B Weiser » Uncategorized http://www.bweiser.com Student of food and behavior, father, husband and sucker for the siren song of the outdoors. Sometimes I write about that. Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:22:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.25 Life and times of a unintended feline http://www.bweiser.com/2012/11/life-and-times-of-a-unintended-feline/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/11/life-and-times-of-a-unintended-feline/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:22:53 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=205 Continue reading ]]> Ah, Gin, 17 years is a pretty good run. I’ll do my best to hang on to some of the funnies you did (mostly because I am going to cheat and list them here because I am under no delusions that my memory is going to get better as I age). I’m sure your life isn’t unlike most other cats but it’s the one that I was there for.

You had the misfortune of getting hit by a vehicle when young but thanks to that peg-legged, blond haired rogue pup that we all knew as Dusty, you made it through when he drug you up to the house and laid with you in the cold until I found you and rushed you to the vet for a very expensive weekend emergency vet bill.  Thankfully, your good luck extended into the evening because I had no money to pay that vet bill.  So I did what every self-respecting pet owner does:  I went to play poker. I hoped for the best as I channeled ‘I’m playing for the cat fund’ all night and caught an unbelievable run of cards.  Thank you to Mitch, Meltz, Will, Len, Johnny Benz, Mills Lane and anyone else who may have been so foolhardy as to sit down at a table with a guy that clearly had Karma on his side of the deck.

I’ll never forget having to administer laxatives to you and the unique experience of having to literally squeeze the s___ out of you….but that part, I would be OK forgetting.

When you recovered, you paid that pup back for his sentinel behavior by saddling him up and riding on his neck when you were feeling frisky or by trying to wrestle with him….apparently oblivious to the fact that he had 70 pounds on you and routinely killed groundhogs with a flick of his head (what the heck were you thinking?).  Tell him we all say hello when you run into him in Four Legged Afterlife Land.

You had that knack for knowing that the owner of the house where you resided when you were young was not the biggest of cat fans.  You did however, figure out that he was also not fond of mice and other rodents either (especially when they ate his seeds in the greenhouse) so you would line up your evenings worth of bounty at the back step for him to review in the morning before taking them away to dispose of them in whatever manner you did thus garnering “at least you earn your keep” status.

You had such a lust for adventure (or at least that is what I had to assume when we received the phone call from a greenhouse wholesale customer from Maryland stating that he had received you as a parting gift in the back of his truck and that you were quite content with your new residence but he would rather not have another mouth to feed)

You were not exactly at your most warm and fuzzy when anyone intruded into the back porch which you mistakenly had assumed was for your roaming only.  We all bear the scars of your ‘playful’ swipes (playful = full on bear hug of leg or arm with claws and fangs out).  It was obviously poor planning on our part that we placed the laundry facilities in that same area.  Lesson learned.

You made a tremendous leap of faith by pulling up your comfy roots at the farm and moving with me to West Chester and apartment living, where you kept me on my toes by escaping continuously and graciously finding a nearby tree in which to reside until rescued.  You also survived numerous keg-driven frivolity and the occasional roomate who thought it would be a good idea to share their herbaceous goodness with you.

You carried on jumping from life station to life station, town to town, state to state with me, graciously accepting all of the new additions with a smile on your face.  The leg humping demon dog, the floppy eared cat-harasser, that frail Jersey kitten that has since outgrown you by at least two times and abused you on a playful, daily basis, one curly headed toddler who didn’t understand that your aging body was fragile and lastly a tiny baby boy that thankfully you will not have to endure any tail-pulling from.

So I’ll just say thanks.  For all of those memories, and the purring belly naps of our long ago yesteryear, and for a lifetime of faithfully reminding me when the water dish was empty and for making each and every one of your 9 lives a memorable one.

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Follow up point. http://www.bweiser.com/2012/08/follow-up-point/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/08/follow-up-point/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:25:22 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=190 Continue reading ]]> How Doctors Die

(first viewed by me at Josh’s litany-of-good-info site)

 

and the extrapolation

 

Doctors Really DO Die Differently

 

I encourage everyone to read the POLST link and keep it in mind for yourself and you loved ones.

