After many long, dark nights of frustration, a few streaks of light made my day!
Early Wednesday morning I was having trouble sleeping, which is unfortunately all too normal for me. Sometime after 3 AM I decided, what the hell, I'm going outside to check out the Perseid meteor shower. I slipped on a light jacket and put on my old grass-cutting shoes and headed out into the darkness.…
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— go to most recent comments26 - Scandalized Culture Denizen
What are all these Politics people doing in here?!?
Oh, that's right. Look at the title.
;-)
27 - zingzing
whatever, doc.
it just might fall.
28 - Baritone
I don't know you guys and gals. I was thinking of something more like a couple of Buds.
Of course, I'm a pretty hard core boozer. My last mixed drink was a Kahlua on the rocks with cream.
I maintain tradition by god! My very first alcoholic "drink" was a creme de menthe parfait. :)
29 - roger nowosielski
Try a perfect Manhattan, straight up with a lemon twist. It beats a Cosmopolitan by a mile. But my perfect cocktail - extra dry gin Martini, Saphire - with plenty of olives.
Vodka martinis are for sissies.
30 - Cindy
Silas and Roger. In a word blechhhh. Those martinis are like drinking lighter fluid. Sure you could acquire a taste, but who wants to? A cherry martini tastes like an intoxicating fruit drink--quite yummy.
A cosmopolitan martini is my new martini of choice though, owing to the fact that those cherry ones are quite potent and won't due for the occasion when 3 martinis are required.
Good, Silas, if they are too gay, then at least that makes me a little gay. I'm relieved I'm not a complete failure at being gay after all. But my husband is probably more gay for eating the cherry. (Don't you think?)
B, I love you. You have the best taste in drinks. Alas, I can't drink cream and thinks like that. Have one for me. (You can use it to wash down your Lipitor!)
31 - Cindy
Speaking of the culinary (sorta), why does health food often taste like something I should use to mulch my yard?
32 - Cindy
What does one do with raw chocolate/natural caocao, for example. I bought that; it looked like something yummy to cook with or dip ice cream (really, non-fat frozen yogurt) in. I think I'll use it for decoration in my houseplants. Probably will smell good too.
33 - zingzing
"Those martinis are like drinking lighter fluid. Sure you could acquire a taste, but who wants to? A cherry martini tastes like an intoxicating fruit drink--quite yummy."
take your uterus out of your mouth!
haha.
i so enjoy that word.
i'm not much for mixed drinks, prefer good american whiskeys, especially ryes, but if i have to have a girlie drink, i'll have a negroni. i like mine drier than most, it seems, because i only use a tiny bit of sweet vermouth and prefer just the rind of the orange rather than the whole thing. gimme bitter!
i also enjoy ordering negronis. if the bar tender doesn't know what one is, things can get a bit tricky. and hilarious.
34 - roger nowosielski
It's all about who you're with. I love Jim Beam with Coke - more so than Cuba Libre - especially when I'm alone. With a female companion, anything goes.
But I do love good warm Sake.
35 - roger nowosielski
Cindy,
Just posted a new piece. Why don't you be the first to comment? I think you'll find it interesting, more in line with your kind of thinking.
36 - Baritone
Fortunately, I don't drink enough during the course of a year to get someone tipsy at one sitting. Even though my dad was an alcoholic, my resistance to booze is more one of taste and cost. I just never acquired much of a taste for alcohol.
That Kahlua on the rocks I had was from an open bar at a wedding reception. So not only am I not much of a drinker, I'm a cheap not much of a drinker.
37 - Dr Dreadful
I had a caipirinha earlier.
It is the drink they drink in heaven (aka Rio) as they look down on the meteors.
Ahhh!! :-)
38 - Silas Kain
Whoa, Cindy. Your husband eats the cherry from your fruit drink? According to the Far Left, your husband would be excluded from the GOP version of the Health Plan. On the Far Right, they'd welcome him with open, loving arms at Promise Keepers or any airport men's room.
Personally, I'm not much of a drinker. I'm willing to wait until something gets legalized and taxed. I'll be the first in line at the store.
39 - STM
What's wrong with you guys ... mixing up rum with all manner of fancy European stuff to make fancy-sounding metrosexual cocktails.
Geez, harden the f... up America, and get back to your roots.
Down here, in the great southern land, it's Bundaberg Rum (and Coke), golden Aussie nectar made from sunny Queensland cane sugar.
Mmmm ... Bundy Rum. Strange things happen when you drink too much of the stuff, though.
Yes, even meteor showers possibly.
B'tone, I'll leave out the gory details of the 1970s camping/fishing/surfing trip because it involved clobbering and jumping a bloke with a gun who thought the best fun he could come up for a bit of fun on the long weekend was to make the rest of us dance.
And my, how we danced. Hours of laughs that.
However, he took his eye off the ball once too often. After we got him, hid the gun, and tied him to a tree for the night, we eventually put ding (surfboard) tape over his mouth to shut him up.
And because we were waaaaay out in the bush, after everything had quietened down, and the rest of the rum drunk, the rest of the you-know-what smoked and our mate on the tree had fallen asleep, we DID see meteor showers.
