What I’m Drinking

In preparation for our trip to France, I’m attempting to educate myself about French wine. Most casual wine consumers are intimidated by French wine – the unfamiliar language, the difficult pronunciation, and the AOC (appellation d’origine consolee) system can be confusing. Prices tend to be higher as well, and who wants to drop $40-50 on a wine that’s just okay?

Here’s a secret someone taught me: when in doubt, go with a wine imported by Kermit Lynch. I have yet to be disappointed by a Kermit Lynch import. Also, 2009 was a great year for most European wines, so this was a double whammy – a 2009 Bordeaux from the sub-appellation of Lussac St-Emilion, located on the right bank of the Garonne and Dardogne rivers, imported by Kermit Lynch. This particular wine is 95% Merlot grapes and 5% Cabernet Franc. For around $35, you could drink it now (like we did with a lengthy decanting period) or cellar it for a while. I got some hints of balsamic vinegar and blackberry.

Normally Rieslings are wines that I’ll only drink when there’s nothing else available. It seems like most mass-produced Rieslings are cloyingly sweet with no acidity or structure. German Rieslings from the Mosel region have changed my mind. Now I find myself craving Riesling! It doesn’t hurt that we’ve had some nice patio weather lately, and at 8-9% alcohol, these wines don’t leave you feeling loopy.

My favorite so far is this 2012 Dr. Loosen Blue Slate Riesling Kabinett. It exhibts flavors of white peach, some floral characteristics, and a minerality that I’d never tasted before in a Riesling. It’s great as a porch-sipper or with spicy food, and I paid about $23 at our local wine store.

For around $10, you can pick up this Leonard Kreusch Riestling Kabinett, also from the Mosel Riesling. It wasn’t as multi-dimensional or complex as the Dr. Loosen wine, but it still satisfied.

On the beer front, Founders Brewing Company, out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently came to Middle Tennessee! I’ve been picking up Founders beers out of state for some time now, rationing their All Day IPA (a session IPA) and Dirty Old Bastard (a Scotch ale) until I could make another trip through Kentucky. No longer! And in celebration of their distribution here, there were several events last week that included a tapping of a keg of their Kentucky Breakfast Stout, an imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate and aged in bourbon barrels. Lately it seems like bourbon barreling has jumped the shark, but KBS gets it right. Smooth, rich, but without tasting overly boozy, even at 11.2%, it’s no wonder that Beer Advocate rates it a 100.

It’s pretty limited, so if you see it where you are, get it while you can!

Beer, Ice Cream, and Ironman Kona

Way back in May, my brother qualified for Ironman Kona by winning his age group at Ironman 70.3 St. Croix. He and my parents invited me to go, but it was the same weekend as my ten-year high school reunion (and was a lot more expensive to get to). So while I was drinking beer in Michigan, my brother was swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles. That’s just crazy.

I woke up Saturday morning and opted to do a 10-mile run around the lake. If you had told me ten years ago that I would wake up the day after my 29th birthday to run 10 miles around Green Lake, and it would be “easy” because I was tapering for a marathon, I would have laughed in your face. But so it goes. It was a beautiful morning for a run, and I watched the sun rise over the lake.

After I got back to the cabin, I checked my phone to see that I had won a swag bag from Garmin, including a Forerunner 910XT watch, for participating in their Twitter contest. They asked why I wished I was in Kona, and I answered that I wanted to be there to cheer on my brother in his first full Ironman. Nothing quite like winning a $400 watch, plus some shirts, a visor, and a silicone swim camp, to start the day off right.

Abby was keen on spending Saturday checking out some breweries, and I was totally on-board with that plan, so we grabbed Ethan and Josh and headed to Bellaire, Michigan – the home of Shorts Brewing Co. The day couldn’t have been more gorgeous, and the winding country roads made me wish I had brought my bike. It was over an hour’s drive from Interlochen, and by the time we got there, we were hungry and thirsty.

Abby and I split a flight since she was driving. Shorts had a HUGE selection of beers on tap with some very interesting experimental beers. One of our favorites was OMGWTFBBQ, a beer that recalled BBQ sauce with some spicy tomato, umami flavor. Their pumpkin ale was a disappointment, but their bourbon barrel IPA blew my mind. It was hoppy and vanilla/oak, which was crazy.

