MinDstreaM

MBC Screamin’ Pumpkin Ale

Head: creamy, short

Color: pale amber

Aroma: spicy, caramel

Flavor: sweet pumpkin, light spices, well balanced

Mouth feel: syrupy

Good, all around fall ale.

Fat Monday

Lent is fast approaching, and to celebrate, I prepared a “Sunday Roast” for Julie and I. We would have had it on Sunday, but the beef we got was frozen and wouldn’t have thawed in time.

I bought a grass-fed chuck roast cut from a local farm that we would roast. Since grass-fed beef is leaner than conventional, corn-fed beef, I thought the traditional crock pot method might not work as well. I surmised that Jamie Oliver would have a good english roast recipe, so I followed it. I also used his recipe for gravy. Along with the beef, I made boiled beets, green beans, potatoes, and Martha’s recipe for Yorkshire pudding. To drink, we had a lovely 2009 Bordeaux.

I really liked Jamie’s method of placing the roast on a “vegetable trivet” then mashing the vegetables and cooking them with the juices to make the gravy. It really added a rich flavor to the gravy. It also answered the question of why the vegetables we were setting along side our roast chickens were so fatty - they are intended to be part of a gravy, not eaten as a side.

One key to grass-fed roast beef is to slice the meat thinly - like nearly deli slice thin. This overcomes the chewiness you get with leaner beef.

All of it was fantastic! A great splurge as we usually stick to vegetarian or chicken dishes.

Tomorrow morning, I’m going to hit up a bakery for some Pączki!

Cure the Addiction

It’s no secret that Americans are addicted to foreign oil. What’s the cheapest way to cure that addiction? Stop driving, of course! But as Americans, we’re faced with a problem. While nicotine users have patches to help them quit and heroin users have methadone, there’s nothing to help wean motorists from the pure bliss that is driving…

Until now!

Introducing the MotoSuit, a lifestyle garment that helps you transition to the world of walking and bicycling.

Features:

* Miss those smells from automobile land? MotoSuit’s respirator will pipe car exhaust, spoiled food smells, and your favorite car freshener into your nostrils.
* Do you crave those feelings of isolation and invincibility? MotoSuit’s noise cancellation headset will silence others, leaving you fully isolated. MotoSuit includes steel body armor that allows you to plow over other walkers.
* Are you used to being perched high above everyone else? MotoSuit’s got your back! The adjustable stilts will help you tower over others and intimidate them with your superiority.
* Sometimes walking seems so SLOW. MotoSuit’s VR goggles sample the passing landscape and plays it back to you at 10x speed, allowing you to ignore your boring city.
* Walking while on your cell phone lacks the danger and excitement you feel when driving with your phone. MotoSuit includes a “magic” disorientation system that causes you to stagger and move in unpredictable ways, keeping you on edge at all times.
* Are you left with too much time for reading and surfing the web while on public transit? MotoSuit comes with a mini-game that simulates driving in rush hour traffic in the nation’s best cities, like Atlanta, Dallas, and DC. The mini-game even allows you to send texts while playing!
* Are you worried about all the calories you’ll lose when not sitting in a comfy car seat? MotoSuit includes a feeding tube that streams flavorful, high fructose corn syrup-based beverages into your mouth.
* The adventure of finding and paying for parking is now replaced with an even more exciting experience. Before you’re allowed to enter your destination, MotoSuit will charge $14 to your account and require you to solve a randomly generated maze.

As you get used to walking instead of driving everywhere, MotoSuit will slowly disable its weaning features. In up to 6 months, you can be car free!

Order your MotoSuit today for only $8999 and help cure your addiction to foreign oil.

Dear Keurig Users

I was skeptical when I first heard about the Keurig and their claims to deliver excellent tasting coffee. After trying it personally, I can confirm my skepticism. “So what,” you may say, “it still tastes pretty good for a system that brews coffee for you in a matter of minutes.” The trouble is that you can achieve the same level of convenience and superior taste without investing over a hundred dollars in equipment. You can also brew your coffee in a more environmentally responsible way. Here’s how:

Equipment needed:
Electric kettle - $30
Pour-over coffee brewer - $15
Pre-ground coffee - $9/lb, or about 15 cents per cup (even cheaper if you go with Folgers)

So far, we’re at $45 in hardware and 15 cents per cup in coffee.

Compare this to a Keurig - $110 for the machine and over 50 cents per cup of coffee. This means that you are over-paying 35 cents per cup, plus $65 in equipment - that’s worth 433 cups of pour-over brewed coffee.

How convenient is the pour-over method? Compare steps:

Keurig:
1.) Fill machine with water
2.) Turn on machine, wait for water to boil (usually 2 minutes)
3.) Insert k-cup
4.) Press brewing button
5.) Wait 2 minutes

Pour-over:
1.) Fill kettle with water
2.) Turn on kettle, wait for water to boil (usually 2 minutes)
3.) Scoop 1Tbsp coffee into pour-over brewer
4.) Pour hot water into pour-over brewer
5.) Wait 2 minutes
6.) Pour coffee into cup

Not much of a difference.

Now what about quality? The theory behind the k-cup is that vacuum-packed coffee retains its flavor better than coffee in a can or a bag. The truth is that vacuum-packed coffee that has been ground and sits in its container for weeks will always taste worse that freshly roasted and ground coffee. The fact that vacuum-packed coffee has no air inside means that the coffee has finished off-gassing CO2, which means it has effectively gone stale. Notice how the Keurig-brewed coffee has no foam after brewing.

You have just payed a premium to drink stale coffee in the name of perceived convenience.