Tag Archives: Beer

Jul13

Cooking at “home” in Poland!

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Wednesday, 19-June-2024, and Thursday, 20-June-2024


It’s been a while since I’ve cooked at home. Since… Iceland, I think? Huh, wow. Yeah, since Iceland. So just about a full month. I do think that may be a record for me.

I needed a break.

As strange as it sounds, eating out and going to restaurants was tiring me out. Regardless of how chill the place, and how little effort I had to put into being fed, eating out in countries that don’t speak English natively is tiring. I couldn’t really relax all the way while I was out.

I needed a chance to put on some music, dance around the kitchen while cooking, poor myself a glass of wine, queue up a stupid YouTube video, and just decompress during dinner.


So… I did.

My first day in Warsaw, I headed out and tracked down a grocery store near my apartment. I poked around, found some interesting looking food, checked out, and headed home. I’d checked the kitchen ahead of time, to calibrate what sort of food to buy based on what cooking implements I had, and so I pretty quickly dove into the fun of cooking. I cranked some music, whipped out the chefs knife, and flew around the kitchen.

It was absolutely what I’d been needing.


Wednesday, the first evening, I cooked up Pierogi with broccoli and red bell peppers. Simple, delicious, and paired well with a crisp Polish lager.



Thursday, the second evening, I boiled up some tortellini (stuffed with cheese, chicken, and prosciutto), along with some sliced tomatoes and broccoli… and Parmesan cheese, of course. I even used the same playlist for my kitchen dancing, simply picking up right where I’d left off the previous evening.




It was awesome. No two ways about it.

Don’t get me wrong – I do love traveling and adventuring, exploring new restaurants and living the good life out on the road. I also love cooking, though, and I love being home and cozy and quiet. I’m endlessly thankful for the opportunities that’re carrying me around the world, and around Europe, but I’m also just as happily looking forward to settling back down in my future apartment in Dublin. My cast iron in hand, a pot of pasta boiling on the back burner…

All aspects of life are beautiful in their own way, and the variety that I’ve been granted is simply superb.

Dec18

NERAX – A cornucopia of amazing beers!

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03 NOV 12

 

Marla called me up one day, asking if I wanted to go to a beer tasting.

My response was simple and to the point, if I recall… I simply stated, “Yes. When and where?”

So it turned out that it would be the same day as my third Halloween party, the 3rd of November, and would be right down the street from where Mike lived in Somerville. So I invited him along, packed my car with my costume and a few other odds and ends, and headed into the city to meet up with Marla and her friends.

And when I arrived… whoa. In heaven, there is a room that mirrors this room: taps lined the bar, and the entire back wall was packed with small casks of specialty brews. There were dozens of different breweries represented, and each had a few beers in stock to show off. The selection could literally have been deadly if one tried to sample them all.

So, after quick introductions between everyone, I started in on my first glass – they served the beers in portions ranging from ¼ pint to a full pint, and our general tactic was for each person to get a different ¼ pint and then we could all share so that we’d get to try out the most beers, while still retaining a bit of mental capacity.

Now, I’m pretty well versed in the language of Beer. But I didn’t even come close to the level of “beer-fu” that Marla and her friends have. I heard more terms and phrases in the two hours that we were there than I’d heard in years… probably since I took my last ROTC course – those guys’re big on their terms and phrases.

But after a good few beers tasted and many recommendations heard, it was time to head out – I was actually meeting Daniel and company at the climbing gym down the street later on in the day, so I didn’t want to slow myself down too much before.

Mike was heading out at the same time so we both went in on some pulled pork from RedBones, who happened to be a partial sponsor of the event, and thus had a table full of BBQed goodness. It was amazing, and after a quick nap at Mike’s place (really the only cure for the lethargy brought on by BBQ and beer) I headed onwards.

Jun8

Acadia 2012 – “How do I get to Acadia?”

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Instead of writing out one long winded story about the annual trip to Acadia National Park and the adventures associated with that trip, I’m writing out a few shorter stories. These don’t cover every detail of the trip, but it should give a good feel for my time hanging out on the island.

Also, I didn’t have a camera with me, so instead of pictures, I’ve put interesting little maps in to give scale to these adventures.

It’s a long drive from Boston to Acadia. Every time I drive up there, I understand this fact in the back of my mind… but that never really prepares me for the reality of the drive. Five and a half hours, by map, stretches out into six and seven hours when you have to stop for gas, for food, and simply to stretch your legs out so that your feet don’t fall off. And that’s just the time spent driving, not the time spent organizing everyone in the car, packing your gear into the trunk, unpacking it when you arrive, and then setting up camp on the island.

It’s just… it’s long.

By the time we finally arrived on the island it was dark, raining, and all three of us (Daniel, Stef, and myself) were so sick of the car that we didn’t have any trouble jumping out of the car and into the rain. Thankfully, Daniel and I are old-hands at the whole “driving to Acadia” shindig, and we had an ace up our sleeve to revive us after the long drive – Captain Nemo’s BBQ shack.

That’s right, an old-school BBQ shack in the middle of an island off the coast of Northern Maine. And not just any boring shack… this place took the idea to heart, and ran with it faster than a marathon runner – the ceilings were barely six feet tall, the “dining room” was filled with old furniture, and the beers came in three sizes: “small”, “medium”, and “large”. I put those in quotes for this simple reason – “Small” = 24oz “Medium” = 32oz and “large” = 48oz. Seriously. All for $4, $6, and $8.

THAT was what brought me back from the edge, after the long ride of not being able to pick the right music. Combining a 36oz stein of home-brewed red ale with a massive plate of chili-cheese-nachos does a man a world of good, and by the time we left I was ready to brave the rain and get to rocking out at Acadia.


Map: My route for the day – Took the train into Boston from Medway, met up with Daniel and Stef in Boston, and then trucked up to Acadia