Myrtle Beach Golf Trip, Day 1
My dad (and mom) grew up in a small town in West Virginia. A friend of his puts on a golf trip each year. Last year, my friend CW and I were lucky enough to get an invite. This year, we all went again, and invited a couple more friends. The base price of the trip is under $400 bucks, and includes 4 rounds of golf (carts included, coolers allowed), and 4 nights in Myrtle beach, as well as breakfast, and lunch, and an included steakhouse dinner. Its an unbelievable deal, but similar ones can be found via a quick google search. If you have a group of golf buddies, you’d be crazy not to check it out.
On Thursday, my dad and I drove down to our friends’ house in Fredericksburg to miss some traffic the following morning. We sat around and talked late into the evening, played a little piano, and told old stories. This was the view when I got up and had some coffee. Then we met up with my friend CW at the waffle house.
My friend C-Note’s Dad, Winn-Dixie, is a regular there, and his banter with the staff was as enjoyable as my biscuit and bacon. We headed down to Durham to play a round with one of Winn-Dixie’s former coworkers. He invited us to play at his country club, and even bought us lunch. Very generous. He lost an arm, but still plays golf. I can now say I’ve lost a round to a one armed man. We also played with a character who’s license plate is featured below. The weather and company was great, and the trip was just beginning.
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Paul Garmirian, McLean Cigars, Four Roses single barrel
I was in McLean for a doctor’s appointment today. I had a physical and a fitness assessment that both went well, so what better way to celebrate than with some brown sauce and a cigar (full disclosure, my celebration also included a cheese burger). Since I was in in the neighborhood, I stopped at McLean Cigars. I didn’t think to take a pic, but they have boxes and boxes of aged cigars, as well as younger PG sticks, and a selection of non-PG cigars. I picked a few to take home, and decided to smoke one from the 1995 gourmet especial line. There is an ABC store right across the way, so I grabbed a bottle of Four Roses single barrel.
The PG was quite good. Some of the younger PGs have too much white pepper flavor which I’m not a big fan of. This stick had flashes of white pepper, but it was not a dominant flavor. The gourmet, gourmet II, and artisan selection are all PG lines I’ve enjoyed in the past. I bought a box of the latter for my engagement party. I had a soiree once, and it put me down. It was way too strong for me. Even so, I did enjoy the flavor of the soiree, briefly. There is something special about the PG’s with some age on them. The gourmet especial was particularly enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to the other cigars I picked up today.
Four Roses is one of my favorite bourbons. In terms of price point and drinkability, its a lot like Elmer T Lee. Both are in the $30s, and I often find myself reaching for one or the other. When I was in Africa last year, there was often one of two options available if you wanted some brown (though some places were better stocked than others). There was generally a blended whiskey available, I believe Teachers, and Four Roses. Granted, this was not the single barrel version, but a very decent bottle none the less. I’m not sure why/how Four Roses has Kenya and Tanzania locked up, but similarly perplexingly, I’m not sure how Four Roses isn’t more popular here in the US. Its an excellent value, and close to the top of my extensive list of favorites.
While in my smoking room/office, I checked on the progress of this year’s tobacco crop. I start in a grow closet in the early spring to extend my season and start with strong seedlings. My seeds germinated, and are coming in nicely. I’ll have more posts about the progress of the tobacco, so stay tuned.
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Steak and Stogie, Fleur De Las Antillas
The wife went out to do some volunteering. I decided to light up the 2012 CA cigar of the year, the Fleur De Las Antillas Toro. I thought it was good, but not CA #1 of the year good. It had these bursts of white pepper I didn’t particularly enjoy, but the first and last third were very agreeable.
I said I’d grill up a T-Bone, so I figured why wait. I didn’t feel like standing out in the snow, so I threw it in the pan. Got a good sear on both sides, left it about rare, and just salted it, and shook a few peppers on it. I also made some creamed spinach with mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and onion. The t-bone was good, but it was no ribeye.
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Rest of the weekend, Frozen Dairy Bar and Boardwalk Pizza, Lazy Sunday, and Famous Dave’s (RIP Bubba’s BBQ)
We continued the weekend by ordering some Frozen Dairy Bar and Boardwalk Pizza. They deliver, so when we’re too tired to go out, we often order from them. This time, we didn’t even get pizza. My wife got a meatball sub, and I got a burger with sweet and hot peppers. The food is good, but the goosebumps (like a blizzard) are why you go back. Early the next morning, we headed to Burke to help a friend move. As it turns out, we had 5 guys to fill the largest truck they’d rent my buddy. It was quite a bit of work.
