Go rent the movie Once. Its really good and has great music... do it!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Adventures of Absinthe(s) or To Have and Have Not
Absinthe Story 1 (To Have)
Recently Shannon and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. We decided to try a new (to us) place in SF and got reservations at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar. They are legendary for the drinks (which scores major points in our books). The bartenders there have even put out their own book, Art of the Bar (a great cocktail/history book if you are into that sort of
thing). For drinks I got their Uptown Manhattan and Shannon got the Citron Lemonade. Drinks were, as expected, fantastic. We got a few appetizers that were great and for the main course Shannon got the free range chicken and I, feeling quite adventerous, went for the braised beef cheeks... thats right, actual cow cheeks... they were fantastic, but ever so often I had to keep from gagging when I thought about that I was chewing on a bovine cheek... All in all, we had a great time, and would probably go back, but just for drinks, as the menu is quite spendy...
Absinthe Story 2 (Have Not)
If you don't know
what Absinthe is go look it up on wikipedia - there is a fascinating story behind this liqueur. This year Absinthe was legalized to be sold /produced in the U.S. after 95 years of being outlawed. St. George Spirits, located in Alameda, became the first distillery to make and sell the spirit in the U.S. in nearly a century when it sold its first bottle on Dec. 3rd. Yesterday, Friday the 21st, the product was put on sale to the public. With only 3,600 bottles made in the first run, and 1,800 of those going to restaurants & bars, only 1,800 were left for the distillery to sell from their shop. Wanting to snatch up one of these bottles before they were gone, Shannon and I headed out there this afternoon... as we pulled in to the parking lot, a sign greeted us stating "ABSINTHE IS SOLD OUT" - turns out they sold all 1,800 bottles on Friday. D'oh! I haven't lost hope though, I'm going to see if any of my connections can come through....
By the way, if you haven't been to the St. George Distillery - you definitely need to go check it out! They do a tour on Saturdays and Sundays and have tastings for around $10 where you get to try their brandies, their whiskey and the best of all, the Hangar One vodkas.... Let me know if you are interested in going to check it out... I'm always down to go out there.
Merry Christmas and (to Tyler) Happy Holidays
Recently Shannon and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. We decided to try a new (to us) place in SF and got reservations at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar. They are legendary for the drinks (which scores major points in our books). The bartenders there have even put out their own book, Art of the Bar (a great cocktail/history book if you are into that sort of
thing). For drinks I got their Uptown Manhattan and Shannon got the Citron Lemonade. Drinks were, as expected, fantastic. We got a few appetizers that were great and for the main course Shannon got the free range chicken and I, feeling quite adventerous, went for the braised beef cheeks... thats right, actual cow cheeks... they were fantastic, but ever so often I had to keep from gagging when I thought about that I was chewing on a bovine cheek... All in all, we had a great time, and would probably go back, but just for drinks, as the menu is quite spendy...Absinthe Story 2 (Have Not)
If you don't know
what Absinthe is go look it up on wikipedia - there is a fascinating story behind this liqueur. This year Absinthe was legalized to be sold /produced in the U.S. after 95 years of being outlawed. St. George Spirits, located in Alameda, became the first distillery to make and sell the spirit in the U.S. in nearly a century when it sold its first bottle on Dec. 3rd. Yesterday, Friday the 21st, the product was put on sale to the public. With only 3,600 bottles made in the first run, and 1,800 of those going to restaurants & bars, only 1,800 were left for the distillery to sell from their shop. Wanting to snatch up one of these bottles before they were gone, Shannon and I headed out there this afternoon... as we pulled in to the parking lot, a sign greeted us stating "ABSINTHE IS SOLD OUT" - turns out they sold all 1,800 bottles on Friday. D'oh! I haven't lost hope though, I'm going to see if any of my connections can come through....By the way, if you haven't been to the St. George Distillery - you definitely need to go check it out! They do a tour on Saturdays and Sundays and have tastings for around $10 where you get to try their brandies, their whiskey and the best of all, the Hangar One vodkas.... Let me know if you are interested in going to check it out... I'm always down to go out there.
Merry Christmas and (to Tyler) Happy Holidays
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Not So Silent Night 2007
Went to Live 105's Not So Silent Night show last night with Shannon, Keith & Heather....
Some local band opened up - we caught their last song.... meh
Paramore was next up - probably the most impressive set of the night - tons of energy and man that girl has a good voice... Also the bassist did a flip cartwheel (but no hands!) thingy - I know tons of bands do junk like that but its always impressive (at least to me)
Spoon was next - A great set, but the band didn't really fit the line up - it seems they got frustrated at the end, they hardly talked to the crowd - played their last song, the singer slammed the mike on the ground and left the stage without saying a word. Maybe thats just their act though - who knows
Angels and Airwaves were up next and Tom DeLonge continued to prove that he is nothing more than an egotistical douche. The sound was messed up for the first two songs... once they got the sound right I wished it was still messed up due to the horrific nature of DeLonge's non-ProTooled voice. But the 10 minutes of talking he did (during a 30 minute set) made me long for his singing (and prancing around on stage).... all he did was rip on Blink 182, by saying "his old band" meant nothing, but "my...er our new band" means everything. Then he shares a story about how a couple of injured Iraq veterans saw him at an airport and told him how much AvA means to them. To bad the story didn't come off as touching... they ended up having to clear out the first 5 rows of people to make room for his ego after that story. Also I could swear that Tom and the girl from Paramore were wearing the same pair of tight black jeans...
Jimmy Eat World was obviously the headliner, despite Modest Mouse playing after them (reminds me of LA shows). They sounded really tight, like they've been a band for 15 years (oh wait...) and was quite a contrast to AvA. They played stuff from Clarity forward, most of the songs being off Bleed American/Jimmy Eat World.
We didn't get to see Modest Mouse because my good friend Keith wasn't feeling to hot... so we called it a night.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Christmas Beer
So its now Dec 2nd, and time for another round of Booze & Shoes* Money. With $50 in my pocket I decided that it was time to pick up some Christmas beers. The first beer I came across Allagash Curieux. I had first heard about this beer on the show After Hours with Daniel - it is an ale that is aged for 8 weeks in bourbon casks (barrels). At $15 for a 750-ml bottle, it better be good! Also picked up some of Rouge's Santa's Private Reserve Ale, Lagunitas' Cappuccino Stout, Avery's Old Jubilation Ale and a selection of Ridgeway's "Bad Elf" brews. I look forward to opening these up and giving them a try... especially the Curieux. Yay Beer!
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