Damn you! I'm taking next Tuesday off, and the 23rd-26th off, so I guess I can't be too jealous. I have 4 1/2 more days left, but I'm carrying them over to take the week after Martin Luther King Day off. Being an admin, there is very little point to taking vacation time during the week between Christmas and New…

I tried some Tap 357 Maple Rye Whisky over Thanksgiving and was underwhelmed.

Neither is New Jersey Costco. It's just an arid desert of 48-packs of paper towels and 5-gallon jars of pickle relish.

I wanted to be here right away, but I didn't see it post until just now. I was ever so lonely for an hour there…

The enormous font size is what I'm hating the most right now. I just got new glasses, AVC — I don't need you to blow up the font for me.

I always just bake with Myers dark rum. But this notion of rum cake with Kraken? Mind = blown.

Or my laziness. "Drive three minutes to the liquor store to get a beer I know tastes good in chili, or stay home and try this beer that might ruin it? Yeah, definitely stay here."

If you're willing to go to McKinney, Cafe Malaga is a very nice tapas place.

Kraken is delish. I really like it with fresh peaches.

I once had a bartender have no idea how to make a Manhattan. But she didn't seem at all open to advice, so my friend just turned to me, as we watched the bartender stand in front of all the liquor bottles vacantly, and say, "Oh, interesting choice. Isn't that the one that's MADE WITH RYE?"

I got a maple flavored whiskey a few months ago (I can't remember what brand), and it was disappointing. But it came with a bunch of cocktail recipes, so maybe now that it's getting into a more maple-flavored season I need to get back on that horse.

I generally have some kind of basic Sam Adams in the house, and will use that. In the past we used to get a couple of growlers of whatever was on tap at our local brewery, and I'd use that. Dark beers, light beers, flavored beers, hoppy beers, whatever… Basically what I've learned is that any beer worth drinking…

Nine Inch Nails - "La Mer"
Mike Patton - "Robot Sex (Neon)"
Farmers Market - "A Young Girl Made a Crown of Forest Flowers"
Metallic Taste of Blood - "Crystals and Wounds"
Stephen Jones - "Keys to the Brain"

Assuming all my fingers are still intact, can do. :)

So true! I totally second the "get your knives sharpened" advice. It's like getting a whole new set of knives!

I want gift card moneys that will allow me to buy a new pair of running shoes. And there's a sweater from Anthropologie that I asked Santa for a couple of months ago; I'm reasonably confident that will be under the tree on Christmas morning.

I ordered a custom-made knife from Blood Root Blades, and, after seven months, it's been shipped to me this week. I can't wait to try my schmancy new knife that was apparently built to my height and hand size specifications!

I finally got up the nerve to try making my own blackberry wine. The whole process has been intimidating me, but I've got about 15 pounds of blackberries taking up precious freezer space, so it was time to get things started. I don't know what I'm doing, but it seems I'll be able to report back in a few months. I…

I made my standard, semi-weekly pot of chili last weekend (it's a nice dinner, and makes about a week and a half worth of lunches for me and Hugs and Hisses), but realized too late that I didn't have any non-pumpkin beer in the house. Beer is an essential ingredient in my chili, so I figured the worst thing that…

That's a good question. Last I'd heard was something about how Guinness expects a fee for officially recognizing a record, but I may very well have made that up in a fever dream.