Blasphemy

HOLD YOUR TOUNGE! Right now a Venti Vanilla, No-Foam, Latte is what gets me through the day! Sometimes if I have to choose between ordering lunch and getting my Starbucks...well lets just say it's a really, really tough call sometimes.

I have cheaper alternatives to Starbucks for a VL. Dunkin Donuts, but I just don't do it (yet). Will I give McDonalds a chance? It might be hard there isn't a McDonalds on my commute as opposed to the three or four Starbucks that are on my way to work. If I try a Micky D's latte I will let you know how it goes.

Green Wine

Hey all you "greenies" out there. Want to enjoy a nice glass of wine that hasn't been shipped in heavy glass bottle and corked with cork? Then check out Yellow + Blue Malbec. Our local wine store carries it, and the wine is a very very good for an $11 wine. And your earthy conscience can be clear too! It's great to bring to parties and watch the skeptical looks change to surprise with their first taste.

Let's Go Dodgers...

Wow time flies by so fast it's unbelievable. The top picture was taken in September of 2006 and the bottom one was taken in June of 2008. Both pics were at Shea Stadium on the way into a Mets vs. Dodgers game.

The Henegar boys are Dodger devotee's and whenever they come to play the Mets and they have an extra ticket they bring me and Levi along. This generous method of indoctrination has caused us to be both Yankee and Dodger fans. It's not as random an allegiance as you might think. I can remember summers going to Dodger Stadium to watch them play as a kid and one summer going on the field for a fireworks show.

While the game didn't go in the Dodger's favor (they lost 6-1) we had a great time. And how could you not...great seats, popcorn, hot dogs, Italian sausage, chicken fingers, pizza, fries, beer, soda, dippin' dots, night game, and feeding off the energy of a 7, 5, and almost 4 year-old. It was really cool to see them stand up and chant "Dodgers, Dodgers" to all the Mets fans in the stadium. They showed no fear or doubt, especially to the teenagers sitting behind us.

While I wouldn't necessarily call myself a baseball fan, there is nothing like taking your kid to the ballpark. It will never get old.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...

...and get a great deal doing it! Starbucks has a history of having unadvertised aspects of their beverage services.

I think the secret is out now, but the "mystery of the elusive short cappuccino" was written about in Slate and ordered by yours truly with fantastic results. I think now the "short" has turned into the "skinny." But I am sure the "short" still lives on, I'll test it out soon and let you know.

The secret above is great for cappuccino lovers, but the latest discovery is even better. It's so good that I am even reluctant to write about it, just in case they change their policy. If you order any iced coffee or any of the variety of iced teas (sorry not the fraps) and keep your cup, then a refill is only $.54. That's right, fifty-four cents, and all you have to do is keep your old cup. And it doesn't have to be on the same day!

Yesterday I went and got a venti, shaken iced-tea lemonade. It cost me $3.85. I kept the cup in my office, and walked down to Starbucks about ten minutes ago, handed them my cup and ordered the same drink. The barista handed the cup to one of his coworkers and rang me up for a refill at $.54! FREAKING BRILLIANT. Not only did I reuse my cup that's going to take about 10,000 to breakdown anyway, but I saved money doing it. See it pays to be a little green.

I know someone who buys a beverage on Monday, and refills it everyday of the week for $.54. So go out there and take advantage of this, you're helping the earth (a little anyway) and definitely helping those envelopes!

The View From Up Here

I turned thirty-three today! And contrary to popular belief, my birthday wish wasn't that I could change my name to Timmy for the day!

We had friends over last night and ate take-out from Ruby Foo's, gluten free cake from Dean and Deluca, and a bottle of Clos Mogador 2003 from Spain that Conner brought over. On the first sip of that wine I was immediately transported back to Plaza De Mayor and my heart ached for Spain.

It was a great birthday dinner and I feel so incredibly blessed and humbled by the wonderful life that I have. Allison got me a pack of ten passes to go to the driving range in Edgewater, NJ. Totally unexpected and I am so pumped about using them. "Hey Brandon gotta hit the sticks when you get back!"

Shout out to Aunt Nancy for getting me the Remastered Joshua Tree album with bonus 'B' Sides. I am listening to the actual CD and it sounds incredible! It's been years since I listened to music straight off the CD. There is a huge difference even listening through crappy headphones. I am encoding this CD at 320k, any less would be a travesty! There isn't a better album period (in my opinion). Name a better one, and make it your own opinion not just what came up in a Google search!

I believe my relationship with iTunes is about over. I am going follow the lead of Krister (and the prodding of my bro-in-law) and start downloading my music from Amazon.com. No DRM, higher bit rate quality, and no DRM. Not that I will stop using iTunes or my iPod (NEVER!).

Update:
Was going to get the Black Crowes new CD but they don't offer it in download form. Dilemma, for the same money do I order the actual CD from Amazon or do I download it in all it's DRM suckiness from iTunes?

