Multi-Purpose weekend
Saturday we went into Charleston to check out the farmers/craft Market at Marion Square and attend the Dragon Boat Festival. It was hot but at the river the breeze made it bearable. We ate chili at the George (my parent's in-town condo) and then went to see Graeme starring as Cornelius in Hello Dolly. Very enjoyable. Check out the videos on youtube.
Sunday we made potato pancakes for all the mothers - some with and without onions, some cooked in bacon grease, some in vegetable oil - all delicious. Sunday dinner was Lenore's birthday celebration with steak and poppy seed cake.
At some point we had a beer tasting with a selection from the local Piggly Wiggly. I think the New Castle Ale was the favorite
And we saw a squirrel resting in a tree and a
chameleon.
Check out more pics.
Goals and Threats
I have another video of the beer making process. It should be ready for tasting this weekend and if it is good it will be even better by Christmas.
Witch's brew
Here's what was happening Monday night:
And I was so happy that the little girl on the 3rd floor is exhibiting some new seasonal artwork on her front door. It's been a while.
The little post-it on the left says "Burning Ben" with a drawing of a witch. On the right we have "Cackley Bradley" and a spider.
Beer in Baltimore and Fish in DC
In other news I have
been enjoying my aquatic themed birthday
presents. Tracy gave me a beautiful Japanese
print of two fish and joe gave me a waterproof
headset for me to use when I swim laps and an
iPod shuffle to go with it. I named my new iPod
Shark.
And here are some
recent photos from around the house, some flowers
from my balcony and a delicious vegetarian gumbo
we made last weekend. Go okra!
Monday and Tuesday in Riga
In the evening we took a long walk to Staburags, a traditional Latvian restaurant where Dad ordered a beer bigger than his head. I had two small beers, one flavored with honey. I had beet soup again and sausages. On the way home we saw a large sign with the latvian word apdrošināšana which means insurance, a word we have always found funny - it has almost a thousand syllables.
(first 3 photos from Lenore)
Tuesday we went back to the crafts market to visit any booths we missed and then met Ilze and Sandra at the University of Latvia to listen to Janis, Ilze's father, sing in a competition. The singers were in traditional costume, of course. We then went to Melnais Kaķis (Black Cat) for a late lunch - more potato pancakes for me!
Arts and Crafts fair
Singers in the hall and arriving
On the steps of the university. We also met Janina, Janis' wife, who is also a singer and dancer. Sandra and Lenore sat across from me at the Black Cat - I think Lenore was eyeing my pancakes.
Graeme and Ilze under Sandra's watchful eye.
Later my mother and Graeme went to a symphony concert with Ilze and Sandra that they said was excellent. My father, Lenore and I went to Dome Square just missing the Seniors Dance Performance. We then went for soup, salad and beer. We caught Lenore with beer foam on her lips. Sandra and Ilze dropped off the best strawberries and sweet cherries that I have ever eaten. They have a garden at Janis' mothers place just outside of Riga.
A New Hill of Hell and Humiliation
Here are some miscellaneous pictures I took recently:
More new balcony
flowers
A blouse I made in the sewing class I took. It
turned out pretty well!
And here's a fun little scene in the local
grocery store.
And Lynda had a pink flamingo friend join in on
our video chat tonight.
And all of a sudden there was Tracy too!
More Beer
reviews
Clipper City Red Sky at Night
Saison Ale and Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale are
from a local Baltimore brewery. I really like
the Red Sky at Night Saison Ale. It has a nice
full taste, just slightly sweet. The web site
lists the ingredients. I had no idea there are
so many different types of hops but I do know
there is a world-wide hops shortage. Oh no!
Hops: Magnum and Styrian Goldings
Malts: Pils, Carapils, and wheat malts, Belgian
candi sugar
The Hop3 ale is OK.
Hops: Magnum, Centennial, Chinook, Amarillo
and Palisade
Malts: Crisp English Pale, Carapils, and
Munich
I will definitely buy the Saison Ale again.
Spring Things
Quicktime movie
(5.2 MB)
I should have added the sound of crickets
chirping.
