I'm just stealing things now.



I've had to eat some of her recipes, they were kind of bland and eh.

and actually that article isn't about rachael ray at all so fuck it


I hate Rachael Ray, a lot of people do, it ain't even a thing any more


I don't think she actually hates America, but this ad I found suggests otherwise.

I realize it's been overdubbed, but that's not the point!



Rachael Ray is the devil: Proof!



I know that doesn't prove anything.



This article might prove to be something.


My favorite is the last one, "She recently told an autograph seeker, "There is no Rachael Ray, only Zul."


Brilliant

Flying Saucer Pie Co.

Ok so Freepress Summerfest, despite only happening about a week ago, is already a distant memory in my head but because I said I would talk about it here are a few brief points:

Houston bands by and large are very good and we are very lucky to have such a diverse and fruitful group of musicians making music in our fair city.

Austin has some very nice bands that came down to help out, though I kind of wish some more Houston bands had been allowed more time than they got, especially Los Skarnales who have been around as long as I can remember (which actually is through most of high school)

Some guys started a fight during Broken Social Scene's set which doesn't even make any kind of sense. Kevin Drew stopped the set to yell at the two guys. His solution to the problem was one dick go one way and the other dick go the other way. The crowd cheered afterwards. The band picked up more or less where they left off, which for 8 or 9 people is very impressive.

Explosions in the Sky were definitely the best show I've seen in quite some time. It was a balmy summer night and the sun was setting, it was all very dramatic. I would highly recommend seeing them under these or any conditions.

It was really hot, but the vitamin water was free and beer was only 5 dollars.

There was a lot of weed, and the cops didn't seem to mind.

Devin the Dude was fucking fantastic, though whomever was working sound wasn't really on their game. The bass during "She Want that Money" completely overwhelmed the sound system and the hook got totally lost in the mix which is a shame because it's a good hook.

All in all it was great to finally see Houston with a music festival. We're a great city with a great scene and it was great to see all those bands assembled in one place for so cheap. If I can offer only one praise for this festival (not that I don't have more) it was that the whole thing seemed as non-commercial as possible. Beer and water were both plentiful and cheap and security allowed attendees to bring their own water. Despite the big names performing prices for weekend passes never rose above $20 which would have been enough to see any of the national acts alone.

It was a spectacular festival and despite the heat I had a really great time. I really hope to see something like this happen again next year.



Anyway, on to the main event, an institution Nathan and I have been trying to visit for at least 2 years, the Flying Saucer Pie Co. This has been difficult due to its opening hours, which end at 6 in the evening and Nathan and I constantly forgetting that we wanted to visit. Well a few months ago I discovered a program that emails your future self and reminds you to do something you've promised yourself to do in the past (it also does much more than that, also that last sentence was a little confusing but whatever you just deal with it ok). We both sent ourselves emails and were finally reminded of our duties to flying saucer.

Now unlike House of Pies, which is open 24 hours a day pretty much everyday except Christmas (where it really isn't open I don't think), Flying Saucer Co. is only open till 6. Also unlike the House of Pies it does not make a wide variety of pie, and once they run out of a particular variety they will not make any more for the day. So naturally working around their conditions for pie are a little difficult but not impossible. As it turns out they make more than enough pie to last them to 6 and even if you get there at around 3 or 4 you'll have more than enough to choose from.

So anyway I pick up Nathan from his house and we make our way to the loop. The trip was filled with discussions of my brother's idiocy and Devin the Dude. Eventually we find Flying Saucer Pie Co. The sign outside encourages visitors to try the pecan and strawberry pies, and had ample parking. Once inside we saw that there was no place to sit and everything was to go. So Nathan and I got slices of pie, I got the pecan and he got the strawberry The pecan pie was really good, the insides were gooey but not too runny and the pecan layer on top was nicely caramelized. Nathan's strawberry pie was made with whole strawberries and also looked quite good. We both raved about our pie and proclaimed that it was worth the trip which really hadn't taken that long.



I go back to Iowa in less than a week, I still need to pack.

So I am currently drinking my first durian smoothie. For those of you who are still unfamiliar with this very unique and interesting fruit, Wikipedia exists for a reason.

