Cocktail Confessions

One of my best friends, Brian Liles, has honored me by requesting that I be his best man for his upcoming wedding this October 9th.  As part of the un-written, yet somewhat obligatory and expected duties of the best man is to plan the much maligned ‘bachelor party’.  However, we aren’t all bachelors and young studs ourselves anymore.  Long gone are the fraternity like shenanigans one might come to expect from a group of guys in their twenties.  I don’t expect any “Hangover” moments with strange babies, escaped tiger’s, or getting punched out by Mike Tyson.  No, we’re all hovering around 40, give a take a year or two….many with our own families, obligations, and somewhat tamed morals.

It’s not an easy task to undertake planning a ‘crazy’ and memorable event when you’re married yourself, have never met most of the invitees to understand their likes, dislikes, and personalities.  Also, getting the actual list of names from the groom himself was an exercise in pulling teeth.  See, I asked Brian close to three months ago to send me a list of names of those he’d like to include, and reminded him every other week or so for the next two months.  I finally received a list about 2 weeks ago and have sent out an appropriate invitation via eVite, (the digital norm these days) and am anxiously awaiting replies.

There were a few caveats to the initial brainstorming, some that didn’t go over to well with some of the guys, but in all honesty a moral relief and un-burden to myself: NO STRIPPERS.  Like I said, I’m not 19 years old anymore, or 25 and the thought of bringing any ‘exotic dancers’ into my home for a few hours or going to some sleazy, over-priced gentleman’s club just doesn’t sit well with me anymore, so I’m glad Brian made it clear up front he wanted no part of that.  I did get a few ribbing’s from some of the guys, but I figure that’s what the Internet is for these days….you want a few jollies?  Go watch some stuff for free in the privacy of your own Kleenex filled office.

We were then going to rent a party bus and head down to Stone Brewery near Carlsbad, CA, take the tour, eat some gourmet food and taste various brews.  But even though the thought of having a designated chauffeur was nice, the cost of renting a bus for 8 hours, paying for gourmet food and craft beers, and not having a list of initial invitees made the idea a little hard to put into action.

We thought about doing a bar crawl in Newport Beach or surrounding cities, but again, the idea of some of us possibly getting lost in transit, separated, sitting in traffic, or a few of us cheerfully volunteering to be designated drivers for the rest seemed to be a bit more complicated than anyone was willing to admit.

In the end, Brian, Steve, and I hashed out our ”un-bachelor” party over lunch about two weeks back.  We settled on going out to Cook’s Corner for the afternoon, enjoying a few pitchers of beer under the sun at a watering hole close to my home.  At approx 6pm, we will all come back to my house (only a few short miles away), relax and continue the festivities in the privacy of my backyard.  There we will have a BBQ, a fire, and plenty of beverages.  I have extra room if anyone needs to crash, no waitresses to tip, no worrying about lines, traffic, driving, spending crazy money, etc.

I know Brian’s fiance voiced some initial concerns over Brian having a party to begin with and even floated the idea of having a ‘joint’ bachelor-bachelorette party.  Uh, “NO”…we aren’t that progressive.  That’s one thing I don’t get (and sorry Shea if you read this), but it’s my understanding that she had her own ‘get together’ planned out but was somewhat troubled when Brian announced that the guys were having a gathering.  Whaaa..??  I don’t care if they call it a ‘bridal shower’, ‘gathering’, ‘luncheon’, or whatever….it’s basically a female ‘bachelorette party’.  What ever games and gossip they do there amongst themselves is their issue and has nothing to do with the guys.  Seems a bit like a double standard in my book.  We laid it right out on the table…we’re going to Cook’s Corner, then a BBQ at my house.  How is that any different Mr. Cochrane?  Case closed, move to dismiss.

Anyway, I digress. 

I was able to contact Cismontane Brewery in RSM and get a 1/4 keg of their IPA for my home gathering.  Food-wise, we’ll have beer brats with grilled garlic seasoned onions and roasted poblano peppers on french rolls, black and blue potato salad (meaning it contains blue cheese and bacon), chips, dip, salsa, two different styles of buffalo wings, and most likely some carne asada as well.  There will be a little whisky to be had, a fire in my backyard fireplace, music from my stereo, but most importantly a gathering of some great guys.

