Susan in FL

We've been drinking the usuals -- more of the stuff I've already posted about -- except we finally found some Tuborg. We like this for a light and refreshing beer. I think it tastes real good, but that may be because of sentimental reasons, reminding me of our Danish family and our trip to Denmark.

MMmmm... I was on the lookout for that, Percy. It was dark, dreary and wet from downpours and thunderstorms all day today, so we ate brunch indoors. First mushroom, onion, and Canadian bacon omelettes with tomatoes and avocado on the side, and then we had waffles for "dessert"...Bubbly with the first and oatmeal stout with the second. We ate in front of the TV, watching the start of the NASCAR race.

Last night we started with a fried green tomato salad. It was topped with homemade creamy avocado dressing, which went surprisingly well with the fried tomatoes. We decided that is an instant classic. A glass of "house white" was real fine with it. Then we enjoyed Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb with Apricot Relish, Israeli Couscous, a garnish of grilled apricot, and 2004 Redmond Ranch Monterey County Pinot Noir. The wine was a little thin, but otherwise wonderful and it was a great pairing. I ate out two of the last four nights, but Thursday we had a nice summery dinner at home, too. While on the road at work I stopped at a produce stand I had been meaning to check out forever, and definitely will return. Some of the stuff I bought went with the grilled quail: little red new potatoes, green beans, and a cucumber and onion salad, which I could eat every day when using pickling cucumbers as good as these. Tonight we ate leftovers. We weren't real hungry after having a late brunch this afternoon. Percy, both of those are beautiful... looks tasty! Cheers!

You're welcome! Dinner sounded good. I too have now been truffle-inspired. I saw some reasonably priced summer truffles; maybe I'll order one or two. (I'll be tuned in to the breakfast thread today. )

All right! I am so glad you are reporting back, and looking forward to the rest of the story.

Welcome to eG and a special welcome to the Beer Forum! This is a growing forum, and we look forward to your contribution. Cheers!

I really don't get skinless boneless either, for myself. Apparently it's popular, though. I would rather cut back on something other than skin and bones (LOL) if I were forced to limit calories or fat or whatever. To me, two of the best food things in the world are chewing on bones and eating crispy skins. ...And now you do have me convinced. The next time I fry chicken, I will include some backs.

Thanks. I printed that out for future reference.

Woohoo! Suzi and Johnnybird, yes. Congratulations to you both, you for frying chicken for the first time and Johnnybird for agreeing to it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now, if only we could work out some agreement for you to send me all the chicken skin that he won't eat... You know, I was thinking of something along these lines tonight when I was in the supermarket. I saw so many packages of various chicken parts that were skinless... not boneless, just skinless. What do they do with the skin? I would pay to have a whole bunch of chicken skin to just fry up nice and crispy for unlimited snacking.

These are funny. This is rather gross, but when my son was young, maybe K or first grade or so, he used to call it "pee is known as noir." Weird child.

Cool! I wish him well with that and hope it's successful. If it tastes good, that's what's important. Just because it's the way good beer comes, I like beer poured out of a bottle (or the tap at a brewpub ), and preferably into a wine glass.

All that, and Amarone to drink! Wow! Nicely done, Marlene.

Dinner tonight was the tuna planned for last night, which we were too full to eat. Had we eaten it last night as a third course, it would have just been the grilled tuna steaks with mango and homemade Teriyaki sauce, garnished with the peppers and bits of crystallized ginger. Tonight's go-withs were grilled zucchini which was first dusted with cumin, garlic powder, ground savory, and S&P; and rice noodles with shoyu and some Thai-style flavorings as a side dish.

This is awesome. The suspense is killing me. Do all the guests know that y'all are doing this blog? I hope you take lots of pictures.

Ahhh, glad you mentioned that... Our Melitta Mill & Brew bit the dust and we're in the market for another coffee maker that grinds the beans and can be set the night before. We're not sure whether to get another Melitta. Most of the Cuisinart reviews I've read haven't been favorable. What kind do you have and are you happy with it? Sam and Marlene, I hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as we readers are!

They are the same nasturtiums, from one teeny tiny little patch in our garden, that seem as though they are never going to quit! It's been over three months now. That's a good thing, I just can't believe it. Now that you mention it... I set the table with three different pairs of wine glasses, one for the bubbly and one for Sauvignon Blanc to go with the calamari salad and one for Pinot Noir to go with the tuna. Then it turned out that the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or what we thought was Sauvignon Blanc was not Sauvignon Blanc after all. It was Pinot Grigio, so we decided to stick with the bubbly. Oh well, it was a good excuse to see these glasses all lined up together. They were our 15th anniversary present to each other. LOL, for real!

