Posts Tagged ‘beer’
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
I’m not sure if it’s my impending fatherhood, or my recent watching of many episodes of Mad Men, but I’ve been recently obsessed with Scotch, and more specifically with the consumption of Scotch, and its purest form, that delicious and delightful drink, Scotch on the Rocks.
While the wife was trying on bras in a maternity shop yesterday, I was in the bottle shop next door, scratching my patchy stubble and staring at bottles of Scotch and wondering what they tasted like. Yes, rather than the usual indulgence of peeking through curtains for a glimpse of skin (that’s normal, right?), I was tenderly touching bottles and reading labels like they were poetry.
I am curious about the drink, its origins, and my own reasons for drinking the bloating and burp-inducing beer on most occasions instead of something more refined and delicious. There is a culture here that equates the consumption of beer with manliness, so much so that at the age of eleven I stole a beer from Dad’s fridge and forced myself to drink it alone with my dinner, despite the protests of my palate and my very small stomach. The beer ruined my dinner and was pointed at and cursed, set aside and earmarked to be poured down the sink later and the evidence destroyed.
Of course, that’s not to say that beer is bad, or undelicious, it’s just that my eleven-year old self preferred to eat that horrid plastic cheese folded into squares, and drink chocolate milk rather than drink something bitter. I’m guessing that’s the grand thing about acquired tastes like oysters, and beers, and chili, and olives, and sushi and all those lovely adult things, that the young ones will leave you alone long enough to enjoy it, and all you need to do to get rid of them is offer them a taste.
So certain things have become clear to me; that blue cheese is strangely delicious, and that good wine is equally delicious if you can afford it, and that the two together are quite the pair if you’ve got the brass razoos to rub between your bony fingers. A good book is also delicious if I can force myself to read it instead of watching Seinfeld, and Scotch on the Rocks is refined and delicious and it beckons to me from the cupboard on certain nights when the mood is good in the lounge room.
Tags: beer, food
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
From now on, I will blog once per month, no more. The screaming fans outside my house were getting a bit much.
What have I been up to? Let’s see.
- Our new baby doggy is growing up and behaving herself nicely. Her name is Lulu and she likes chewing things and running around in the back yard and being cute.
- I launched the brand new snazzy website for Blackbird Solutions. I am a proud father!
- This week I decided to try out this whole freelancing web design thing and work from home. Mostly that means staring at my laptop while I wear ugg boots and scratch my butt. But I also work! And they give me money. This is a good arrangement, and I think I will do this full-time soon.
- I went to a wedding and drank some beer, which tasted nice.
Right now I am very excited, because tomorrow I am going to live on a houseboat for 4 DAYS with 4 FRIENDS on the Noosa River. We are going to laugh and drink beer and catch fish and eat crabs and throw our heads back and laugh some more.
Tags: beer, designing the internets, dog, friends
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Sunday, November 11th, 2007
Recently it’s become bleedingly obvious that we don’t have enough money to pull off the ‘moving to Canada’ stunt. Shit. Perhaps if we stayed in London for a bit longer saving money it could work… but that would kinda suck. So we’ve made the big decision and it’s time to go home. I’m a bit disappointed as I’d have enjoyed another year’s travel, seeing new countries, meeting new people and being generally irresponsible. Now we both feel like we have to go home and face ‘real life’.
Fortunately that also means we have a little extra money to splash around before we leave. We’ve decided to spend it on clothes and beer.
Yesterday I bought a new pair of shoes and trousers from Ben Sherman, then met up with Rob (a travelling buddy we met in Venice) and Monica on Waterloo Bridge to watch the Lord Mayor’s fireworks over the Thames. After that we went to the packed Walkabout pub - London’s cringe-worthy ‘quintessential’ Aussie pub chain and stood at the bar for 25 minutes trying to get a drink. Our unquenched thirst rapidly made us cranky and we decided to move to the Shakespeare’s Head at Holburn and ditch the crappy Walkabout. The pub food and easily attained brews were a hit. Huw even turned up.
Only two more weekends left in London before we leave. Time flies. Next weekend is an official ‘blog meet’ which should be fun. The following weekend is our 5 year anniversary. I should really organise something for that. Anyone know any good restaurants in London?