Out of the 12-15 or so that are attending, both Brian and I know a handful dating back to our elementary and junior high school days.  A couple of them we haven’t seen in close to twenty years if not longer, so there will be plenty of catching up for a few of us, and plenty of pictures to be taken along with many new memories and hopefully re-connections to be made.

No, it’s not gonna be a night of high stakes hijinx, but should be a really good time for all in attendance.

Trying another experiment here.

Even though I really liked the WP to Twitter plugin, I’ve been experiencing some odd, unexplained, and indecipherable formatting issues when trying to post to Twitter.  The ‘shortcode’ was always getting fouled up to one degree or another here when using the #url# fast code when publishing a new post.

Even though I re-registered my application with Twitter (successfully per the app no less), refreshed the API key, seemed to have ‘passing’ tests behind the scenes, as soon as I published live, the shortcode errored out.  After spending a lot of time going line by line, and various combinations of URL’s, API keys, and format tweaks and saves, the results would always end the same: in error.

So I downloaded a new plugin called ‘Tweetable’ and followed their instructions very closely for activation. I also deactivated ‘WP to Twitter’, and everything seems good to go on the back end.  So this entry is more a test run and I’m crossing my fingers.

For those that are interested, it is version 1.1.8 and it seems pretty robust.  It actually adds a few pages to WordPress which seem pretty intuitive and you’re able to track those Tweets you follow within WordPress itself and also you can post your own Tweets directly within as well.  That’s a pretty neat feature that seems to take the next logical step that WP to Twitter didn’t.  So hopefully this will work out.

It’s only “hump day” today and I have a few gripes already piling up.

In no particular order:

• FOX has already cancelled its new prime-time show ‘Lone Star’ after just two episodes.  It was critically acclaimed as one of the new best dramas of the season, and Fox put it up against Dancing With The Stars, Monday Night Football, Two & Half Men, and The Event.  Why would you put that show against that kind of competition and expect it to do well, especially when you didn’t push it that much to begin with.  Needless to say in it’s premiere, it got crushed, bringing in only 4.06M viewers.  This past Monday’s episode, episode #2, mustered about 3.2M viewers.  So instead of moving it to a more favorable time-slot and give it a fighting chance, FOX pulled the plug.  Too bad because I thought it was pretty good and much more intelligent writing than most other stuff on as of recent.  The only silver lining is that may be one less show I need to invest my time in I suppose.
• My diet and increased exercise regime hasn’t helped out too much.  Because the doctor told me my cholesterol was a tad on the high side, I’ve been eating much more steamed vegetables, high fiber cereal, and fish.  I’m also keeping an eye on portion control and cutting back on red meat and dairy.  I’ve also increased my workouts a bit as well. as riding the bike at the gym a bit more, walking my dog further and at a higher pace, and lifting a bit more weights.  And this has pretty much translated into nothing so far.  As of Monday’s workout, I still weighed 227lbs a net loss of practically 0 after 2 weeks.  Hmmmm.
• Speaking of weights, I was pricing the cost of dumbbells and am shocked on how expensive they are.  We’re talking plain old cast iron.  A 25 lb weight at Dick’s is like $29 each.  A 35 lb dumbell is $49!  I wanted to get a few to keep around in the gargae, but at that price, forget it. 
• And don’t get me started on stove’s. Our stove crapped out two night ago and after some initial research we found out the stove that came with out house is about 8 years old, discontinued, and worth about $450.  The cost of repair would be in the neighborhood of $175 (give or take a few bucks).  So we started pricing out new stoves and happen to be keeping coming back to those priced in the $850-$1,100 range, something of course with a convection (for the missus).  Thing is, how long can we go on microwaving our meals, using the outdoor BBQ, or use the stove top burners?  I imagine we can get buy for a bit, but sooner or later we need to get the stove repaired and that about $900+ neither one of us have.
• Why are tuxedo rentals so damn expensive?  I need to rent one for my buddy’s wedding coming up.  I pick it up the day before, and return it the day after the blessed event.  Total time I’ll be in the suit I figure is 4-5 hours tops.  My cost?  Again, about $180.  Perfect timing for someone whose stove just died.

Well, It’s finally here.  Part 1 of my long promised “How To” series on smoking a beef brisket.

