Wine Tasting @ Gomer's North

 Any time Gomer's has a wine tasting on a Monday or Wednesday, I make every attempt to go.  Since Andy was at the farm and I had a reservation for 2 I brought Jenny this time.  It was an exceptional tasting - wines of the Pacific Northwest, as well as one 'special surprise', a Napa Valley wine called Shafer Relentless, at a super marked down price.  Even at the marked down price, I shouldn't have bought it, but I justified it by calling it a birthday gift for Andy.  A yummy birthday gift.

 

Besides this the other standout was an Oregon pinot noir (of course) that I can't remember the name of offhand!  I'll add to this post when I remember/check!  

Little Drummer Boy

It was a good weekend.

Andy is in Nashville, and I miss him, but I got to spend some time with the fam which is always usually good.  I played Rock Band with my parents.  My dad still refuses to sing, but they're both getting better at drums and guitar.

Dad & I had a 6-beer lunch (that's 3 each, not 6 each...should I have said 3-beer lunch?) at Grinder's.  If you've never been there, do yourself a favor and head to Crossroads.  It'd been far too long since I had their wings and Philly cheese, not to mention they have great beers on tap.  We met up with Mom and Krista afterward at Paul & Jack's in North Kansas City.  Their beer selection is not so great, but we tried 2 other bars before it which were both closed.  Mom had some food, and a family friend bartends, and they're pretty cheap, so it was a good time anyway.

Sunday was of course the Super Bowl.  Before that we made it to Agave to try their new breakfast menu, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Krista came over and brought the boy, and he played in the music room.

He's pretty good, I think, as far as 2 year olds go.  I don't know the capacity of the average 2 year old for a drum set, but he was keeping steady rhythms, AND he had a drumming face.  My friend Jake, an excellent drummer, once told me that the first step in becoming a good drummer was having a 'drumming face'.  You have to screw your face up, close an eye, stick a tongue out, and look as weird as humanly possible.  Apparently this helps you keep tempo...Maybe not, but in any case, the Z Man had his tongue stuck out and his face all shifted to one side.  I don't think I've ever seen him concentrate on something for so long, or maintain interest in any one thing for that long.  It was entertaining.

So the Super Bowl....we went to the aforementioned bartender friend's house; they have a party every year.  I don't remember much of the game, but I had a blast!  Also, I've always thought the Packers were my second favorite team, but I have to mention I found myself rooting for the Steelers.  Perhaps just because they were behind, and I like both teams.  I'd decided beforehand to root for whichever team was on defense.  Anyway, the moral of the story is that Andy and his black and gold blood seems to have rubbed off on me.  I'm still happy for the Packers, though, so - Go Pack Go!

Technologic

This is my first post back at Blogger, so bear with me. I have to say, I like the posting interface on the other site much better, but this will be easier for people to connect with, so I succumbed.

I've mentioned previously we have a Saturday tradition of going to my favorite bar in town and eating 75-cent tacos and basking in the gloriousness that is their jukebox.

or was.
They recently 'upgraded' to a TouchTunes. Word through the grapevine is their vending company wasn't hip on the extra maintenance it took to keep up a CD jukebox. My initial thought is 'Fuck them, that's their job,' but of course my opinions on the matter don't make any difference. So when we were there, so was this. We were there for a potluck bidding farewell to a long-time bartender of theirs, John. Ch-ch-ch-changes. Damn them.

The good news is the music selection on here seems to be pretty solid and faithful to what once was. Let's hope it only gets better.

Beer Tasting/Pairing Party

The Ranks

Friday we went to a coworker's house for a Beer Tasting & Pairing Party. I totally misunderstood how it was going to happen, but I had a great time anyway. I (and Andy) thought that the judging was going to be based not only off of the beer but off of your pairing choice.

The party started at 7, and Andy worked until 5:45, and we had to go home first, and it's a half-hour trek...I wasn't sure at all what kind of food I could make in 10 minutes. I finally came up with the idea to make soft pretzels out of refrigerated canned breadsticks, and alter the leftover Rotel cheese dip we had to make it go. I worked as fast as I could and we managed to make it to the party only like 20 minutes late, with 2 dozen warm soft pretzels and a 6-pack of Arcadia Nut Brown Ale.

Apparently the food and beer were totally separate things, so I could have just taken a bag of chips or some bakery cookies, but oh well! Now I can make fast, semi-convincing soft pretzels at least!

I made some new friends, because they had Order of the Engineer rings! I need to Facebook stalk them so we can hang out with them again - they live right near Debbie & Robert!

...Our beer placed right in the middle, if you were wondering.

In Soviet Russia, Vodka Drink YOU.

Or Poland. Whichever.

This vodka is $120, and if I had an extra $120 I would have taken this picture from my house instead of the liquor store.

The flask is a hand grenade....it does not get any better than that.

Saturdays!

I came from that. Probably unsurprising.

...'Tis my ma.

On Saturdays, we have a loose tradition of going to Dave's Stagecoach Inn for 75-cent tacos. It's my favorite bar in Kansas City. It's cheap, the bartenders are awesome, they have a great little smoking patio, and the jukebox kicks total ass. Also, it's nearly impossible to go there without befriending at least a couple of the other patrons. It's like a Cheers, only with less of an Applebee's vibe, and more of a Grotto vibe (for you Rolla folk....for all other people, read: dive bar vibe).

My love for dive bars is limitless. If you know of any around KC I should check out, do share. I believe it's about time to start planning the 2011 Dive Bar Crawl.

(Oh...to relate the post to the picture, that's my Mom on the aforementioned smoking patio! We like to sit out there and play spades...I've also done some cross-stitch there...I've turned the smoking patio into an old folks' home...with booooooze!)