On Saturday December 1, we’ll leave behind our jobs, our nice little flat, and everything we’ve come to love and hate about London. We’re hiring a car and driving over to Wales (Cardiff) for Saturday night, staying with Curly and finally meeting the elusive minor internet celebrity Chris Cope. After driving around Wales for a couple of days, we’ll hit Liverpool, the Lakes District, Edinburgh, a few English coastal destinations, and Cambridge before returning to Heathrow and flying to the USA on December 11.
Tags: beer, let's party, my uncertain future, super magical trip of joy
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 16th, 2007
A Welshman, two Australians, two Englishmen, a New Zealander, and an American walk into a pub…
Sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that’s what happened at the Amazing 2007 London Blogger Meet-up Type Thing on Saturday night. I have now officially joined the legions of people who have made random friends over the internet, which seems much less nerdy now that I have done it. Because I am not nerdy. Right?
I’ll admit I was a little nervous, but it was all good once I realised the people from the internets were not going to kill me and eat my intestines. They all turned out to be good friendly sorts, and the type of people I enjoy drinking beer with. Above: Huw explains to Monica that he “likes big butts and cannot lie”.
Curly came all the way from Wales and therefore gets 100,000 points for effort. He is also friendly and generous, therefore entering the bonus round with the chance to win a set of genuine nail clippers.
Jumping on complete strangers is apparently socially acceptable in Wales.
Attractive and intelligent ladies: essential for a good night out. Why not call one today?
Complementary personalities, but our shirts clash terribly. How embarassing! Mental note: co-ordinate outfit with Huw next time.
Will claims to be a professional Ghostbuster but upon further questioning seems to know very little about spectres and such.
After drinking at the King’s Arms pub until midnight, we stumbled around talking about kebabs for a while and made our way to the Social for another drink. There I had my first Welsh Rarebit (delicious!), talked to some random Frenchmen, and stuck some post-it notes on Huw’s face. Fabulous!
Tags: beer, blogging, let's party
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
Tallinn is a beautiful city. Tallinn is even better when you have a fantastic host to show you around the place, give up their bed, introduce you to a million of their mates, entertain you with a circus routine, and give you information on almost anything your touristy little hands point to.
Joel has made a new life for himself in Estonia. He walks erectly in his winter coat, and takes pride in living in the most ‘dangerous’ part of Tallinn, which is about as dangerous as skipping through a meadow of buttercups on a summer’s day. He speaks pretty good Estonian (from what I can gather) and works part-time for both a regional newspaper and a local bar, occupations which are probably quite complementary. Consequently, Joel knows just about everyone and everything going on in and around Tallinn.
Tallinn is about as charming as you’d want a city to be. There is a sense of innocence and self-discovery here, of a country realising it’s potential and starting to gain momentum. The medieval structures of the Old Town make a fascinating contrast with the dilapidated Soviet concrete structures and rubble, and the buzzing economy of the new town. Cigarettes and alcohol are very cheap and you could stay for a long time even on a backpacker’s budget, especially if you take pounds. Everyone seems to be friendly and most people speak English.
Joel’s friends mainly consist of students, artists, bar patrons, and beautiful Estonian cousins. There are many great places to hang out in Tallinn, and I’m pretty sure we saw all of them. The best meal award goes to Olde Hansa, a deliciously touristy medieval themed restaurant complete with amazing house brewed spiced beers served in stoneware mugs. The menu offers bear and wild game, and equally delicious meals for the less adventurous. The only things which could have made the evening better were more jousting and more bar wench cleavage.
Also notable was our adventure in the Evil Tower of Death, an old water tower which may or may not be still standing. We climbed to the top of this giant concrete tower amongst the broken glass and rusted hand-rails and came away with a sense of accomplishment and the fragility of human life.
The view was good from the top. We had conquered the Evil Tower of Death and I laughed heartily, until I realised I had to get back down again.
All in all, we had a damn good time in Estonia. Before I went I didn’t know anything about it, so it was good to go somewhere with a clean slate and be pleasantly surprised. The only bad part is that the more I travel around Europe, the more I realise what a shit-hole London is.