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!! :-)

 

 

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Not for the under PG 13 crowd (parents take note please) http://www.bweiser.com/2012/08/not-for-the-under-pg-13-crowd-parents-take-note-please/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/08/not-for-the-under-pg-13-crowd-parents-take-note-please/#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2012 01:32:23 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=181 Continue reading ]]> Ever smoke?

If so, ever had the experience of pinching off the end with your thumb and forefinger to flick out the lit part for extinguishing?

Have you ever seen that emulated in life?

Friends and family of cancer victims have.  Brutal, unfair extinguishing of life that happens quickly and with life still left in the fuel giver.

But have you ever had to be a fly on the wall for the process?  Here’s how that goes for some:

-Cancer victim is identified. Cancer victim fights the first time around. Cancer victim undergoes physiological change, waves of vomiting, weakness, lethargy and a host of other unsavory symptoms.  Maybe cancer victim wins…..maybe.

-Cancer victim either lives in fear OR makes the best out of the next 4-5 years of their extended life. Intestinal fortitude in play here….

-Cancer victim has an “Oh [bleep], that isn’t right, moment that sends them to the doctor.  Hoping for the best, not wanting to alarm, knowing damn well they are lying to themselves and everyone else. (But we are conditioned to maintain the lie just the same.  Hope dealers are at times no more savory than the guy that sells heroin in a local high school…)

-Cancer victim undergoes a barrage of excellent treatments that make one feel nauseus, tired, weak, loopy and experimental. (Hope dealers and their cheerleaders [pharmaceutical companies] have their claws in at this point)

-Cancer victims quantity of life is increased…maybe. Quality can only be judged by the eye of the beholder or pursuer of sed life.

-Cancer victim gets “the news”.

-Cancer victim: “What the hell am I going to do with X amount of time?”

(Here’s where it gets to the point where you have to close your eyes and imagine yourself in the shoes of the cancer victim. X amount of time is short. Really [bleeping] short. Imagine less-than-a-month short)

And this is the conversation that happens:

“I’m okay to die, but it is surreal that I am here having this conversation and a few weeks from now…………..”

“I want to know what is going to happen to me.” So they ask a medical professional. “Get Roxanol, get a fan, forgo the O2, don’t be a hero, take the drugs, say what you want to say to people now.  NOW.  Today.  Right [BLEEPING] now.”

*poof*

Life extinguished.

Dying with grace is an acquired skill…….

 

 

 

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Following up on a promise to self (Vol. 1) http://www.bweiser.com/2012/02/following-up-on-a-promise-to-self-vol-1/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/02/following-up-on-a-promise-to-self-vol-1/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:44:49 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=138 Continue reading ]]> I have chastised myself in these digitized words before for losing my chops/creativity/vigor for talking food and cooking. This is my choppy way of re-visiting that.

I may just post menu items. I may spill a few words about them. I may talk a little technique.  No rules.  Just a mess of food.  I reserve the right to edit on a whim.

I’m fascinated with the Curnosky meaning behind “Make food simple and let them taste for what they are”.  This can be interpreted a few different ways as extravagantly as the former El Bulli’s pea spheres (liquefied essence of sweet pea formed in amalgamate into….you guessed it, a pea) or as simple as doing as little as possible with a food in its raw form and letting it stand on its own virtues.  An oversimplified example of this would possibly be unpasteurized apple cider.  Press, drink, colon cleanse.  The essence of the apple.

I think as a group, that the Nordic countries are embracing this and I’m sure it is no coincidence that some of the best new chefs in the world are cutting their teeth in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, etc.  Wondering how much the short growing season plays a part in the sense of urgency of capturing the essence of something fresh when its availability is fleeting?  And by contrast, how utilized is the preserving grace of the bracing cold?

Some things I’ve seen from them:

photo courtesy of Per Styregard

Lightly poached potato (still crunchy, perhaps?) with seaweed sauce and pecorino cream.  How often to we take the lowly potato for granted and boil the jeepers out of it or fry crunch out of it.  I remember as a farm kid slicing fresh potatoes, salting and eating.  Preserve the essence of the item.
An excerpt from this link at Food&Wine

“A meal at Noma is a flurry of precisely composed dishes that incorporate both familiar and wholly exotic ingredients, like musk ox or wild plants (in warm months, the cooks make frequent expeditions to the woods and the beaches, sometimes foraging with a naturalist for herbs and seaweeds). Redzepi says, “The taste of Noma is light, subtle. Clean. The flavor shouldn’t hit you in the face—you have to taste the food and find the flavors yourself.”

