Birthdays, Old Friends, Easter
Last week, EF had a great time at Fred’s 87th birthday.
Then we got another short glimpse of spring.
Over the weekend, we went to VA’s 1st birthday party. O’G made some CSS Richmond Punch (which means three of his punches have made the blog. Perhaps its time for a punch blog HW…) I throughly enjoyed it, and think I might prefer a rum-based punch.
EF was over served, so she passed out…
…and then yaked on a balloon. Jodi held the balloon for EF and asked if she wanted to touch it. I joked that EF was more likely to barf on it than touch it. Not a few seconds later, EF serendipitously went for it.
After the party, the Humm and Lamb clans joined us for some big beers and salsa blanca.
On Sunday, EF had a playdate with Crosby.
Monday, we celebrated Easter early, as LeBeef is bound for Morocco.
We let EF open the first prezzy of Easter. Despite the Amazon reviews, I was skeptical about the gazillion claim, but it delivered and she loved it.
Then the adults enjoyed some tinier bubbles.
EF donned her bonnet and Easter dress.
Superchunk made out like a bandit with her basket.
It was quite a weekend. Now my girls need to rest their bodies.
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Catchup, Mad Fox, FCC Chamber Gala, Taqueria El Poblano, Sfizi, COOL BREW cold brew coffee!
EF had another round of shots.
And after she calmed down, we celebrated with some really good beer at Mad Fox. I thought I’d be healthy, so I ordered a Kale Caesar salad with shrimp, which was really really good.
On my daddy daycare day, EF and I went for a run. It was a demoralizing .7 miles…
HB, FJ, LeBeef, and I went to the FCC Chamber gala. Last year I cleaned up on the silent auction, but went home empty handed this year. Jane fared better with an OBX house. Somebody put big money down on the woods. And LeBeef came home with a big award (as always, we’re very proud of her)…
CK and CK Jr. were sleeping peacefully when we got home.
HB made EF a wig.
Then we went to Taqueria El Poblano for lunch. I had a potato chorizo hash, and HB got chorizo french toast (RP would have loved it). The margaritas were also on point, but what I always even up craving is that salsa.
EF can see about 12 feet away now, and she and FJ like to watch my little pony and Julius Jr.
For FCC restaurant week, we went to Sfizi. HB and FJ had wild boar pasta, and we also had a nice barolo.
And finally, forget what I said about Grady cold brew. Cool Brew is now my jam. Pictured below is the summer 15 seasonal flavor, but I’ve also tried the normal/chicory one, and its on point. The easy measure feature of the bottle is also very convenient. Apparently, this is the original cold brew coffee. I have a couple bottles of Grady left over, but when they’re gone, I’m a Cool Brew man all the way.
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Peggy Hill’s Frito Chili Pie (with Wolf brand chili), and Apple Brown Betty, Recipes and Pictures
It was nice out, so we had the family over. Despite being a HUGE King of the Hill fan, I’d never considering making any of Peggy’s famous recipes (though, if you’ve had spaghetti and meatballs, you’ve had spa-peggy and meatballs). My wife had to make a pie for work, but wanted it to stand out from all the other pies. I suggested Peggy Hill’s Frito Chili Pie (with Wolf brand chili). You can’t make Frito Chili Pie without Peggy’s Apple Brown Betty for dessert, so I looked up some recipes, and got to cooking.
The beauty of Peggy’s recipes is that they are very simple (but don’t tell her I said so). The apple brown betty is basically 8 or so chopped pieces of white bread, four cored and sliced granny smith apples, brown sugar, butter, and if you’re fancy like Minh, nutmeg (and I also added cinnamon and cardamom).
Frito chili pie is even easier. Canned chili (Hank specifically references Wolf brand), fritos, shredded cheddar, and thats it. The can calls for onions which I didn’t buy, but I did add sour cream which wasn’t suggested.
Since I couldn’t find any Alamo beer, I bought Shiner.
