Where beer comes from

(On Facebook chat, today)

Courtney:

ask me any question

and maybe i'll know the answer

 

Heather:

how is beer made

be specific

(I was born to be an evil professor)

 

Courtney:

so first

you have barley (or sometimes wheat or corn or something like that)

and the barley is dry

so you gotta trick it into thinking it's time to grow

so you put it in warm water (i dont know the specific temperature)

and you basically steep it like tea

and that's called "mashing in"

then you strain the liquid from the solid

and the solid goes to farmers and shit

and the liquid is called wort

so you take the wort and you bring it to a boil

and then that's when you start adding hops & other spices

if you add hops at the beginning, it'll affect the taste

if you add it at the end, it'll affect aroma

and anywhere in the middle affects both

usually beer gets at least 3 additions of hops

then you cool it down and put in the yeast

and there's ale yeast which makes ales and lager yeast which makes lagers

and you let the beer ferment for 2-3 weeks for ales and 4-6 weeks for lagers

and fermenting is when the yeast eats the sugars in the beer (which is from the wort) and digests it into alcohol and CO2

and then you're like

SHIT

NOW I HAVE BEER

and that's how you make beer

 

Heather:

That was a very thorough answer

sadly it is wrong

beer is made by beer faeries

who live in the magical land of alcohol

-----

And that's where beer comes from.

 

I use this conversation (don't hate on me if it's not completely accurate, I haven't reviewed my notes from my Certified Beer Server course in a couple of days) as a segue (not to be confused with a Segway, which I have never ridden before, sadly) into an idea I've been toying with for awhile now, which is, namely, to put an end to this blog and launch a new one.  This blog has been good to me, but I have not always been good to it, so I think as I enter year two of post-grad life, it might be time to transition to a more food & beverage focused blog (and city and humor-focused, obviously, because I'm hilarious) that I will ideally more consistently update.

The only thing holding me back?  I have no idea what to call this thing.  Oh, and my standard phobia of anything which causes change in any way.  Typical.

But if and when this happens, I will certainly post a note on this blog, so all of you people (aka, my Facebook friends) will know what the dealio is.  I know that's really important to all of you.

Love, the greatest beer expert you know.

Hunger Games Mania

For some reason, it's been really hard to get out of bed this week.  Actually, I know what the reason is.  It's because I got little to no sleep last week on the cruise.  Oh well.

Anyways, when I was willing myself to get up for the gym this morning, I checked my email, and I saw THIS EMAIL:

HUNGER GAMES HUNGER GAMES HUNGER GAMES!  I would upload a screenshot of the email itself, but Google is being stupid and telling me I have exceeded my limit for photos on Picasa or something.  I do not have the time to deal with this right now, so I didn't.

Anyways, Andrea and I are getting Chipotle (!) and seeing the Hunger Games at 7:30 in Times Square, and we are way too excited for two women our age.  At least this isn't Twilight, or some terrible thing like that.

And then tomorrow, Reece and I are going to the ASPCA and adopting a kitten.  A kitten!  For me to love and cuddle with!  I have no idea what color or kind I will get, but as long as it isn't skittish, I'm happy.  Then Heather and Kristine are coming over to meet said kitten, eat dinner, and probably have a little wine.

Speaking of wine, Allie and I found a cute little Spanish tapas restaurant/wine bar on the Upper East Side called Pil Pil.  I had a really delicious Verdejo (from Rueda), and Allie had a Cabernet Sauvignon from I-don't-know-where.  For dinner, we had a bunch of things - mixed olives (really garlicky, but I don't like olives, so it was perfect for me), grilled portobello mushroom salad, bacon-wrapped stuffed dates, and leek & prawn croquettes.  All really yummy.  Then I tried Pinkberry for the first time, just a little baby cup of salted caramel froyo, but it was delish!

Pil Pil doesn't have a website, but here's the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/PIL-PIL-Spanish-Tapas-and-Wine-Bar/109001872469152

I hope all of your weekends are the bomb-dot-com.  I mean that without a bit of sarcasm.  NOT A BIT!

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Courtney

Post-grad Spring Break (it exists if you want it to!)

I'm back!  I made it!  My cruise ship didn't sink!  Oh, lucky me.

