29 Mar 2020 8 Comments
in Humor Tags: Anchor Steam, beer, Bruce Patch Wines, coronavirus, COVID19, mezcal, whiskey sour, wine
I was going through my phone deleting recent photos, when I noticed a troubling trend developing in the photos I’d been taking during the second half of March.
Whiskey sour
These were all photos I took in the afternoon when I was virtually toasting one friend or other. Fortunately they aren’t all from the same day.
You’ll be able to spot the theme.
Is anyone else having a similar experience?
11 Jan 2019 6 Comments
in Beverages, On the Road, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: beer, Bruce Patch Wines, craft beer, IPA, microbreweries, Pliny the Elder, Russian River Brewing Co., Sonoma, wine country
While in Sonoma County recently visiting my mother for the holidays, my surrogate dad, adventure pal and winemaker extraordinaire Bruce Patch invited me to go pick up some samples at the local wine storage facility in Windsor.
“It’s right across the street from the new Russian River Brewing Company brewery!” he announced excitedly.
Beer aficionados and IPA nuts will recognize Russian River as the brewer of the difficult-to-source double-IPA-of-legend, Pliny the Elder, of which I have done several posts in my own Quixotic pursuit of. More
30 Sep 2016 2 Comments
in Beverages, Recipes Tags: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, beer, Don Schneider, foie gras, Germany, Oktoberfest, spätzle, Steve Hart, wild boar
My pal, Steve, was in Luxembourg — close to the German border — a couple weeks ago, and sent me a photo of the very large beer he was drinking.
“I’m celebrating Oktoberfest!” he said.
“It’s only mid-September!” I pointed out.
Don Schneider and his boar beard
“I guess they start early.”
So it seemed reasonable when our pals, the Schneiders, invited us for an Oktoberfest dinner on September 28. More
29 Jan 2016 2 Comments
in Recipes Tags: beer, Brooklyn Brewing Co., Del Maguey, Jamie Oliver, mezcal, Pappy Van Winkle, shrimp, Steve Hart
The day started off well enough, an early lunch with my brothers — a couple tall Molsons on tap and a minuscule serving of seared ahi at Outback Steakhouse.
And from there, the sky was the limit.
Mike admires his Chichicapa cerveza
Waiting around in the parking lot of my kids’ school for the bell to ring, I got a call. It was my pal Michael:
“Dude, what’re you doing?” More
23 Jan 2015 23 Comments
in Observations, On the Road Tags: beer, food, humor, Japanese cooking, matsutake, mycology, Sonoma, tempura, wild mushrooms
Fungi is a fickle kingdom. Predicting where and when a particular mushroom will grow is like betting on the stock market.
Willa with amanita coccora — the only edible mushroom in a family of deadly beauties
Some mushrooms appear only in years with late soaking rain, others only when there is an early rain followed by a dry spell followed by another rain. Some mushrooms only grow where there is something dead under the dirt, while others cannibalize nearby poisonous mushrooms, transforming them into prized edibles. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 