My blog n'at

Once Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week ended I decided it was time take an unannounced break. I got off line and spent some time with the family while traveling around. Took my first quick vacation in 4 years and *gasp* read some books. In fact it was quite refreshing to unplug and not be on my phone 24/7. OK, I confess I used it to instagram pics and check emails at the end of the day but besides that I stayed away from the social media channels. I learned some new things about myself that we’ll talk about over the next few weeks and I better hurry up and get the topics down before I forget.  We’ll have:

1. PCBW wrapup
2. Baltimore
3. rats & crabs
4. THE SHIRT!
5. learning to relax
6. no mo llama drama
7. who wants to buy a 3yr old?
8. Twitter: you’re doing it wrong
9. fighting the Allegheny Co Assessment
10. reading something other than tech books. There’s a 1st for everything

I know there are more but I’m all about lists now. No idea what order those will go so we’ll see what tickles my fancy n’at. I need to overhaul the categories and get a new template in place. The Wonders may finally have to go.

cheers!

I’ve totally slacked with posts this month but considering it’s Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week it’s understandable.

When all 380+ events are finally over I can take a big sigh of relief but one thing I do want to mention as it is starting to wind down, I’m DAMN proud of how the city of Pittsburgh has embraced this.

Being on the planning end of a lot of this I know the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making this a reality and the amount of joy I’m experiencing is immeasurable.

Full recap coming once it’s over.

Drink local, drink Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh may be down 3-1 in the 2012 NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals to Philadelphia but one thing is for sure, they put a humiliating beating on the Flyers on their ice last night.

Odds aren’t in their favor to win the series because overcoming 3-0 in best of 7 is almost impossible. That’s what most people would say about scoring 10 in Philly during the playoffs.

Pens win 10-3.

Game 5 in Pittsburgh tomorrow night.

DO IT!

I haven’t missed an opening day in Pittsburgh since I started going in 1984. Pretty long streak given that I lived in Erie until 1998 but one that has brought me many great memories with my family and a tradition I plan to continue with my boys at PNC Park.

There’s something about Opening Day where even after 18 years of losing you still have a sense of hope. As much as people would like to write off the Pirates I just can’t bring myself to it. They’ve been a part of my family since my brother started working there in the 80′s and we still have close friends within the organization.

The park looked stunning yesterday from our seats in section 115 and if you click on the image above it will enlarge so you can see for yourself the beauty of America’s best ballpark.

Pirates played an incredible team against one of the best pitchers in the National League and came out on the short end with a 1-0 loss. If you want to read about the game check out the local coverage.  Lets get down to what’s important, the food and the beer. This will be a bit of a sneak preview of my upcoming article but this a bit more ummm how do I say, personal.

Food

There were quite a few upgrades to the food this year with gluten free offerings, Nakama has a booth with overpriced eggrolls ($9.50 for 2? really?) and the sushi is close to what you’d pay at Market District; but what I zoned in on were the new footlong dogs.

Smokehouse Dog by section 114 was a footlong with pulled pork, bbq sauce and an fried onion straws. Worth the $7.50?  I’d buy it again. There was also a Polish Hill topped with pierogies and a Reuben dog which, well was a reuben sans corned beef. The wait was about 15 minutes so hit it up before the game starts.

My brother picked up his staple Primanti’s cheese steak and his kids feasted on Quaker Steak wings. No matter how bad the game is you can always be guaranteed a descent meal to go into a food coma.

Beer

I found a new pre-game bar with Dominic’s Famous Deli located outside of PNC Park and next to the Pirates front office. All craft beers were $5 so that means I was able to feast on Bell’s Oberon and Victory Golden Monkey. Service was good, eye candy was better and the vibe was very comfortable.

A piece of advise for the Miller Lite girl that was trying to get dudes to buy her product, if you see someone drinking a craft beer you probably shouldn’t say “Why dont you drink something good like Miller Lite instead of that stuff”. I replied with “Aquafina is cheaper and has more flavor than your Miller Lite. I’ll stick with what I have.” She also started the conversation with “So… where’s your wife?” *ugh*

PNC Park did not disappoint with their overall selection but I do have to comment on the new Budweiser Bow Tie Bar. The only thing going for it is the short lines. Take a look at the layout below and tell me if you see something that doesn’t belong? Go ahead, click and see the full size.

That’s right a BUDWEISER bar is serving Harpoon, Brooklyn and even more ridiculous is Miller Lite and Coors Light. Yes, your bar is serving the competitors product. The prices are the same as around the park and the only thing different is you can find a draft of Shock Top *blech*.

