August 14, 2009

Quite a day. Most of it was the Bike Pub Crawl. It started at 10 AM at my friend's house. We began with an homebrew apple drink that was made with lagering yeast, pretty good stuff. Biked first to Hoyt Park; stopped to have a complimentary can of Special Export, and then it was on to the Blue Moon pub on Old University Ave, and had a few glasses of beer there. There are a lot of people big into Bell's brewery, located in Kalamazoo, MI, and it is good stuff. We then rode onto the bike trail that parallels University and toured through the lakeshore path of Lake Mendota. I saluted my old dorm room from my freshman year as I went by it - 204 Botkin; the buildings at Tripp and Adams Hall look as beautiful as ever for their 80+ years. Went up State Street, which is still car-free, and ended up having lunch at the Argus. Some of the party went to a newer bar, The Bayou. We parked our bikes by the GEF-3 building, the building my wife used to work in during her fiscal bureau years, and a lot of those bureacrats drive bikes to work as it was little bit hard finding a bike space; many of us had to secure our bikes to other bikes.

I ate at the Argus, having a peanut-tahini salad ($6.75). I thought to keep it on the light side with all the beer being drunk during the ride. Had a Rolling Rock, club size at the Bayou ($1.35).

We then stopped at one of the bikers' houses on the north side of Lake Monona. Drank 4 Jello shots, pretty potent, and had some fun with squirt guns. Then onto the next house where we had mini-kegs of DAB and Bell's Oberon with some salty snacks (much needed). The temperature was climbing and it was getting a bit muggy, but we managed to weather it and made it to the Malt House on Milwaukee and Washington where I had an Apple Cider and then some absinthe. Milwaukee Road is named such as it was the road that Union Soldiers walked from Camp Randall to the port of Milwaukee at the onset of the Civil War. The Malt House has the same bar fixture that was used at the site when it was the Union tavern back in the 1860's. Last stop for me was at Dexter's on North and Milwaukee. Had more beers and a Blue Gill fish fry - the damn things are so small, it is like eating crab pincers or halibut cheeks, and just as sweet.

I rode home entirely using the bike lanes, which are separate from the roads and still had quite a bit of traffic, but perhaps it is a safe way to ride home when having a few barley pops. It was nice riding at night, seeing the Capitol all lit up and driving 'through' the Wright Convention Center (the bike lane curves into it at its base.) Arrived home at 9:30PM - no more drinks for the evening.

August 8, 2009

The heavy morning rains and severe storm kept me away from going to the Farmer's market, but I had enough materials at my disposal to prepare my meal for the cook group's outing to the American Player's Theater in Spring Green. I made a Samarkind Mung Bean Salad, and Karen made a batch of Kheer.

The theater has expanded since Karen and I were last there in 1995 to see Twelfth Night. The play was good, Shaw's The Philanderer, but it made me want to see a live production of Major Barbara, or my favorite, Man and Superman, which has that delightfully sardonic interplay known as "Don Juan in Hell." There is now an indoor theater, too, currently showing O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night; I don't know if I can take that any longer; such a grueling ordeal to see for 3 hours; it evens challenges my inherent sensibility of masochism. (Although, I could go for another dose of The Iceman Cometh.)

On the way back to Madison, I discussed with the members of the cook group about the ideas of opening a brewpub out by a vacant building by my place of work. I seemed to have piqued some interest. I also discussed further ideas of wild turkey and deer hunting. If I really do get the chance, I should plan on getting a large freezer for the basement to freeze all that good venison.

August 7, 2009

Karen and I attended a fundraiser for the Just Coffee Cooperative in the evening. Of the many activities and free food, they had a raffle in which Karen won a bike light and I won a gift certificate to a local restaurant/pub, The Weary Traveler. We did their coffee taste testing and beside the Nicaraguan collective's FEM offering, which was excellent, Bike Fuel blend still reigns supreme over the Runner's Blend (light), Breakfast blend (earthy), and Arriba blend (just as good as Bike Fuel). The presentation was excellent on the Women's coffee cooperative in Las Diosas. The fundraiser was to have one of the members of the collective travel to Madison to visit the coffee shop.

August 3, 2009

Made our favorite dal for dinner tonight. Then we went with a friend to Michael's Frozen Custard store. I had a peanut butter/fudge sundae ($4.89), and Karen had a mint chocolate chip shake ($5.99). As we ate our purchases, we walked in back of the store through a park that borders Lake Wingra. Saw some fireflies, and have a few more bumps from mosquitoes. There are some nice examples of massive old-growth oaks in the park, as well as some tall ash trees. We saw an ash tree with its emerald-ash borer "collection station" placed up by the DNR to detect if these pests have made their presence here in the vicinity. We also saw one of the firsts of rental changes with the big one coming up around the 15th. This time is like a citywide bargain bin as students and other tenants switch/leave leases and just dump stuff to get rid of it. The happening isn't as massive as it once was, however, due to the change of student housing from actual houses to high-rise apartments.

August 2, 2009

I biked about 20 miles today; the bike trails are a lot of fun. It was nice to ride around parts of Lake Monona; the trail I was riding goes right along the convention center. The public garden plots along Atwood Ave are lush and full of different flowers and plants; the corn is about 5 feet tall in some plots, the tomatoes are starting to ripen.

I came home to clean up the garage with Karen, and then we went to Penzey's to pick up some rubs for grilling and curry powder ($15). We also stopped at Vom Fass to pick up some grappa ($25), Spanish olive oil and sherry vinegar ($10).

I picked up a 6-pack of Yokel ($8) from New Glarus Brewing; an unfiltered Lager; good stuff. Karen cooked up some shrimp and corn. We used a Flamedisk, a disc of jellied corn ethanol that burns almost invisible with no smoke. It worked out well, but it was strange not seeing any smoke come from your grill, apart from when drippings would smoke. The disc lasts about an hour and then can be recycled.

August 1, 2009

I worked some more on the basement in the morning/afternoon, and then rode over to a friend's house on my bike. I brought a Gordon as a gift. My friend had just tapped his 5 litre flask of homemade mead. He used honey and cranberries with a lager and then a champagne yeast. The stuff was great; not sweet, crisp and dry. Had a few other beers in the course of visiting, and I think that Ale Asylum brewery can do no wrong.

I came home and accompanied my wife to Pasqual's for dinner. Had their taco meal with red chile pork ($6.95); my new standard.

After dinner, we returned home and watched Eraserhead.