I come from a
predominantly non-musical family (I was in the
Virgin Islands when Graeme was born so how do I
know he was not adopted?) so it may come as a
surprise that I have been asked to create a
musical score for a dance piece. Luckily it
involves mostly computer work - using existing
song samples, vocal recordings, special effects.
Could be fun, could be the downfall of a
highly-praised choreographic career. I'll keep
you informed.
More Beer reviews
Stone IPA is brewed in California and is mighty
fine with lots of hops and a nice clean taste.
Stop Action Animation and Dress Forms
We're watching the 3rd season of Project Runway on DVD. It is the best reality TV show ever. And in our neighborhood it looks like a fashion academy has opened up. Here's some items featured in their front window. It's hard to see but the man's suit is on a female dress form. It still looks snazzy though.
And here's just some fashionable umbrellas seen a little further up the street:
More Beer reviews
I like wine from Anderson Valley in Sonoma County, CA so I was interested to see how they do with beer. Although this Hop Ottin' IPA is not my favorite Indian Pale Ale it is still quite good. The flavor is nice but the hops are a little too subtle. I would buy it again.
Rejected
But on the good beer front I tried two beers recently
Nugget Nectar made by Tröegs Brewing Company, Harrisonburg, PA is one of those highly hopped beers that I like. I thought from the name that it might be a fruity beer but the Sikh proprieter of the local liquor store recommended it so I read the label more closely and saw that hops, not fruit, was what the title refers to. I gave it a go and it was worth the trip. I also discussed my recent trip with said proprieter. We were buddies before but we are now BFFs (not really but since I have been to his country of birth he now knows that I know that Indians do not naturally say "Have a good one" when they give you your change.)
Fuel Cafe Coffee Flavored Stout made by Lakefront Brewery of Milwaukee, WI is well made. Stout is not my favorite beer (although I certainly drank plenty of it in Ireland) but I felt this beer had a nice balance of beer and non-beer flavors. The coffee taste was very subtle.
Here is the one sentence I sent to the post:
Back in 1993 the old coot in the beer supply store could not believe a young woman was actually making beer and in 2008 I am still brewing and blogging about the new beers I try.
And the picture I sent:
Delhi
Unfortunately by the time the cab dropped us off it was already after 4:00 and would be dark soon. Fortunately along the way we saw some of the sites that we had hoped to walk to if we had gotten there earlier. So instead of site-seeing we shopped at a great area just down the street from the hotel in the Sunder Nagar area. This is where I bought bronze, wood carvings and some beads.
The Shops of Sunder Nagar
The bead/wood carving store was run by a father and son who were quite nice.
We ate three meals in the hotel restaurant due to time constraints. The food was pretty good but the beer was not. The selection wherever we went was, like, one brand - either black label or Kingfisher. Kingfisher was the best we had.
Thanksgiving 2007
Thanksgiving day was pretty good except for the death of my car's battery that prevented me from visiting Austin and his guests before they ate dinner. But my dinner was simple but delicious - Green bean casserole, Cheesy Monkey bread and Apple cake. I believe it met the minimum Thanksgiving requirement for starch that Sandy and I discussed in a conversation earlier this week.
Here' s picture of a funny little car that parks near my office. It is a government car but I am not sure of its exact purpose.
More Beer reviews
Lagunitas India Pale Ale: Now that I know that India Pale Ales have an extra hoppy taste I want to try them all. The Lagunitas web site says their IPA is a "special homicidally hoppy ale" and while I found it to be quite good with a nice smooth taste I did not find it to have a strong hoppy taste..
Some more movie/DVD reviews
3 Iron
A curious Korean movie about a young man who moves into people's homes when they are away. He eats their food but also does their laundry and other cleaning. He manages to leave before the occupants return. At one house that he thinks is empty he finds a woman who has been abused by her husband. She leaves with him and joins him in his little home invasions. They are eventually caught and she returns to her husband but they still remain together in a way that may not be real. There are some elements of horror towards the end that were kind of confusing to me. It is a nice looking film and I am glad I saw it but it is just odd. The director also directed Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring,
Robots
Animated kid's movie about a young robot who has dreams of being an inventor. He goes to the big city where he makes friends but his dreams look impossible to achieve. The animation is very inventive but the story is nothing special. The ending scene involving a robot dog singing like James Brown, a marching band and lots of robots dancing makes up for the overly long scene involving flatulence.