After about 4 hours, we had some pizza and beer. After the move, we went back to my place for some shoes, and it was so nice, we got some ice cream at Lazy Sunday.
Then we went to my friend’s St. Patricks Day party. As an Irishman, he takes his St. P’s very seriously. St. P’s punch, meat and potatoes, soda bread, and a flight of Irish whiskey. I’m not generally a big fan of Irish whiskey, but the Redbreast 12 was amazing. I may pick myself up a bottle. The hostess made her famous Irish car bomb cupcakes. I don’t know her exact recipe, but I’m sure similar ones can be found online. I’m not much of a dessert guy, but those cup cakes are bomb (intended).
The next day, we went to Fredericksburg to unload the moving truck. This time we had a lot of help, and the work went pretty quickly.
After the move, we went to Famous Dave’s for some BBQ. I would have rather gone to Bubba’s BBQ, but as we found out about a week ago, our favorite BBQ place closed. It wasn’t the best BBQ I’d ever had, but I did love me some Bubba’s BBQ, and Mo, the owner, was always a good time.
I can’t imagine a busier weekend. There is some more stuff to move, and I might end up helping with some painting, but for now, as CW says, I’m going to rest my body.
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Weekend Catch up, Mike’s Deli in Falls Church
I’ve had Mike’s Deli a few times, but mostly for breakfast. I enjoy a large breakfast, and Mike’s usually hits the spot. It was nice outside this weekend, so the wife and I walked over to Mike’s Deli for some lunch. I got the blackened avocado burger. It was really good. Its the kind of burger that tastes like it came off a backyard bbq. Juicy and delicious. I try not to drink too much soda, and generally have diet, so real coke is a rare luxury.
On Sunday, a friend who is having a baby soon wanted to play some golf. Most courses were closed since there was still a fair amount of snow on the ground. Top golf had a three hour wait. We decided to just enjoy some cigars. I got him a box he can hand out when the child is born. We had two extra sticks to taste test the box. We found them quite enjoyable. (I still can’t thank the BOTL that sent me the cigars enough. These will really impress when handed out)
We had some bourbon and ginger, or applejack and ginger with the cigars. Some more friends came by, and then we went out to Ireland’s 4Ps.
I hope to see my buddy again on St. Patrick’s Day, but he may have his baby before then. Either way, I look forward to getting out for that round.
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Virginia Gold Cup, University Row
Saturday, May 3rd, 2014
If you’ve never been to the Virginia Gold Cup, you need to go. If you don’t know someone with a tent, I strongly recommend University Row. Sign up with your alumni network, or in my case, since CNU doesn’t have an affiliation (yet), my parents’. The pictures below are from last year. They are a combination of my and my friends’ facebook pictures, and University Row’s facebook pictures. As you can tell, its a really good time. Unlimited good food, mint juleps, jim beam, and horse racing. What more could you want?
Thanks to my hat, I was chosen for the fashion show/runway showdown. I lost (to someone in a do-rag, it must have been rigged), but it was a lot of fun. Despite the outcome, like my number, I was #1 (look at that strut). Walking the runway in a Virginia Bow Tie, linen, bourbon in hand, and cigar after? Check it off the bucket list.
The drive up is always pretty rowdy. The drive home is usually a lot quieter (RP). I’m going to be out of country for the 2014 Gold Cup, but I hope you go anyway, and maybe I’ll see you there next year.
More info about the Gold Cup, and Steeplechases in general.
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Mardi Gras, Chasin Tails
On Fat Tuesday we had some friends over for sazeracs, and then went to chasin tails for the crawfish.
We started out with some gator and hurricanes. I didn’t really want a sweet weak drink, but I tasted a friend’s, and it was pretty good. As it turns out, chasin tails serves a very strong hurricane. Everything else is great at chasin tails, so I’m not sure why I doubted the hurricane other than most restaurants don’t typically serve a drink that strong.
I’ve been to chasin tails a few times before. I’ve always gotten the same thing. Bayou in a bag with crawfish (flown in live, not frozen), oh dang sauce (formerly called whole shebang), n’awlins hot, with extra andouille. I had a few of the wife’s shrimp which were also good, but no crawfish. I was there last night, am currently a little hungover, and the pictures are still getting me hungry.
We had a couple of rounds and things got a little blurry both figuratively and apparently literally. My dad has a great bourbon st. story about getting hammered off hurricanes, wandering into a line for the preservation hall jazz band, and conversing with a strip club doorman. Ask him about it sometime.
Chasin Tails is a great time, and on Marti Gras, it was awesome. Beware of the hurricanes. Especially when preceded by sazeracs and followed by abita.
