extra sour cream

i know i said that a bunch last night, but i'm not entirely sure why. well, the fact that it was an excellent party where many beers were consumed explains some, but not all. the party was an appropriate culmination of a somewhat extended birthday celebration featuring none other than mando b nasty. get outta here, boston! he called me on friday afternoon while i was journeying to the vet for cat food, and by the time i made it home, went to the bar with law school folks for a while, cleared up some minor directional points and walked to the distributor to provide for a night of revelry, he was here. worked out pretty great. he was on his way back from hiking near the virginia/west virginia border. apparently he canoed that stretch when he did the whole a.t. the other year and went back to walk so no one can accuse him of cheating. glad he stopped in on his way back.
after he got here and we had some beers, i realized i hadn't eaten anything since the sandwich mentioned in the previous post. coming from the train, mando was pretty hungry too, and offered to cook up some goodness. he set up his stove (modified beer can burning denatured alcohol) on my kitchen floor and got to business. we generously fed three hungry men with the following all mixed together: one pouch each of roasted garlic and southwestern mashed potatoes, a bunch of jack, some cheddar, green peppers, some other spicy pepper, a packet of tuna, and a few leftover pepperonis. it was both excellent and delicious or, if you prefer, "heady scrump".
on saturday we mostly just walked around philly for quite a while. we met up for a while with mando's sister, who is actually doing a semester at temple. we went to the bell with her and a friend of hers. everyone was really disappointed at the size of the bell, and i think chuck said the same thing when he was here. its tough to reach back and think about what i thought at first, but i don't remember being disappointed with its size. i think i probably imagined it bigger, but the first time i went was really an experience. the security was a lot tighter and i went through the building slowly and read a bunch about the bell before i saw it. mostly it was just made real for me, regardless of size.
our route took us pretty much in a loop from my place into town along south street, and then up through old city. we went back on the boulevard so he could run up the art museum stairs. lots of great pics resulted, and hopefully they will make it to his facebook at some time. lots of tomfoolery around the game pieces in front of whatever that municipal building is. also many good shots involving statutes, from shoe-shining to tit-grabbing to high-fiving. the high five one is probably my favorite, i look forward to seeing it again.
we managed to get mando a cheesesteak, and between that and seeing his sister, his only philly objectives were pretty much accomplished. this left us free for what was truly an ideal party. four or so bands played, lots of beer both good and bad, and a broad mix of people. i thought i would know most people from the neighborhood, but there were people from all over. one of the bands was from las vegas and somehow also portland oregon. they've been telling everyone they're from portland maine while they're on the east coast because they think being from portland oregon invites stereotyping. i don't know how often geographic location is an accurate description of sound, but whatever. they are touring in a chevy cobalt with four people and all their gear, which really impressed me. they insist that it really isn't too cramped. i'm glad i'm not doing it.
mando brough his ukulele along to the party, and although it was selected for trail use because it is so lightweight, it was certainly a hit. a party with bands usually has an abnormally high proportion of musicians, and this was no exception, so a lot of people took turns playing around with the thing. mando played it with one of the bands for a while too, but that band already had quite a collection of instruments going. i am not even sure how many people were playing or who was officially in the band, but there were like eight instruments going at some points. actually sounded pretty cool.
i thought there would be a lot of leftover beer because the party was big but not huge, and people kept bringing more. but we partied until it was all gone, even the hidden stash sierra nevada case that disappeared five minutes after being unveiled to the party at large. i still had a deuce from the foodery, the place i got that sandwich at. bear republic hop rod rye. oh hell yeah. it was so good. like a bigger, less-sweet red's rye. the rye still managed to come through pretty well, but it was all about the hops. would have been nice to be able to use a glass and get the full aroma, but the party necessitated small sacrifice. the nice thing was that walking around a party with it (not leaving it with the general stash) for a while and then drink it slowly allowed some temperature variation. extremes of frontloaded and aftertaste with a nice spectrum between. when really hoppy beers are served really cold, the bitterness abates a little and the armoa jumps up and gets you and the floral and fruity character of the hops dominates. after it warms up, its all just bitterness, but with more flavor. enough about that. this lecture from the man who brought that deuce and about twelve carling black labels to this party.
so yeah, we had a blast. but my weekend was far from over, as this afternoon was lamb-o-rama '08 at my sister's place. a lot of great food, and a whole lot of lamb, which was excellent. yet another good time, almost more than i could handle. but i made it. i wanted to bring a bottle of wine but state run stores were all closed for easter, and that is the only way to get a bottle of wine here. so i brought cheese instead, which was well -received along with the rest of an excellent cheese plate that i did not bring. i went with some sheep's milk gouda, can't remember who made it. but it was smooth and rich but not assertive or overpowering. the plate included an excellent manchego, some suitably sharp cheddar, a funky blue, and some strange ricotta thing. but it was all about the lamb. i am still totally full almost eight hours later. given this most excellent birthday celebration -> (this symbol is the best way i can think of to describe the relationship of the transition/interweaving of the two) weekend, it will be a harsh transition back to the everyday tomorrow morning. thanks again to all the well-wishers who noted my quarter-century anniversary.
p.s. i recently remembered to check the google ads at the bottom of the page on this blog. pretty funny stuff sometimes.