Child free weekend!

Iz and I enjoyed a child free weekend in West Dover. Our friend Melanie took the girls for the entire weekend while we stayed at a friends ski house. We had an extremely relaxing weekend complete with two nights out for dinner. Friday night at the Roadhouse and Saturday night at the Doveberry Inn. We originally planned on going to Two Tannery Road Saturday night but unfortunately the earliest they could seat us was 9:00 pm, and that would have been way too late

Both meals were exquisite, in a truly bucolic Vermont setting. The Roadhouse had a pre-fix menu which was the hot setup for Friday, and the Doveberry was a quaint, yet elegant experience. During the day we basically just relaxed and got to catch up on our reading. I also managed to get some work related stuff done early in the afternoon which would prove to save me from some headaches on Monday.
I'm a firm believer that all parents should get away from their kids at least one night a month.

Happy Anniversary

If you asked me last September where I would be in a year, It's very likely that My eyes would have glazed over and I would have given you one of them 1,000 mile stares.... you know like an uber tweaked out middle of the second set between drums and space stare.
I honestly had know idea if if Iz and I were going to make it. I have seen a lot in the past year, and garnered an incredible amount of knowledge about myself, my partner, and what paths we have chosen. Luckily we are both on the same path now.
So we are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary with for Oysters and Mussels from Gillies. We decided to play it low key since we are going to be out of town and child free in West Dover, VT this weekend. LOL!

3CPIPA

I brewed a new IPA today, I'm calling it the 3CPIPA. The three C's naturally being

1. Centennial
2. Cascade
3. Chinook

and the P, well P is for Perle.

I hopped the hell out of this batch, in fact this beer has over 12 ounces of hops in it. I actually missed my volume of 10 gallons due to the amount of trub in the kettle at post boil. So with a starting gravity of 1.056, and 60 IBU's I'm hoping that this will turn out to be a well balanced IPA with lot's of Citrusy notes.

The Manzo threat

Manzo came for a visit Saturday night. Manzo and my friend John the Hippie showed up around 6:30 and we proceeded to watch the sox game, eat pizza and wash it down with some beer at McNeill's brewery. We wandered over to Flat Street for a beer and the final out of the game. Looks like JD Drew is pulling his weight for the Sox this week.

More brewing & some commuting.

I have been trying to dial in the setting on my mill lately, and finally believe that I have reached a point where I'm happy with my efficiency. I have kept the mill settings the same for the past few beers, and for the last two beers I brewed, I kept the same grist. I'm planning a final brew with the same grist as the two previous beers this weekend. I'm going to make an IPA and I'm working on the hop profile right now.
My target gravity was 1.056 for all these beers, and if I get within the range 1.054-1.058 I'll be satisfied with the mill setting, and will move on to switching back up my recipes, and working on some different styles. I picked up a sixer of the Lagunitas Pils lately and that really got me wanting to make my Bohemian Pilzner, which has become one of my signature beers which I try to keep in rotation along with the California Common, and my House Pale ale.

I'm commuting via bicycle over to Suzanne and Astrid's today while the rest of the family is taking the car up to their house so we can have dinner together. I'm psyched for a great ride, beautiful weather, and fabulous terrain.

BHIC

I had an opportunity to catch some live music last night. Michael Fuller and I met up with my buddy Roddy for the Ben Harper show at the Palace. Despite my Albany friends bashing the place, it really is a nice theater. The carpentry in that place is amazing. Hands down it is one of the nicer places in the area to see live music. It was a ripping show, and as usual Ben was spot on. It was great to get out and enjoy some live music, not to mention beers with Roddy!
Hey.....Where's Roddy?
Here' the Setlist

Set I:

1. 11th Commandment >
2. Well Well Well
3. Take My Hand
4. Fight Outta You
5. Picture In A Frame
6. Fool For A Lonesome Train
7. In The Colors
8. Gold To Me
9. Whipping Boy
10. Younger Than Today
11. Welcome To The Cruel World
12. Say You Will
13. Put It On Me
14. Use Me
15. Where Could I Go

Encore I:

16. Paris Sunrise #7 >
17. Lifeline
18. Masters Of War
19. Like A King / I'll Rise

A call from the Kingdom, and a trip to the Palace

I spoke with Jay DeJesus last night. He was checking in from the Northeast Kingdom. This immediately brought back images of such great trails as Cupcake, Poundcake, Dead Moose Alley, Widow-maker, River Run, and East Branch. I honestly have not been up there in a few years. In fact I think my last trip up there was before we had children. This got me thinking it might be nice to do an overnighter to the Kingdom for some buff singletrack. Besides, I haven't even been on my mountain bike this year, that is unless you count that trip to the brewery a few weeks ago.
I digress... It was great to catch up with Jay. I had an opportunity to chat with him up at Mt. Snow during the USA cycling championships, and it was great to see him, Alive and well no less!

He has once again expressed his desire to leave the the Lehigh Valley and move back up to bucolic Vermont. It sure would be great to have him as a neighbor again. I promise this time around we will get together and make some turns.

Michael Fuller and I are headed over to the Palace Theater tonight to see Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, but before that we are going to meet up with Roddy at McGeary's Pub for some Yuengling and wings.

A parting view

Have a great weekend.
Photo Courtesy of Saul Groovy

Haiku Wednesday

Crisp, Clear Summer Day
Winds of change are upon us
How bout a cross race?

More apple picking

We picked apples on Sunday at Green Mountain Orchards. In all we collected about a bushel of assorted Mac's, Golden, Samsa's and Cortlands. We enjoyed some rather decadent apple sauce Sunday evening. I like mine with some vanilla and cinnamon.
Next weekend I'm going to make some pie.







Even the Reindeer enjoyed the apples

Road trip to Pennsyltuckey

Over the labor day weekend our family took a little road trip to PA. This trip included some of the essential components required to provide a positive memorable experience. For this trip they included the following:

• Family, Friends, and Fat-tires.
• Beer, Bikes & BBQ
• Lot's of leisure time.
• A party

I have been swamped and unable to provide the updates I would like to at this time. I'll be filling in the gaps as usual.

My dad turned 70 on Saturday

We celebrated my father's 70th Birthday Saturday with a cookout and some cake, all washed down with some fine Belgian beers. My brother and I raided my Father's sacred stash of Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Kaiser and we all performed a little vertical tasting of our own. We enjoyed a bottle of the 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Big Dave 70th

Click on the pic above for the slideshow I created for his Birthday.
Happy Birthday Big Dave!