***Update: Looks like a friend of the blog also had a good time at chasin tails:
http://www.littlecitylegend.com/2014/03/mardi-gras-recap.html#more
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Make your own ginger cocktail bar, blenheim ginger ale, Rush
My dad needed to borrow my truck, so I went over to my parents place to exchange cars and have some dinner. I brought the movie All is Lost, and thought we might have some rum drinks, and enjoy the movie. I juiced some limes, put out some ginger syrup and ginger ale. I bought the red (magenta) and gold capped blenheim ginger ale locally at red white and bleu. The red cap version is pretty spicy. I think it really makes a cocktail if you’re really into the flavor of ginger. Its not subtle, but you don’t always want subtle ingredients. For my drink, I poured about 2 oz or so of mount gay eclipse over rocks, added some lime juice, topped with blenheim red, mixed it, and then poured some el dorado 15 over a lime slice to top it.
The topper looked best with the black seal rum, but tasted best with the el dorado. The ladies mixed the topper in, so looks probably mattered more in their case.
The blenheim red is just spectacular. Very spicy bite on the end, great ginger flavor. I highly recommend you check it out. A friend of mine recommended it to me at the cheese shoppe in Williamsburg, and I’ve been a fan ever since.
I still had chicken and waffles on the brain, and in the freezer, so I put threw a quick dinner together on short notice. Nobody was feeling my movie pick, so we ordered Rush on demand. I thought it was very well done. If you’re a race fan, check it out.
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Evening out in DC
The wife and I got some Wizard tickets from my parents that they couldn’t use, and I made some reservations at Zaytinya. Neither of us had been to Zaytinya in about 5 years or so, so we were excited. We started out with cocktails (3pm in Istanbul for her, Turkish Storm for me), and butternut squash hummus.
The hummus was crazy. Its going to be hard to go back to plain hummus. The next three mezza to come out were the snail kibbeh, octopus santorini, and loucaniko sausage.
Everything was so good, its hard to find a standout. That said, the snails were particular good. I wouldn’t miss the octopus either.
The last two courses were the meatballs, and lamb kleftico (a special, and probably the best food of the night).
We order a couple more drinks, the fashionably date and a serefe, and a mini greek apricot yogurt dessert to share. Everything tasted amazing. This is definitely one of the best meals I’ve had in a good while. I’ll probably try to recreate or at least use some of the drinks as a muse. The fashionably date is essentially a manhattan with date syrup, and the turkish storm would just require one to make some syrup flavored with cardamom.
The game was insane. Awesome ending. And we saw Wolf again, but not as close this time.
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Brick House
I went into the office yesterday morning, but came home for some lunch, and to work the rest of the day from home. It was approaching 60, so I thought I might try to catch up on some calls and emails on the porch while I enjoyed a cigar. Unfortunately, my new work laptop was not bright enough and had too much glare, and I did have some work I had to get done, so I defeatedly headed back in to my home office. I picked up a sampler when I last ordered some cigars. The name of one of the brands enticed me. I have a friend, who’s dad often says that his wife is built like a brick shithouse. While I was not familiar with the saying when I first heard it, I was able to ascertain that it was a compliment, and though context, that it meant she is voluptuous. I figured I’d try one, and if it was good, buy a few for next time I go over to his place to enjoy his company, amazing cooking, and pool.
The sampler has four different cigars made by JC Newman. I think the main reason I ordered these is that I don’t know much about JC Newman or its brands. I picked the Brick House mighty mighty natural. I generally go for a robusto or petite corona, so to me, this was a gigantic cigar. I got a belated xmas present from a close friend the other day, so I poured a glass of it as well.
The Woodford Reserve Distillers Select was surprisingly good. I’ve had more than my fair share of brown sauce (many of which have just been OK), so whenever I have a new one I like, I’m pleasantly surprised. The Woodford had a very traditional bourbon flavor profile, and I found no real issue with it. It reminds me of Elmer T Lee in that regard. I would say this is very good, but not outstanding. That said, like Elmer, I’ll probably be reaching for it often. For a more artistic and detailed review, check this canuck out.
The cigar was also surprisingly good. The construction and burn were good, though I felt the draw was a little open. It might be my fault for cutting it too much, but with such a huge stick, without punching, I’m not sure how one would cut less. I found the flavor fairly one dimensional, but there was a sweet spot when the stick became about the length of a robusto, or maybe a little shorter. There was far more pepper present than I’m typically used to. It may have been a stronger or younger cigar than I usually smoke. By the end, I was feeling a little light headed, but I’m going to guess that had as much to do with the size as the overall strength. It made for a long smoke. At the price point, I think this is a very good value. If the make a smaller size, I’m going to pick at least a few up. Check more out here and here.
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