Tags: beer, friends, pictures, super magical trip of joy
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 13th, 2007
Our time in Stockholm came to an end just as we were starting to feel human again.
Our second day was brought to a fitting end with a final meal of lovingly home-warmed Swedish meatballs and mashed potato, served in the warm and homely environment of Moa’s flat. Dessert consisted of a delicious cinnamon pastry, most notable because we had dropped it on the filthy gummy ground shortly after purchasing it, but decided to eat it anyway, like all good backpackers should. Our decision equally owed itself to the fact that we’d paid $7 for it, and that it smelled very delicious.
Our final day began with a quick walk around Gamla Stan, the Old Town, where we stumbled upon the changing of the guards at the royal palace in the howling wind. The procession included the best marching band I have ever seen, and some blindingly shiny helmets. Buckling under the weight of my backpack, which contained both mine and Trish’s luggage, I staggered to a beautiful sunshiney spot in the town square, dumped the backpack and shuffled off to purchase hotdogs which we ate while watching a cross-dressing street performer wrestle his giant Japanese fan in the wind.
My general impression of central Stockholm is that of a clean city, neatly run, not unlike any other place particularly. The archipelago I find fascinating - crossing bridges over channels and canals to reach the separate small islands which make up Stockholm is a completely new world to me. The people are friendly, and the women beautiful - and there are typical blonde bombshells everywhere as one would expect. The Old Town is pretty and the weather significantly colder than London.
Leaving Gamla Stan, we wandered down to the next island and made our way across to the Viking Line port where we’d catch our ferry to Helsinki and then on to Tallinn. The ship was huge and smelt like stale beer and cigarettes as we walked in. The interior had more than a passing resemblance to a cheap 1980’s casino, and had the music to match. The main difference was that children were the main patrons of the poker machines which crowded every spare inch. As I watched the coins spinning in their eyes and their snatching sweaty hands I remembered that I too had played the pokies on a cruise ship as a child, on a family holiday in about 1991 on a cruise of the Greek isles. I recalled that I’d won a significant amount of money on that ship, so I waved them on and smiled approvingly at their soul-eating decadence.
Our room was neat and small, with dry unrelenting air conditioning from which we could only find relief by running the hot shower occasionally. Wandering the ship while it sailed from port, we discovered cheap tax-free alcohol, more stupid kids, stupid old people, drunken teenagers, several cheesy looking discos / bars, restaurants, and a delicious drink called Jägermeister.
After dinner we braved the cigarette smoke to go have a dance in possibly the cheesiest bar in existence. Swaying awkwardly to “How Deep is Your Love” sung presumably in Swedish, I attempted to keep my terrible dancing buoyant while the ship rocked back and forth, ruining my rhythm and threatening my already precarious mojo. I can still feel the rocking now. Having dispensed with the obligatory partying we closed the night with a terrible coffee and muffin and returned to our cabin for one of the best sleeps I’ve had in years. I won’t say the gentle rocking didn’t remind me of falling asleep in my mother’s arms.
Tags: beer, pictures, super magical trip of joy
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
I just had a ladybug stuck in my shoe. That’s good luck, right? Last night I spent three dollars on the poker machines and regretted it, because I won nothing and could have bought a beer instead. Delicious, golden, cold and wonderful beer. I also ate a big steak last night, which went very nicely with the beer. I had a different type of beer every time I went to the bar, because I was feeling adventurous. The first one tasted like crap, so I complained to the bar lady, who gave me a frosty stare and poured me another one, which also tasted like crap. I decided that it probably not worth complaining any more and shuffled away to eat my steak. Which was really nice, and went well with the beer. Not the first beer, but the next beer, which was much better. Then I rode on some escalators and went home.
Tags: beer
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2005
Today I am wearing thongs at work, which means I will be going on a mini holiday very shortly. I will be leaving my wretched shoes and socks behind and driving down to a friends place, where we hope to share many good times and many beers.
And if I am feeling extra rich, I might splash out and buy some Stella Artois beer, which I discovered a few weekends ago, and is now in the running for one of my favourite beers. I have this funny feeling there is a whole world of great European beer out there which I will be discovering on our trip next year. I will have to start saving.
Tags: beer, friends
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Hello, I'm Afe.
