Let's All Meet Up in the Year 2000

I can haz mint julep now?

Watched 30 minutes or so of the Patrick Stewart/David Tennant Hamlet last night--one expects Patrick Stewart to be splendid, and of course he was, but I really liked what I saw of what Tennant brought to the role of Hamlet.  One barely thought of the Doctor at all ;-)  Anyway, I only stopped watching it because once it's available on DVD I'll want to watch the whole thing from the start.
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Went to Arlington's Town Day festivities today, as I had to pass through them to go to the post office--I really like my crazy little Massachusetts liberal town, I really do.  Every social, school, political and special interest group in the town had a booth, from the Sons of Italy to the elementary school bake sales to everybody running for Ted Kennedy's empty seat to the people who are campaigning for an off-leash dog park.  Meanwhile a by-the-numbers blues bar rock band sang songs about saving the environment, and the library had a book sale, and people sold pottery, jewelry, etc that ran the gamut from blah to really quite nice.  I finally stopped by Porch & Wardrobe, a funky home furnishings/used-consignment clothing shop in Arlington Center and scored an H&M button down shirt for $9.  I will definitely make a point of stopping back there regularly.  I finally tried on a pair of the famous 7 jeans and I have to say, I was disappointed.  They were the right size and fit, but honestly the Old Navy jeans I happened to be wearing were far more flattering to my, er, assets, and cost less new than the 7 jeans did used.  Somehow that was very satisfying.  But anyway, neat store, and I recommend checking it out.  Women's clothing only.

Also went to the Fabric Corner for the first time since I was probably like 15 and was astonished by the gorgeous cotton prints and upholstry fabrics they have in stock.  I will absolutely go there for all my home decorating projects fro now on.  Maybe I'll start making my own sleeping bags for the ferrets, too.  They also have a very good selection of notions, best I've seen locally outside the Windsor Button Shop, and they are the only local place that I have seen the big 1-inch diameter snaps in both silver and black that are so useful in dance costuming.  All in all, a very good resource to know about.

Last night I made a variation on the variation on the Root of All Evil cocktail as posted at the Cocktail Slut blog--I'm experimenting with using St. Germain in any recipe that calls for orange liquors like Gran Marnier, Cointreau or even triple sec, on the theory that it is sweet with a little tangy-ness to it, plus I am not allergic to it as I am to oranges.  So far this continues to be a successful experiment, as the drink was quite good and one that I would make again. Hm.  It's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?
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Dogfish Head's Theobroma is seriously a piece of heaven in a glass.  Some of their archaeologically inspired beers are merely interesting, but this is astounding and I swear I could live on it.  I think I am going to have to go buy it all.
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Just home from the beer festival--early, because the seriously overcrowded conditions were enough to drive me and miss_calculation away, which is saying something given that all-you-can-drink beer was at stake.  We have a plot hatching for next year involving sampler flights and a quality group of beer lovers at Redbones.  But that aside, here is what I managed to drink (brewery, name, description):

Blue Hills Brewery, Wamputuk Wheat, German Hefeweizen--really excellent example of the style, and a refreshing break from the never-ending flow of Belgian style wheat beers.  I would actively seek this one out again.

Brewery Ommegang, Biere de Mars, Amber w/ Brettanomyces yeast--really rather disappointing.  I am generally a big fan of Ommegang, their Rare Vos and Three Philosophers are regular purchases, but this did not compare to the quality of the rest of their line.

Cape Ann Brewing Co., Fisherman's Eclipse, Schwartzbier--as with many beers, served too cold.  Not particularly schwartz and not particularly memorable.

Clipper City Brewing, Red Sky At Night, Belgian-style Saison Ale--eminently drinkable.  Didn't fall in love with it but certainly wouldn't object to drinking it again.

Dogfish Head, Palo Santo Marron, malty Brown Ale aged on wood from the Palo Santo tree of Paraguay--very tasty and rich.  Would happily drink again.  Wooden flavor was notable but not overwhelming.  Line at Dogfish Head was fairly insane but it was worth the wait.

