Hard cider

It's about the easiest homebrewed beverage in the world to make:

5 gal unpasteurized cider from Whole Foods
2 quarts organic sour cherry juice
1 packet Lalvin V1116 yeast

This is a 6 gallon Better Bottle carboy.

Should be ready for Christmas.

Our logo...

is back. It's an alchemy sign for alcohol. Happy to find it again sitting 'round the computer.

Flanders red ale

This was my 100th batch. Getting a nice funky pedicle.

About the stupidest study ever

Staph Bacteria Found in Half of U.S. Meat

That's kind of like saying half of all children are below average. Staph is everywhere. Get over it. The world isn't sterile.

Excellent news!

Alcohol helps the brain remember, says new study

Not really sure I believe it though...

This makes me sad...

The first quality beer show on TV since the beer hunter series will not be renewed.

Report: Brew Masters not renewed, Bourdain says “Big beer threatened to pull ads” | Beernews.org

So the magazine business...

is going bankrupt right here in the midst of the ereader picking up steam. I can go out and subscribe to any number of magazines for $5.99 to $12 per year, yet these same magazines cost $2.99 a month for the ereader versions.
Makes no sense at all. I won't mind seeing more of them go away given their lack of any business sense at all. If they make money mailing me a color printed version for $10 a year, how about sharing the cost savings of the ereader version with the subscriber?

EDIT (5/22/2011): The Oxford American has it right. They get almost everything right, though. It's the South, ya'll.

More idiotic truths

Cheap hotel = free internets
Expensive hotel = expensive ingernets

Apartment in Florence

Piazza Santa Croce. Galileo is buried there.

1 liter beer. Siena, Italy.

Montalcino

Grilled local sausage with white beans. Mmmmmmmmm.

Final thoughts on Rome, now in Siena

Pierluigi features some pretty amazing seafood and has a spectacular wine list. Highlights included risotto scampi, fried baby squid, fresh baby artichokes served deep fried, and homemade limoncello and cookies for dessert. Sebastian aka "Sebastiano" was an angel and was treated as such my the staff.

Da Fortunato was also excellent, though perhaps not quite as good. The son of the owner went to school in California and speaks perfect English. The Pantheon is right next door and there's a great gelato place right across the street for dessert. Sebastian stayed put in his chair thanks to a massive pile of french fries. I had a lovely fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli. The carbonara was excellent as well.

I was surprise at how much I enjoyed the Bernini sculptures at Villa Borghese. He was a master and his sculpture is amazing. How did he fix his inevitable mistakes in a one ton slab of marble?

If you want to buy a SIM card in Italy, Vodaphone prepaid stinks. I now have a Wind SIM and am far happier.

The website Prepaid gsm website  is badly out of date. One only needs a US drivers license or passport, not a codice fiscale.

In Siena, so far we've eaten at Ristorante Millevinni inside the Enoteca Italiana - Grade A food, C+ service. A + location and setting. Overall would recommend it.

Finally, I'm in love with the local boar prosciutto. I'm bringing back a duffle bag full.

Rome, Italy

We are off to the Vatican today. If our first trip to Rome was typified by anything in particular it was a trip to the eye doctor because the vision in my right eye went goofy and I was worried about a detached retina.

But with that settled and everything OK, we have done some sightseeing at the Villa Borghese and the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. Today we'll see the Vatican and the Forum, etc.

Our hotel has been wonderful. The Italians love children and Sebastian has been warmly welcomed everywhere we've been. Last night we had wonderful dinner at Pierluigi- fried baby calamari and risotto scampi were the highlights for me. Tried some fantastic Italian produced chardonnay and cab sac by a winery called Lowenberg.