(NOMA is on my bucket list of eating adventures should anyone want to get an early jump on Christmas gifts. No pressure.)

Fresh fish, smoked fish, red fish, raw fish.  Nettles, seaweed, juniper and other aromatic berries not indigenous to North America. Schnapps, dairy (cow, goat, sheep), reindeer, musk ox.  This are the flavor profiles that this group working with

Shaved octopus in broth

This is a dish from NOMA.  So simple.

 

 

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The Art of the Floating Grandma http://www.bweiser.com/2012/01/the-art-of-the-floating-grandma/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/01/the-art-of-the-floating-grandma/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:38:45 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=129 Continue reading ]]> My wife and I ran into a scheduling problem.  Part of this problem is of our own doing because we have not cultivated a babysitting group, but at the same time as this is our first child, we aren’t apt to let her spend a lot of time:  1. Out of our sight 2. With just anyone.  Our problem is that H has to work on a certain day earlier than I can be home to do the great juggling act known as the ‘daughter-duty-swap’  (Here’swhatsheate.Here’swhenshepooped.Here’sherbathschedule.Here’swhenthedogspooped…. whooosh!..out the door)…. (oh,anddon’tforgetthelaundry!)

This problem seems to have given us a foothold in the birth of the ‘Floating Grandparent’ phenomenon.  The ‘Floating Grandparent’ premise holds that: 1. They do not hold full time employment OR their work schedule permits them the flexibility to be at your semi-beckoned call.  Part of this reliability may be due to some sort of job loss or suspension due to our current economic pace.  (See:Blessing in disguise)  2. They also must juggle the needs of all your siblings children because YOU are not the only one who wants to take advantage of this über [crap, Josh showed me how to do that umlaut thing] cheap, über flexible childcare force. 3. They honor your expectations for the child.  Bedtimes, teeth-brushing, no ice cream as a meal staple, non-candy eating forays are reasonably honored (this is in direct contrast to the ‘I’m a grandparent and I get to do whatever I damn well please’ hypothesis that gets presented in many the court of family rules/dispute jurisdiction).

I am of the opinion that this relationship needs to be nurtured so a couple of guidelines are probably in order:

1. Don’t overuse the resource.  The more the Floating Grandparent needs to be with your child/children, the less likely it is that you can hide the tantrums, tears and tirades from them, thus leading to a mild hesitancy when asked to assist.

2. Make it at least budget neutral for them.  Are they going to take your money as a wage? No.  Buy a gas card, dinner or send some pictures from time to time.  Maybe crochet them a nice afghan to wrap around their shoulders as they approach their Golden Years (that one hurt, didn’t it Baby Boomers? :-) )

3.  Do things with them.  Odds are, they just don’t want to watch your child/children alone with a warmed up pizza and the latest re-run of Sesame Street.  They probably wouldn’t mind a little time of the full family dynamic as well.

4.  Say Thank You.  Always.  Never take it for granted.

 

After putting all this on paper, I think it is time to start working on my side business ‘Granny Express; A Full Service, On-Call Child care team whose numbers of years of experience is exponentially more than yours or mine”

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Note to Self #1 http://www.bweiser.com/2012/01/note-to-self-1/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/01/note-to-self-1/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:05:37 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=127 If you are going to write something that people to see, spelling is important.  Grammar is probably just as important but tends to self-regulate a little better.  Work on that.

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RIP Dell Inspiron circa New Jersey to PA transition http://www.bweiser.com/2012/01/rip-enspiron-circa-new-jersy-to-pa-transition/ http://www.bweiser.com/2012/01/rip-enspiron-circa-new-jersy-to-pa-transition/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:20:50 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=97 Continue reading ]]> It started with a virus a couple of years ago. Then another about in about a years time. Then…another. The technology lifespan is brutally short these days. Home computers have become items that you need to incorporate into your personal capital budget every 5 years….no……3….no…..well, I guess how ever long you feel you want to keep banging your head against the security problem (not that it is 100% with a new box but it puts you moderately less behind the curve).