Anyway it definitely seems like an acquired taste, as all I can say about it right now is that it's creamy goodness sandwiched between two farts. It kind of smells like my cousin Sam's apartment, which isn't to say his apartment smells bad, it just smells like durian.



Anyway I should probably move onto more interesting territory shouldn't I?

Next Post: Free Press Summerfest!

So I guess it's time to kick this thing off up right, but first a little disclaimer I forgot to include in my last entry:

If you are offended by vulgar language, sexual or suggestive language, depictions of copious drinking, poor spelling and punctuation and all around poor life choices please don't read my blog. Also please don't tell my mom about it either.



Anyway to kick this thing off right we have a couple of links:

http://beernews.org/2009/08/dogfish-head-and-sierra-nevada-brewing-form-epic-collaboration-for-life-limb/

http://www.thebeerinme.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?5646.0


I didn't really have anything smarmy to say to put in place of those links so they just get a straight up nude posting here.


I for one am incredibly excited for November to roll around. Both of these breweries are some of the best in their league, for entirely different reasons of course. Sierra Nevada produces straight up class beer, that is to say its beer isn't anything crazy it's just damn good. It's one of the few good beers I can get in Grinnell that I still buy at home. The folks over at Sierra Nevada have been bolstering and encouraging the craft and micro brew industry for almost 30 years now and this collaboration is sure to open a new chapter in what is already a venerable brewstory (get it history + brewing? eh eh well fuck you it's a good joke).

As for Dogfish so much has already been said about how they're completely revolutionizing the industry, or trying to. While most of what has been written is true I can't say they're making much of an impact, which is something that New Yorker article I read last year also said. That aside I haven't had as much Dogfish as Sierra Nevada. I had the 90 minute IPA (that's 90 minutes of continual hopping, yeah it is way more than usual) once and it knocked me off my feet both in terms of taste and abv (9.0%). It is definitely not a beer for the casual beer drinker, but for the truly adventurous among us it is certainly a treat. Dogfish is doing all sorts of crazy stuff that has nothing to do with IPAs and for many years has been working on becoming more than just a novelty in the beer community.

I for one am excited about this collaboration, like most other people. You don't really see a lot of collaborative brews. If you can get your hands on it, Life&Limb (the 10% beer) comes out in November and Limb&Life (5%) comes out in October.

Here's a brief description of the 90 minute IPA:

so this thing is dead, at least in the way I originally planned it. I was originally going to post pictures of people in Germany dancing, mostly because its funny but also because it's the kind of quirky idea that seems to dominate the blogosphere these days, or at least did when I formed my conception of the blogosphere (do people even say that anymore?).

Anyway I have changed my mind about this blog but have decided to keep the title because I like it. Instead I'm going to use this blog as a general non-project specific blog. Some of you may have read my other blog on blogspot, Ich steh' auf Berlin! which was about my experiences in Berlin for the spring semester of my Junior year. I may continue in the vein of project specific blogging in the future but for now nothing especially noteworthy is going on in my life. I stand at a key point in my life, I am about to leave that liminal state known as college that seperates the worlds of childhood and adulthood. I want to use this blog in part to record my experiences in dealing with the transition which has already begun to emerge in my mind if not necessarily my life. Apart from that I also realized that after years and years of having a livejournal I missed having a public place on the internet to write about my life, especially because I'm doing all sorts of neat stuff now. I wanted a place on the internet to just be me, without the expectation of a specific topic, such as life in Berlin (which to be honest is pretty banal to hear about sometimes when you don't have a lot of money, not that there's anything wrong with that) but that also didn't have the stigma of highschool poet turned full-fledged amateur whiner that is livejournal.

Thankfully I am not alone in my endeavors, my old friend Nathan recently relaunched his website in blog form and the results have been encouraging for me. Nathan found a fresh start with his website and now I've found mine with blogspot.

As for general topics, I plan on writing about the things I love like beer, music, food, grilling, the Astros, the Dynamo, my dog, German(y) and of course Grinnell.

I'm looking forward to writing in this thing fairly regularly, though like my Berlin blog updates will vary in frequency. If you want more regular contact I have facebook and email and a telephone.