I like simple American food. For instance, I’m all about steak-umms and hamburger helper. Even so, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the chili pie and apple brown betty. I made them as a bit of a gag, but sometimes, you can’t beat simple and easy.
To make Bobby jealous, I have some fruit pies to enjoy with my leftovers…
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Spring has finally sprung, Garofalo Artisan Liqueurs Night Life coffee Liqueur
EF saw her first flowers, so it must be Spring. In celebration, I decided to fire up the grill.
While we were out shopping for St. Patrick’s Day, I happened to be in an ABC store in which the owner of Garofalo Artisan Liqueurs was giving a taste test of his Night Life coffee liqueur. I had a sip, and it was pretty good. He told me it was Virginia made, and I was sold. With the weather as nice as it was, I decided to make the revolver cocktail, light up a boli, and get into a good book. I didn’t have any oranges for garnish, but followed the recipe otherwise. I really enjoyed it. The liqueur has a rich coffee flavor that isn’t too sweet. For my taste, I think a 50-50 ratio of bourbon to Night Life would be better, but I’ll let you know once I have a chance to try it out.
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Light Reading
I’ve recently posted about some pretty dense books. However, I don’t always have the energy to get into something like Roman civilization after work, baby, and some wine with dinner. Its also difficult, at least for me, to jump from one book to another. A large collection of short stories is ideal for these situations. My first suggestion comes from the author of the books that eventually became the show Justified, Elmore Leonard.
These are the dime store westerns that made Leonard famous. There are some well-known ones, like 6:10 to Yuma, and many lesser known stories that are also very good. No matter how tired you are, you can get through a story in a night or two. My affinity for westerns has personal roots. My papaw always had a Louis L’amour book next to his .357 on his nightstand. Its nice to think I’m carrying on some of his traditions.
My next suggestion is the works of P.G. Wodehouse. I first became aware of Wodehouse while reading an interview with the writer of the TV series Archer. He mentioned that his affection for P.G.’s works led to him name a character after Wodehouse (Woodhouse) on the show, that also enables him to provide the show a Wooster-Jeeves dynamic. I find it difficult to articulate why I like the stories. The stories are comedic, not particularly dark, but really you have to read them to understand. I think it would easiest for you to search, “Jeeves and Wooster S1 E1” on youtube, and get an idea for the kind of humor you’ll experience that way. The collection is not limited to short stories, but at least so far, the novels have been broken up by chapter in a way that is conducive for short sporadic reads.
I’m always look for suggestions on what to read. If you’d like to contribute, head over to the contact me page, and I may publish your suggestion.
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St. Patrick’s Day
We finally saw some signs of spring up in Northern Virginia. Over the weekend, we went over to HW and Li’s for a St. Patrick’s Day party. EF had a guinness, I had a harp.
For dinner, Li made a salad, some delicious soda bread, and a hearty Irish stew.
For dessert, we had pie, I want to say it was called grasshopper in the mud, and it was mintly, light, and excellent.
Besides getting the crew together, I really like when HW has people over because he serves punch. HW is a Virginian in many ways. He was raised in the Capital, he is rarely caught without the Richmond uniform on (dressed for dinner at the Tobacco Company), and he doesn’t throw a party without serving a bowl of punch. For St. P’s day, HW made Fighting Irish Punch. The base of Fighting Irish Punch is Jameson. There is a fair amount of apple juice too. What really makes the punch interesting is Benedictine and chamomile tea. HW made a good punch for New Years, but he really outdid himself with this one. Give it a try on Tuesday.
On a side note. If you have a boat, or a child in HW’s case (PS Li, don’t you owe HW a boat?), you’ll be interested in this coozie HW got that blew my mind:
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The Cabin, Shotgun Patterning, Quail Hollow Farms, Upland Hunt, Grilled Quail
If you’re tired of restaurant and baby posts, you’re in luck. We finally had a guys weekend in WV for an upland hunt. Due to certain other responsibilities, our usual fall hunt didn’t work out, so I thought a nice spring hunt would be nice. I did not expect a March blizzard.
