What’s Brewing

As always happens when I go a while without posting a blog, I have a great many things I can be writing about, and in the face of that I find myself thinking, ironically, “What on earth do I have that I can write about?”  Often when I ask that, I have to look back over my entries to see what I’ve been saying in here, to make sure I don’t repeat myself. 

So today I did that, and my first response was shock that it’s been so long.  Last time I posted was the afternoon of my birthday, before I went to work that night.  Work that night was terrible, by the way, a real spirit-breaker.  But it was the only downside of a good day, and the next day was even better.

So here’s the news in brief:

* Still on grand jury duty, for another three sessions.  We finish next Tuesday, after which I can go back to normal.  No, my grand jury did not hear the Dave Letterman extortion case.  Just as well, probably, since most of the jury would have asked for an autograph, and at least three of us would have asked him for a job.

* Elle’s show opened and has one weekend left.  I got to see the opening performance, and you know what?  It’s actually the first time I’ve seen my wife in an honest-to-chicken play.  Man, have I been missing out.  In my completely unbiased opinion, she stole the show, switching brilliantly between six different characters.  Hoping to work out a schedule conflict so I can see the closing performance too.

* I actually wrote a review of the show and pitched it to papers and blogs, and got it published in at least one place.  No pay, but some exposure and a credit to my name.

* …

…you know what, I really don’t love the News blog posts.  Who, at their core, really cares about the nuts and bolts of what I’m up to, unless it’s completely fascinating?  I mean, I think everyone should make the Jersey trip to see my wife’s production, but beyond that?  That’s pretty much all that’s fit to print.

But here’s a big event:  For my birthday, Elle took us to Per Se – this is a restaurant that you have to reserve for a month or more in advance, and probably start saving for it a month or two before that.  It’s swanky.  We broke the piggy bank to go, and it was totally worth it.

Usually, Per Se does a prix-fixe tasting menu, with seven courses of small food on big plates.  We did that, with the twist that it was Craft Beer Week in New York at the time, and what we went to was a tasting menu with beer pairings, hosted and supplied by Brooklyn Brewery.

Now, anyone who knows Elle or myself will know this is a flippin’ perfect birthday dinner.

I could write for an hour on the menu we had, and the amazing beer we got to taste with it (the highlight:  Manhattan Project, engineered and aged to imitate the taste profile of a bourbon Manhattan cocktail – with staggering success)  (the other highlight:  the smoked bacon tasting beer, no kidding), but I’ll leave it that we had a truly awe-inspiring dinner, sat at the same table as the founder of Craft Beer week and the brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, and oohed and ahhed our way through four hours of culinary (and beer-inary) amazement. 

And we don’t remember all the details of how we got home and into bed.  They kept pouring the beer, you see.  We really shouldn’t have started with martinis.  Lesson learned for next time.

I’m pleased to report that at 35 years of age, my hangovers are still blessedly mild.

More grey whiskers, though.  Dang.  Grandpa needs a shave.

~ by joshkauffman on October 7, 2009.