Although it took two attempts separated by over a year for me to read the entirety of The Brewmaster’s Table, it was time very well spent. Garrett Oliver has written the best book I’ve read on beer and food pairing. In addition, it’s a fantastic introduction to how beer is made, including in depth discussions… Read More: Book Review – The Brewmaster’s Table »
Whenever I’m looking for a drink recipe, I first seek out my trusty Mixology pamphlet, courtesy of the Southern Comfort Corporation, ca. 1974. What better source could there be for cocktail recipes than a pamphlet that mixes astrology with photos of swinging dudes in gaudy polyester leisure suits accompanied by the smiling Stepford wives. Sure,… Read More: Astromixology »
Note for my vegetarian and vegan friends. Nothing to see here. Move along. We endured the spiral sliced ham shaped line at Blue Bottle Coffee this morning to buy 10 pounds of heritage-breed pork. Despite the chaos and lack of signs explaining how to pay or pick up your pork, everyone seemed to eventually figure… Read More: Pork Prom and Schweinshaxe »
After tasting my way through many beers, though a fraction of the total, at Dimond Oaktoberfest in my hood, I made my way over to Cal for 99 Bottles of Beer, a beer symposium, fair, workshop and exhibit. After getting the lay of the land at the beer fair, I started at the back with… Read More: A Symposium on Beer. Really? »
The second annual Dimond Oaktoberfest was even bigger than last year’s event. Unfortunately, I could stay only for a few hours, because I was also planning to attend the 99 Bottles of Beer beer symposium and beer fair at Hearst Museum at UC Berkeley. More on that later. Of course, a lot worse things could… Read More: Dimond Oaktoberfest 2009 »
Sadly, in 2008, Oakland lost two restaurants that served excellent fried chicken. Having grown up in South Mississippi, I know my way around deep fried poultry, and I can tell you that the cooks at The Southern Cafe and Declancy’s Welcome Table knew what they were doing. Both closed mid year, but somehow I soldiered… Read More: Fried Chicken in the East Bay »
Some of my vegetarian friends say they won’t eat anything with a face, thus allowing them to opt out of fish, but still snack on oysters and clams. Well, I will eat things with a face, but not if the face is still smiling at me. Maybe I’m crazy, but doesn’t this look like a… Read More: Do You Eat Things with Faces? »
This afternoon I volunteered at the Alameda County Community Food Bank with some Voxify co-workers as part of a work sponsored event. We processed 2500 pounds of food and were able to completely sort and shelve 1500 pounds of that total. It was a great experience and I highly recommend helping out, especially this time… Read More: Volunteering at the Food Bank »
We had another huge potluck lunch at work today. I made pastalaya with chicken, andouille sausage and pork shoulder. A Russian at work brought a few bottles of Kvas, a fermented, mildly alcoholic beverage. It tasted like a pleasant blend of Guinness beer and a carbonated cola drink. Maybe that doesn’t sound all that tasty,… Read More: Guinness + Cola = Kvas? »
This Saturday there’s an Oktoberfest celebration in the Dimond district from 11 am to 6 pm only about 6 blocks from our house. Obviously, we’ll be there. Local brewers Linden Street, Pacific Coast Brewing, Trumer and Triple Rock will be pouring their beer, plus there will be beer from New Belgium and traditional Bavarian brewer… Read More: Dimond Oktoberfest »