Rocks in my Whiskey

So the idea is simple, ice is made out of water and water is watery and watery things will water down your precious Whiskey! So instead you take polished stones and put them in your freezer. They will then keep your Whiskey chilled while you sip it, but will not water down your precious alcohol.

My Jack Daniels is chillin!

Yesterday I took the opportunity to try out the stones and sure enough I was sipping my Jack Daniels in style. Plus I get to say I have rocks in my Whiskey!

Just last night I celebrated Christmas with my folks (January has been busy) and I got Brew-Opoloy from my wonderful sister and brother in-law! Such a genius present since it combines an old love for the game monopoly and a newer love of beer!

Most of these games come with a memory. Star Trek TNG was a present from the beautiful JC. The Miami Dolphins version came in my stocking this year! The retro golf and NASCAR versions both come from the awesome Keeper of Monkeys and her thrift store thriftyness!

You are probably now asking why in the world I would need so many, well they are all so different! In Monopoly Revolution the board is round! In Monopoly MEGA it takes a roll of twelve to get from one corner to the next and you roll a special third die!

All of them are awesome and I look forward to playing with them (and more) for many many years!

Tea Maker in Action!

Above is the first brew which is a delicious black tea. Below is a fruity blend:

Fruity action

This maker holds 34 ounces of tea, and strains as you pour! Just bring the water to temperature and pour over the tea. Best part about this great loose leaf tea, is you can get more than one steeping! More than once I’ve brewed up some hot tea, drank it, added more hot water then threw it in the fridge for iced tea the next day!

Awesome, awesome awesome gift! Thanks sweetie! I love you!!

Unfortunately, this means I will not be celebrating with my own family. Sad days. I do have gifts for all of them and we’ll do Christmas in the new year.

But this year will be a Texas style Christmas. I imagine lots of hats and belt buckles. Maybe some shot guns and steak .

I wish everyone a Happy Holidays!!!!!



My Everyday IPA fermenting

That is from the Brooklyn Brew Shop Everyday IPA kit. The kit came with 95% of what I needed to make beer! I mashed, sparged, boiled and then put it in the pantry to ferment (what you see above). After a couple weeks I bottled (which is probably the messiest part) and then the bottles went back into the pantry for two more weeks.

The two weeks ended yesterday, so I popped a couple test glasses in the fridge to chill and finally got to taste the fruits of my labor.

It's Beer!

In my head (after reading many online forums) I imagined flat beer or sour apple tasting beer. I thought for sure that the little yeasts were all dead and there was going to be no head. Well, as you can see it had head!!! Maybe a little over-carbonated, but it had a good aroma and nice lacing as I drank. Best of all, it tasted REALLY good!

You’ll notice the awesome flip top bottle. I happened to have purchased that full of Flensburger beer! I emptied the bottle (into a willing mouth) and then cleaned and sanitized it before filling it back up!

Right now in my pantry I have a custom Festivus Winter Spiced Ale fermenting (with all the good holiday spices in it) and next week I plan to make a recipe I designed called JC’s Strawberry Moon with the famous JC!

I mentioned yesterday that I have begun home brewing my own beer! I got an awesome kit from the Brooklyn Brew Shop (follow them on twitter @bklynbrewshop) that has started me off. Thanks to their kit, this Friday night I plan on tasting the first ever beer brewed in my apartment!

Their kit made under a gallon of their Everyday IPA and I’m excited to try it.

Thanks to the reusable nature of the kit I immediately jumped in to my second brew. This time I used the Internet and put together a custom recipe for a Winter Spiced Ale. I’m going to call it the Festivus Winter Ale.

My mom also found an awesome home brew shop in Sanford, the Sanford Home Brew Shop! I took a class there and picked up some tricks and tips while brewing two more types of beer.

I got to take home a little over a gallon of beer. A stout and an English Pale Ale. The class was fun and the two teachers were entertaining and knowledgeable! Definitely check them out… If you don’t like beer, they are located next to a German Deli!

I uploaded some photos from my brewing. Check them out!

You have probably seen the commercials that Sam Adams has designed the “perfect glass” and it is pretty cool.

Well they are giving them away! Just buy a six pack or bigger of any of their brews then text “PERFECT” to 75309. They’ll text back with some questions and you’ll need your birthday and the UPCOMING, but you’ll get back a code for two free glasses! You just have to pay for shipping!

