Restaurant week, and stuff

I want to start off with a quick note about Sam Smiths Yorkshire Stingo. Yum, really yum. I had a bottle I've had for about a year now, last night. It was fantastic. It is an oak aged ale, but with the year in the cave it had mellowed out to a caramel and malt masterpiece. Tight carbonation from the bottle conditioning and perfectly balanced.

Second, The Mrs. made a Smoked ham and Gruyere bread today. We sliced some farm fresh tomatoes over it for a snack this afternoon. It was lovely.

And finally, for dinner tonight we went with a group to Sonoma for restaurant week. I really knew nothing going in and after checking out the menu online was interested but not overcome with emotion. That's pretty much how I would describe the whole affair. After being seated it was obvious that our server was new to the restaurant world. Thats fine, everyone has to start somewhere. And over all he did fine. It was the little things that were off. He'll get there and be ok. For the appetizer, I had the white bean and chorizo stuffed squid. My only comment is that the flavor of white beans should never overpower chorizo. Never, never ever, never. The squid was cooked well I guess, a little al dente, but since seafood isn't exactly my thing I am not the best judge. But as a non fish eater, I was not offended by it. The Mrs. had the quinoa salad. It was fresh and quite refreshing. For an entree I had the grilled ribeye cooked, well , sort of cooked. This was excellent. I like my meat warmed and that's about all, but still tender. The ribeye was juicy and falling apart and still quite rare. It was served over herbed mashed potatoes. The lamb that The Mrs. ordered was also cooked perfectly but lacked that special lambiness. Dessert was a slice of pecan pie for me and a pear tart for The Mrs. Neither was special but both were serviceable. All in all the the meal was good but fairly pedestrian. Then again for thirty bucks for three courses it's hard to complain when the food is prepared well. I will probably never end up back at Sonoma, but who knows. I wouldn't go out of my way, but I wouldn't protest either.

Let's get campy

This last weekend The Mrs. and I had a date with the mountains. It was 10 - 15 degrees cooler and we really needed to do a training ride for the twenty four hours of booty. So we woke up Saturday morning and headed north to the New River State Park. The park has about fifty miles of converted rail line for biking, walking, and horseback riding. Of coarse when we arrived it was pouring rain and in our rush of the morning we had forgotten our rain jackets. So, we are now the proud owners of a pair of New River rain jackets. Which were not overly priced and quite nice. But still it was a little annoying, and of coarse by the time we got to our camp site and ready to ride there wasn't a cloud in the sky. No worries. The thing that makes the New River unique is that it is the only river that flows south to north and is thought to be the second oldest river in the world behind the Nile. Since the trail is based on an abandoned train route the inclines are very gentle. We set out about noon and planned to get about thirty miles in. It was beautiful. The temperature was about seventy eight and possibly cooler under the canopy. So it was pedal, pedal, pedal, watch out for that deer, pedal, pedal, lunch, pedal, ohh pretty, pedal, another deer, pedal. Thirty two miles later we were exhausted and ready for some relaxing. Unfortunately, it was now time to set up camp. Luckily, it wasn't too difficult. The trouble came when we were hungry. I am notorious for underestimating how long it takes for charcoal to get ready to cook over. And, although I was a Boyscout my outdoor fire making skills are a little lacking. Mostly because I refuse to use lighter fluid. I will be switching to wood next time. Not to mention the humidity makes newspaper almost fireproof. But, finally we got some fire and then it was time for brats and some potatoes we had pre roasted the night before along with ears of corn from the farm, it was quite a meal. To finish we did some smores. To drink we brought the greatest gift to campers, wine in a box. The stuff from Target is not bad, we tried the Cab-Shiraz. Finally it was time to sleep. We curled up on the air mattress and nodded off. It rained a little over night but nothing to worry about. The next morning I again tried to conquer fire with little success. Luckily, I could dig down into the coals to find sufficient heat for water to make coffee. While that heated I went for a little dip in the river. Sadly, we were not able to get a site right on the water but we were still very close. The river was exhilarating and was the perfect way to start a day. We got our coffee and then started to head out for another ride. We had planned to do another fifteen or so miles. As soon as I got on my bike, I realized that was not going to happen. I hurt in places I didn't know could hurt. We quickly re calibrated our expectations for the day. Just down the trail is the Shot Tower. The Shot Tower was as you might expect a tower used for making lead shot for muskets. We headed over there and checked it out. All together we rode five of our planned fifteen miles but still felt a sense of accomplishment. We loaded the truck and headed home. On the way home we had a discussion about my travel habits, I do not stop unless it is to pee, to remedy this we decided to check out one of the wineries you pass signs for on the highway. We picked Rag Apple Lassie in Boonville. It was about ten miles off the highway, which gave The Mrs. time to look them up and decide if it was worth it. By the time we got there we had decided it was and went in for a tasting. They happened to be having a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and we got suckered into the tasting they were selling. So we tried five of their wines, none of which knocked my socks off but I did like one of their semi sweet red blends. The true highlight was the gentleman pouring, Walt. He was quite a character. With a never ending supply of wit and re-labeled cans. Purporting to be everything from skunk pate to possum wieners. It definitely made the whole excursion worth it. We picked up a couple of bottles for us and for gifts. Finally reaching home ready to collapse and dreading the next morning and work, we slept.

