All Day IPA: I Think I Love You

This week is Philly Beer week (or Billy Fear week as I like to call it) and my birthday.  Do you think they knew that when they planned it?  I bet they did.

On Tuesday, Brian took a half day and I met him in the city for lunch, a walk, some beer, basically a date.  We had lunch at the Belgium Cafe, owned and operated by the people from Monk's Cafe in Center City.  Monk's is known as one of the best beer bars in the world.  I kid you not.  The food was quite tasty but my jury is still out on our waitress.  She brought some unclean cutlery so we sent it back.  When she returned with supposedly new knives, she took a look at a knife then wiped it across her butt and placed it next to my plate.  I really wanted to say, "You know I'm right here right?"

After lunch we hit Eastern State Penitentiary.  When it was built it was the first of it's kind in America.  The idea was to give each convict time alone to reflect on his/her crime.  Each prisoner had a cell to himself and a small courtyard that he/she visited for 30 minutes twice a day.  The prisoners were not allowed to talk with anyone else during their stay.  Well, that didn't last as the crime rate flourished so prisoners had to share cells. Al Capone was held their for 8 months.  See, I can do culture with my beer.

We also, as you may imagine, hit a few beer bars in the area.  For the most part I'm a die-hard IPA drinker because they are so hopalicious.  Unfortunately, they are also big as in 7.8% or 8.6% or even 9% alcohol.  Not exactly a session beer.  Not exactly a beer that you want to drink on a hot summer afternoon.  But, at our 3rd bar, there he was....sitting innocently at the end of a row of taps.  "What's this All Day IPA?"  I inquired of the waitress (who, luckily didn't seem the type to wipe knives her butt).  "Oh, that's a new one from Founder's, out in Michigan, it's only 4.8% alcohol."

Well, that was a no-brainer on my part, I had to have a taste.  It was like the heavens opened up and a choir of angels began to sing.  A very delicious hoppy, dry taste that I just love in an IPA.  Granted, it's not the overpowering hops of a double IPA but it's also not the killer alcohol level either.

I'm in love!

Rest of the day didn't compare to that find.  We trekked down to checkout an IPA throwdown that was non-existent.  Shoulda stayed where we were.  But I'll find him again, that All Day IPA.  He can't hide from me for long.  It's true love.

I'd link to the song but let's face it, you're humming it, aren't ya?  Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba I'm sleeping and right in the middle of a good dream....

Florida: You Can Stop Right There

Just returned from a week's vacation in St. Petersburg, FL.  It was the first time that Brian and I and the kids actually went away for a week by ourselves.  Usually, we travel with other people, and I have to say we had a great time.  The weather was wonderful, not too hot until the last day.

Here's the thing though, we live in Philadelphia which is known for (among things like the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin) it's beer.  And, Brian and I are beer snobs.  But down at a beach resort town, they tend to cater to, well, Joe American, who tends to enjoy Bud products.  Their idea of an import beer was Heineken.  Some bars advertised that they had micro brews but usually ended up either being out of said micro brew or claimed that Sam Adams was a micro brew.

It became a running joke for me when Brian would ask a waiter about the beer list and the waiter would start with:  "We have bud, bud light..."  And Brian would say, "You can skip to the micro brews."  And when the waiter would say, "Oh we carry Sam Adams and.."  Brian would say, "You can stop right there."  I just thought it was the funniest thing.

The poor guy tried so hard to have a Florida brewed micro brew.  Because as any beer lover knows:  Drink Locally, right?   One of the local micro brewers is Cigar City but even though several restaurants had it on the menu, everyone seemed to be out of it "at the moment."  We were there for a week and it took us until day 6 for Brian to find a Cigar City beer.  And, sad to say, when he did, he didn't really like it that much.  So he stopped right there.

Excuse me if this is a bit incomprehensible but I've been up since 4 and traveled for 7 hours to return home.  I'm enjoying a Yards IPA (a top-notch micro brew from the city of brotherly love) and I'm not planning on stopping right there.  With the beer I mean.  With the post...I'll save you any more ramblings and continue this when I've had some sleep.