Harpoon Brewery, Leviathan Big Bohemian Pilsner--I tried this because I like the Leviathan Imperial IPA.  It was a good beer, but ultimately I am not a pilsner person.

John Harvard's Brew House Cambridge, Toasted Brown Ale, American Brown Ale--I made fun of this one before drinking it because it has a pretty meaningless name and style, but it ended up being quite tasty.  It did genuinely taste toasted, as opposed to roasted or smoked.

John Harvard's Brew House Framingham, Mobay Stout, Jamaican Sweet Stout--nothing objectionable about it, but nothing that memorable about it either.

Otter Creek Brewing, Otter Creek Copper Ale--this is a regular favorite of mine, I mostly stopped by the booth to see if they had any otter t-shirts as I saw somebody wearing one.  No t-shirts, but nice beer, and nice to have it on tap.

Pennichuck Brewing Company, Feuerwehrmann Cask, schwartzbier with bourbon and whole vanilla beans--mostly stopped by this booth as there wasn't much of a line, but wow!  this was one of my favorite beers of the afternoon.  Flavorful but not over the top.  I could have it for dessert.

Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project, Jack D'or, saison Americain--saison has become somewhat meaningless lately, I feel, but this beer typified what a saison should be.  Soemthing you could drink all night but would still maintain your palate's interest.  I really wanted to try more of their beers but they ran out about two hours before the afternoon's close!

Surly Brewing Company, CynicAle, Saison--drank this one really mostly for the name.  Nothing objectionable about it, nothing particularly special either.

Victory Brewing Company, Wild Devil, IPA with Brettanomyces--MY ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE BEER OF THE DAY.  I am a big fan of the flavor profile of brettanomyces, and while I wouldn't have expected it to go well with an IPA, this was an exquisitely well balanced beer.  I am looking forward to drinking much more of it!

That all sounds like  a lot of beer, but these were just 2 ounce pours, more or less.

As I said, we were driven away by the crowding.  The crowds outside were extremely well handled, but once inside, lines for the most popular breweries stretched clear to the other side of the hall, making it a) difficult to walk around and b) difficult to drink their beers.  Yet there was plenty of open space curtained off,  Better layout and some velvet ropes to make the lines bend and curve would have gone a long way towards relieving the crowded conditions.  Very disappointingly, some breweries showed up with nothing but bottled beers, no casks--I'm looking especially at you, Southern Tier!  I can buy your bottles for much less per ounce at the store, you need to make waiting in your lines worth my while!  Not sorry I went, not at all, but disappointed that these events appear to have become victims of their own success. :-/
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Sunday night we went to Craigie on Main, just outside of Central Square, and had the six course chef's whim.  I don't think I've ever been in a restaurant with so many waitstaff who were nevertheless so unobtrusive.  Your every need is anticipated.  A server accompanied us from the bar to our table just to carry my drink, and when M asked where the washrooms were, he was walked to them instead of having them pointed out.  We felt very country mouse in some ways but one does quickly become accustomed to that level of service.

Over the course of two hours, I ate:

• smoked sablefish with caviar and fennel vinaigrette, with little I think radish sprouts
  
• tempura cod cheeks with spicy mayonnaise.  Ordinarily I do not like mayonnaise at all but this bore little to no resemblance to the stuff that comes in jars
• seared tuna with fennel sauce and some kind of greens that I am forgetting
• macomber turnip puree/soup--this was to die for
• Chilean sea bass with chinese broccoli and a carrot au jus.  The fish was of course delicious, even if Chilean sea bass is one of those fish one ought not to eat, iirc, but the carrot au jus was a revelation.  I like carrots well enough, but this was the Platonic ideal template of carrot against which all taste of carrot must be measured.
• apple and pear crisp with prune cognac ice cream.  I make a pretty mean crisp myself so while the crisp was delicious, it did not blow me away.  The prune and cognac ice cream, otoh--wow.  If you had told me before Sunday that I would swoon over prune flavored anything I would have been highly skeptical, but I did indeed swoon over this!

