must eat meat

Other than that piece of Spam sushi that I mistook for Unagi, I really haven’t eaten red meat since 1990. Ain’t it funny how sometimes events conspire to affect change!?

Since I am still recovering from a recent bike crash I have lapsed a bit. Last night I realized I was basically refrigerating air. Well, it wasn’t quite that desperate, I did have IPA and coffee....basic survival mode. And there was the Vicodin. I remembered I still had some from my botched hernia surgery years ago.  Forget the 9/09 expiration date, that stuff worked fine…just fine.

My evening plan was to kick back with the Season 5 True Blood finale, under a full moon yet. But first I’d have to venture forth into the night like a vampire in search of food.

I was soon back in my lair with what should have been a fat grilled chicken burrito. Just as the first of many vampires got staked, I took a big bite. The creature exploded and to my horror, the burrito was Carne Asada!!!!

What to do now? No other food source, injuries throbbing, dull from Vicodin, under that full moon fever. I gulped the IPA for courage....... Aw, what the hell.

Beer Country

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s the wine country; but on a hot Sonoma County night, 

sometimes the palette gets to hankering for some pure refreshment. 

So Goldie and I fired up the Red Rocket and drove our Hop Rod

 like a Racer 5! Destination: Beer Republic...er make that Bear.

(Dude...where's my car? So not my Subaru here.)

 After a stint at the bar, we descended a small flight of stairs to

 a large flight of  beer....all astonishingly diverse and nuanced. 

The food was awesome and the beer was awesomer! 
Way to wash down a mountain of garlic fries.

Of Duct Tape & Beer

I’m more of a Safeway kind of guy, but this morning I did make a stop at Whole Foods. I could have bought a 6 pack of some nice IPA for what I ended up paying for that one bottle of Orval Trappist Ale. Somehow I knew it would taste right after today’s mountain bike ride. In retrospect I had no conception of just how good it would really taste!!!!

The hard technical climb was well behind me, just as I neared Buick Meadow up in the flats. That’s when I heard the explosion! My bike grinded to an immediate halt! The shrapnel that had been my rim’s sidewall was lodged in my v-brakes. The tube was shredded. Clearly getting back down would be a schlep.

On this busy Sunday in Annadel, a small crowd of hard core bikers was assembled there at the meadow. Needless to say, my bike was suddenly the main topic of conversation. Too bad I was in no mood to bask in my new found celebrity status. I was ready for a chopper to airlift me home; but that wasn’t gonna happen.

We reasoned that since the rim was trashed, I could ride back on that alone, sans tire. That’s when Dean came to the rescue. His funky fix was as brilliant as it was resourceful and artful. A little duct tape and some zip ties and badabing!

I wasn’t able to hold much air in the tube, but somehow made my way in a hunkered down survival mode, half rolling and half bike hiking. The will to survive and the prospect of that Trappist Ale got me through....... with some moral support from Charlotte and Joel too.

When I finally popped that Orval, I was in need indeed and the beer didn’t disappoint.