Thanks for a great opening day Pirates. I hope to make it back again soon with at least Teaspoon and maybe a few night games with the guys. Having the North Shore Connector is absolutely fantastic.

When I was 13 years old I was obsessed with all things Roberto Clemente. I had jerseys, t-shirts, an autographed picture, video tapes, posters, and what would be a staple in my room for many years the framed glass image you see pictured here.

After the Great Cranberry Shit Flood of 2007 I kept this picture packed away and the man cave I was promised when we moved to the new townhouse was promptly made into a storage room. Little did I know I wouldn’t see this again for 5 years.

While going through boxes in the basement of my somewhat newer house I came across the collection of photos I wanted to hang in my new office/dude room that was going to be made from the nursery of kiddo #2. Realization sunk in that this again wasn’t going to happen again (Guys, once you have kids that room is never coming back to you as I found out when I converted the nursery to a kids playroom 2 days ago) so I was determined to find a new home for it.

The boys room! Of course! They would love this!

I grabbed a handful of nails and with my gold painted hammer (my dad had a thing for spray painting things gold before he passed. That’s a story for later.) marched upstairs with a small stack of framed sports moments.  The Clemente was the final photo to go up and when I took a step back to admire my handy work I noticed something new.  Midway down on both sides was a… Seagrams 7 logo?

WHAT!

How is it possible that this cherished collectible from my youth was a bar sign? Heh when you think about it. it’s kinda ironic eh?

The following week when we had Teaspoon’s 3rd birthday party at our house I showed my brother the sign since he was the one who got it for me.

He still didn’t notice until I stuck my finger right on the photo. STUNNED!

We looked at each other and laughed. Our parents would throw a fit if I had anything alcohol related hanging in my room but Motley Crue posters with strippers was perfectly fine. *sigh* but there it was, the crowded 7 in all of its glory next to my hero.

Am I keeping it up? Of course! It will be a long time before the boys realize what’s on that photo. Heck, it took me 23 years.

Accidents around my house are a common thing since we started having kids. Usually they involve someone falling down, hitting their head or a toy gets stuck somewhere it shouldn’t. Rarely is it one of the adults that need medical assistance but after a recent incident I’m starting to wonder.

My wife isn’t a dumbass in the kitchen. She’s been cooking and baking since she was in diapers so I give her the benefit of the doubt when I hear a scream from the kitchen.

One night she was searing a steak in a stainless steel pan that she placed in the oven. She figured the pan to be around 500F so when she took it out she used an oven mitt to place it on the back burner of the stove top. Took the mitt off and went to the sink. Sounds normal right?

Just then our youngest, who has the coordination of a newborn animal trying to stand, plowed through the gate that didnt latch completely and stumbled right towards her. She threw herself in front of him, knowing this hot pan was on the stove, grabbed the pan and *YYEEEEEOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW*

That’s right, she grabbed a 500F pan with her bare hand.

I’ve been with her through 72 hours of labor, car accidents and epidurals – the scream she gave was the worst I have ever experienced. I darted in from the livingroom and see her on the floor in tears. My son is crying because he has no idea what happened and her hand is already bright red. Thankfully she has a medical background so we treated it ASAP and a friend of ours drove her to the ER while I stayed with the kids.

Upon returning her hand was bandaged up pretty well and the doc said she had 1st & 2nd degree burns. We should check the wrap in 2 days, if it blistered we need to get in ASAP or it will be completely fine. Talk about covering the spectrum of good to bad. The big day came and to our amazement her hand was fine. Not like hand model fine but good enough that she didn’t require a follow up visit.

Looking back we joke about it because there was no way a kid could have reached the pan but her instincts kicked in. I’ve started calling her Michael Jackson for her need to have one glove and looking back on it not only was MJ a trend setter but he obviously knew the need for proper kitchen armor.

I’ve worked in the IT or related field for about 17 years and thought I had heard/saw just about everything out there. Since making the jump to social media I see a lot of “OMFG WHY ARE YOU DOING IT THAT WAY” moments. This past week I received an invite to connect on LinkedIN and when I opened the message I had one of those…

Let’s not waste any time and go into what’s wrong here and how to fix it. Jason, if you’re a reader of mine, you need to change your approach.

1) I have no idea who Jason but indicates he’s a “friend”. Unless I know you personally this shouldn’t be used. EVER. Instead we have 1 connection, use that person to make an introduction.

