chromedome

In the days before Google, a guy with a good map of Newfoundland could make a few bucks off fools who were willing to bet there was no such place. Just for the record, there's also a South Dildo.

Just as a followup, I nipped in again this evening and filled my growler with their Mango IPA. As a rule I'm not big on fruit-flavored beers, but I thought this might be an interesting combination of flavors (especially on a hot July evening). I quite like it...it's far less fruit-forward than most fruit beers I've had, with the hops front and center and the mango playing purely a supporting role. You could almost mistake the mango for in intriguing note coming from the hops themselves. I don't know what kind of hops they used in the brew (they don't specify) but I'd certainly be keen to try a similar beer made with more "artisanal" hops.

Geez, got distracted and never came back to this. My bad. The first one I tried was the October Ale. It was unseasonal but they brewed that one first because it's the one great-great granny started with, back in the day. I reasoned that they'd probably retire that one fairly quickly until autumn (I was right, as it happens). It was a nice brown ale, not overly hoppy or complex but with a nice bit of caramel sweetness, some dry fruit notes and a whiff of smoke. The IPA is pleasantly refreshing, nicely hopped (ie, not a hop monster but not understated either) with bright, citrusy notes. I've just finished a growler of the bock, which is a pleasant but undistinguished example of the style. I also tasted an oatmeal stout and a dunkel that first night, both of which were smokier than I'd expected. Other than that I remember little of them, because I'd tasted five in total within a short timeframe. They've since added a dark lager and a mango IPA, which I haven't tasted. Overall, I'm pleased with what I've had. Are there better craft brews around? Absolutely. Are they perfectly acceptable and enjoyable in their own right? You bet. If anyone happens to be in this vicinity over the summer, you can book a tour of the brewery what concludes with flights in the taproom. A flight of four 7-ounce glasses is only $3, which is absurdly low in this neck of the woods. Here's the outside: A "flight plus one," so I could taste all the small-batch brews: The order board: Vintage bottles and other memorabilia on display shelves in the tap room: The business end of things: ...and a nice final touch.

Some of those blues can be pretty vocal.

It's not at all uncommon in this neck of the woods, though I've never understood the reasoning. Don't be surprised, either, if you're offered some with olives in it. If you're driving up from Cape Breton you'll pass the Jost winery in Malagash, which turns out some cheap plonk but also some pretty fair German-style whites. Most NS wineries have a wine called "Tidal Bay," using the signature local grape varietals in varying but legally defined combinations, and Jost's is quite drinkable. They're created by the respective winemakers specifically to be served with the local seafood, an idea that originated with the provincial government and its Taste of Nova Scotia program. You'll also see a number of craft breweries (NS has more per capita than any other province) though I'm not personally familiar with those. If you'll be crossing the Confederation Bridge on your way to or from PEI, take a detour to the small town of Baie Verte NB and visit the Winegarden Estate winery and distillery. The wines there aren't at the same level as wineries in NS (or at least they weren't as of a few years ago) but they distill a vast selection of schnapps and eau-de-vies, which are excellent. During the season I believe they serve German-style food there as well.

When natural pollinators aren't getting it done, you can hand-pollinate with a small paintbrush. It's a time-consuming PITA (best done in the morning, before it gets too hot out) but it'll crank up your zucchini production. ...and we all know how dear to your heart those morning zuc's are.

It's fun trolling fans. I've often played dumb when someone mentions Led Zepplin, then brightened as if hearing an inaudible penny drop and exclaimed, "Oh wait, they do the Popeye song, right?" This usually gets a blank look and a "Popeye song? What Popeye song?" To which I respond, in my best Popeye voice, "Olive my love/Olive my love..."

I'm getting dragged out to the festivities uptown, despite the sweltering heat and humidity. Food prep today will be minimal, in consequence (heat and I do not co-exist well). I suspect dinner will, if anything, be a beer.

I see it mostly as understanding the water flow and trying to arrange the dishes so it's not obstructed. My decades-old Kenmore portable cleans everything beautifully with standard Finish tabs, with the sole exception of mugs. The tea stains don't come off, so I wash 'em manually once a week or so.

On a related note: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/amazon-buying-online-pharmacy-with-nationwide-reach-drug-store-stocks-dive/

I totally agree with you on lobster. When we have one (ie, whenever my GF has the urge) I'll eat a claw, and she has the rest. Our granddaughter loves gnawing the meat out of the little legs, so those usually go her way. I moved back East around the time lobster was at historic lows, a decade or so ago, and still have trouble with the notion of splurging more than $5/lb for it.

