YOU MAY LIVE IN THE RED...

...BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T BE A BLUE

REPUBLICANS ON AN ELEVATOR

WHAT REPUBLICANS WANT

 

FOX AND HOUNDS

In my estimation, one of the best restaurants in Nanaimo(Vancouver Island,B.C.). Phyl and I went there for
lunch when we were vacationing there, and had an excellent roast for Sunday lunch; Phyl had the roast beef, I had the roast lamb. Both were served with Yorkshire pudding(I love Yorkshire pudding). You order at the bar, from a menu the size of a door - literally...and when they're busy you do have quite a wait since it's a family
run place, no pre-cooked food here!
And while you're waiting, you can have a pint or two(or three)and just soak in the atmosphere. And then we went back with Mom, and of course she had fish and chips that she enjoyed.
This place is in a converted house, quite cozy, with the front rooms intact, just the doors missing, and divides the place up into 3 rooms of various size with the bar at one end.
I believe the husband does most of the cooking, while Jane tends the bar and I believe makes the desserts(and we'll talk about dessert some other day).
So, if you're in town, and want a truly
English experience, this is the place to go for lunch or dinner, or even just a drink, though you'll miss out if you pass on the food - closest to home cooking without being home that I've ever found, and believe me, I've eaten in many restaurants!

MY DOCTOR SAID MYLANTA...

...and I told him: "For $50 copay you better do better than that!!!"

ONE GLASS - 10 POINTS OF VIEW

Which one are you???

(with thanks to the Wailing list)

(click to enlarge)

BEER NUMBER 587

No label or cap for this one, but I took the picture at Portland Int'l Airport, where I drank the beer. It was Rogue Mom Hefeweizen, and it sure was tasty. Nice having a brewpub at the airport, don't think they actually brew it there, but it is brewed somewhere nearby in Oregon. A fine beer it was, and even picked up a Rogue Dead Guy Ale T-shirt. (You know, the one with the skeleton sitting on the beer cask.)
So if you're ever stranded in Portland airport, hunt down the Rogue Ales Public House, and have any one of their fine beers on tap or bottle, you won't regret it.
And if you're lucky, you may get stuck at the airport long enough to try them all...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIRA

 Yup, Mistress of the Dark's birthday today, though I would never ask a lady how old she is! Don't know what she's been up to lately, but she was big 20 years ago for quite a few years. Used to enjoy watching her host the horror flicks on TV; continuing a tradition of horror hosts that stretch for me back to Zacherle on WPIX out of New York when I was a kid. And then her movie, not great, but amusing. And I still own a few of the life-size standups that they used to use at bars on Halloween(grabbed 'em at the end of the night one year).

 So happy birthday Elvira, however old you may be...

RIP: RICHARD WRIGHT

And if you don't recognize the name, shame on you. He, of course, was the keyboard player for Pink Floyd thru 1994. Dying way too young at 65 of cancer, his last gig was the Live8 reunion. Besides his keyboard work with the band, he also sang lead vocals on 'Astronomy Domine' on
the Piper At the Gates of Dawn album and wrote the track 'The Great Gig In the Sky' on the Dark Side of the Moon album.
So his work will live on forever, even though he's gone to the great gig in the sky...

$1.359 GASOLINE

 That was the price we paid on Vancouver Island...of course that was per liter, not gallon! The interesting part was the fact that every gas station we saw (Esso, Husky, Petro-Canada among others) had the exact same price. And, they all sold diesel at $1.369! Makes you wonder who's getting ripped off when we have prices all over the range with stations within blocks of one another. The other thing that struck me was the price never changing; the whole 2 weeks we were there the price remained steady. So why does our gas change almost from day to day? Gives you something to thing about, doesn't it?

 Oh yeah, and at most gas stations you could still get free air for your tires...

BOSTON PIZZA

Not from Boston! They're actually a chain from Canada, started in 1964(!) in Edmonton,Alberta. Ate there one night, had the Poutaine for an appetizer. Good stuff; french fries with gravy and cheese curds. Tastes much better than it sounds, it's one of those food combinations that sounds as if it shouldn't work, yet does. Theirs was really good as they use a dark brown gravy, whereas the A&W where I first tried it uses a lighter gravy. And the pizza was quite good, had pepperoni with sausage, which was a sliced sausage, not a crumbled sausage you usually get in the States. And of course, much cold beer was consumed, though nothing new. Pizza was expensive, about $21Cn for a medium 2-topping, but then all the food was expensive on Vancouver Island. But worth a visit if you're ever in Canada, nothing fancy, just good food, cold beer.

BEER NUMBER 578

Ahhh...it's good to be back from vacation, though vacation is always a great thing. Had a good time (mostly) and came back with 34 (YES,34!) new beers tried. Starting with this one, which I actually had on the looonnnggg flight from Orlando to Portland Oregon. Flew out on Alaska Airlines, who had some of the friendly flight attendants I've come across in a very long time. And they served this beer as one of their in-flight beer choices. Very tasty, and well worth the $6/bottle that I paid. Still trying to get un-jet-lagged, but I'll be back with more beers and stories over the next week or so.

That is, if the piles up workload I hear is waiting for me tomorrow doesn't bury me like a Rocky Mountain avalanche!