I told myself I'd go to bed at a decent hour tonight, and the night goes by fast when you work late, so I'm not going to blog about the trip just yet.  It was a fantastic time, I DIDN'T GET A SUNBURN!, and I didn't go completely broke in the process.  Oh!  And I met so many bros!  Bros from all different culture.  It was an analytical study of bros.  BUT MORE ON THAT LATER.  Becky will kill me if I don't put pictures up soon, since it generally takes me about three months to do so, so I'll share with you this awesome video that I took while I put up Facebook pics.

Basically, my fam and I were all, "this excursion sounds fun, we'll drive around some motor boats and then climb up a waterfall, so scenic."  And then we got in the boats and I swear I almost ran into our cruise ship because that boat was going so damn fast and the guide wouldn't let me slow down.  Just think about it.  Would you trust me piloting your speed boat?  Would you really??  I didn't think so.

Anyways, then we arrive at the Dunn's River Falls, which we realized is basically exactly what it sounds like - a cross between a raging river and a waterfall.  The stones build upon each other, so we were climbing up these humongous rocks as water came pounding down them, with only one another's hands to keep us up.  If this waterfall was in the U.S., you wouldn't be allowed to get anywhere near it.  But, well, since it's a bit hard to describe, here's a video.

CRAP I DON'T KNOW WHERE MY VIDEO WENT!  Sorry, guys.  I guess it's still on my camera.  But here are some pictures.

Yeah, that was a pretty big letdown, wasn't it?  Sorry.  I can't promise I won't do it again.  Love me anyways?

I'll have muchos things to share about St. Patty's Day, fake St. Patty's Day, this one time when I decided it would be a great idea to make a pizza and now I have a lot in my fridge even though I hate cold pizza, and other really interesting things about my life.  REALLY!  You should be quite excited.  But it's supes busy at work these days, what with four Grand Tastings coming up, so I hope to get them posted in a timely fashion.

PS: If I disappear and you're just clamoring for new entries, check out this band: www.ournameisfun.com.  You can listen to the entire album on their site, and I'm going to see them in June (anyone else going?  The tickets sold out in like 20 minutes, before anyone else I know could buy them.  New friends!).  I can already tell they're going to be my band of the season, if you will.

Enjoy the lovely weather!  Happy Spring!

Love,
Courtney

Notes from Laguardia airport

Today I am leaving for a week-long cruise through the Western Caribbean with my parents and the lovely Becky Dube, and I can't wait to enjoy the warm weather and lack of heavy coats. Although, it is going to be 60 to 70 degrees all week here in NYC, so like, that was timed well.

I'm not even on the plane yet, and I have learned several things in my vacation so far.

1) I'm LITERALLY the biggest procrastinator I know. I didn't start packing until 9pm last night. So, with the start of daylight savings time, plus a 7:20am flight, I got approximately 3 hours of sleep. It really might be a problem.

2) It takes 15 minutes to drive from my apartment to Laguardia.

3) So it really wasn't necessary to allow for 45 minutes plus to get here.

4) Getting through security with a dog is just as difficult as getting through security with a baby. Most importantly, I would just like you to know that there was a DOG in front of me in security. A dog!

5) Apparently airport food kiosks don't think it's necessary to have ample bagels on hand at 6am. This is NEW YORK, people, GIVE ME A BAGEL! And, to the lady in front of me who took the last three bagels? Yeah, we're in a fight.

6) There are so many spring breakers. So. Many. Spring breakers.

7) Especially ones from NYU.

8) Including four NYU theatre girls. But probably not the ones who go to Tisch.

9) The four of you. I would like you know that you are the definition of annoying. It's 6:30 in the morning. You are driving me insane.

10) And you other group of kids, no, I don't want to hear about what you did at Latitude last night.

11) I think I'm becoming old and bitter. If I wasn't on my phone I would post a photo of Jen and my trip to NOLA last year to show the difference.

12) This is probably why I need a vacation. VACATION! Watch out, by the day of my return (St. Patty's, of all days) I may have regressed to college spring break status.

So, I won't be in communicado with the world for the next six days or so. Don't be too sad about it. I promise to pay attention during the life boat drill. And trust me, if the boat starts sinking, I definitely, DEFINITELY won't be a hero. Looking out for number one, you guys!