What happens in the mountains, does not stay in the mountains

Having lost my little man a month back, we have been weighing out pet options. We have two little lady ferrets, one young terror, and the other a deaf, dumb and blind girl living on borrowed time. We have been tossing around the idea about a small dog. Maybe a chihuahua mix. With that, The Mrs. has been scouring the Petfinder.com site for a rescue and finally just signed up for their daily email. The shortest distance you can search is 100 miles. She has been doing advanced calculus to determine the proper ratio of distance to cuteness to determine if the drive is worth it for a dog. Wednesday she got a picture of a litter of puppies that were supposedly chihuahua mix, in Wilkesboro. They looked like tiny golden labs. Then came an email from another foster mom, also in Wilkesboro. These were Pekingese mixes. So we then looked at the puppies in the pound in Wilkes county. There were a couple of cuties. A trip was planned. We woke up early Saturday so we could get up to Wilkesboro in time to see the Pekingese pups before their foster mom was off to an adoption fair that she was not brining the puppies to, as they are only 5 weeks. Then make a beeline for that same fair because the Chihuahua pups were there but leaving at noon and then make it to the pound before they closed at noon as well. First stop, the Pekingese pups were so cute and so little. We just had piles of them in our laps. The Mrs. had them crawling all over her. I managed to put every puppy that ended up in my lap to sleep straight away. Mom was on site and definitely a Pekingese mutt of some form. Not the prettiest dog but cute enough. The puppies had the hallmarks of an Australian Shepperd. Probably bigger than we wanted but adorable. Next we were on our way to the pet fair. Chihuahua my foot, they were gonna be big. Those puppies looked like labs, but cute nonetheless. As we spoke to them it became clear they had not seen mom or dad. And last stop was the pound. Oh and I forgot to mention we also had planned to stop in Huntersville on the way back to check out a one year old Chihuahua-Dachshund mix. Meanwhile, back at the pound, a stop we did not have the highest hopes for, we found a cute little Chihuahua mix named Tanner. We are guessing he got this name because, wait for it, he is indeed tan. So we played with him a little bit and decided he was what we were looking for. His profile was Chihuahua - Feist mix. While looking into the Feist we learned it is basically a purebred mutt from Southern Appalachia used for hunting squirrel. We are, however, pretty sure he is Chihuahua - Corgi. On the way home he sat in The Mrs.'s lap and we decided to name him Peabody. Full name, Lord Peabody - Earl of NoDa. We had not planned on actually coming home with a dog and were then struck with our need to go to the pet store and get our new guy kitted out. And when they see you walk in with a dog on a training leash, they know. You walk in with sucker written on your forehead plain as day. So we got all the requisite crap you need. Leashes, beds, food and the like. Then we were off to the house. First day was good. No pee or deuce in the house. As one would imagine our first field trip in the neighborhood was to the bar. So, down to the Revolution we headed, confident in the knowledge that we were now truly integrated into the neighborhood, we have a dog. He is very well behaved. Also, a little on the needy side. But, with all he's been through it is to be expected. And, for the Fourth the Chelseas will be coming by as well as the Whisk(e)ys who will be bringing their puppy for a play date. I hope she's fixed. Peabody is still all man, For now. The moral of the story is get yourself a pound puppy or rescue. On an only tangentially related note, while at the Revolution I got myself the new summer beer from Rogue. It is a honey ale. It's quite good with the honey adding more of an earthiness, rather than sweetness. Definitely a good summer session beer at just over 5% ABV.