After my wife brought home a Brinkman smoker from her 10-year anniversary with working for her company, I was chomping at the bit to try my hand at smoking a brisket.  The good news is was that it turned out pretty darn good and everyone who tried it loved it.  Even better, it was a perfect excuse to use my Kodak Playsport and record all the footage from my preparation, trimming, and rubbing with my own spices, to actually doing a time-lapsed capture on the smoker itself and finally finishing it up on the oven.

When it was all said and done, I had enough footage to string together a basic “How To” video series that I’m in the process of editing and posting to both YouTube and here.  I initially thought I could break it up into three videos, but after this first one clocked in at just over 8 minutes in length, I decided to break it up further into 4 videos.  I think most people can absorb interesting information in smaller 4-5 minutes chunks as opposed to fewer and longer 8 plus minute pieces.

So while I understand you may think this eight (8) minute video may be a little long, I promise that the future installments will be smaller in size.  This first segment talks about selecting a beef brisket, what to look for at the grocery store or butcher, a bit of the anatomy of the meat and initial preparation.  Things really start to take shape in Part II (already edited as of this writing) with Parts III and IV on rubs, marinades, injections, wood, bastings and finally the smoking and revealing of the finished brisket itself.  I promise, it gets better.

Anyway, in this video series you will see an amateur no-holds barred, step-by-step instruction of me smoking a 6.62 pound USDA hand picked beef brisket over hickory wood (not mesquite as I mentioned in the video) in my Brinkman Bullet.

I can’t take credit for this list.  The author is actually Richard Goldsmith and I found this article online.  Try some of his suggestions and report back.

Football season is upon us, and while that certainly means lazy Saturdays and Sundays on the couch relaxing with beer in hand and pizza on speed dial, it also means early mornings firing up the grill with like minded fans in crowded parking lots. This time of year is for tailgating more than any other, and no exhaust pipe party is complete without cooler full of brews to wash down the nicely charred brats, burgers, wings, and pots full of chili.

You could, of course, buy a case of Bud and call it a day. But when there are so many spectacular brews to choose from it seems almost sad to pair an awesome day with the Bears, Vikings, Giants, etc. with anything but a beer perfectly suited to a crisp Fall day with good friends and greasily delicious food cooked over hot coals. And if you end up shirtless and painted in team colors along the way, that’s the mark of a day well spent.

Here are a few bottles worth packing in the cooler alongside the face paint:

Great Lakes Brewing Dortmunder Gold – Brewed in Cleveland, a town with a proud football tradition and a contract out on Art Modell, Dortmunder was originally called The Heisman, making it just about the perfect beer to pack up for a productive Saturday of college football. A nicely balanced lager with an easy drinking malt and hops combo, it pours a rich gold – though it’s unlikely to make it into a glass before a game. What’s especially impressive is how much hoppy aroma and flavor is packed in without making it a bitter hop-bomb, as so many beers of late seem to be. It’s toasty and warming, despite having a relatively light-body, with a crisp finish and almost creamy texture.

Penn Oktoberfest – Just across the border in Pennsylvania, Cleveland’s arch-rival Pittsburgh brews up beer fit for a day of food and football at the Pennsylvania Brewing Company. In this case, it’s a traditional German marzen that’s just heavy enough to fortify against the cold without being so heavy you have to go easy on it in order to pack in a couple of more burgers. Nice yeasty aromas abound, with dry malt on the aftertaste and some interesting fruit up front. It has a little citrus to it with just enough carbonation to cut the grease from nachos and the massive quantities of grilled meats customary before taking in a game.

Narragansett Porter – The Patriots are still among the class of the NFL, so, with any luck, drinking like one might help out your team of choice. Narragansett Brewery is located on the cusp of Patriots country in Providence, Rhode Island and, not surprisingly, puts out cans that are right at home packed into a pregame cooler. The company’s porter in particular is a nice change of pace. The nearly black brew is complex and heavy on the malt with an appealing tartness that seems almost out of place in a porter. It’s not as heavy as many other porters, with fairly gentle carbonation and an easy sweetness that doesn’t get cloying after three or four, thanks to a touch of bitterness from the hops. Plus, the brewery’s “Gansett Girl” blog makes for some solid conversation around the grill.

