Dirkmonster

Celebrating the World Cup Final with Dutch food

To celebrate the appearance of The Netherlands in the World Cup Final, we decided to whip up some traditional Dutch fare.

How blessed am I to be married to Lyn? She would have made my Grandma Lettie Plantinga proud with an absolutely delicious batch of banket.  Banket, a Dutch almond pastry, was part of many special occasions at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 

Hungry children in Tennessee

Today I received an email from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.  It contained an appeal that should concern every one of us who are blessed to take our meals for granted:

Did you know that 1 in 5 children in Tennessee are at risk of hunger?  According to a new report on Child Food Insecurity released by Feeding America, 20 percent of Tennessee children under 18 have what experts call "food insecurity,” meaning they do not know when or where they will find their next meal.   Not only did Tennessee rank ninth in the country in the percentage of children under age 5 with food insecurity, our state jumped from seventh to fourth in the nation in the percentage of all children under the age of 18 with food insecurity.  You can eliminate childhood hunger in Tennessee by making a donation today!  Every dollar donated to Second Harvest provides 4 meals to hungry men, women and children.

As a parent of small children, it troubles me to think of how it's likely that some kids they may be playing with today might not be assured of a meal tonight.

Taste the Tennesseean.com

The Tennesseean has redesigned its web site in an effort to get more sticky through the use of social media tools.

As an example, there's a good thread going on over there today about proposed state legislation that would open up direct sales of wine to consumers in Tennessee.  On one side, you have folks who know the joys of wine tasting, and on the other liquor lobbyists who want to restrict sales to in state retailers.  Wow, that;s a tough call for me...not!

Do beer and electronics mix

I've been waiting for my opportunity to blog something about the 2008 CES in Vegas.  Today, I weigh in:

Cold beer is cool and so are fancy electronics, but together I am not so sure.  Consider the Krups/Heinekin BeerTender which makes its way to the US this spring.  According to Engadget, the device holds those 5 liter Heinekin mini kegs ($22).  It keeps it cold for 30 days and provides a fancy way to deliver the goods.  But considering the $400 price tag, let's consider whether it's worth it to the, um, serious beer drinker.

5 liters = about 170 ounces (sorry, whether it's dutch beer or from milwaukee we drink ounces)

170 ounces = just over fourteen 12 oz. beers

Reasonable people may debate whether 14 beers should last you 30 days, but if I have a little help from my friends, it may not last 30 minutes.   Hence, why not save your 4 hundy and use the plastic tap on top of the mini barrell?

Now, a kegerator. That's a different story.  I'll probably never have one but it's the real deal.

Office Chili Cook-Off

I was lucky enough to be a judge at our office chili cook-off today.  Lucky, of course, because I got to eat first.  Eleven or twelve different cups of chili - not one of them was bad.  All were tasty in their own way. It was more fun than I expected.

Mainly, it reminded me of the funniest Internet joke I ever read: The Texas Chili Cook-off.

Harris Teeter Raises Hopes, Then Crushes Them

My friend emails me today with the subject line: OMG

Knowing this had to be something big, I open it immediately and read news that was absolutely sudsy-licous.  Harris Teeter was carrying Yuengling beer.  Not since the Titans arrived in Music City has there been a more significant enhancement to Nashville's American profile.

For those of you unfamiliar with america's oldest brewery, Yuengling beer is produced in Pottsville, PA, a small town roughly between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.  To taste it is to re-define the American beer experience.  Black and Tan, Porter, Chesterfield Ale and my personal favorite: the golden Lager.

As their official web site states:

Since 1829, D.G. Yuengling and Son of Pottsville, PA, "America's Oldest Brewery" has produced a complete line of fine brewed products to statisfy the most discerning tastes of beer connoisseurs.

OK, so the locals call it "Pottsville Piss", but back to the point...

My college roommate introduced me to this beer while at American University and I've been passionate about it ever since.  I can't say why, but it means a lot to me. And I'm not alone.  Ironically (see the PP reference above), Yuengling has achieved a certain designer micro-brew status over the past 10 years or so.  So slowly it began to show up outside the Northeast.  And when it came to Alabama, I thought Tennessee could not be far behind. But I understand politics were involved.

But here was the news that it was in a cooler near me. About to leave work early to buy out the entire supply at Harris Teeter, I decided to call first to see if it was true. I wanted to document it here to let everyone know that God's beer had arrived.  And then Barbara at the Hillsboro Harris Teeter customer service desk crushed me in a quite matter of fact way.  You see, the Harris Teeter emails you get from their site are produced nationally in SC. They don't have anything to do with your neighborhood store. As a database marketer by trade, that offends my sensibilities - but "Holy Shit there's no Yuengling?" I cried.  "Uh, no sir." That was it.

That's a lot to handle at the end of a tough week.  I wonder how I'll manage to wind down if there is no Yuengling before the Alabama border.  I've never been one to settle, but in this case...