Category Archives: Blather

Strawberry Mermaid and Sea Smoke – Cocktails

These were invented, and the previous post written, for Chuck Wendig’s flash fiction contest. The story is very rough around the edges, but the cocktails are pretty damn good. Or so I think.

Indeed, we’ve shared them with guests now. And, as in the story, almost no one (just me) likes the “Sea Smoke,” but both Bill and Tony agree they can see why I like it. The “Strawberry Mermaid” has been a big hit, however. So, grab your booze and your bar tools and make this happen.

Strawberry Mermaid

1 barspoon good strawberry jam/preserves (homemade, in my case)
1/2 oz Campari
187 mL (~6 oz) sparkling wine.

Mix the jam with the Campari thoroughly, trying to break up any huge chunks of strawberries. Poor chilled wine over, mix gently, and serve.… Continue reading →

Visiting D.C. Jan 2014

Bill and I have been traveling again. 

Once a year, there’s a conference in Washington, D.C. that he always attends. We have friends in the area, particularly up in Baltimore, MD and so I usually accompany him. Typically, we land at BWI and he heads down to the con hotel and I head straight up to Baltimore for four days or so of putzing around with our friends up there before he joins me for about a week.

This year, it’s been different. A friend of mine has just moved to D.C. with her family. I have made numorous friends on Twitter, mostly (but not entirely) fellow beer bloggers. All of them wanted a chance to meet me, and I them. And staying in D.C., I had the chance to have a breakfast or dinner or two with Bill in those four days.… Continue reading →

Updates!

So, here it is the middle of December and I didn’t even tell you all what happened in November. My apologies. Basically, after going so freaking hard in November I crashed, hard, in December.

I’m only just resurfacing, frankly. The shortened days always do a number on me, and it’s been a bit of an odd year overall. But I’m starting to come back up and I realized I should give you all the updates I can think of.

First, I did complete/”win” NaNoWriMo. The goal being 50,000 words in 30 days and I got a bit over 53,000 words. Unfortunately or fortunately, I’m not sure which, this wasn’t in any way the end of the story. So, I kept writing into December a few days, until the aforementioned crash.… Continue reading →

Beer and My Better Half

Hello, everyone. I hope those of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving today are having a great one. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, largely because the point is to be joyous and grateful. To remember what we have in life. Thus, when I got this guest post today from Jeremy over at Subbeerbia about meeting his wife, I realized it was the perfect story for today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Considering the circumstances of the household where I grew up, the fact that beer, homebrewing, and the industry surrounding them have become such an important part of my life is quite astounding. I won’t get into the details here since I plan to discuss this topic at length elsewhere, but I was raised by a father who abhorred alcohol in any form.… Continue reading →

Holy Cow. I’m Ahead.

Yesterday, I said I didn’t expect to write today. And I surprised myself. I wrote.

Not only did I write, I wrote over 3,000 words today. Just a few over, but still. That’s a lot of words.

Most of them will likely be cut whenever I get to editing this bear. But, hey, that’s fine. Until I wrote them, I had nothing to edit. So, overall, I’m doing better than expected. By a great deal.

I also said this is more than a 50k word story. It really is. I’m over halfway to that goal and just reaching the first major turning point in my plot. The only turning point I’ve planned. From here, I have to follow where my characters lead me. I suspect it’s going to be both fun and miserable, in turns.… Continue reading →