I think they were. I hope they were. I also hope the lurking dark shadows with glowing eyes rustling about in the bush nearby REALLY were kangaroos, too, just coming to check us out.
We wanted to check with our mate who spent the night under the tree, but he's never been the same since.
Perhaps it was the drop bears that got to him.
40 - STM
Don't you guys have something called Jim Beam over there???
41 - Baritone
Stan,
Ah, sounds like a typical week-end outing. Guys will be guys.
Drop bears, indeed!
B
42 - Cindy
Ah, sounds like a typical week-end outing. Guys will be guys.
This strikes me as a good metaphor. And the reason men (generally, unless they've been deculturated) shouldn't be in charge of anything. The same impulse that led Stan's friend to make everyone dance, whilst intoxicated is linked (in an odd way), though I'm sure Stan's friend was being humorous, to GWB making everyone dance over in Iraq. It all comes from the same impulse. It's what's different about women.*
i'm not much for mixed drinks, prefer good american whiskeys
whiskey is the only alcohol that actually has a good taste, to me, with plenty of ice. not good enough to make a habit out of it, but on the odd occasion, it's nice
*Disclaimer: This is a generalization and subject to variations, degrees and exceptions.
43 - Cindy
I wonder who would win in a fight between a drop bear and a Jersey devil?
44 - Baritone
Nick, my son in Germany has acquired a taste for whiskey. There is a bar in Halle designated as a "whiskey" bar. They have an entire wall of nothing but whiskeys - perhaps a couple hundred or more. Who knew? He has sampled maybe 40 or 50 of them. He wanted to sample them all, but has since left Halle. He gets back there every so often and, if the opportunity presents itself - which, I am told, it often does, he slips in and tries a couple or three more.
There is a place in Evanston, IL which also has a large selection of whiskeys. Nick ordered up a couple of shots of some labels he had found likable in Halle for his brother and I to try. I actually think I prefer Syrup of Ipecac or cod liver oil. I honestly don't understand how someone acquires a taste for such stuff. Chris, Nick's brother nursed his shot just long enough for Nick to become impatient and finish it off for him.
45 - zingzing
there's a place just down the street here in brooklyn called fette sau that serves nothing but american whiskeys and bbq. it's heaven.
"I honestly don't understand how someone acquires a taste for such stuff."
it's like wine. once you get into it, there are endless varieties. it also gets you completely ripped up in a uniquely warm way, with a fairly easy-going hangover the next day.
46 - Baritone
Well, I'm not much of a winer either. Unfortunately, I like pie. Pie r us.
47 - Ruvy
there's a place just down the street here in brooklyn called fette sau
Why am I not surprised that you can be found at a place called "fat sow"?
48 - Ruvy
Baritone,
One of the thngs I don't like about this country is that you can't get good pie here. Israelis are just not pie eaters. Or maybe the pie is just so expensive that I cannot afford 50 shekels ($13) for whatever passes for a piece of pie here....
49 - zingzing
"Why am I not surprised that you can be found at a place called "fat sow"?"
that's nice, ruvy. you're the one with a picture up here, so i wouldn't go around saying junk like that. i mean, shit, go look in a mirror and ask yourself if you have any right to say that kind of thing. (you're really too old to go around making weight jokes at people. that's kindergarten stuff.)
50 - Baritone
That's far too many shekels for even a great piece of pie. Pie is a way of life in the midwest and south so it's been pushed to somewhat of an art form. Of course, it's evil - directly connected to America's midriff spread and pear shaped populace.
Just last night I had myself a slice of chocolate/peanut butter pie at the Grand Traverse Pie Company, a veritable opium den of piedom. They not only sell pie, but all kinds of pastries - Cinnabon like stuff plus various kinds of quiche and - AND - a really great lobster bisque. Can you imagine?
The building is actually constructed of hardened cholesterol plaque taken from the arteries of former - now deceased - customers.
Seems to me Ruvy, you should put together a few killer recipes and open a pie shop. If you bake it, they will come!
My son, Nick discovered that in Germany you can't find a decent cookie. He has become quite adept at making Toll House cookies which the natives clamor for. People come from miles around just following their noses. :)
B
51 - Dr Dreadful
Don't you guys have something called Jim Beam over there???
The 'hard liquor' of choice in my area at the moment seems to be Crown Royal, a Canadian concoction which claims to be whiskey, tastes like popcorn ceiling shavings dissolved in make-up remover, and has the kick of a quadriplegic mule.
52 - zingzing
ugh. both jim beam and crown royal are disturbing. i hope you're taking shots if you drink that swill. if you're drinking to get drunk i can understand it. if you just want cheap, you should look for rittenhouse rye. it's about $20 for a big ol bottle here in nyc, and probably cheaper elsewhere, and (watered down a smidgen,) tastes real nice with a good solid burn to let you know you're alive.
53 - Dr Dreadful
Ever tried a Duck Fart, zing?
Bailey's, kahlua and rye whiskey, layered in a shot glass.
Quite tasty, although I prefer to sip mine rather than chug it down as a shot. Annoys the hell out of people.