2) No introduction on who he is, just jumps right in that he has an incredibly vague  job opening and wants to know if I have someone to fill it. Do you walk up to people on the street and right away say ‘Do you know anyone who can code?” well you might but you really shouldn’t. How about a little bit on who you are and why we should connect.

3) After looking him up, his title is Executive IT Recruiter. If your title has EXECUTIVE and RECRUITER in it you should know how to use LinkedIN! It is a very simple service that can be a fantastic tool for recruiting but when you go after someone with an IT background you better know what you’re doing.

Its bad enough that I get emails and calls to my cell from recruiters phishing the job posting sites and asking me about a resume they found that’s 8 years old — now I have you sending me messages like this. *sigh*

I can say with certainty that today was only the 3rd time I have ever been in an IHOP (International House of Pancakes). First time was in Austin, TX while visiting some friends around 2000; second was in Canton, OH after a bowling banquet in 2009.

I’m not a breakfast person and I really don’t care for pancakes or waffles so when it comes to an early meal I scope out 2 things on the menu, bacon and hash browns. OK 3, steak is a given but if it’s not at a steakhouse you probably shouldn’t be eating it.

This post isn’t about breakfast, even though it was amazing and you should absolutely try it, it’s about the picture. Click and super size that sucker.

Yeah, that was taken with my cell phone. A CELL PHONE! Wait, that makes me sound old. Damn. *cough* *ahem* Listen you whippersnapper I remember the days when cell phones were a luxury and didn’t have these pretty screens, just black on gray text and digital cameras… DIGITAL CAMERAS! we used to lug around these boxes 5x the size of a disposable camera that shot 1MP and that was fancy! Heck I was trendy because I had a pager!

OK, enough of that. I am amazed though at the quality that my phone can capture and share on the fly. One of the reasons why I was drawn to social media as a career was instant access and the tools available today make 2 years ago seem ancient. I got into social media because of reasons like this. New technology is making it easier to share the things I like. Doesn’t matter if anyone was following me, if I enjoyed a meal or had a good time while  eating/drinking, I’m able to capture a moment to trigger that memory.

What are some of your favorite food pics? Don’t lie you’ve taken some. Show me!

This entry also appears on my Foodspotting profile where you can see other delicious entries from some of my visits around town.

Have you met Maxine? If you’ve watched Hallmark commercials over the last 25 years you’re sure to have seen her.  The figure in this image has been a staple in my wife’s gram’s house for years and late at night the thing always freaked me out.

She found her home in the corner of a bathroom or in a dimly lit kitchen when I would fumble around in the middle of the night and she would scare the hell out of me. Middle of the day I would get sent to a room to pick something up and *BOOM* Maxine was there. After a while I was sure that she was some creepy doll following me just waiting to say something.

Now she’s here… in my kitchen… and of course the first night I see her was after I had a late night.

I don’t know how long Maxine will last in our house but I’m sure of one thing, I’d hate to be the first person that walks into my kitchen half asleep and meets my new house guest.

I’m not gonna lie, when it comes to taking food shots I suck at plating. What I am good at is cooking with beer though and since yesterday was St Patrick’s Day I got in touch with my inner Irish and channeled up this dish.

OK, I’m not really Irish and I got this from my good friend Phil, but I picked out the beer!

I won’t go into the specifics for it, instead I want you to check out his post on the recipe.

Total cook time was about 6 hours in my roaster and while the meat melted like buttah and sauce made from the leftover beer was heaven the only thing I would change is adding the cabbage 2 hours earlier. I say this because Lushie and I both grew up with really soft cabbage, not soggy though.

The recipe calls for your favorite malty beer and I couldn’t think of anything more perfect than Troegenator! When you cook with beer you get used to a certain aroma and the malt character of this beer soaked right into the mea…. mmmmmm meat. *drool*  Sorry, zoned out for a moment.

I loved it. Lushie loved it and Teaspoon couldn’t get enough of the corned beef which really surprised me.

Today it got even better as I reheated the sauce and the beef and made sandwiches with the left overs. Only tough part was trying to keep Teaspoon from stealing my plate.

We may not be Irish but we do like to celebrate it! Today I’m cooking dinner for the family with this kickass recipe for  Beer-Braised Corned Beef from my good friend Phil from My Life As A Foodie. He knows food and great craft beer and I like to enjoy both so what could go wrong right? I’ll let you know how it turns out.

What are you doing to celebrate today? Here is my suggestion.