Enough. I’m done. Make it stop. I’ve had enough.
OK, I’m done with this.
Columbus
When I want a quick getaway, I usually head down to Easton Town Center in Columbus. Fun place; lots of good restaurants and things to do.
Dublin, just north of Columbus, has recently opened their Bridge Park. They put a lovely pedestrian bridge across the Scioto:
and then basically convinced every restaurant in the Short North to open a place there. As in Pearl, Pins Mechanical, North Market, North High Brewing, and many more.
Fun place to get away for a couple of days, so I did. I only made one mistake. I had no idea it was St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday. Luckily, I went down Wednesday afternoon, so I could still get the Guinness Stew at Fado’s. Being in an Irish bar on St. Pat’s in Dublin would probably not have been wise.
I did tick something off the bucket list, though. The chilled seafood tower at The Pearl. Mmmm…. I’d eaten about half the shrimp before it occurred to me to snap a picture.
Banjo
Went down to get some stuff from my dad this weekend, and brought back his banjo. I haven’t picked it up in 50 years, but I still remember a little:
OK, Bela Fleck it ain’t. But this is literally the first time I’ve picked up that instrument since 1974. It’s absolutely gorgeous; a 1930-ish Vega Professional tenor banjo – that’s a four-string banjo.
I’m retired. I may just pick it up again. It’s just weird enough for me.
Things I no longer need in my overseas travel kit
Well, they were essential in 1995.
Just a purely beautiful song.
And another.
I’m in a Paul Simon mood tonight. So just for my ‘Hey, Boomer’ moment – here is the real version of this song. A pox on the Bangles.
And finish off with the best, the absolute best, music video ever made. Fight me.
OK, that’s enough of that.
This needs to stop.
Lest you people think I’m just wasting my time in retirement
I’m doing important things.
Duck season! Wabbit season!
I’m a big fan of duck, but I hate to cook it indoors. You should cook it at 450, but that’s above the smoke temperature, so the house fills with smoke and the alarms go off. So as soon as I can fire up the grill, I do me some duck breasts.
Tried them sous vide this time, and they came out perfect. I used this recipe, and it came out looking like this:
A side of beet greens and another of couscous and brown rice. And a… kinda orange sauce.
I was on hold with Social Security since 9:20. Note to any OPM readers: next time a political bitches about the RS phone system, have them call Social Security. By the time they answered at noon I’d started cooking and put the orange sauce on to reduce. I was talking to them in the office when the smoke alarm went off, and I knew it had reduced enough. So I put the smoking pan on the porch, found a bottle of apricot preserves, added some chicken broth and finished with Cointreau and orange bitters. Perfect!
It’s almost Pinbrew time!
Keith Campanelli, the guy behind the pinball tables at Birdfish Brewing (and my office) had his first Pinbrew in Girard in April 2020. And… it did not go well. Because April 2020. He skipped 2021, but now – it’s back! https://www.pinbrewfest.com/
I told him I can’t wait to go. He said ‘Dude, go? You’re a bartender. Show up on time’.
Somebody tell Gastonguay, since I’m reasonably certain he is not reading this.
Bell Tower Brewing
Bell Tower is an absolutely gorgeous new brewery near downtown Kent. It’s one of those ‘used to be a church’ breweries, but in this case one of the owners is an architect – and it shows.
And the beers are just as pretty. It’s one of those places that’s starting to buck the ‘eight different kinds of IPA’ trends, and it’s got three Saisons, a Schwartz, a Kolsch – just a nice selection of beers. One of the things I like is that it serves half pints, something that the U.K. does – but I’ve never seen it over here. Sometimes 10 oz. of beer is the perfect amount.
Food was excellent, too. I had a muffuletta that was huge. I’ll be back to this place.