It’s a pretty big day for the Italian Dual Citizenship process. I just received Rose’s birth certificate from Ficarra, Messina, Italy. It’s a little troubling that I haven’t received Sam’s certificate as I sent it first. (And actually, sent a second request for mom). I believe I need some additional help tracking this request down so I’m going to try to find a Skyper or other Italian speaker for some additional help.
A friend invited me to The Headkeeper, one of my favorite Greensburg bars (not that there is a plethora).
They had an Abita beer tasting event, and I got to sample Abita Turbodog, Abita Bock and Abita Purple Haze. I thought I’d share some of my findings.
Abita Turbodog (ABV 5.6%, IBU 28, Color 60) is a dark brown ale with Willamette hops as well as pale, crystal and chocolate malts. I found the Turbodog to have a thick, rich body with some chocolate and toffee flavor notes. It’s strong but flavorful, making this a great after-dinner beer.
A panorama I made while in Paris. This was shot from the top of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, and is the result of stitching 32 photographs. This required me to do very complicated color and exposure correction, lots of touch-up in the sky, and hours of aligning. Hope you like it!
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Good: 24 inches of snow on a Friday night + a case of Magic Hat = awesome attempt at sledding.
Bad: After breaking off pieces of my Kiddie Cart and destroying some large pieces of Tupperware, we discovered there is absolutely nothing in my house that constitutes a sled.
Ugly: When the snow finally melts, there’s going to be a graveyard of failed sled parts in my back yard.
Good: If it’s going to be cold, at least the snow makes everything look like a beautiful ski resort.
Bad: Ski resorts don’t have to declare states-of-emergency like we do.
Ugly: Seeing a National Guard Humvee in my little Penn Township is like a bad zombie movie instead.
I discovered a very tasty liqueur that you don’t see on PA Spirit store shelves very often: Root.
Root is from the makers of Hendrick’s Gin (another personal favorite of mine), and is surely one of the most unique things I’ve tasted.
According to their company lore, Root is a remake of the “Root Tea” of the 1700’s, an herbal remedy made with sassafras roots, sarsaparilla, birch bark, among may other things. The native America’s taught the recipe to colonial setters, but over time, we refined it’s complexity and potency. During the 19th century temperance movement (Wikipedia here), a Philadelphia pharmacist removed the alcohol from Root Tea and rechristened it (ironically) Root Beer.
also cited as… The Storm of the Century by overly dramatic news anchors…
I haven’t seen this much snow on the ground since the “great blizzard of 1993″. I am snowed in today, so I thought you’d appreciate pictures of the snow-carnage.
“I think the Grammys are nothing more than some gigantic promotional machine for the music industry. They cater to a low intellect and they feed the masses. They don’t honor the arts or the artist for what he created. It’s the music business celebrating itself.”
– Maynard James Keenan
Had the Grammy’s been the competition of talent and creativity that they are often cited as, it would have been infeasible for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” to win Song of the Year in the 2010 Grammy Awards. And yet again, completely congruent with Beyonce’s predecessors, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has overlooked the brilliant, the creative and the talented in favor of awarding the inane.
