And Maifest Continues

We took a little one=hour boat ride during our Maifest festivities and it was a pleasant break from all that beer drinking.

Break, What Break


At least the scenery was a bit different.

Much Nicer On The Water


Oh, Wait, I Meant This Scenery


I am not sure who owns this boat, but it looked like it might be a fun ride.

Over The Bounding Main


And then it was back to the party, which was going strong.

Hardly A Seat To Be Had


All in all we had a very fun day. It clouded up a bit in the late afternoon and a few drops of rain did manage to fall, but not enough to dampen anyone's enthusiasm.

Maifest In May, When Else?

Yesterday started off as a nice sunny day here in New York and stayed that way until late afternoon, perfect weather for a Maifest. It was held at World Yacht, located at the edge of the Hudson River in Hell's Kitchen. We got there by taking the subway to Time's Square and then walkng down a somewhat desolate stretch of 40th Street before cutting over to an equally desolate stretch of 41st Steet.

Not Your Rich Uncle's Yacht Club


As you might imagine, this was a German themed affair and the Paulaner Brewery had a large presence. In fact, it was the only beer available. No problem, though, Bar Man likes their beers.

Obligatory Stupid Pictures




Bar Man, having no sense, had to cough up $20 bucks each for a couple of souvenir beer mugs complete with beer.

Like I Don't Have Enough Mugs Already


I Did It All For Her


I figure I can sell the mugs on Ebay in a few years and recoup my money. It is amazing the things you can sell on Ebay. Who would think anyone would bid on a Sony MD Walkman that I just put up for sale. Too bad the mugs weren't inscribed with "1st Annual," though, I am sure that would have increased their value dramatically.

In addition to the beer they also had some dynamite Brat's, both regular and chicken, with saurkraut and mustard.

Grillin' Up The Goods


Colorful, But Not Traditional


That one was just sitting on a table and looked colorful. Maybe the ketchup was for the French fries that they were also selling. Not sure why, though. Potato dumplings would have been more appropriate. Even better would have been spaetzle. Bar Man loves spaetzle, those little potato dumplings.

Nice German Dumplings


The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I ate the Brats with the appropriate condiments.

Is Saurkraut A Condiment?




The little girl in the above picture was kind of looking on in awe. That was The Mysterious Chinese Woman's third one. She said she really only had two and a half because, and I admit it, I took one bite out of two of hers. Still, pretty impressive. And they were just small bites.

Of course, no German festival would be complete without a German band, although this was a pretty scrawny one.

The Scrawny German Band


Note, by scrawny I meant inferior in size, not thin and bony. They did put out plenty of music, some of it was even German. Hell, add an accordian and almost anything sounds kind of German.

And, of course, you had the traditionally costumed dancers.

No Polka's, Though


A one hour cruise was also included. Well, not really. We paid extra for it. But that will wait until tomorrow.

Nobody I know got swept up in The Rapture yesterday, but I did have to grab The Mysterious Chinese Woman's leg to keep her from floating away.

I am not a big fan of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, but based upon a friend's recommendation I bought a bottle of Captain Morgan Private Stock and am sipping it for the first time as I write this.  Quite delicious.  I wouldn't think of mixing it with anything because it is perfect just as it is.  It has a vanilla carmel nose to it and has a bit of the same taste, especially at first.  Somewhat sweet on the tongue, but the rumminess does come through. Exceptionally smooth. My new favorite, for sipping. Appleton is stll my favorite for mixing with Meyer's running pretty much running neck and neck.  Captain Morgan's also makes Tattoo and Parrot Bay rum and is the second largest rum producer in the world behind Bacardi.

I Take It All Back

I take back everything bad that I have ever said about the iPad.  Playboy has just announced that it is putting every page of every issue online and formated specifically for the iPad.  Now I can finally finish The Sergeant and the Slave Girl.  The story was in the April 1957 issue and I had barely started it before my mother confiscated my magazine.



Heading out to Maifest on the Hudson today. Already have my tickets and beer coupons. Should be a great day. The weather is perfect and the beer should be cold. They will be crowning Miss German America and there will be music and dancers plus a one-hour beer cruise. German food as well and even a Maypole. Anticipating much fun and I will try to post about it tomorrow.