Shiner Bohemian Black Lager – No tailgating brew list would be complete without a beer from the heart of Texas. Located west of the Texans and south of the Cowboys, Spoetzl Brewery has been in business since 1914 and the brewery’s flagship, Shiner Bock, is a common sight at college and pro football tailgating all over the state and country. But the company also brews up a black lager called schwarzbier. With far more body and lip-smackingly bitter hops flavor than the average lager, it pours a deep black with some ruby highlights. Roasted malt flavors come through clearly, bringing out some coffee and sweetness, but even with the complexity and fairly bold flavors it’s easy drinking. There’s some unfortunate graininess to the texture, but if there’s spicy foods at the party, this is the beer to bring. Though there’s some heavy carbonation to the beer, so watch out for some impressively fiery brew-inspired belching.

A few changes made today and I’m not sure of all the ramifications just yet.  I did notice that my WordPress to Twitter plugin stopped working a few days back, and it appears that is because the plugin now needs OAuth to authenticate communications between Twitter and WordPress.  Still would like to find a better plugin for this, but it works pretty well….when working.

I also noted a few other plugins also had updates available as did WordPress itself.  So….

• WordPress 2.9.2 to new version 3.0.1
• Askimet Antispam 2.1.0 to new version 2.4.0.  Hopefully this will cut down on the bogus crap I get all the time.
• WP to Twitter: upgraded to new version 2.2.1, BUT currently it is not working.  I need to go back and sign up with the new OAuth regsitratuion servers, get new API keys, blah, blah, blah.  Maybe sometime this weekend I’ll work on it.  I’m surprised there wasn’t more buzz or heads up on this.  It’s kinda a big deal.
• NextGEN Gallery to new version 1.6.1.  I have no idea what changes were made here.  Need to go and read changelog later.
• Bluebrry Powerpress to new version 1.0.9.  Would be something i suppose if I started podcasting again….but have been lazy to do such as of late.

I can’t take credit for the article and I’m not going to copy and paste the whole thing here, but if you jump over to one of those convoluted links over at MSNBC.com, I came across an interesting story about a guy who gave up meat for 30 days in protest to meat industry and factory farms.

Doesn’t sound like that big of a deal?  Well, it is if you’re actually Craig “Meathead” Goldwyn, author of the famous BBQ blog and recipe site, amazingribs.com.

He did mention some side effects:  1) He lost five pounds, 2) And experienced some intestinal distress towards the end.  Not sure if that is because he obviously increased his overall fiber intake, his body was adjusting to a new diet, or something else entirely.

The closest I ever gave up anything for that long was alcohol once many years ago.  A friend bet me I couldn’t last a month without a sip of booze.  I actually made it about 29 days, and then I was a party and I think I had a wine cooler or something just as horrid.  I suppose I could have gotten away with it if I really wanted to, but a bet is a bet, and I was honest, and I came clean.  She treated me anyway to a nice dinner of Pick Up Stix anyway for my efforts (we were young and broke at the time).

I was thinking about “Meathead’s” meatless month and I wondered if I could do the same.  I probably could, although it may be slightly harder than I may think it is.  I’m not really positive how much meat I eat a week.  I do have quite a few sandwiches during the week, BBQ a lot in the summer, and make other dinner time meals during that usually has a meat component.

I did wish I ate more fish though, so I ‘may’ be able to get persevere anyway.  I suppose if my doctor told me to give up red meat, I eventually could.  My doctor told me to cut back on my cholesterol at one point and I can honestly tell you I cut my buffalo wing consumption by 80% and my shrimp/lobster/crab consumption by 95%, (I still have the occasional shrimp, but not like I used too).  Cheese is the hardest I find.  I do eat more 2%, low-fat, and even some non-fat cheese on occasion, but I can’t stomach the ‘vegi’ or ‘soy’ cheese.  It’s horrid.

Anyway, it’s an interesting article and you can read it here.

One Drunk Jew

I’ve been a bit busy at work lately and feel bad I haven’t had a lot of time to update the site lately.  I’m really behind on some promised content, but I came across this article today by Richard Goldsmith, and well…..albeit a tad early for the new year and the fact I’m not even Jewish, I thought I’d share this with you all anyway:

Rosh Hashana is the Jewish new year. Literally translating to head of the year, there’s not a whole lot of similarity between this start of the Jewish calendar year and the one that takes place on January 1.

Despite being a joyous holiday, Rosh Hashana is a time for reflection, a time to look over the missteps of the past year and plan how to avoid them in the new one.

