January 26th, 2009 by sarah
We started out the weekend Friday night at Sly Fox for the annual Robbie Burns Birthday Bash. In case you failed high school literature, Robbie Burns was a Scottish poet who would have been turning 250 years old. 
You may know him for Auld Lang Syne, the poem/song we often sing for the New Year’s Eve. While this event may not ordinarily appeal to you, Robbie Burns Bash is also the date Sly Fox releases their Scottish Ale each year. And I couldn’t miss the gaggle of guys dressed in their finest kilts, especially after my shoes with mirrors on the toes just arrived! The specials of the night included Scottish fare like Shephards Pie and Haggis, a traditional meat dish that includes spices, organs (heart, lungs, liver), and beef suet stuffed in a sheep or cow stomach, or casing. Burns poem “To a Haggis” describes the fare as “Great chieftain O’ the puddin’ race” so it’s only fitting it would be on the menu.
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January 18th, 2009 by sarah
If you’re anything like me, you’ve fantasized about Godzilla quite often. Not the kaiju (Japanese monster) that graced 
the screens, video games, and comic books worshipped by so many sci-fi aficionados, but the Nissan Skyline (R32) coined Godzilla by the Australian motoring press after dominating the Bathurst 1000 Classic in 1991 and 1992. I fell in love with the Skyline GTR before it was nearly unobtainable in the United States. I can remember the first one I sat in- a gunmetal R32 imported by a friend through Motorex. I loved the aggressive body lines with widebody fenders and large intercooler peering through the open-mouthed front bumper. The seats were designed to hold the front passengers in like a straightjacket and I giggled at the disturbed reactions from unsuspecting neighboring drivers as they realized the left side passenger had both arms and legs out the window; the concerned look on their faces as they mouthed, “Who’s driving the car???” Oh yeah, that’d be the right side passenger using his or her “stranger hand.” Motorex helped popularize the Skyline in the US, giving many people the chance to see in person what they dreamed about in magazines, especially on the West Coast.
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January 12th, 2009 by sarah
Predicting the results of this year’s NFL matchups hasn’t been the easiest. Most participants seem to be drowning in the football pool. After how the Chargers played the first half of the regular season, I didn’t have any hopes of them making it this far, but somehow they prevailed. And for the first time in NFL history, three home teams lost on the second weekend of playoffs. You’d think it was fate for the visiting Chargers to have some advantage with those statistics! The Bolts started out great, leading almost the entire first half, but they fell apart in the third quarter and had possession of the ball just 17 seconds for only one play! While San Diego fans everywhere cursed their TV’s with looks of “WTF?!?!” across their faces, I started checked out the Padres spring training schedule. The Steelers cemented the Chargers fate in the fourth, and now it’s time to catch up on the last minute baseball trade gossip to see what chance I have of rooting for a winning SD team this year. For the first time in years, I won’t have any baseball season tickets, so it’s only fitting they go all the way…
January 5th, 2009 by sarah
The Bolts stopped Indianapolis’ running game and maintained some of the amazing offense from the previous week to win the wild card playoff game on Saturday. There was the good- Sproles got game, the bad- a few close to the endzone turnovers, including a touchback just yards away from being a touchdown, and the ugly- a Pennington quick snap that caught the Bolts defense with their thumbs in their asses, resulting in a Colts TD.
Sproles running game was unstoppable (Photo courtesy of Chargers)
Mike Scifres must have equipped his foot with a distance controlling mechanism as he kicked six punts inside the 20 against the Colts, including four under 10 yards from a full field drive attempt! Leaving the Colts with a long field certainly helped the Chargers “D” cut their game short. I sure missed seeing LT do his thing out there, but the smallest guy on the field came up big for the Bolts. Darren “Tank” Sproles combined for 328 all purpose yards whipping left and right through inconceivably tiny holes in the Colts defense. I find watching basketball about as exciting as women’s golf (basically a snore…) so hopefully the Chargers can continue their road to the Super Bowl or I’ll be pretty bored until spring training.
January 1st, 2009 by sarah
I welcomed in the new year at my bar indulging in some of the few bottles there that I have yet to try, as well as a dessert-worthy Southern Tier Chocolate Indulgence on draft. The Fantome Saison is a Saison with a full head, an earthy, fruity aroma and spices like coriander, citrus, pepper, and spruce. The Super Baladin pours slighty hazy with a thin lacing around the glass. It has a smell and taste of green apples and grapes that blends well with a caramel sweetness that becomes more prominent as the beer warms. The Southampton Cuvee de Fleur has a perfume-like floral aroma and grapefruit freshness with honey and a tangy yeast finish. All were great beers to start the New Year with.
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You may know him for Auld Lang Syne, the poem/song we often sing for the New Year’s Eve. While this event may not ordinarily appeal to you, Robbie Burns Bash is also the date Sly Fox releases their Scottish Ale each year. And I couldn’t miss the gaggle of guys dressed in their finest kilts, especially after my shoes with mirrors on the toes just arrived! The specials of the night included Scottish fare like Shephards Pie and Haggis, a traditional meat dish that includes spices, organs (heart, lungs, liver), and beef suet stuffed in a sheep or cow stomach, or casing. Burns poem “To a Haggis” describes the fare as “Great chieftain O’ the puddin’ race” so it’s only fitting it would be on the menu.