Maybe the issue isn’t that it is time for a new technology set.  Maybe it is time for the next transition…..

 

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Knowing your audience 101 http://www.bweiser.com/2011/12/knowing-your-audience-101/ http://www.bweiser.com/2011/12/knowing-your-audience-101/#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:56:49 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=99 Continue reading ]]> Christmas is a lot of things for many people.  For some a celebration of faith.  For some a celebration of family.  For others, it is a unique gift giving bonanza that has nothing to do with the value of the gift but better yet, the analysis of how well your gift giver knows you, the receiver.

Case in point.  As you may or may not know, I have a few specific interests that provide a wealth of excellent gift opportunities (backpacking, food, sports, etc).  However, I am also a mercenary of thrift shopping so if I find what I want at a price that is exceptionally soft, I will typically spare the rest of you the agony of paying full retail and I will just buy it for myself (Like how I just took the one thing that is really aggravating about me and made it a personal act of heroism for your benefit? :-)  SO what does one purchase for the guy who may go out and purchase your home run of an idea for himself?  How about some of these:

Sleeve of Madagascarian (sp?) spices

 Or perhaps a few of these:

Schnapps (not the sugary kind)

 Or perhaps you go completely off the grid and go for something like this:  Everlast Heavy Bag Gloves

Nothing says Christmas like a small satchel of spices from Madagascar, Bitter Herb Schnapps from Sweden and some good old-fashioned whuppin’ mitts. 

Odds are, that 99% of you who might read this probably could not care less for any of these items but I LOVE them!  They are fascinating, challenging, aromatic and story-telling all at the same time.  And it shows that my loved ones have the pulse of who I am and what I would like…and that goes beyond just these few extreme examples.  For instance, I know I can expect coffee for Christmas.  The lack of surprise does not detract from it at all because it is always something that is nicer or more flavorful than anything I would get for myself (and shoving your face in a bag of pent-up coffee aroma is never a bad way to start your day either…see?  you just imagined it, didn’t you?  Invigorating).

Hooray, Brad!  Your friends/family/co-workers know you so well!  You are to be commended!!  (Now….what is your point, you self-absorbed literary midget?)

My point?  My point is that I am not as good at this excercise as the rest of you and I wonder why?  I typically form narratives in my head about the people for whom I will be getting a gift and and I puchase/knit/can/dehydrate the item or items that fit the narrative.  Ask my wife sometime about my marriage proposal.  In my head, it was a sweeping adventure leading to a fantastic tipping point.  In reality, with out all the imaginative cues and my personal vision (which can be difficult to create with the spoken word) it didn’t translate as dramatically to her (I still think it was awesome).  Am I too caught up in imagination to translate to reality?  That doesn’t sound like me.  Too out of touch with gift giving to be good at it?  Too focused on the rush of the season?  Maybe and maybe….maybe not.  Going to have to look into it. 

 

Hello newly discovered New Years Resolution!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Roller Coasterering Through Life http://www.bweiser.com/2011/12/roller-coasterering-through-life/ http://www.bweiser.com/2011/12/roller-coasterering-through-life/#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:09:50 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=92 Continue reading ]]> Ah, emotions. Depending on your viewpoint they can single handedly catapult you into a euphoric, smiling stupor or pull you into an insurmountable abyss or perhaps unearth long suppressed agonies that are best left in their soulful grave. Sometimes they just shake you from your coma and you come out in a field of Alaskan paintbrush flowers as you inhale deeply and gaze upon the captivating landscape and feel renewed. Whichever way you view it, it is unlikely that you go through your entire life in a hummed monotone and when you vary from that centering pitch emotionally, odds are there are long lasting implications.