Just kidding. A little.

Have an EXCELLENT week!

Love,
Courtney

Chat of the Day

Like I needed any further evidence.

Love,
Courtney

How to Repel a D-bag (according to people from Brooklyn)

I feel like every week, I start off like "Oh man it's Monday, this is totally the worst, I wish it was the weekend" and then one second later, it's Friday again, and I'm like, "How did it get to be Friday, this is awesomecrazy!"  And then the weekend goes by in an even faster blur, and I'm back at Monday all "Seriously, Monday again?  How is this possible?"  So this continues over and over again until pretty soon I'm like thirty-five, saying, "But you guys, I thought I was just a freshman in college?!?"

Anyways.

This is what's on my schedule for this weekend:

Tonight I'm going to go home, make dinner, watch Hulu, fight with myself about making myself look presentable, fight with myself to make me actually leave the house, dance to "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen for fifteen minutes straight, then meet up with ^^^ this kid (Frank) downtown because I haven't seen him in ages.  He's being all studious and pre-lawyer and stuff.

I'm seeing Heather too, but she's featured on this blog an awful lot, and I couldn't find a picture of the three of us.

And I'm actually technically crashing their dinner date, but you know, it's fine.  It happens.  It's cool.  Don't give me that look!

Then, if I'm feeling brave...

http://www.hobokenlepre-con.com/

I might partake in Broboken's first annual Lepre-con tomorrow.  Oh, lawsy mercy.

You see, I asked someone "Why does Hoboken have a St. Patty's bar hop when it's not St. Patty's?"

His response?  "Cuz they are awesome."

While that makes a lot of sense, and everything (no, it doesn't), but I Googled it and it turns out that the Lepre-con is happening this weekend because the "parade committee" just did this little thing called, you know, banning the city from having their annual St. Patrick's Day parade.  Now, why on earth would they do that?  Perhaps because of the excessive "lewd behavior, public drinking and other safety issues."

I totally wouldn't expect that at all of Broboken, so I'm sure that the festivities this weekend will be totally calm and uneventful and appropriate.  So yeah.  That might happen.

But one thing I'm definitely doing this weekend is seeing...

The Mimes and Mummers present Next to Normal!  I can't wait to see what these kids (along with Joshua Chase Gold, director of Mimes' Spelling Bee last year) have done with one of my favorite musicals.  And with the abundance of pre-show carb loading at Emilia's, it's sure to be a delicious night.

And it might look something like this:

(Circa 2009)

In case you didn't look closely enough, let me point out something important to you:

The original Mike Burns face, where it all began.

And then I'm headed over to the Greenwich Country Club for the first time with Jack and Jenny, but I'm not going to insert a picture here because I really want to finish writing this blog sometime soon.

Finally, here is one thing I'm not doing this weekend, but I found it pretty amusing and thought you all should know about it:

XXXXX FRIDAY, MARCH 2 XXXXX

Cat Face

A party where you draw a cat face on your face. Douchebags don’t like to draw cat faces on their faces so basically there will be no douchebags. The last one of these was amazing, sweaty fun till the lights went on. With DJs Mischief, Dirty Finger, Rpeg, Jess OK. Bad Kitty phone booth.

Public Assembly
70 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
9p-4a; $5 with a cat face, $20 without
(as listed on nonsensenyc)

So, there you go, kids.  If you don't want to hang out with douchebags, draw a cat face on your face.  One of life's greatest mysteries: solved.

Happy weekend!
Courtney

Email is really important, everybody

It's March.  Happy March!  How in the world did it get to be March?

I hope you all celebrated Leap Day with gusto, as we celebrated by dressing in yellow and blue (30 Rock!) and drinking rum cocktails concocted by Mia at 12th Street, to counteract our standard whiskey-or-gin choices.  The night before, I enjoyed a glass of Viognier at Bar Boulud and indulged in eating pork belly, beef cheek, french fries, and brussels sprouts (I love brussells sprouts, you guys).  Have to end February with a bang, everyone!

So I basically saved this blog for the end of the day and now my brain is too fried to write anything interesting, but I wanted to share with you all an example of important work conversations.  Sorry, Dad, for being the guinea pig on this one:

Emoticon 101, you guys.

Love,
Courtney