Links:
Radio Lab is the coolest podcast out there. Mind blowing every time.
Studio 360, might give them a run for the money though.
If a pilot tried to land like this, I would be screaming like a little girl!
The Livmor....blocking our view of Harlem, Spring 2009!
Barcelona, a great sounding band. Check them out.
Admit it...you didn't think I could do it (last line of post)!

Drug War and Chocolate Chip Cookies

"How America Lost the War on Drugs" by Ben Wallace-Wells in the November issues of Rolling Stone has to be one of the best and most thorough article on the subject I have ever read. After seeing "American Gangster" and being totally engrossed by Netflix'ing season one of "The Wire" this article completed my drug, money, and crime edutainment tri-fecta.

Take the time to read the article (19 pages when printed in 'printer friendly' format). The article seems to point to clear answers for the drug war after 30 years of failing in spectacular fashion. The thing that's really interesting to me is that we are only in year four of the "War on Terror" and who knows what painful lessons we are going to have to learn before we fight that war effectively. The failure of the "War on Drugs" should serve as a warning to our current "War on Terror." So CHECK IT!

Here it is! The best gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix in the world. If you or a loved one has celiac disease or is gluten intolerant, bake a batch of these cookies and you will feel like you are having a NORMAL cookie again. In fact we had set these cookies out at Bible study last night and another batch of the cut and bake Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies. People liked the gluten free ones better.

Allison got this at Whole Foods and it looks like you can order them from the Cherrybrook Kitchen company as well. Thanks Allison for making the cookies and BIG SHOUT OUT to Melanie Murphy for giving Allison the heads up on these cookies. You're the best gluten free spotter out there!!

The Hill Country comes to NYC

Now there is no compelling reason for me to leave NYC for Texas (as if I was looking for one). And while the items on their menu might be fifty percent more expensive than they would be in Texas it's a premium New Yorkers are willing to pay. Check that, I am willing to pay. Especially because the critics can't stop talking about it, and they have "imported" items from Texas on their menu that you can't get anywhere else in the north east.

I will let you know how it really is though if we can ever get a table.

GO PACKERS!!




True Cowboy fans would never root for the Giants (unless they play the Patriots in the Superbowl and are our nations only hope to stop their unbeaten streak!!)

Nukes and Nachos

WWIII. As a nation we have to come to grips with the fact that we could have been the ones to start it. Our Commander unsubstantiated rhetoric heated the tensions between us and Iran to the point that a moderate size international incident could have set the wheels in motion for yet another war under the guise of preventing WMD. Just for one second think about how much credibility we have lost because our President insisted that Iran had nukes when it turns out they don't, and he STILL insists they are a threat after it's clear they are not. The only solace to take is that the government agencies that comprise the National Security Estimate weren't cowed by this administration insistence that a country had WMD when the facts didn't support it.

Help settle a friendly disagreement I had with a colleague at work. Monday's is our staff meeting and it happens over lunch. I brought items to make nachos. I assembled all the ingredients and before I put it in the microwave I added salsa. Amy was incredulous. "You're putting salsa on your nachos before you heat them up?" Now I would agree with her when it comes to something like sour cream. Sour cream completely changes once it's heated. Salsa, however, just increases in temperature. I would even go so far as to say that warm to hot salsa has more true flavor to it than salsa that is cold.

How do you handle the salsa portion of your homemade nachos. Do you:

1. Assemble all necessary ingredients and nuke them all at once.
2. Assemble all necessary ingredients but leave salsa off until after you have melted the cheese in the microwave.
3. Assemble all necessary ingredients, microwave them, and individually dip each chip into a bowl of salsa (for sake of discussion you are the only person using the salsa bowl, so double dipping or contamination doesn't factor in).

The House Wine of the South

Great article in Slate about good old Sweet Tea. It says something about the demographic of Slates readers that this article made it as a featured story on the Thursday homepage. One of the things that the Northern section of our country doesn't get is sweet tea. There is only one restaurant I have been to in NYC that has passable sweet tea.

Some of my native northern friends think that this passes as sweet tea! But anyone who has grown up around sweet tea knows that these products fall woefully short of real sweet tea (although Sweet Leaf Tea comes close to the real thing). Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article:

"Sugar worship might account for much of sweet tea's popularity, but I think its appeal lies in the ice. Southerners seem to have a particular fascination with ice."

"Offering up a glass of sweet tea on a hot day in the South is as welcoming a gesture as passing the doobie at a Phish show. It's so ingrained in the Southern DNA—Marion Cabell Tyree included the recipe in a cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia as early as 1879—that people now post videos online of their infants sampling the stuff."

"Even on the rare occasion I can find someplace that has it on the menu, it's often slightly off. Maybe it isn't sweet enough. Maybe it's the lack of free refills. Whatever it is, it chills me."

I think I'll make me some sweet tea right now!