Bellwoods

Went to the Bellwoods brewery yesterday on Ossington. Beer was pretty well bulletproof, between my group we thoroughly made the rounds of the offerings. The "White Picket Fence" shows far more skill than its light taste would let on, with something that gentle any mistakes/impurities become immediately obvious. My favourite of the night was the Bier de Garde that they have on now, very nicely well rounded with some flavours that you don't taste very often in beer... I'm hesitant to call it winey but that's about the only descriptor that comes to mind. Really nice.

Negatives for the visit: The food. I see what they're trying to do but it's misguided. What would have changed my perception of it would have been a good meat, cheese and bread plate like what you see in the Netherlands. It doesn't have to be fancy, there's a bakery on the other side of the corner and a good helping of local cheese and dried sausage would have done wonders. They do have a bread and cheese plate but I have to be honest, it looked chintzy. There were maybe 5 small slices of bread and 4 smallish pieces of cheese. One of the cheese selections tasted fishy (the brie), probably a more extreme example of the style but misguided given the target audience. Good cheese? Yes, but still small and in no way worth the $18 or so that they were charging for it... Not when you can go someplace else and get a whole meal for that much. Also, I ordered a vegetable dish and found some pulled pork in it. I'm not vegetarian but I was eating with someone that was, she laid it on pretty thick that if I was vegetarian (and there was no indication that there would be pork along with these fava beans) I should be really really offended.

All I'm saying is that they need to pay more attention to it. There's still space for the duck hearts etc, but there needs to be a reliable something else there for more conventional tastes. Seriously, go out and get a few packs of Jarlsberg Swiss cheese, some dried salami and some Portuguese buns from down the road. Charge $10 for it and be generous.

Sam Adams Summer Ale. Just picked some up from the LCBO on the way home from hoping for something similar to their Alpine Spring beer. We enjoyed that one quite a bit! Lovely kellerbier that one. Anyways, the summer ale is disappointing... unremarkable. It has some a bit of flat lemony taste to it, but otherwise doesn't deliver anything claimed on the label. Crisp, spicy... definitely not words I'd use to describe it. More standard and unremarkable, which so far as beer is concerned is definitely not what one should be aiming for.

Was a snotty sneezy mess at work today. You know you're sniffling a lot when you're counseling patients on their medication, wishing them well and that they will get better... when they wish you to get better too. Could be a cold, could be allergies. Either way the result is the same :(

Yesterday we went to the Black Oak Brewery for an OCB event called (I think) "Ken's Still Bitter" in honor of them brewing more "10 bitter years". In case you're not aware, this is quite a good double IPA that has gained a reputation in the area. Last time it was made it sold out before many people even knew it existed. This time they threw a bit of a party for it!

There was the 10 bitter years on tap of course, as well as a number of other beers. There was "How do you say monkey in Latin?", a collaboration brew between brasserie Charlevoix, Black Oak and someone else if my memory serves. This one had some good hoppiness to it, but was short lived and left me with a feeling of it only being ok. There was also a black Belgian IPA called "Black Abbey" which tasted exactly as it was described. Again nothing that really flew out at me. The ones that did stand out in my opinion were being served in the non-air conditioned brewing area. The Daily Bread collaboration Belgian table beer was much needed given the number of "large" beers being served, and had a very pleasant taste to it. I could have had that one all night and been quite pleased with it. The 1812 collaboration brew "Stitchback" was another large beer and clocked in at 9%. It didn't taste like 9% though, it tasted more deceptively sweet than anything malty or hoppy. It takes a special kind of strong beer to keep both of us happy and this walked that very thin line. There was also a marmalade cask saison, a variation on Black Oak's Summer Saison that added more pleasant flavours to an already quite likable beer. The lightness of it was really appreciated given the heaviness of the other ones being served.

The food was a pleasant turn to these Black Oak parties as well. Instead of having a lineup for catered food, this time there were a number of pop-up and drive up tents and trucks out back. While the Caplansky's truck was much appreciated since I haven't gotten my smoked meat on in quite some time, it was the folks from Rock Lobster that got my attention and held it. I haven't had lobster like that since a trip my wife and I took to Boston not that long ago. Down there, fresh lobster rolls are served from trucks and it's part of the culture to have this kind of amazing seafood available like this fresh... if it's done well it doesn't resemble Red Lobster at all. This was done well and you can tell extraordinary measures were taken to ensure good fresh lobster. Kudos!

People that know me well know I have a soft spot for critters. Here's a cute link I saw earlier today and felt I'd share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-jDjKFhKNI&feature=relmfu

Just thought I'd share this before heading out to work. What an amazing resource of old photos of Antarctic expeditions, nature and wildlife. There's a lot made available by the State Library of Victoria from these old expeditions that is just amazing to look at. I'll be spending some time going through them later tonight after work

http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&frbg=&tab=default_tab&dstmp=1340033094247&srt=rank&ct=search&mode=Basic&dum=true&indx=1&vl%28freeText0%29=Antarctic+landscapes%2C+fauna+and+activities+relating+to+various+Antarctic+expeditions&fn=search&vid=MAIN

A friend of mine is having trouble with small bugs in her garden eating everything. I have tried a few things in the past... What type of bugs you have going on affects what you want to use if you have similar problems.

If you have a spray bottle you may want to try using diluted dish soap and/or hot sauce in water and see if it helps. I found that it helped keep the patio aphids in control even if it didn`t get rid of them completely.

Another something that I found useful was leaving out a small container of cider vinegar, they seemed to be attracted to that. Cover it with saran wrap securely taped down and sealed and poke a few holes in it. They`ll find their way in and not out. It was useful inside the apartment with fruit flies, not sure how useful it`ll be outside.

I`ve also seen in the Galapagos, buckets left out with dish soap in it. They used it to help control the insect population on some islands. You may want to give that a go as well since it doesn`t cost anything, really.

My garden`s doing pretty good at the moment. Potatoes are just starting to sprout and the newly placed fence is keeping my furry nemesis out of reach. I may even try planting lettuce outside again (patio lettuce is doing spectacular)

Interesting... the dispensing kiosks were a fear amongst a number of people that I was talking to while working. Others felt that it would have a much smaller impact than expected, like mail order pharmacy. I wasn't expecting the company it to go the way of bankruptcy but the explanation given in the article makes sense.

http://www.canadianhealthcarenetwork.ca/pharmacists/news/professional/remote-dispensing-firm-bankrupt-16303?utm_source=EmailMarketing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pharmacy_Newsflash

What the heck? The frozen planet penguin cam is off the air now. Major lost marketing opportunity in my opinion, this thing was hella entertaining. I'd leave it on in the background just to hear my penguin buddies while I'm doing other things.

 http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/frozen-planet/penguin-cam/

Game of the moment: Super Busker

http://www.kongregate.com/games/jotapeh/super-busker

In this game you're a busker playing the crowd in a rhythm based music game format, trying to make money. You can upgrade your voice, clothing, hygiene and even your pet. A neat idea, unfortunately it didn't have the staying power I was hoping for

Planted heirloom fingerling seed potatoes today. Did 9 in large containers, 6 on the ground around them. Will be mounding straw around them as they grow. Did you know that potatoes show up above where the seed potato is planted, and below is only roots? I didn't.

Also, I found my 3rd large container for potatoes. Seems someone stole it earlier this year and broke it while hauling manure. Thankfully it's still usable for my purposes

I'll be following the example outlined here for planting this year:  http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-to-plant-potatoes-in-straw/