so I think it will be easier to access and share my recipes as I go along. Give it a try, maybe we can be beerfriends.
&Ry
Boston Organics has made the former a lot easier. I can't remember if I have mentioned them before, but Angie and I have been getting deliveries from them "on the reg" for the past few months. This week's bin had an assload of awesome shit in it. Kale, collards, three zucchini, a big ass bunch of red leaf lettuce, the biggest fucking cucumber you have ever seen...I mean seriously...THE BIGGEST CUCUMBER EVER. So far I haven't been able to get myself to chop it up and saladify it...I am afraid it is going to try to run away or start begging for its life or something. Did I mention that it is fucking huge? So, yeah...Boston Organics makes it easier for me not to eat like shit.
I took advantage of the time and brewed a batch of beer on Sunday...a hefe...and will be brewing again on Saturday. I am giving the hefe a short primary because I usually wouldn't give it a secondary at all. However, since I need the big boy carboy for my next brew I am cutting the primary a little short and will give it a short secondary. The next brew on the horizon is the first one expressly designed and brewed for Angie's sister's wedding on 9/5. I am planning on pitching onto the cake of my summer blonde ale that I brewed 6 weeks or so ago. I also have enough hops left from recent brews to bitter with those. So my LHBS trip this afternoon was solely for the purpose of grabbing some grainage. Psyched to see that they got themselves a fancy new persian-style runner-type rug on the grain/fridge side of the shop. Classes the joint up a bit. Anyway....the 'pe looks a-like this:
8# British 2-Row
1.5# Munich Malt
1# Crystal 20
.75 oz Saaz 6.8%AA (60 Minutes)
.75 oz Tettnang 5.1% AA (30 Minutes)
I might throw some whole leaf Palisades in there for dry-hopping but I am not sure yet.
The cake I am throwing it on is Wyeast 1272
Anyway, I do most of my computing on Angie's lappy...but ProMash is on my desktop (yeah I still have one). So I was feeling lazy and googled "brew calculator" and came up with this place. It's not perfect, but I am willing to give it a shot for a bit as I simultaneously keep up with ProMash. I made a profile and stuff, so I think it will be easier to access and share my recipes as I go along. Give it a try, maybe we can be beerfriends.
&Ry
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