My First Mistake…

Was not following my gut instinct and saying, “None for me, thanks.”

I’d done it several times in that weekend prior to the moment in question, and I’d go on to do it several more moments after. So what made this moment special; that I should have declined and did not?

Mostly, a series of expectations, new-ness, and trying to fit in with the crowd around me.

There I was at Beer Bloggers Conference, sitting down to the “live beer blogging” session. “The premier event of the Beer Bloggers Conference,” live beer blogging is “a fast-paced, fun event that is sort of like speed dating with brewers”. The goal is to give a brewery five minutes to sample a beer out to a selection of bloggers/tweeters, and to answer questions and discuss the beer or the brewery or anything else.… Continue reading →

Some Photos From Last Week

So, I’ve been fairly quiet for a little over two weeks, not counting the post full of links I put up last. This is the result of two rather unrelated things. The first was having written a few posts that I asked others to look over, only to (correctly) hear back that they needed work. The other was that Bill had some surgery, and I’ve been looking after him and caffeinating and feeding him during his recovery.

I’ve been (and plan to continue) working toward having a buffer set up for just such occasions, but I’m not there yet. And, frankly, I don’t know if I would have had as much of a buffer as I would have needed just now. That’s life.

I’m nearly done with the posts that needed reworking, thankfully.… Continue reading →

Some Interesting Reading

One of the things that has been kind of perpetually on my mind is reading. How much I should be doing, what I should be reading, etc.

I never come to an answer. It makes me kinda batty, honestly. I feel like there’s GOT to be some sort of rough guidelines for how much one needs to take in to stay on top of things, and also just to be a better writer, but I’ve never figured that out.

I keep reading, though. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes a little. And much of it is interesting.

So, with that in mind, I decided I’d share a short reading list of links I’ve encountered recently that I think are interesting. While I’ve encountered them recently, they may not all be very recently written.… Continue reading →

That Time We Bought a Tuna (Via Kickstarter)

Well, a large piece of one.

Tuna is, by far, Bill’s favorite kind of fish. It’s also generally a problematic fish to eat. For example, it can be incorrectly identified, sometimes intentionally. Sometimes it’s a species that is woefully endangered. While we usually consult the Seafood Watch app for various fish dishes, tuna is just such a pain, we’ve about given up.

So, when a few folks I trust started tweeting about this kickstarter, I did what anyone would do: I forwarded it to the Ethical Tuna Lover in the house. And told him to feel free to back it.

And so, he did. While I didn’t initially expect him to go gangbusters, when that’s what he wanted, I was 100% on board with the plan.… Continue reading →

Why, Yes. That is an Apple Sandwich.

A week ago, I made apple sandwiches for dinner.

I mean, I made apple and caramelized onion sandwiches for dinner.

I mean, I made sandwiches containing apples, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and smoked tomato jam for dinner.

Man, those sound really different, don’t they?

While making the sandwiches, all I could focus on was finding some way to save dinner. See, my original plan sounded dreamy to me. And simple. And oh, how I need simple after work these days. And the plan was chicken sandwiches.

Unfortunately, I got home, started getting things ready for sandwiches, and discovered that the leftover roast chicken looked bad. And I was bummed. And freaked out, because I had to figure some substitution fast. Because while chicken sandwiches with caramelized onion, goat cheese, and tomato jam sounded good, without the chicken it somehow no longer sounded good.… Continue reading →