I also had a cocktail called Northern Lights, which had St. Germain, scotch, grapefruit juice and Bitterman's tiki bitters.  It was a very well crafted drink but a little sweet for my palate--the bar menu mentioned douglas fir in the description of the drink so I was expecting something more assertive.  It was good though.  I had a pinot noir whose name I never caught with dinner; the waiter asked what wine I would like, to which I replied, well, since I'm getting chef's whim, I don't know what food I'm getting, so you pick.  It was a good choice, whatever it was.  I was too full for an after dinner drink, though I had some Fernet Branca at home later :-)  M had more or less the same food choices as I did, except that his turnip dish had squid stuffed with lobster and shrimp in it where mine had brussel sprouts (which I will take over lobster and shrimp any day), and he had a plate o' meat in place of my sea bass, hanger steak, marrow, tongue and maybe other stuff.  He liked it, but liked my sea bass better.  And then he had a sweet grits thing for dessert.  I liked it better than my crisp but not as much as my ice cream.

All in all, it was a highly memorable meal.  It is not the kind of splurge we can make at all often, but it was well worth the money for both the meal and the pampering.  Perhaps during the year we can go back for the bar menu and drinks...
 
On a side note, I'm inspired to try cooking with fennel now, as it appears I like it quite a bit.  Must look at recipes...
 

This interesting article about Dubonnet features words to live by, from the Queen Mum:

"I think that I will take two small bottles of Dubonnet and gin with me this morning, in case it is needed."

No wonder she always looked so serene and happy, and waved and smiled at everybody ever so nicely. 

Last night I took Advil PM because of an achey hip and jangling brain.  I'd never taken any before.  I slept like a log.  However, today I am awake like a log.  Ah well.  Perhaps I should have gone with Dubonnet and gin...  or perhaps I should have packed some this morning, as I believe Dubonnet contains some caffeine.
 

 

I think I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

Friday was the American Craft Beer Festival.  I had: ( list o'beers )

Saturday started with a much needed massage, and then a fun and heartwarming shower for my future nephew up in Lowell.  That will be one well dressed kid, I tell you!  Funny moment when somebody said they needed a knife; my dad, my uncle and I all said "I have one!"  Later somebody remarked that our whole family carries knives, which was pretty funny if you know my family, as it made us sound like some kind of crazy gang.

Today I went to the Dance Complex and sweat buckets while working on my piece for next Sunday.  Did not feel super awesome about what I accomplished but I'm still not 100 percent over being sick, and it was awfully hot.  The mirrors in the studio I used are angled slightly so that you look extra squat and stout in your reflection, which didn't help but at least I could keep sight of the fact that it was the mirrors, not me.  Glad I went, anyway, so that I could use a lot of floor space.

Now I am going to do carpentry on our futon frame to prevent weasels from sneaking in through the sides of the frame.  It's fine if they go under the bed, but we're afraid they'll get squished squeezing through the small holes between the slats and the futon.  Hopefully I am stronger than the drill right now...

Oh!  Saturday night we went to La Buona Vita in Arlington Center.  We'd never been there before.  Very good uncomplicated Italian cooking.  Not a long menu but a well-chosen one.  Definitely somewhere to go again.

If you google sage cocktail, you get a bunch of results about people who think they are cocktail sages, sage colored cocktail napkins and sage colored cocktail dresses.  Plus a couple of recipes :-/

My not terribly interesting experiment tonight yielded the information that you need a lot of sage, and it requires more muddling than either mint or basil do.  I suppose the leaves are a bit tougher.  Making a sage-infused syrup might be a better way to go, although I don't know if I want to be locked into making sweet drinks--I really want to figure out something more hearty, more appetizer than dessert.  All I did tonight was muddle some sage with bourbon and top it off with some sparkling cider.  I like the sage in the bourbon but the cider is much too sweet.  But, it's a start, and I learned something about sage.