Rock Chalk Jayhawk

The husband comes home today. The Jayhawks play this evening. It is Friday. It is Beer Friday. It is International Beer Friday! It simply cannot be a bad day.

Define Decadent

Per Merriam-Webster

1 : marked by decay or decline
2 : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of the decadents

3 : characterized by or appealing to self-indulgence <decadent pleasures>

By those definitions, the Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout is either in decline, or a self-indulgent treat. Hrm.

I took my 22 oz bottle and managed almost 2 pint glasses from it. (Think about much beer you miss when the barkeep leaves a little too much room or the waitress sloshes it around?!) This is very dark beer. Almost black, but with enough rust around the edge and brown in the sticky foamy head that you realize it is dark, dark, dark oily brown. It reminded me a bit of Rogue’s Chocolate, but probably because Lee said he & his lovely were drinking some, and I wanted it.

The bubbly head didn't last through the whole glass. Actually, it didn’t even last through the first third. I was yakking on the phone to a friend about rings and dresses and other girly wedding themed items, and took a big swig without really thinking, and was smacked with a mouthful of bitter chocolate and roasted coffee. One glass into my bottle, and I was feeling a little light headed. This isn’t a “thick” feeling beer, but it is a tiny bit grainy. There was the typical dry aftertaste, but seemed a little more bitter and greasy than normal.

Overall it was good, but now I just want Rogue. Guess it’s another trip to Batson for me this week. I really need to transition to springy beers, despite my love for dark brews. It's diet time again. Time to update the pointy post!

The Generation Gap

Permit me a non-beer post for a moment. It's rare, so let is pass.

Old people forward email jokes.
Middle-aged people put them on their blog.
Young people post them on their friends' walls.
And kids? I have no idea what they do, except maybe recite jokes for which they can't remember the punchlines while surfing around Club Penguin or something.

My Dad forwarded me this. He thinks it is quite funny, I assume. I don't see it as all that funny. Because anyone who knows anything knows that you take your blackberry into the restroom at work, not a laptop. Now I can't decide what part of that whole thing is more pathetic.

Employee of the Month

This is the level of dedication we expect from all staff!

From,
Management

Buy yourself something pretty

I stopped by Batson on my way home tonight. Picked up some beer for the hubby, who had a full day, and 2 kinds of beer for me, who is having a full day/week/month/year. For him was the-beer-who-cannot-be-named, and for me, two little experiments:

An 8.45 oz bottle of Sam Adams Triple Bock. It cost $4.30 at Batson, and the hand written shelf sign read, "Poor Man's Utopia." I had no idea what it was, so I bought it. According to the Beer Advocate, it is something Sam Adams brewed for limited releases, with the most recent being 1997. So technically, this beer was brewed last the year I turned 21, if not before. Neat. Straight from the site:
We recommend serving it at room temperature in a snifter a few ounces at a time - one bottle should generously serve two to three. Its warming malt character and fruit esters make it an ideal after dinner aperitif. Due to legal restrictions, Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® can not be sold in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia.
It is a crazy, black, oily looking substance, that apparently many dislike and contains massive amounts of alcohol. So I need a crazy beer testing friend for sharing. The husband won't drink motor oil!

The other is a Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout. Double chocolate stout just sounds yummy, and the site calls it decadent. I am hoping so. Decadent would be nice right now.

Replusive

The remnants of an irish car bomb in a plastic cup from the hooley I went to yesterday. Gross. How YOU doin'?

Boxty on the griddle

Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan, if you can't make a boxty, you'll never get your man.

I am drinking an Irish Ale right now. It is an irish red brewed by my friendly neighborhood brewer, Boulevard. I love the Irish Ale. I even love the Celtic-ish label. It pours a deep reddish/caramel color with a decent foamy head that settles into lacing for the entire beer. It smells like sweet caramel, a little bready and malty, and a bit fruity. The taste is also caramel malts and sweet, but has some nuttiness, and a tiny hint of hops. The body is fairly light, and sparsely carbonated, and basically I love this beer.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off of work. I plan to start the day with a boxty, because no matter what anyone thinks, I think it sounds delish for breakfast. And a fat plate of potatoes sounds like a good way to pad the hubby's stomach for a long day.