#23

I feel like this post should be about Alicia simply because it's number 23. I did not take a picture of her on October 13th, though. I did, however, miss her on this day. I know because I miss her every day! And especially right after I see her! Being so far from my best friend doesn't suit me very well. I am beyond excited for Baby Gronlicia, and I will love it even if it looks like a freaky little alien. Unconditional love. I learned it from 2 Pac.

Moving along...

Andy's First Homebrew!

On this day, Andy & I drank a quart of his Octoberfest beer. It was delicious! I don't know how to speak Beerspeak, but I can wing it... It had a lot of body, and finished both bitter & sweet. I think it weighs in roughly at 7.5% alcohol content, but it's an easy drink. I liked it a lot, and plan to consume a lot more of it at our Hermann kickoff dinner next Wednesday.

When I said we drank a quart of it, it sure sounded like a lot. We just each had a pint. That sounds like so much less. Isn't it funny how that works sometimes? 60 minutes sounds way longer than an hour - 5,280 feet sounds like an eternity, not a mile... Huh.

Project 361

Balls. I forgot to take a Thursday picture. I was doing so well, too!

Thursday was my best friend's birthday. I had Zumba. I think going back to work was just such a bummer that it consumed my brain, haha! You know, I gave you 2 on Wednesday...I'm going to go ahead & say that makes up for it!!

Well anyway, for Friday October 8th:

Not the best thing I've ever eaten...luckily also not the worst!

Amtrak chicken wings. After a hectic afternoon that ended in me not getting food before we got to Union Station, I was counting on the Harvey House Diner....which, turns out, has closed. So these are what I ate to hold me over until I could get to St Louis for some J in the B tacos!

The upside of my hectic afternoon was this:

Just like bein' at the Derby

Dad and I crashed a private party at Maker's Mark to get some wonderful juleps. They were worth not getting food for. Definitely.

October 6, 2010: A Twofer Wednesday

I had the day off for mental health reasons. It was my cousin's birthday. Andy & I went to the driving range. I got my first payday loan. All of these things happened, but I of course failed to get a picture relating to any of those things.

I did, however, get THIS picture:

A true patriot.

I also got this one. This one is more sad. While garage sale-ing, I bought a bottle of bourbon (!) for 75 cents (!). It was from the 70s and had been opened. I knew it would be hit or miss. Unfortunately, it was miss.

Uh yeah...I don't think it's supposed to be cloudy like that

Number Niiine.

...That's if I'm even keeping track correctly, which could pretty much go either way. (By the way, we're down to Project 361. I know I could just add on to the end to make up for my shortcomings, but that feels dirty.)

I'd like to begin this post by saying that blog.com is the SHITTIEST website EVAR! If I see another '502 Bad Gateway' message I am going to shove my foot up my computer's proverbial ass! And that's only because I don't know where the website's proverbial ass is. I'm going to take my anger out on the wrong thing, and that's not healthy. I'm like one step away from slapping my mother. Misdirected hostility is a terrible thing (It is, however, a pretty decent 311 song. Whoa, 90s flashback hardcore.)

Moving on, I believe Day 9 is the same as September 29th. Yesterday. And here is my picture.

Time for a nightcap!

...Fucking finally. Between that last paragraph & the successful picture upload, there were SIX error messages. In my head I have broken my foot OFF in this website's ass.

Last night, we had my parents over for dinner. Andy made some wonderful fried chicken. I also took a picture of that, but figured 2 food pictures in a row would move me right on up the ladder of fatass supremacy.

After watching Modern Family, my parents went home. I knew I had to stay up until midnight because today (as in September 30th) is my sister's birthday. I always call her right at midnight, because I'm such an awesome sibling. Andy played Star Wars Galaxies, while I caught up on Gossip Girl & One Tree Hill (shut the fuck up. I've been emotionally invested in these shows for too many years to stop now. It's sick, I know. Can't you focus on the fact that Andy was playing a paid-subscription Star Wars PC game?!)

After accepting defeat, he comes in and lays down. I expressly forbade him to go to sleep, and what does he do?! Falls asleep. I swear, it's contagious. I pour myself a glass of wine, take like 3 drinks and a picture, and I'm out. I mean it was like 11:40 last time I'd looked at the clock.

I wake up at 12:30, frustrated, and call Audrey to tell her happy birthday & tell her the story of what happened.

I shudder to think that I've become SUCH a lameass that I can't even stay awake until midnight, so I am going to blame Andy and the wine. That bottle of wine, for the past 4 days, has put me to sleep. I have poured a glass, not finished it, and woken up the next day. I think there's codeine in it....or something.

(The wine is from Walla Walla, Washington, and a good friend's uncle owns the winery. It's interesting - much sweeter than most cabs, but not "sweet". I hate sweet wines. I like it, but it's not my favorite. And I already passed along the message that Uncle Larry needs to make it less than $19/bottle if he wants my classy ass to drink it.)

Day “2″

I missed out on Tuesday, so I guess this shall officially be referred to as Project 362 from this point on. I am going to try to start taking a picture during the day to fall back on in case I forget in the evening. Without further ado, from Wednesday, September 22:

The Double Word Score

Yesterday was officially the first day my Gomer's North started carrying 6 packs of Boulevard Amber, and for that we rejoice!! To make my refrigerator (and myself) even HAPPIER, there it lives, next to Bob's 47, Boulevard's delightful Oktoberfest beer!

I guess this post can't be too curmudgeonly, who can be sad when they possess delicious beer!?

When Amber first came out, it was only available in the Sampler pack. It also took all of a month & a half from the time I read about it to the time I actually was able to get my chubby fingers on it, so this new option for instant and total gratification is good!