I've been incommunicado for most of the week, as I was down in NS helping my daughter move (an abrupt "reno-viction") but I thought about you when I saw the snow on Newfoundland. When my family moved there in 1978, we left NS on the last day of May at 38C and absolutely sweltering. We arrived at our new home in Sop's Arm (about an hour from Deer Lake) in a white-out blizzard on June 1st.

Seen on the internet: "Carbs are the brain's primary fuel. Atkins and keto go a long way to explaining the world around us, right now."

They're mostly solitary, but during mating season a bull will assemble a small harem so it's not entirely uncommon to see a handful of cows in relatively close proximity. You'll also see them congregate together loosely in areas where food is plentiful (not hanging out together, as such...more like humans passing each other at the supermarket).

This would have been just as much at home in "Why we fell for clean eating," but what the heck... https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/lifestyle/hot-dog-water-seller-in-vancouver-gets-laughs-to-prove-point-1.3984356&sa=D&source=hangouts&ust=1530041156967000&usg=AFQjCNG3zko39bmMLEbzWfTwb6SbGt18xg

Tourism information center.

I looked up their main site. Click through from "The Science Behind the Magic" (a phrase that made me think of Young Frankenstein).

The "Long Pork Primer?" "Better Humans and Gardens Cookbook"?

According to the lab analysis shown on their site, the finished compost is relatively high in sodium - not surprisingly, given that it'll process finished foods seasoned for the table - so you'll have to be wary of using too much in any one place (the lab recommends an 18-20:1 ratio of soil to compost, to mitigate the sodium levels). As for the cost-benefit equation, that's entirely up to you. From what I've seen on their site the only consumable is filters, which will cost you $50/year in Canada (presumably less in the US). I don't compost personally at the moment, because my garden is a half-hour drive from home and we have municipal green-bin composting. My little bucket collector works fine for me, because the "smell factor" determines how long it stays on my counter...when the GF has a yen for lobster, for example, the shells go out PDQ. It works for me, but of course everyone's situation is different. If you're fine with the price tag, it appears that the machine does what it says it will.

Today I finally finished the (main) digging at my main garden, at my GF's parent's place. I'll probably still put in a few smaller beds for this and that, but at least the grunt work is done. The soil there is good, but remarkable for its, uh..."mineral content." I took 7 wheelbarrows of stones out of a 12' x 4' stretch, ranging from egg-sized to microwave-sized. The latter had to be dragged out with a small tractor, as I couldn't budge it with my steel pry bar. Lots of stuff in...chard, kale, red and gold beets, lettuce mix, okra, peas, beans, potatoes, onions, turnips, radishes, Brussels sprouts, red and green cabbages, carrots, some squash (no zucchini, my sweetie is allergic) and doubtless a few other things that elude my recollection at the moment. The garlic my father'd been hand-selecting for size is almost ready to harvest. Last year, I the majority of the cloves fell in the 20-30 gram range (up to an ounce or so) which is freakin' HUGE...I sometimes got a scant quarter-cup of minced garlic from one clove.

They look after us, then we look after them. That's the way the deal's supposed to work.

My mom never especially liked cooking, though she'd hammer out a serviceable meal when Dad was at sea. When he was home, and after he retired, he was always the one who cooked. Mom was a pretty fair baker, though, and eventually (after my childhood) they did own a bakery. Her main cakes were a sultana cake (a sort of pound cake with raisins), a cinnamon-swirl loaf and a really good lemon loaf, and something called a "Katherine cake" which was baked in a tube pan and fell somewhere between a regular butter cake and a pound cake in texture. My birthday cake was always a Katherine cake, with a piece of cardboard over the hole in the middle so it could be iced as a large round. She also made a cookie I especially loved, called "crisp & chewies." These were a sort of a spicy molasses cookie with currants, and they were wonderful. I really need to get that recipe from her, I haven't had them in years. To be clear, I say she "was" a good baker because she seldom does it any more, not because she's dead. Dad passed away last year, and she'd mostly lost her taste for sweets anyway, and Parkinson's is making it harder for her to do anything in the kitchen. I always try to fill her freezer with ready meals when I'm visiting, so she can have healthy, balanced meals with zero effort.

I recently bought a snack out of morbid curiosity that would doubtless elicit strong reactions from many of you. There were several packages in the discount bit at my local supermarket of...crunchy olives. (??!!!) They turned out to be ripe black olives, dried to a raisin-like consistency (I know we lost some of you there) and then coated with a spicy, starchy crust, like beer nuts. They were...not bad...I guess...other than their fundamental weirdness.

I'm also not a fan of mint and chocolate together, though I'm fine with either flavor on its own. Except in an oatmeal cookie...chocolate has no place in an oatmeal cookie. Those were designed by God to contain raisins.

The ones you eat are sweet almonds. The ones that give the over-the-top almond flavor are bitter almonds.