What I Did Over My Christmas Vacation

Still trying to get into the blogging vibe again after a bit of a break. So I thought I'd recall what I did with my time instead of blogging. Here goes:

1. Probably don't need to say this but I did eat and drink A LOT. I visited our favorite wine store the week before Christmas to stock up. It's a wine store called Moore Brothers located in New Jersey (where they don't have such inane liquor laws). They specialize in Artisan Wine - every bottle in the store is from a winery that produces less than 6,000 bottles a year. Each bottle is treated as an agricultural product which means it is shipped from the vineyard at 56 degrees and the store is kept at 56 degrees which makes for very fresh wine. They work with vineyards all over the world and have bottles ranging from $12 on up. The sales clerk tried to interest me in a $50 Chianti, to which I said, "If I buy the $50 Chianti and like it, then I'll go broke. Let's stick to cheaper bottles." Surprisingly, we haven't gone through our stash yet.

2. Although I had all that food and wine, I did not run. We got over a foot of snow the Saturday before Christmas and then it turned cold and windy. I can't stand running in the wind. None of the snow is left however because on the day after Christmas, the temperature rose into the 40s and it rained all day, melting the snow and leading me to...

3. Discovering a new use for baking soda! The rain overwhelmed our sump pump and we had water seeping into the basement all day on the Sunday after Christmas. We wet-vacced and put fans on but by Monday night a certain odor had crept in. This was worrisome as we were having our annual New Year's Eve party in a few days. Found out that if you sprinkle baking soda on the wet rug and let it dry, it won't smell! It actually helps it dry faster as well. Luckily, I use baking soda for drains and to clean with because I got a lot of it left. For more baking soda uses (I'm a big fan) check out this page.

4. So, we were able to host our New Year's Eve party and a good time was had by all. Mostly, it was neighbors with a few out-of-town guests and some kids' sleeping over; cozy quarters with 12 in the house that night but we managed.

5. On New Year's Day, we went to lunch with our out-of-town guests before they took off. We went to a German beer pub in Philly, where I found a new beer to enjoy! Usually, I'm an IPA gal (that's India Pale Ale, and I could write an entire blog post on that beer, in fact maybe I will), but German Pilsner and Kolsch is quite tasty. Brian is all excited because he loves beer, all sorts, just check out our beer fridge! Yes, it's stocked with homemade beer.

6. Played Darts! Check out the new dart board.

7. Sprinkled throughout the holidays, I watched quite a few movies; some I enjoyed, some not so much:

Public Enemies: The Johnny Depp as Dillinger movie. I so wanted this to be good but I went to bed half-way through, on cocktail night no less; that'll tell you how boring it was.

Up In The Air: I don't get the hype over this movie (George Clooney, mid-life crisis, airplanes). It was fine but a bit boring for me and slightly formulaic. I found myself checking my watch and predicting what was going to happen based on how much time was left. And, I was right. If anyone has seen this and disagrees, I'd love to hear your comments.

District 9: This was also supposed to be really good--another one with a lot of hype--but I fell asleep during it. It started well and looked interesting but then I got bored, I guess. This is the movie about aliens who land near Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson's take on Roald Dahl's book. It's ain't no Pixar! The kids and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommend it.

Coraline: This animated film can be a bit scary for kids but it's really well done. Jeffscape said he thought it might be better if it wasn't animated but I loved the animation. I think we both agree that it's a good film (and the character of the cat is fabulous). I highly recommend it but know your kids before letting them see it.

Sherlock Holmes: I really liked this film. Saw it in the theaters on an impromptu date night (both kids were invited for a sleepover). I knew going in that Holmes would be very physical so I was prepared for that. Jude Law didn't even bother me (and I'm not a fan) but I'm a big Robert Downey Jr. fan and I thought he did a great job.

Star Wars: Brian and I introduced the kids to the 1st one, meaning the 4th one; really don't need to say anymore do I?