54 - roger nowosielski
Canadian Club used to be a decent Canadian whiskey until it was bought up by Seagram.
Yes, you drink Jim Beam for quick effect. Interestingly, though, the more potent a drink, like a good gin Martini, the more you can handle it.
55 - roger nowosielski
Long Island Ice Tea is one of the most deceptive concoctions. After three or four of those, you've had it, though don't know it yet.
56 - zingzing
dd: "Ever tried a Duck Fart, zing?"
god yes. one of my aunts is crazy about that stuff. i was driving from seattle to ny one summer and the first place i stopped for the night was her house in bumfuck, montana. totally isolated. she got the ex and i completely slobbering drunk on those things and i'll never touch one again.
roger: "Canadian Club used to be a decent Canadian whiskey until it was bought up by Seagram."
no sentence should ever include the words "canadian," "whiskey" and "decent." unless perhaps it's "this canadian drank FINE AMERICAN whiskey and it almost made him into a decent human being." or something.
57 - roger nowosielski
Well, I was being a populist, zing. As to whiskey, my favorite is Bushmills.
58 - Dr Dreadful
As to whiskey, my favorite is Bushmills.
Ah yes - Bushmills, Jameson... Irish whiskey is the superior strain of that particular beverage. Slainte.
59 - roger nowosielski
There are some Scotches, Dreadful, single blend, comparable in smoothness. Glen Moray, for example, over twenty years old - not smokey at all. For a blended scotch, it's Haig & Haig (aka as the Pinch) - way better than Chivas.
60 - Baritone
This must by why the Politics section of BC is generally so much more entertaining than the others. Everybody who writes and comments there are generally half in the bag when they start plonking away on the keys. :)
61 - roger nowosielski
Well, just some of us, B-man.
62 - Baritone
I kinda preferred it when we were talking about pie. :)
63 - roger nowosielski
You're Scottish, judging by your photo. Remind me of a favorite bartender from Stars in San Francisco, Seamus; Jeremiah Tower's old joint - a first class restaurant and bar in the roaring '80s/
64 - Baritone
Roger,
To be honest, I'm not sure what I am other than rather old and over weight.
My paternal grandfather was adopted by Shannons living in the bustling metropolis of Clarks Hill, IN back in the late 1870s. His mother's name was Eusler which is either German or possibly Swiss. My mother's maiden name was Cox and her mother's was Watson, both heavy on the English.
I have no idea of the origins or even the maiden name of my paternal grandmother. Sadly, all of these people are long dead.
My mother insisted that somewhere among her ancestry was a Comanche - a chief no less.
If you saw a picture of my (also now deceased) oldest brother, you'd figure that there must be some Jewish blood in us as well. All I can figure is that I am a mongrel. But that's okay. They say mutts tend to live longer than pure breds anyhow.:)
B
65 - Ruvy
"Why am I not surprised that you can be found at a place called "fat sow"?"
That wasn't a "weight" joke, zing....
66 - Ruvy
Seems to me Ruvy, you should put together a few killer recipes and open a pie shop. If you bake it, they will come!
Hmmm.....
67 - zingzing
"That wasn't a "weight" joke, zing...."
you're a fat pig.
68 - zingzing
alright. if the interest of civil discourse, delete #68.
if "That wasn't a "weight" joke," then what the fuck was it, ruvy?
69 - Ruvy
Ruvy: "That wasn't a "weight" joke, zing...."
Zing: you're a fat pig.
And now you are the one behaving like a brat in kindergarten who needs his butt slapped but good. Behaving with all the maturity of a brat in kindergarten, I might add....
You're an embarrassment to the high brow "cultural" types who show up at this section.
[cough...gag....]
70 - Ruvy
if "That wasn't a "weight" joke," then what the fuck was it, ruvy?
I'll let you contemplate that and figure it out on your own, zing.
71 - zingzing
ruvy: "And now you are the one behaving like a brat in kindergarten who needs his butt slapped but good. Behaving with all the maturity of a brat in kindergarten, I might add...."
only after you, and i let it go before you came back around.
"I'll let you contemplate that and figure it out on your own, zing."
thanks. coward.
"You're an embarrassment to the high brow "cultural" types who show up at this section."
i have no idea what that means.
are you happy?
72 - zingzing
"You're an embarrassment to the high brow "cultural" types who show up at this section."
ahh, we're in the "culture" section. right, i see. ok. well, i'm glad you decided to hate on them too. indiscriminate hater, you are.
either way, you're as bad as i am, and we should just quit this shit. you're scum, so am i, and that's the way it is.
you're the one for me, fatty.
73 - Cindy
Highbrow cultural 'types'? Oh, you mean posers.
I never met a kindergartner who should be slapped. The ones who cause trouble usually have parents that need to be slapped.
74 - Ruvy
I could have lots of fun with your comments, Cindy. Nasty fun. But it wouldn't go after my target, the denizen of the "Fette Sau".
Till he came along with his nasty remarks, I was having a good time here, Cindy.
75 - roger nowosielski
A real fat sow, or should it be fatso?