Luck of the Irish/German
I am truly excited. I played with it all last night and most of today. I did put it away during my yoga class (after showing it to the instructor who was also excited to play with it). I connected it to the wireless network at Schlotsky's while we were eating sandwiches and checked my email. I have added music, quicktime movies and photos, set different ringtones for everybody in my "Favorites" phone list, synced addresses, looked at the McDonald Family and Dana's homepage, and checked out some youtube videos. Life as we know it has changed.
More Beer reviews
Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA is in a tie with the Blanche de Chambly. It has a wonderfully refreshing hoppy taste that I really like. IPA stands for India Pale Ale and when Lynda asked if the beer was from India I went straight to wikipedia. There I found out that the Brits needed to better preserve the beer they were sending to India for civilians and military in the 1700s and they discovered that increasing the alcohol and hop content reduced spoilage. There you have it.
More Child Art
More Beer reviews
Redbach by Rodenbach brewery: I found this in the back of the fridge. It is a cherry flavored Belgium ale . The bottle says it's "kissed by cherries" but the cherry flavor is up front and not subtle. I bought it a while ago and wasn't thrilled with it so I am saving it for a rainy day. Or maybe I will cook with it. I just checked out their website and saw that there are recipes, including a Breast of duck with cherries and Redbach!
Beer blogging
First entry: Blanche de Chambly made by Unibroue Brewery (funny name) in Quebec, Canada. It is an excellent white beer (5% alc/vol).
Miss Red, White and Blue
And there were interesting sites along the trail. Nice flowers, a quarry, and Old Dominion Brewery (unfortunately they were closed).
Bittersweet Reunion
Highlights:
- Seeing Dianne, Brian, Kaitlin and Anna again and meeting cute little Emma Skye.
- Meeting all of Mary Anne's friends
- Meeting the family of Dale, Mary Anne's late husband
- Minor celebrity elbow rubbings. Mary Anne's good friend Len is the brother of Cal who is the father of Michael Madsen (Kill Bill, Reservior Dogs) and Virginia Madsen (Sideways). We met Len and Cal, who are both very funny. Brian's friend John considered us celebrities because we went to school with his guitar hero Steve Morse.
- Snow!
- Friday night after dinner we passed a knitting store where some sort of after hours meeting/knitting circle was taking place. Austin had to meet the ladies and talk fabrics and quilts.
- Having Hoops, the Wake-Up cat, visit me in my bedroom at Paula's
- Good beer tastings at Emmett's and at Lenore's
- Great breakfast at Benedict's in East Dundee with Susie and Jeff. Great potato pancakes!
- Paula's mom's tour of her needlepoint. Amazing!
- Shopping in Geneva - beads, housewares, chocolate.
Two little movies:
Memorial
Events
Quicktime, 2.6MB, 3 min |
Romping
Around East and West Dundee
Quicktime, 1.8MB, 1-1/2 min |
Wedding of the Century
Some memories:
- Helping to turn my parents' place into a mystical magical wedding place
- Making, drinking and sharing my beer - a
German Alt that turned out fairly well
- Goofing around with the family especially in my mom's great kitchen which was made for big cooking.
- Cooking while listening to Allison Krauss and other tunes on our iPods via William's cool portable speaker system
- Getting to know Tracy's family especially his grandkids who are as cute as buttons.
- Realizing that Lyla's wedding hairdo, which was lovely, was very much like her hairdo for her eigth grade graduation
- Graeme telling me I look like a rock star. Thanks to Tina for the great hair styling!
- Norm's many visits in his pajama pants to the house from two doors down to help out or just to see what was going on
- A beautiful female belted kingfisher flew
into my parents' living room window and died.
The kingfisher is one of my favorite birds and
I feel lucky whenever I see one. Her death may
have been an omen or a cosmic sacrifice or
maybe her time was just up. Dad gave her a
respectful funeral in the marsh. We took
pictures because
she was just so beautiful even in death.