Monday, February 25, 2008

Wii

Yesterday The Wife and I were discussing the Wii. It came up because her mother was talking about how much she would like one (she called to tell us that some chain store in the area had them in stock) and saying how she could use it during her convalescence (knee surgery). Of course, Tknowing where her mother was sitting at that moment The Wife promptly had her do the bowling motion to point out that she would not be able to use it and rest her knee at the same time. I said I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with a Wii. The Wife looked at me like I had 4 heads. So I told her "No, I don't think the Wii Fairy is going to bring one, I think we'll buy one for ourselves." Like I think someone is just going to GIVE us a Wii.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Beer brewing: bottling batch #2

Last weekend I bottled batch number 2 of home-brewed beer. I've been working my way through the first batch which isn't great but hey, it's beer. It is very carbonated for beer so this time I cut down on the priming sugar. The "recipe" recomends 2.5 teaspoons of table sugar per 1 liter bottle so this time I used 2 teaspoons. So far it seems to be carbonating on schedule (I bottle using plastic bottles and you can check the carbonation by squeezing the bottles to see how hard they are.) This batch is also an all malt recipe (the first batch used the maltodextrin "booster" that comes with the Mr. Beer Kit) so I'm hoping for a more flavorful beer this time. The Wife's birthday party is next Saturday so in addition to the Yuengling there will be home brew. I'm rather reluctant to share the home brew but some serious beer drinkers will be attending so I have to see what they think.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

I'm sick or what a waste of a weekend

It appears that I have the flu. I was thinking it was just a bad cold but I did a little searching on the internet and discovered that 3 days of fever >100 F along with my other symptoms is characteristic of the flu rather than a cold. This is a problem for several reasons: a.) I get a fucking flu shot every year b.) I have asthma so any respiratory virus makes me wheeze and I have to use my inhaler every 4 hours practically around the clock c.) the flu will put The Wife into the hospital. I have been sleeping in the guest room since Thursday night in an effort not to infect her. I will continue to do so until I have been without a fever for 24 h. I also missed work on Friday and was too ill to work from home as I had intended. I did check email between naps on the sofa but that was about all I could manage. If I don't have a fever tomorrow morning I will go into the office but if I feel crappy I'm coming home again. No point in infecting the whole office. While I'm glad I didn't have to miss 3+ days of work for this, I'm pissed that a whole weekend was wasted by me being too sick to do anything. About all I've been able to manage is some organizing of our takeout menus. Recipe organizing and sorting through a week's worth of mail also await. We watched several episodes of Clean House yesterday because I didn't feel like doing anything else and The Wife is inspired to declutter. This happens frequently when we watch multiple episodes of Clean House at one time. Of course, we also look at the state that some people get to and think "hell, our worst room isn't even close."

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

I am not proud of this number

57

Fun at the grocery store


The Wife and I spotted this last night at the local grocery store.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

More beer brewing

I brewed another batch of beer on Sunday - West Coast Pale Ale with light dry malt extract. It is bubbling away right now and I feel compelled to visit it each evening before I go to bed. The batch I bottled a few weeks ago has improved from the first bottle I opened. It is still pretty carbonated for beer so I'll have to experiment with the amount of priming sugar that I use. The new batch will be ready in time for The Wife's birthday party so if you are coming you are welcome to try it. But don't worry, there will be commercial beer (and wine) too.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Super Bowl

The Wife and I have a spread that has probably never been consumed while watching the Super Bowl. We are eating cucumbers, carrots, and pita dipped in hummus and shrimp with cocktail sauce. The Wife also has some ranch dip for the veggies. We are both drinking soda although The Wife brought in a bottle of home brew and a bottle of Yuengling in case I wanted them. So far the commercials have been just eh. Let me revise that...The Budweiser Clydesdales commercial absolutely rocked! Ok WTF was with the badgers and the Toyota Corolla?

Abby Normal? Super Duper!

Yesterday, The Wife and I drove into Manhattan to see "Young Frankenstein: The Musical." We've had these tickets since September when The Wife presented them to me as an anniversary gift. I absolutely LOVE the movie "Young Frankenstein" which The Wife tolerates because she loves me. The musical has received so-so reviews and The Wife was very worried that I wouldn't like it. On the contrary, I laughed the whole way through. In my opinion, it was very Mel Brooks - lots of double entendre and physical humor. There was also a song about tits. What can be bad about a musical with a song about tits?

We then met a friend (whom we haven't seen since our wedding...in 2001) for drinks and dinner at Becco. The food at Becco was just great. I had "polentina con speck", followed by a ceasar salad (The Wife did say mine was better), and their "sinfonia di pasta." The sinfonia di pasta is a trio of chef-selected pastas that are served table-side and for which refills are available. Last night's selections were mezze rigatoni with pesto and green beans, spicy tomato with fried shrimp over spaghetti (one made without shrimp was available which was good as our dining companion is allergic to shellfish), and mushroom ravioli in a light cream sauce. It was amazing. For NYC the price was surprisingly affordable especially given that we each had a 3-course meal and 2 of 3 had drinks. With tax and tip it was about $45 a person.