It was a little dicey getting up there. The toll road was crazy, but my 4wd had it covered.
At the woods, the driveway had about 8 inches of accumulation.
RP made us some ghetto hot dogs (bread for a bun), and we had moon pies for dessert.
Then we settled into our sleeping bags (to avoid doing laundry), and called it.
The next morning was plenty cold, so there wasn’t much melt.
I grabbed a jazz cigarette, and a filling meal at the waffle house (on the left), and we headed to the shotgun range.
I put it in four wheel low, and we headed down a back road in the wildlife management area.
The snow came up to the bumper between the wheels, and at about the time we took this photo, we lost cell service. There were some tire tracks, but we never saw a soul.
But we made it.
We measured out 40 yards, and set up the patterning board.
We tried some different ammo, and a couple chokes. I’ll post the results of our patterning later on.
After patterning, we had a little fun throwing our own clays. The new thrower I got worked out great.
After about three hours, we warmed up, packed up, and headed out.
After shooting, the truck started right up and we got out of the snow no problem.
When we got back to the cabin, Dr. Bumpy was waiting for us. The rest of the guys arrived, and we rolled out to the Long Branch Saloon for dinner.
After dinner, I had a Kirkland Light (I would not recommend it), we started a fire, and enjoyed the 8 degree temp on the screened porch.
The next morning we did a little sledding on the first hole of Stoney Lick.
Then it was time to head to Quail Hollow Farm for some upland hunting. The weather wasn’t ideal, but Steve didn’t want us to go home empty handed.
After a warming up with some clays, we geared up for the hunt.
Steve turned the dogs loose, and we were off. It was a really beautiful day. The quail have flown better when its dry, but to their credit, there were plenty we missed.
Badger and Molly were great as always, but someone was misbehaving and got the leash…
Everyone took a bird or two, and Thom had some particularly nice shots.
After the hunt, we cracked some beers, pulled out the cigars, and put in a lip or two.
The dogs snuck a few spoils of the hunt while Thom and Steve cleaned the birds.
Steve’s son came and sold us some apples, apple sauce, hot sauce, apple butter, etc. We left prepared for a feast.
Back at the cabin, we toasted to Zeiby’s and ML’s first upland hunt, and dried out.
RP and Bumpy bacon wrapped the quail, and threw them on the grill.
The feast was delicious. Thanks again to the chefs. After some midnight toddies, I had to call it. Fortunately, I woke up to some freshly made crunk food the next morning.
Then RP made us some biscuits and gravy.
Bumpy blew an alternator, so we went into Berkeley Springs to try to replace it.
After some McD’s, we stopped at sheetz for some gas. I noticed some guys in a sedan wearing button-downs tucked into chinos. I looked them up and down while gassing up the truck, and gave them the, “you boys ain’t from around here” look. They bought it, which is hilarious, since neither am I. FJ is probably mortified, but the other Wayne boys would be proud.
I came home exhausted, but with a cooler full of birds. As always, I had a great time with the guys. It had been too long. Can’t wait for next time.
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Catchup
Over the weekend, HB and I watched the black cats lose over a nice brunch at Public House No.7. Then we got an ice storm. Getting EF to LeBeef and FJ’s was treacherous, but we made it, thanks to their innovative walkway.
After FJ was done with his soak, HB and I had a quick breakfast at OHOP.
Then I took advantage of a slow work day without EF, and put together a jumperoo, and went for a reckless two mile run. It wasn’t ideal conditions, but I needed to get my wind up for the hunt this weekend.
I also made a shotgun patterning board, as explained here.
EF isn’t quite tall enough for it yet, but she loved the jumperoo.
Later in the week, I made some kimchi fried rice with Ryry’s homemade kimchi.
I also thought I’d mention how much I’m digging my new cell phone case from Wm Lamb. I loved my old one so much, I just got the new version.
I’m headed to West By God tomorrow (weather dependent) for a hunting trip with the guys. I’ll post about it when I get back, but in the meantime, follow me on twitter: @bonvivantva
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