The trick is whether you want this variance to be seen as creating scars that will be eternal reminders of the roller coaster or as healing salve that that steels your resolve and gives you a whole new foundation of perspective.  I think we all come pre-programmed with the ability to channel our life experiences in a constructive way BUT it comes password protected.  We have to unlock it in order to be able to use it.  How the heck do we do that?  Constant trial and error over a series of life experiences?  Is there an instruction manual?  Medically prescribed flat-lining?  Refusal to adapt? There is no set answer.  It’s part of the challenge of being human.  YOU have to figure it out.  No one can tell you.  They can tell you their experience and it may help guide you to the answer but ultimately the answer has to be yours and you have to own it and be responsible for the collateral implications.  They are rhetorical questions (or at least questions that are maybe best left to be answered in our own head or with those whom we are very trusting of):  How do we cope with the down?  How do we embrace the up?  How do we temper both so that the regression to the mean isn’t so precipitous that it requires a trip to a decompression chamber?….

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Some times you get what you want….often, you get what is intended http://www.bweiser.com/2011/12/some-times-you-get-what-you-want-often-you-get-what-is-intended/ http://www.bweiser.com/2011/12/some-times-you-get-what-you-want-often-you-get-what-is-intended/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:34:18 +0000 http://www.bweiser.com/?p=87 Continue reading ]]> B and H took a trip. We wanted to see the view from the ‘grass is greener’ side of the fence. We fully expected the grass to not be so ‘greener’ but we intended to find out, just the same. Turns out, in upstate New York, there is no grass left in mid November. Live and learn.

It also turns out that as we should now come to expect, that the unexpected encounters we experience along the way tend to be the most rewarding and enriching.

Background: We knew Ithaca and Albany to be moderately to slightly (respectively) more Eco-conscious, easy-to-get-to-the-woods versions of where we reside currently. We thought we should explore them further as a potential fit for our familial years….hence the pilgrimage.

While Ithaca and the surrounding wine areas were both laid back and welcoming, the substance of the visit materialized in the dreams and the people. On the dream side, we have Dano’s, a restaurant that brings a vision of Austrian/Hungarian wine garden (search the Austrian word for wine garden).  With its homemade wursts with grape must mustard and celeriac salads, we were right at home with the small bites philosophy of our European friends.  Then they dropped the bomb on us….the stuffing bomb.  On the menu it is designated as Knoedel (assuming I knew how to put the ‘dot dot’ over that first ‘o’ in the word.  It is a baseball sized ball of sourdough bread stuffing with all the aromatics that Grandma put in hers, but is is served in a soup bowl with a healthy ladle of a rich, brown duck stock that was transcendent.  The whole reason for going to Dano’s was that our first choice of Wagner Brewing and Winery (or winery and brewing if you exclude our predetermined preference) had their restaurant CLOSED for the offseason.  Win for us.  Dano’s was enlightening.

A short drive to Ithaca, a speedy check in to the hotel, and we were ready to roam the downtown with one mission in sight.  Brussel Sprouts.

Yes.  I said Brussel sprouts.  Roasted in olive oil with garlic to a nutty brown crust and topped with toasted pecans.  This is what you will find at Just a Taste along with fluffy salt cod fritters, assorted olive plates and almost any Spanish Tapas gone North Eastern USA that you could wish for.  A nice wine bar with wines by the carafe or sherries by the flight is also welcome.

Perhaps the best example of the unexpected came at a local sports-based watering hole in Saratoga Springs.  We had been inundated with Penn State coverage  of the Sandusky/JoePa issues for the entire trip and determined that regardless of where we were, we needed to find a place to view the game and the extra curricular items that came along for the ride.  We scoped out a nice sports bar close to our hotel (by nice, I mean it had 50 TV’s so we were bound to get some coverage without fighting for it) and sauntered up to the bar.  After having just eaten Hattie’s Fried Chicken on a whim, we asked for nothing more than a hummus platter, a few rounds of Guinness and some good company.  The game was good, the company was better.  We happened to be sitting beside a gentleman who I will not call by name only because I do not have his permission to do so and not that he would not grant it.  Let’s just say he has ties to an athletic department to a collegiate program in the North East and is also a parent so he had excellent insights into both the game and the surrounding story.  He also was more than gracious with his time and his ear to listen and lend perspective.

All the rest is pretty mundane.  We had some nice food, some decent accommodations (minus the 4am gun shot wake up calls) and a beautiful drive by of the Occupy Albany encampment.

It wasn’t the trip that stands out.  It was the experiences….

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