Since we drink oatmeal stout almost always with breakfast or brunch, instead of lunch or dinner, I have been wanting to try pairing an oatmeal stout with a savory preparation of oatmeal. Thursday night we drank Anderson Valley Barney Flats oatmeal stout with Turkey Thighs in Red Wine Garlic Sauce & Oatmeal "Polenta Style." It's a recipe from Wine Spectator's section of "Wine-Friendly Recipes," suggested for drinking Zinfandel. It was the second time I made this food, and this time the turkey part wasn't as good, but the oatmeal and the oatmeal stout... oh my. Very nice matching flavors, and creaminess in each.

That sounds good, Suzi. Thanks for the idea!

Yesterday we cooked scrambled eggs in some leftover drippings/fat from a roasted chicken, and potato cakes from leftover mashed potatoes. Straight up OJ was the drink! Mother Nature fixed us up with a hazy, hot, and humid day. It was 87 degrees on our porch when we ate this at 9:00 yesterday morning. This morning we had ham, over-easy eggs, bagel of choice, and a Bloody Mary -- 10 degrees cooler and much more crisp and clear at the same time today.

Last night we had four courses planned, and had room for only three, so tonight's main course will be the one intended for last night. That would be grilled tuna steaks with mango and teriyaki sauce. What we did have was a first course of potatoes with sour cream and caviar (the usual inexpensive stuff); then a calamari, kiwi, and watercress salad which is an old favorite of ours; and then we went for the dessert, Dove Irresistibly Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream with Raspberry Sorbet Swirls and Original Dove Chocolate Chunks Topped with Dove Chocolate Ganache Layer. Goodness, that has as many words as some of Bobby Flay's dishes. To drink with the first two, cheap bubbly.

Ah, the temperature factor... I am with you on both of those. We have a friend who every time has us over for dinner, serves her cheese cold from the fridge. Odd, everything else she fixes is always very good.

I wanted to revive this thread since Russ and I have continued our Friday night tradition of Happy Hours, and have missed going out on Friday after work only very few times in the past three years. We've had some repeats, but still try to visit one new place every Friday. Last night we went to a restaurant/bar new to us, the River Grille in Ormond Beach. ...A good find! We don't look for upscale for Friday nights (nor many other nights in this area for that matter), and this is not, but it was a pleasant surprise. The weather was so beautiful, we wanted to be waterfront. It is on the Tacoma River, and is of relatively new construction. The views were really pretty, and the food was a solid "good." At first our intentions were to get just appetizers, but we ended up staying to eat dinner because of the decent wine and beer selection, and the comfort and scenery of the deck. They had a special "Shrimp Boil" for the holiday weekend, which included blue crabs, snow crab legs, shrimp, mussels, crayfish, potatoes, corn, hushpuppies, and coleslaw for $11.95. We got that, and Russ got a hot dog in addition. Noteworthy was that they served the wine in glasses on the deck, and several places around the beach don't do that for fear of breakage. Our server took very good care of us. I want to go back to try their shrimp or grouper po' boy, gater bites, and the like. This is a great place for visitors to the area, in order to enjoy the local atmosphere and this type of food. In my last post to this topic, I mentioned the opening of the Stonewood Grill and Tavern. That has become the local bar of choice, being very close to where we work. It has good food, very good drinks and appetizers, and a fine Martini night on Wednesdays. I usually stop there once every week or two, and did so this past Wednesday for Cosmopolitans and one of my favorite appetizers, the brie served with bread, roasted red peppers, basil olive oil, and grapes. For anyone vacationing in or around Daytona Beach, these would be two of my recommendations.

Any others "easily amused" like me, and get a big kick out of beer commercials and brewing company websites? What are your favorites? Speaking of Sam Calagione in another post reminded me of the Dogfish Head site. There you can do such things as learn the story of Randall The Enamel Animal, if you haven't had the actual opportunity to become acquainted with it already (I have not ) or watch The Dogfish Head Movie, "Lupulin Madness". The latter was worth the time to load and the 16 minute duration of viewing.

Way cool! Sam is putting my old home state on the map. Who woulda thought beer would give DelaWhere? some fame! Do you know if the weekend is offered on certain dates only or is a standing offer?

Wendy, I'm glad to hear that overall, your dining experiences in Orlando were good! Thanks for the follow-up.