So, what's happened since the 22 of Dec, 2007?
I marked five more notches on my 200 goal at the Flying Saucer, but I'll get to that later.
Christmas was amazing. The kids had a blast, Santa brought the kids board games, Amy got me a leather jacket, Amy got Coco Chanel... but the funnest part was having mom and a house-full of Handy's in the house. Two days after Christmas (Tasia's birthday), Dave, Tari, Taylor, Amanda (Taylor's girlfriend), Seth, Tasia, Eric (Tasi's fiance) and mom all came up to Raleigh from Charlotte to visit for the day. Eric is considering going to NC State so we packed up in the car and toured the campus (albeit a deserted campus, as it was Christmas break), and got to show them around the capital city a little. We went to the Saucer for a few Flyers (Flyers are sample platers with 5 large shot glasses of different styles of beer) which they loved. We all went out for dinner and then when the Handy's made tracks for Charlotte, mom stayed the rest of the week with us. That weekend, we brought her back to Charlotte and we got to hang out some more at Dave and Tari's. What a blast!
I've started freelancing more regularly, which is to say that I have had two freelance projects in the past few weeks: one is helping design/drafting for a woman who is renovating her house and another project is for my old employer, Phillips Architecture, doing facade renderings in Photoshop. Having the extra income has been a relief.
My Packers had surpassed my expectations, and even though they couldn't pull off the NFC title game against the NY Giants at Lambeau field, I am proud of their season and am hoping that Brett decides to keep it going next year. We still should have won that game though.
The kids are doing great. No new lost teeth, not even any new loose ones. No crazy stories or dramatic happenings... that's probably the reason I haven't thought to post anything recently. Everything has been, well, uneventful and boring I guess :)
Alright, in addition to the two flights we had when Dave & Tari came to visit, below are my latest additions to my 200 beer goal at the FS:
Style: Dunkel Weiss
Brewer: Weihenstephaner
City: Freising
Country: Germany
Description: Superb dark wheat beer. Full rich favor, sweet malt and hop finish.
Container: Drought
Style: Pale Ale
Brewer: Flying Dog Brewery
City: Denver, CO
Country: United States
Description: Two- time medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival. This Classic Pale Ale is dry-hopped with Cascade hops grown in the Pacific Northwest and has enough hop character to satisfy hopheads. Beautiful amber-copper color and pleasant malt flavor.
Container: Draught
Style: Stout
Brewer: Big Boss Brewing Co.
City: Raleigh, NC
Country: United States
Description: Pleasant coffee aroma with some roasted malt and a hint of chocolate. Pours a thick reddish khaki head leaving spotty lacing. Dry, bitter coffee on the tongue. Medium bodied with good carbonation. Finishes with some bitter astringincy. (Brewed with Larry's Coffee Beans)
Again, these were were all very good. The Coffee Stout was a suprising thumbs-up, since I'm not a big Stout guy. The Dunkel Weiss was thick and had some great flavor. The Doggie Style Pale Ale was my favorite of the three. I've found that you just can't go wrong with any of the Flying Dog beers! Great stuff. I also had a bottle of Wells Banana Bread beer, but it didn't count towards my 200 since you're limited to tallying three per night, no matter how many you put down. Anyway, that beer was bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S), sorry, had to. THAT one was the best of the night. I'd order one of those every time I went if I could.
I promise I will post messages sooner next time.
Peace