Their food menu was pretty extensive as well, and we had some food to help us soak up the beer.

Something about the unseasonably warm day and driving through numerous little resort towns on lakes had me craving ice cream. Obviously the only option was a stop at Moomers, voted the Best Ice Cream Shop in America. Anything with cherries is pure Northern Michigan, but I opted for pumpkin gingersnap.

And then Abby tried to feed her ice cream to the bizarre taxidermied animals.

All the while, I was checking the Ironman website for my brother’s progress in the race. He made it out of the swim in 57 minutes, a huge achievement, and seemed to be kicking butt on the bike. We were most nervous about the run due to some underlying injuries, but everything was going well so far. I selected Right Brain Brewery for our next stop, mostly by blindly selecting it from our Traverse City Ale Trail map.

The atmosphere was very cool. They had done an awesome job turning a big warehouse building into a funky, lounge-type place. There were little pockets with couches and coffee tables as well as more traditional bar-height tables and stools. They provided a stash of board games, darts, and other entertainment options. While the beer didn’t impress me, it would be an awesome place to hang out with friends.

Again, Abby and I split a flight. The strangest-and-yet-surprisingly-good-beer award of the day went to Schrute Farm Saison, a beet-flavored saison. It kind of tasted like earth. The other beers were pretty forgettable but not offensive.

Our former choir director had invited us to dinner, so we headed back to Interlochen. After dinner, Kiley had started the run a little too fast. The next splits I downloaded showed him slowing down, but it was apparent that he was in trouble. He couldn’t keep down any fluids while running and so was forced to walk if he was going to have a shot of finishing rather than ending up in the medical tent.

Abby and I stayed up drinking wine, chatting, and pressing “refresh” on the athlete tracker page until either a) he had dropped out or b) finished. Once he reached 20 miles, I knew he would finish. It was slow-going, but I finally got the text from my mom that Kiley was an Ironman in just under 10 hours and 18 minutes.

I was relieved and crazy proud of my little brother. Next week, at the Indianapolis Marathon, it would be my time to shine.

A Wisconsin Wedding

I am road-tripped out after this weekend. Drives to Virginia, Memphis, and now Milwaukee for very short amounts of time have done me in. It was really good to get away, even if it was only for a couple of days. I’ve been up to my eyeballs with my CPE special project on child abuse, and my soul needed something happy to celebrate. Cue: my cousin’s wedding!

My dad and I drove up to Milwaukee on Friday, and I have to say, the parts north of Indianapolis were brutally boring. Flat terrain, tiny towns, and giant windmills, corn, and soy as far as the eye could see. The traffic around Chicago was a little problematic, but we arrived just in time to change quickly and head to the rehearsal dinner at Lake Park Bistro.

Hello Lake Michigan! After some cocktail time out on the patio, we headed inside and were greeted with a beautiful cheese plate on each table. When in Wisconsin…

The food was delicious, and even though I came with my parents, they seated me at a table with other young people, so we had a good time. It’s always a little nerve-wracking to be alone and not know anyone, but super-extrovert me kicked in and I had a great time.

The next morning, Mom and I had done some research on where to do our 10-mile long run for the week. With the help of some internet friends, we ended up piggy-backing on the Badgerland Striders training run. Everyone was very welcoming to the out-of-towners, and there was a wide variety of pace and experience levels. The route was well-planned, and we ran along the lakefront and got to enjoy Milwaukee.

The weather was on the warmer and more humid side for the Midwest, but it felt good to us, especially with the breeze off of the lake. We had a couple of sprinkles, and the clouds kept the sun off of us until the very end. It turned out to be a flat, faster run for us. Hopefully that’s proof that all of this hot, humid summer running is doing good things for my body!

When we got back to the starting area, there was plenty of food and beverages and even some sports medicine professionals to answer questions and help with any aches or pains. We were hungry for a real meal, so we didn’t stay too long. Thanks to the iPhone and Yelp, I found Café Corazon, an eclectic Mexican place for breakfast/brunch that was also veg*n-friendly. The giant burrito with soy chorizo was calling my name, and it satisfied my runger.