I got mine today. They look cool but are made in Slovenia? Isn’t Sam Adams a big American company? Could they have not made it here??

But I digress… Free is free and these are pretty darn cool! Check out the pics! Also, if you want a cheap Christmas present for me I’ll take two more!

Not really… I didn’t die, but I did let my blog die. Life has been super busy! I still have the beautiful JC in my life! Can you believe she has put up with me for over two and a half years?

I started officiating high school football this fall with the Central Florida Officials Association which was a blast! Maybe a post on that later?

Just recently I started brewing my own beer! Thanks to the Brooklyn Brew Shop I got a home brew starter kit that is the perfect size for my apartment. Brews up only one gallon at a time, but it is a start. Maybe more on that later!

I’m also blogging from my phone for the first time ever, sound if something is wrong blame that!

I am not sure if anyone still has me in their feed, but if you do, hello again!

Monday was an amazing Valentine’s Day with the love of my life ,Jenny Cate! We did dinner and a movie and exchanged very similar presents!

Dinner was at Seasons 52. Wow! I absolutely love that place! This was actually our third visit in the past couple months. The first was just a date night and was JC’s first visit. Then we went for my mom’s birthday. I had something different each time and can’t complain about a single item on any course. They were all delicious!

If you haven’t been to Seasons 52 it is a little different then most restaurants, even though it is owned by Darden (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn, Capital Grille, etc). They change their menu with the Seasons (hence the Seasons) and change their specials weekly (hence the 52). Each of our visits were on the Winter menu, their Spring menu should launch soon I believe. I’m not really sure because the seasons are so weird in Florida (i.e. – we don’t have them).

Another important factor on their menu is the fact that they promise that every item is under 475 calories! Fresh, delicious, healthy food? Awesome! Be sure you don’t miss their desserts, or mini indulgences as they call them. They have a variety of small (shot glass size) desserts that pack a lot of flavor in a small package!

After dinner we drove over to Universal’s City Walk to catch “Gnomeo & Juliet“. Yes, two twenty somethings on a romantic date night went to see a “G” rated kids movie! Judge me! I don’t care!

Movie Poster

The movie was actually super cute. A nice take on the classic “Romeo and Juliet.” I also liked that despite its “G” rating it had a lot of jokes to make the grown ups laugh. How can you not love a movie that has Sir Patrick Stewart and Ozzy Osbourne in it?

Of course, “Gnomeo & Juliet” was produced by Sir Elton John, which means that he provided some new and old music for the movie. I smiled every time the orchestration would play a short riff from an Elton song in the background and there was a real LOL moment when one of the Gnomes sang “Your Song” to Juliet.

I’m not going to tell you what happens (it is Romeo and Juliet remember) but I’m going to recommend you go see it. Adults, kids, aliens, you will all love it!

Remember I mentioned earlier that JC and I exchanged similar presents? You don’t? It was in the first paragraph of this post! I’ll wait…you read it now? Ok, so we did.

JC got me an awesome Star Trek: The Next Generation Monopoly! It is awesome. It has all of the main TNG characters in it and even has an alien species guide! This makes my twelfth monopoly game! I can’t wait to play this one!

I also happened to go the Monopoly route, kinda. I got Jenny Cate a personalized “Lovopoly” game. It is awesome. I supplied all of the property names (I used a lot of places/theme parks we have visited over the last two years) and even supplied a few pictures to be used on the board as the center picture, the Perfect Match Space (Free Parking) and Go to Therapy (Go to Jail).

It turned out even better than I expected and I don’t think she had ANY clue what she was going to get! This is really an awesome present for the significant other in your life! Go check it out at their website, Lovopoly.com!

It was an amazing Valentine’s Day and I’m so happy that Jenny Cate has chosen to be my Valentine! I love you sweetie!!

November 14th (Sunday) is my good friend (since 9th grade) Rob’s birthday. His birthday leads to the Keeper of Monkey’s birthday in December and then a mere six months later my birthday rolls around.

How can it be? My mom isn’t old enough for me to be leaving my twenties behind. It is absolutely impossible that I will be turning thirty next year. Yes, I will continue to say “next year” even though it is a short seven and a half months away. It is still “next year.”

How bad is thirty anyway? It feels bad, but I’m still a young adult…right? After I turn thirty will I have to tuck in my shirt? Wear less t-shirts? Cut my hair???

Am I old already??