I don't have a written recipe. My family never did, you just make them on sight. A boxty is like a latke, but if you make them flat enough, you can stuff them with fillings. Basically, if you are feeding an army, you take a pound of peeled potatoes, and boil half of them, and then make mashed potatoes. The other (raw) half of the pound you grate as if for hash browns. You take the grated potatoes and put them in a tea towel, and squeeze out all the liquid. Then you mix the raw grated potatoes into the mashed potatoes, and add flour, between a 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup, about a teaspoon of baking powder, and milk. Maybe a half a cup? I tend to add in less flour and milk than any recipe ever calls for in order to make them more like hash browns and less like pancakes. Then I grease up a pan, and drop them in. When they are brown on each side, they are ready to eat! You can combine the boxty with fried mushrooms and onions, or with an egg and bacon for a more breakfast friendly option. Yum! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Whitest things ever

Funny blog I lifted from Average Jane - Stuff White People Like

#23 Microbeweries
"White people don’t like stuff that’s easy to acquire. Beer is no exception.

They generally try to avoid beers like Budweiser, Labatt’s, Molson, Coors, and Heineken because if it’s mass produced it is bad. No exceptions.

So when they need a beer, they turn to microbrews who seem to be located almost exclusively in New England, Ontario, Quebec and Colorado. Being able to walk into a bar and order a beer that no one has heard of makes white people feel good about their alcohol drinking palate.

A friend of mine once met a white guy who brought a notebook with him to every bar. He would then keep a record of all the beers he drank and his experience with them. He called it his ‘beer journal.’

Also of note: most white people want to open a microbrewery at some point. One that uses organic hops."

YES, they totally forgot about the Pacific Northwest as a source of microbrew snobbery. Some commenters on the blog believe it is because the bloggers aren't white enough, but it could possibly be that they are Canadian. Either way, an oversight that I am sure was not done on purpose. :)

My other favorite entries are
#26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
#31 Snowboarding
#53 Dogs
#54 Kitchen Gadgets
#63 Expensive Sandwiches
#79 Modern Furniture
#86 Shorts

But they are all hilarious.

Irish KC

I stumbled across this blog today, and I love it. It is also timely what with the white-people-drink-themselves-into-a-coma-holiday coming up and all. It is written by an Irishman living in KC, although at the moment back home visiting family, diligently updating the KC St. Pats 2008 Guide.

Check it out if you need to catch up on the activities round here. About.com has a decent list too. I'll be at the parade, hanging with friends downtown, and wrapping up my day at Lew's Hooley in Waldo. I can only imagine what will be spent in cab fare.

What's the deal with the spelling of hoolie? Is it hooley or hoolie?

Scooped by my mother-in-law

My MIL attended one of the private soft openings of the Gordon Biersch location in the Power & Light district last night. She knows one of the corporate peeps who flew in for the big opening, and got to try anything she wanted while the staff "practiced" serving for their grand opening this week. Officially, doors open on Monday, but they are having private openings all weekend. Because I think her enthusiasm is adorable, not to mention her turn by turn directions, I am copying & pasting her review below. Hope she doesn't mind! (She's not much a beer drinker, so I promise to provide my own beer feedback soon. )

We had dinner at a private party at Gordon Biersch at 200 East 13th Street. It doesn't officially open until Monday night, but our friends invited us to the private party. We could order anything free as it gave the staff "practice" for opening Monday. The food was great! You would like it. I especially thought the appetizer crab cake was the best in the city--large and moist with lump crab. I had the salmon with pecan topping and it was also good. Dessert we shared was the bread pudding with vanilla ice cream--again the best in the city I've ever had! We sampled their "beer sampler" of five little glasses of beer. All was good. We parked at the Town Pavilion Garage across from the HR Block one. Both were $10 last night because of the event at Sprint Center. No exceptions and validations after 6 PM didn't even count. I drove I-35 to 12th Street exit and went on 12th street to Grand. Turned right on Grand to 13th Street. Turned right again in the garage. Be sure to walk around a bit and see the "stage" area and also the pretty lighted blue trees. I think Gordon Biersch's is the nicest one on the block. Have a good time! Love, Mom

March Madness

I love March. I really do. And I love it more this year because the Big 12 Tourney is in KC, in the shiny new arena downtown. And my Jayhawks are on a tear. Which helps. And reminds me about the Alumni meet up next week:

Big 12 Tournament Kickoff Party
Young Alumni Members-only Event
5 p.m.
Thursday, March 13
The Cashew
2000 Grand Ave.
Kansas City, MO

I thought that I would do a PSA kind of deal for the locals. All of my suburban house-cat friends are askeered of the parking situation downtown. They seriously bring this up a deterrent to attending a concert, game, etc. Just because there isn't a parking lot that look like the mall or at the K doesn't mean you'll have to walk for miles in the dark & creepy downtown landscape. There are a TON of parking garages downtown. You just have to find 'em. It's like the Plaza, but with BIGGER garages! There are 2 garages below the district itself. They hold about 1,800 cars. There are garages EVERYWHERE. They cost a couple dollars. Welcome to being urban. You pay. To park. GASP! I know, right?