Once we got cleaned up and relaxed for a bit, we didn’t have too much time before heading to the wedding. I wanted to make a beer stop (definitely one of the upsides of driving vs. flying) to pick up some things that don’t have distribution in Nashville, so we headed to Three Cellars for their wall of Wisconsin beer.

They also had a beer & wine tasting going on, so we enjoyed some of the European-style beers and Spanish wines they were pouring before making our final selections. One of the beers I’m very excited about tasting is this one:

And it was wedding time. The ceremony was at the bride’s parents’ house, and we crossed our fingers that they had a lake view and were handsomely rewarded. Though it was a little warm, they couldn’t have asked for better weather. Such a beautiful place.

We took advantage of the scenery for a little family photo shoot as well.

My cousin, the groom:

My dad and his brother:

And afterwards, at the reception, my cousins and me:

I did not get their height.
The reception was at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, a really beautiful venue and perfect space for the size of their wedding. After cocktail hour on the patio, we headed inside to beautifully set tables and delicious food.

The bride & groom. So happy!

Being in Wisconsin, we had to make a quick custard stop before heading home for the night, and I did a great job getting red raspberry custard all over my dress. After another early wake-up call for more miles, we packed the car and headed south for Mars’ Cheese Castle.

The first time I visited the cheese castle with Joe (almost 6 years ago!), I remember it being dark and crowded with low ceilings. But now they have a bright and shiny new building, full of cheese, gourmet meats, beer, wine, and other gourmet foods. Joe had requested some string cheese, and I picked up a few more delicious Wisconsin treats before driving the 9+ hours BACK to Nashville with my parents.

It was a whirlwind, but we got to do and see a lot, as well as celebrate with my cousin and family.

I Love This Bar

Guess who’s home from Kenya!

That’s actually from when he was leaving, so he’s a lot more tan, and his luggage isn’t as heavy now. Joe got home Sunday evening, had Monday off, and was back to work at the hospital on Tuesday. Usually, we don’t do too much for Valentine’s Day, but it is nice to do something fun. While he was gone, I tried to get him a card, but they were all awful. I also had my CPE unit 2 evaluations all day Tuesday, which I knew would leave me completely emotionally and physically exhausted, so we kind of scrapped the romantic, gushy expressions of Valentine’s Day for this year. And I am so glad we did because Valentine’s Day 2012 will forever be known as The Day We Found Our Bar.

(How I Met Your Mother-style) You see kids, once upon a time, when we lived in Houston, we were surrounded by great bars – not just places to get a drink, but places that feel like home. There was Blanco’s with its live country music, shuffleboard tables, and buckets of longnecks. There was Kay’s with George Strait on the jukebox, a giant table shaped like Texas, foosball tables, and the Dolly Parton-wannabe bartenders. There was Hans’ Bier Haus with its bocce ball courts, picnic tables, and great craft beer selection. They were places where you could go to relax, kick back, and be yourself. Usually there are a crew of crusty, Wrangler-wearing regulars, but they don’t mind the newcomers as long as they’re respectful.

Ever since we moved to Nashville, we’ve been looking for our bar. Sure, there are good places to get a drink, but we always left feeling like Goldilocks. Too loud, too hip, too smoky, too fratty, too “biker bar”, etc. On a whim, we walked in to Twin Kegs and found ourselves looking at this beauty:

Shuffleboard. The bar kind, not the cruise ship kind. We took a seat and looked around. One of the regulars at the bar hollered, “He’s in the back cooking, but he’ll be right with you.” There was Yuengling and Sam Adams on draft, along with the standard domestic, light, and cold lagers. When the bartender came to take our order, Joe asked him how the shuffleboard worked. He looked at us with a little confusion and said, “You just get up and play,” and proceeded to tell us how long it had been in that building and who takes care of it. “We just ask that you respect the table.” Oh, we will.

While Miranda Lambert and the Eagles played on the jukebox, Joe respected that I owned him at the shuffleboard table. Unfortunately, it was getting late, and we had school work the next day so we had to call it a night. Even though our Valentine’s Day wasn’t romantic, I got to spend the evening doing things I love with my favorite person in a place where I could kick back and relax. Sounds pretty good to me.