Scotland in May. Doug is jealous. Five days in Edinburgh, then driving around the highlands for another three, then four days in London proper. Details to follow. But there will be scotch and beer involved somewhere.
Drinking down my cellar
Too many beers in the basement. I’m going to try to drink down my cellar a bit. So I’m only having two beers tonight.
England part 2
And then to Oxford, and in one of the luckiest things I’ve ever done – school was out! No students means that pubs that I was never able to get near before were now empty, and I took full advantage. Places like the White Horse, which has like four tables and is in great demand because it’s next door to Blackwell’s, my favorite bookstore in the world.
I was staying just a few hundred feet from Christ Church, the largest college in Oxford
It’s one of the newer colleges – Henry VIII founded it. Oxford has 39 colleges scattered around the town. I was a half mile from the city center, which meant that I could go to places like the Ashmolean Museum and the Bodleian Library with ease.
Most places look like something out of Harry Potter
Mostly because they are something out of Harry Potter – parts of the films were filmed here.
Great time, and it’s good to be home and plan my next big trip – which I have to take this year. See next post.
England part 1
Back from England! Had an absolutely amazing time, and the weather was pretty darn good. High 40s/low 50s all week. Yeah; it rained some, but – England.
Trembling Madness apartment was marvelous. Literally across the street from York Minister – I could see it out my window.
Amazing cathedral dating from the Norman times, and called ‘minister’ rather than ‘cathedral’ because it predates the word ‘cathedral’. That’s one of the things I love about Great Britain – the casual ‘oh, yeah; that’s from the late 1400s’ In the U.S., if it’s more than 50 years old we slap an ‘antique’ label on it.
The apartment was exactly what I expected – steep narrow steps, lousy shower, and perfectly weird. I loved it.
Lots of pubs with interesting and exotic beers.
One pub chain – Samuel Smith, which I’ve loved forever – has an interesting approach. Their pints are cheap, around $3.60 a pint – which, remember, is about 20 ounces. And the reason they’re not constantly filled with 18-year-olds is this:
And a Happy New Year!
NOLA
Oh, yeah. That was fun! Weather was perfect – mid-80s all week. Cooking classes were fantastic. Location couldn’t have been better.
Casa Pelican is a B&B and a cooking school in historic Algiers Point. It’s a quiet residential neighborhood – but it’s a five minute ferry ride away from the French Quarter. So the best of both worlds. If you’re old, getting around New Orleans is dirt cheap. I bought the 31-day senior pass to everything – trollies, ferries, and busses – for $14.00, and just rode everywhere. They’ve got an absolutely enormous World War II museum, and a first class art museum.
Karen Duncan ran a Cajun restaurant in Toronto for 15 years, and then moved down here. The school and B&B is her retirement project. Breakfast every morning – and I don’t mean granola and toast. Sausage gravy and biscuits; omelet and bacon; pancakes and sausage – I didn’t eat many lunches out because I was still full from breakfast.
Did some cooking:
Did some drinking:
Did some sightseeing:
And a good time was had by all. Fun trip!
More Asheville
So I spent four days there. Nice time, but I don’t think I’m moving there. For one thing, everything is uphill both ways.
But nice time! Some recommendations, if you’re thinking of going.
Pinball. I looked at the Asheville Pinball Museum, and… meh. 35 whole old machines for $15!! Skip it. Instead, go to Level 256. Better machines; better beer; $10.
Breweries. They have more breweries per capita than anywhere else. Here are my favorites.
- Burial. Zope, if you go there this is where you will park yourself and never leave. Big, big NEIPAs. As in, three triples and five doubles. And then there are the 14% stouts…
- Dssolvr. My personal favorite.
- Zillicoah. Couple of miles outside the city on a real nice site with food.
Digression here. If you go to Asheville in the summer and decide to do something sane like use Uber to get outside the city – beware of Saturday afternoons! I took an Uber to Zillicoah for $7 at around 1PM; decided to go back at 3PM, and… it was $35. And not only was it $35, but there were no cars available. So I did the only smart thing.
At around 5PM, prices went down and things got normal. I asked, and got this explanation. All of the cool wedding venues are a half hour out of town. So two hours before the wedding, everyone calls an Uber; they all go away for an hour or so, and thus my issue. Makes sense.
Food. As is true everywhere, there is a lack of staff. I went to one place and it was 2/3 empty – and yet there was a 45 minute wait for food. Luckily, it was a tequila bar, so I found something to do with the time.
- Mayfel’s. Excellent NOLA food. I had my weakness, the Oyster Po’ Boy.
- Sovereign Remedies. Cocktail bar with wicked good food. And a killer Vieux Carre. Two blocks from the hotel, thank God.
- Lobster Trap. What it says. Great Cioppino. Excellent live music 6:30 to 8:30.Â
- Mountain Madre. Mexican with Agave/Tequila bar
- Red Ginger. Absolutely excellent traditional Chinese.
- Jack of the Wood. Irish. I’m a sucker for Shepherd’s Pie made the right way – with lamb. You do not see shepherds herding cows.Â
- Wicked Weed. Beer was good! Food was… OK! Only time I ate at a brewery. With a city like this – drink at breweries and eat at restaurants.
Asheville, NC
Beer heaven. More when I get back. But this is too good not to post now.
So I am sitting at the bar at Burial Brewing. They have five double IPAs, two triple IPAs, a 14% and a 15% stout? Damn good thing I am walking.
Anyway. A couple come in; order beers; order wings. Get asked for a phone number to get a text when the wings are done, and they say ‘330…’ I ask what part of northeast Ohio they’re from. She says ’20 miles south of Youngstown’. I say ‘Columbiana?’, and she gives me a strange look and says ‘Yeah! A relative of mine owns a brewery there.’ I say, ‘Josh?’ She gives me a stranger look and says ‘Yeah!’
If I’d only had one more triple, I’d have said ‘And now my next prediction. You will soon meet a fat old guy with grey hair. Give him all of your money…’
Queen City
Even though one of my sisters lives in Cincinnati, I’d never been to the city. Been to her place of course, but it’s a long way from downtown. Comparable, I guess, to someone living in Cranberry and saying they live in Pittsburgh. So in my summer of small trips I spent a couple of days down there and had a great time. Daily Beast had a great article about Cincy: https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-midwest-city-is-getting-something-rightso-dont-miss-it
Over-The-Rhine is the hot area now, comparable to Columbus’s Short North. Bunch of brewpubs, including Sam Adams – their main production facility is in Cincinnati – Rhinegeist, etc. A Pins Mechanical – I love the elevator notice:
But there are also some world class museums. The Taft Museum of Art was simply surprising. It’s a lovely old house, but doesn’t look very museum-like. No guards. And hanging in the rooms are paintings by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Hals, Whistler…
And, of course, food. Best tapas place I’ve ever eaten at, Mita’s.
Fun time! Not sure where next. Maybe Asheville.
State Fair
Went to the Ohio State Fair for the first time in, I don’t know – 20 years maybe? – last week. Fun time. Wandered around, looked at the goats, thought of Bohin. This has been an incredibly dry summer here, so of course it started pouring. Luckily, I had a plan B – there are like 30 breweries in Columbus.
I went to a new one downtown, right off of Fourth – Holy Trinity Brewing. Fun place with a nice varied collection of beers. Too many places are doing the ‘Which kind of IPA do you want?’ lineup, which is fine – I like IPAs – but really boring.
The wall artwork is also hilarious:
And they have bar cats. What’s not to like?