Mondays Suck

Check out the Sam Adams "Spring Thaw" variety pack:

I had a bunch of beers from it last Friday, and it's none too bad. I particularly like the White Lantern; if you like the Blue Moon-  and the Shock Top Belgian Whites from the macro-breweries, than you'll love the White Lantern.  The Alpine Springs lager is refreshing for sure, and the Double Agent IPL was damn hoppy, but definitely in a good way. The Boston Lager is always the go-to, and the others I don't remember too much; after awhile, they all start to taste the same. Go out and get yourself a pack. It's twenty-two bucks for a twenty-four rack at Costco. Definitely a good buy if you ask me.

And during the Superbowl, I found this beer to be damn tasty:

You know why it tastes so good? It has an nice toasted coconut element to it. I am not kidding you. You will be tasting some delicious coconut-y notes when sipping this lovely beer. Give it a try.

While I'm at it, I should give Tomato Thyme a shout out. I've been there soooooo many times now, I feel like it's a second home. If you go please, please, please give the grilled artichoke appetizer a try. They grill the artichoke to perfection and the sauce that's on it is like pure crack. I mean, we get extra bread just to sop it up. It's the nectar of the gods I'm telling you. Give it a go. You will not be disappointed. And the pizzas? Look, just go, okay? And let me know about the wonderful experience that you'll have. Because you will have a wonderful experience. Bam.

Santa Fe pizza. How often can you say that a pizza is refreshing? This one is.

Enough about beer and food. Here's a video of a car. It's one of my dream cars.


Ultimate q-car. Ultimate badass-ery.

Sweatin' to the Oldies

I just got back from the gym about an two hours ago; my resolution this year was to get in shape and be a bit more fit. The last year or so, I've been sorta letting myself go with no end in sight. How can you say no to a Double Double Animal Style with Animal Style fries three nights in a row? I sure can't! And top all of that off with a Neapolitan shake? I must be dreaming!

Om nom nom!

I figure 2013 would be a great year to get fit again with my wedding just around the corner and all. Anyways, my good friend Bryan is a total gym rat, and because of him, I've been keeping to my resolution. I don't pay a single dime, because he gets me in his gym as a guest, and he instructs me during circuit training. Twofer! Even though you can be a d-bag sometimes Bryan, I appreciate it brother! Now if I can just make him do some long distance running with me! Then I can totally bag on him when he can't keep up! So take that!

Anyways, I got some groceries before going to the gym because I wanted to make a quinoa salad. Now, before you say quinoa is such a total hippie, tree-hugging, frou frou thing to eat, I just wanted to say that I already know that. And I don't care! It's damn tasty, and I love the texture of it. I'm a big fan of texture when it comes to food you know. I absolutely love undercooked rice that's slightly crunchy and chewy. Mhmmmmmm! And I love biting, chewing, and swallowing the ends off of chicken drumstick bones. Marrow and cartilage never tasted soooooo good.

Where was I? Oh yeah! Quinoa salad. It took me quite awhile to make it because there was a lot of chopping, and my chef's knife was super dull. Man, I hate that. I wish the powers that be would create a knife that would never get dull. Either that, or I could just get a sharpening stone. But by the end of it all, it was about 9:40, and I was quite done with it all. But I felt accomplished! I think I was a bit too overzealous when I decided to double the recipe:

Your looking at 8 pounds of quinoa fury right there. It's going to take some time to finish all of that, but I WILL finish it. All of it. At least I'll be staying regular with all of that fiber right? It was the plan all along. Muahahahahaha!

Head Change.

I woke up this morning feeling a little bit off kilter; you see, yesterday I was at Famous Dave's with my pals and had about five pitchers between all of us. It was happy hour, and it was eight dollar pitchers, and we got the Sam Adams Alpine Springs, which is a nice refreshing beer. It has citrus notes, and is fairly balanced, but after a few pints you really don't notice any of that, and only the buzz.

Anyways, it's funny that before I could handle tons of beer and it'd be no problem the next day. Now I'm not saying that I'm hungover or anything, I just feel a little.....off. Ah, what the passage of time will do to one's drinking prowess.

Anyways, check out Famous Dave's in San Jose if you haven't. It's a BBQ joint that is actually a national chain, with decent eats as far as BBQ chains go. We got rib tips and onion strings during happy hour for 4 bucks each! Yowza!

A bit too heavily salted, but for 4 bucks, it's ain't bad.