Of course, no one ever said you can’t drink something other than Manischewitz whilst making those plans. After all, such deep thoughts are sure to work up a powerful thirst and man cannot live, nor wish for a sweet new year, on kosher wine alone. A few simple cocktails geared toward encouraging the requisite introspection, not to mention encourage shouts of “L’shanah tovah,” — Hebrew for “for a good year!” — as glasses clink together certainly wouldn’t hurt.

To that end, here are a few drinks aimed at ringing in the Jewish new year in grand, yet traditional, fashion that even the strictest bubbie couldn’t possibly frown upon.

Call of the Shofar – When Rosh Hashana falls upon a day other than the Sabbath — or Shabbat — the shofar, a ram’s horn blown like a trumpet, is sounded. There isn’t a specific reason given for this in the Old Testament, but some suggest it’s a call to repentance. In any case, it’s one of the most important observances of the holiday. A skilled shofar blower can produce one hell of a note – a sound only a powerful drink can do justice to. The Call of the Shofar is a twist on a classic, the Whispers of the Frost. It’s sweet, in keeping with the hopes for a great new year, but packs a wallop and demands the drinker’s attention.

• 1.5 oz whisky (Jameson Irish Whisky is recommended beacuse of its carmel flavors and oak base to offset the sweetness)
• 1.5 oz sherry
• 1.5 oz. Manischevitz concord grape kosher wine.
• Pour all three ingrediants into a goblet full of ice, stir, and garnish with a few apple slices.

L’Shanah Tovah – The pomegranate carries a rich history of symbolism. In Judaism, the fruit signifies righteousness, and is often eaten in dishes on Rosh Hashana as a way of inviting those qualities into the coming year. As such, incorporating pomegranate into a cocktail that invites a good year and emulates the traditional holiday greeting can only be a good thing. Sweet and tart, with all the mouth-puckering qualities of the pomegranate balanced by the richness of the cognac and effervescence of the tonic water, this is a drink that provides all of the joy the holiday calls for, tempered by just the right amount of righteous inspiration.

• 1 oz. Pama pomegranate liqueur
• 1 oz. cognac
• 1.5 oz. tonic water
• Comibe ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice, stir, gently to avoid losing too much carbination.  Strain into cocktail glass and serve.

The Rosh Hashana – One of the best parts of any holiday is the food. And Rosh Hashana has become known for the traditional pairing of apples and honey as a symbol of hope for a sweet new year. This drink takes that pairing and ups the sophistication, balancing the sweetness while maintaining the honey and apple flavors. And what could be sweeter than kicking the new year off with bourbon?

• 1.5 oz. bourbon (lower end is okay as to not be wasted by the mixing)
• 1 oz. Barenjager Honey Liqueur
• Apple Cider (preferably unfilterd and unpasteurized – giving the whole a drink a little more complexity and tangy flavor)
• Pour bourbon and liqueur into a lowball glass over ice and top off with apple cider.

Mark your calenders, and for good reason too.

We all know what September 11th means and stands for.  There’s no denying it’s a pivotal and defining moment in our nations history no matter what ethnic or religious background. 

While there are indeed multiple ways to show your respect, mourn, and remember your own way there is also an annual event held at Hidden Valley Park in Irvine, CA.  It’s near Wild Rivers and the old Verizon Amphitheatre where the 405 and 5 FWY’s meet.

The Orange Country Brew Ha Ha is an event to help show appreciation to our firefighters for both serving and protecting us.  It’s a beer festival where a portion of all proceeds collected will be donated to benefit The Fallen Firefighters Foundation, a non-profit organization that is leading the effort to honor America’s fallen firefighters.

There is scheduled to be over 50 of both San Diego’s and Orange County’s finest breweries.  This should include a selection of over 100 (yes one hundred) crafted beers for your tasting and enjoyment.  Hours are from 12pm to 3pm, Saturday, September 11.  I believe parking is free and the park is very nice, large, and secluded from civilization.

General admission is $35 in advance ($40 at the door, cash-only), so go ahead and buy online.  VIP is $45 and includes 2 extra tastes, VIP parking, 1 hour early entry, and a free beer appreciation seminar (?).  There’s also a $60 Gold VIP deal too, but you can go to the website to check that out and what you get.

No one under 21.  They will have designated drivers available for a $10 fee.

Some extras you can look forward to:

• Over 100 craft beers
• Commemorative festival glass
• Ten 4oz tastes (you can buy more tastes)
• Beer tasting seminars
• Free parking, soda, and water
• More, but too boring for me to list..