Weekend Evaluations: 'All I Want to Do is Drink Beer for Breakfast'

Things at work are crazy - no time for long winded explanations; but it's bothering me that I'm not keeping track.  So here are the last two weeks in one post.

Got the first winter share, all root vegetables all the time.  The list of what's included looks short, but we always get a lot of everything.

Airing of Greivences: Berkshire Brewing Company

We were in Cape Cod this past weekend; left after work on Friday, and came back on Sunday. 

So no new post; but as is the case when we go away we try to eat as many local foods and drink as many local beers as possible. 

So for Cape Cod we tried to eat all seafood and ice cream; and drank beer by Wachusett, Cape Cod, and Berkshire Brewing.  I think I had a Rock Art (VT) in there too....

At least we know now that New York isn't the only city with some mediocre (to bad) local craft beer - Berkshire was available at every package store; so I bought one, and then drank one on tap at a restaurant.

Both the Extra Pale (bottle conditioned) and the IPA (on tap) gave me a horrible headache and I couldn't finish them.  At least I can finish the Sixpoint beers, I just think they are all the same, and aren't close to the style they're supposed to be.

Weekend Evaluation: Taking a Relaxed Attitude Toward Cooking (and blog posts)

Not much to report here -  it was my birthday on Saturday, so didn't cook much except Sunday dinner.

Maybe I'll throw in some thoughts on restaurants, which all were good with few exceptions.

Weekend Wrap-Up (May 27-31)

 Asparagus, Portabella Mushroom and Spring Garlic Pizza

This weekend was our anniversary (May 27th- 3 yrs already!), and Memorial Day weekend. Tom didn't cook much because we were out and about as much as possible. We also had plans to visit family out of town, but some bad brakes on the car kept us home. We probably should have been doing more productive things than eating, drinking and riding bikes, but the weather was awesome, and it was a holiday weekend. And we needed some fun!

Airing of Greivences: Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes

People have called BFM the brewer of the 'best beer in the world' - but I don't buy it.

Airing of Grievences: Just Because Its Local Doesn't Mean Its Good

We’re not waiting until Festivus -We've got a lot of problems with people, and now, you're going to hear about it.

So Gretchen and I are going to start regularly posting things that annoy us or don’t make any sense.  Let’s face it, you’re going to see a lot more from me in this category. 

I try to buy everything at the greenmarket and through my CSA.  We’re talking about products that need to be consumed fresh so the quality is going to be better if they haven’t been transported from California or Florida in a truck; and in a lot of cases the greenmarket vendors are no more expensive than the supermarket and you get to spend your shopping time outside.  

These are great reasons to get your product from the greenmarket. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can just show up at your local farmers market, co-op, or store and buy something labeled ‘local’, ‘organic’, or ‘artisanal’ and expect it to be good.  In a lot of cases you're going to pay way too much for food that isn't as good as it should be.

With this in mind I’m going on the record about food that I think doesn’t live up to its billing. 

Weekend Evaluation: In Theory and Practice

I'm not sure if I cook a lot on the weekend; it seems like it, but it's all about having a basic plan of when you're going to do things, and then sticking to it.

I just like to spend my time away from work doing what I enjoy, being productive, and swearing at inanimate objects.  Not that I'm above doing that at work too; I'm pretty sure I've told a computer, phone and copier all to f-off on company time.  Is that stealing time?

Here's a couple observations from this weekend's cooking.