This is where it's at though for happy hour. Make sure you get your rib tips!

And here's a cool little blading vid featuring skating extraordinaires Sean Kelso and Chris Farmer:

See you folks later!

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things.

Man, I haven't posted on this blog for quite awhile. Well here's another go at it.

I was looking at the Coachella line up this morning, and then I thought to myself: Do I really want to go? Aside from paying a huge amount for the tickets, how well will I be able to hear my favorite bands? Will I get tired from standing under the sun all day? Will I get annoyed by people who are doing idiotic things? Will people get annoyed by me when I do idiotic things?

And then I realized that I was getting old. Man, oh man.

I remember the last festival that I went to; it was the Gentlemen of the Road Festival with Mumford and Sons and all that. It was great, but by the time Mumford came up, I was partly wishing I was at home, relaxing in bed. That's not to say that they didn't put on a good show. They absolutely did! and I had a great time! Their cover of The Band's "The Weight" was a nice touch as the last song of their encore. But I hated that my neck and feet were sore. So I guess what I'm trying to figure out is if festivals are worth it, if I'm turning into an old man, or both. Man, it used to be soooo easy.

Happenings

I just got into Questionable Content a couple of weeks ago. Thanks Molly! It's an online comic about this hipster dude and his romantic endeavors with the opposite sex as well as happening in everyday life! But with hipster quips and indie music references. It's actually really good. Check it out!

I've had a chance to eat a really good bowl of phở yesterday. It was good because it was homemade! There's something to be said about home-cooked meals; food made at home just tastes better! Would you rather have meatloaf from the frozen section or made from scratch? I know what I would choose. Macaroni & cheese from the restaurant or mac & cheese made with someone's love and dedication? I guess that depends on who's the better cook! Anyways, if you've never had phở, Yelp a restaurant that serves it! It might not be as good as phở made at home, but it's still good! And on that note, if you haven't had a home-cooked meal in while, you should bribe a loved one to cook for you!

Beer Run: Sam Adams Cherry Wheat

One of my all time favorite wheat beers is Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer, which was introduced to me by my buddy Arwen a couple of years ago. My first time having it was something akin to a religious experience; I think that moment was the first time I realized that there were other beers out other than "beer pong" brew (i.e. Natural Ice, Bud Light, etc.) I think that the Cherry Wheat was only a seasonal beer before, but now you can get it year round! Whoot! I've had a chance to introduce this beer to my mom and my sister recently, and while not being regular beer drinkers, they fell in love with it right away! Sam Adams cherry wheat has very strong, very tantalizing cherry aromas that reminds me of the cherry Kool-Aid that I drank when I was a wee little boy. Mhmmmmm. When you sip it you get notes of that delicious cherry; it's slightly sweet,and not tangy. The beer ends with a nice wheat/bready finish. A nice fruit/wheat beer one would expect form a major craft brewery such As Sam Adams. Good stuff. Hopefully, I'll get around to trying their other fruit beers, the Blackberry Witbier and their Cranberry Lambic! Cheers folks!

Why?

Why did I decided to start a blog you ask? Well I had several blogs before, but after a few posts, I was just not motivated enough to write anymore. Maybe this one will be different. I'm just going to write about whatever I feel about from the top of my head, or my experiences in certain things. Like eating at a restaurant, or watching a movie that just came out. You know. The usual things that everyday folk do.

Here are some things at the top of my head right now:

I just recently got into Avatar: The Last Airbender on account of my housemate. I was instantly hooked and saw all three seasons in a span of two weeks. I was like an addict that needed a fix. The show was just that good! If you think this is kids stuff, think again! The characters, the plot, the climax--everything about the show is well-developed. That's why the live-action movie was such a disappointment for me (I saw it when heading back to the Bay Area from Boston yesterday.) The acting felt canned, the characters lacked depth, and where's the humor? That's one of the attributes I loved about the show! The action scenes where just eh for me; I wish the battles where just a bit more grandiose. I suppose it is hard to transfer animation and video games to real-life; just look at the live-action Dragonball movie or the live-action Street Fighter movie! If you haven't seen the Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated show that is) then you should!

Jimmy Eat World's most recent album, Invented, came out two weeks ago. Listen to it. I've done so a dozen times over. You will not be disappointed.

Speaking of music, I just picked up new albums from Sufjan Stevens, Ra Ra Riot, Joshua Radin, and Belle & Sebastian yesterday. I'm looking forward to hearing them:)