An iPad Blog

Okay, my first blog using my iPad. Took me awhile to figure out how to get my pictures from my camera to Photobucket. Didn't know you needed an iPad app to do it. And typing is, for me, a bit slow. But at least I can do it. Just a short blog, though.

Been rainy here forever so decided to watch Seance on a Wet Afternoon the other afternoon. Great old movie.

To offset the gloom of the day I decided to make some cheery drinks

My Cheery Drinks


And, of course, the Mysterious Chinese Woman is always cause for cheer.

Cheers


Okay, I did it. Very laborious, though. I certainly won't be leaving my notebook behind when I travel. At least not if I plan on blogging. Unless someone can show me how to do this more efficiently. Inserting the pictures from Photobucket is the most kludgey, but typing isn't too swift either. But, hey, I did it.

The Opener

As most of you who follow my blog must know by now, I head to Minnesota for the Fishing Opener every year.  In the thirty-one years that this group has been gathering I have only missed once, and that was due to a scheduling conflict where, not too surprisingly, a river cruise f rom Amsterdam to somewhere in Switzerland won out.

The Gang Reconvenes


Cubby, on the deck, was filling a pitcher with some of Bruce's homemade beer. An excellent crispy delight that he infused with ginger.  Jon and Bruce are comtemplating what to drink before the beer arrived and I think Jerry is pissing in the fireplace.

Well, it was a bit smaller gang this year. One of our members is undergoing chemo for lymphoma and another was busy with, of all things, work. But we raised a toast to those who weren't able to attend and, of course, to those of us who were here.

Cheers To The Gang Who Isn't All Here


As you may imagine, just from viewing our counter, this weekend isn't really about fishing. But it wasn't just about drinking either. We had some mighty good eats as well. I brought pastrami and corned beef from Katz's Deli and others brought some delicious stuff as well.

Jon brought a venison tongue and pickled pig parts along with some venison hard sausages.

Not For The Faint Of Heart


Jerry Digging Into The Sausages


You can also see several jars of pickled peppers that Bruce brought.  Bruce also brought up some delicious wine, some so-so champagne and a dynamite port, all of which he made.

Jon also brought venison liver that we had for breakfast one morning along with eggs benedict.

Breakfast Of Champions


Jon is the primary cook and he does an excellent job. Well, he could have put a bit more pastrami in the grilled Reubens.

Jon Enjoying The Fruits Of His Labor


I didn't get pictures of everything we ate. You don't suppose the abundance of alcholic beverages had anything to do with that, do you? Some of the stuff I missed included blood sausage and a white sausage, also courtesy of Jon, and a chocolate cheese cake from Cubby that was the richest cheese cake I have ever had. Pretty much like eating fudge with chocolate frosting.

I did get a shot of some venison ribs that Bruce brought up. He shot a fawn so the ribs were just perfect for grilling.

Bambi Ribs


Now before you get all upset about Bruce shooting Bambi, don't worry, he killed his mother too. No, No, I didn't mean that. And the ribs were delicious.

And don't worry, we didn't just stay inside all weekend, we also drank out on the deck.

Enjoying The Weather


Cubby couldn't stay for the entire weekend, he had to leave Sunday morning to, arrgh, go to work. But that wasn't all bad. He is part owner of a roofing company and business is booming. Another indicator that the economy is turning around. People put off repairing their roofs when times are bad and then when times get better the pent-up demand kicks in.

Bye Bye Cubby


Another sign that Cubby's business is booming, he brought up a bunch of company jackets, sweat shirts, and tee shirts for us. Of course his company just changed its name and these are the old ones. Still, it was the first time in over thirty years that we ever got anything from him. I mean Bruce was a teacher and he would sometimes bring up a pupil or two.

Sunday was another nice day, so rather than just sit inside the cabin we headed to our favorite local watering hole.

The Blue Max


The Pared Down Gang


Initially our bartender, Holly, was a bit shy about having her picture taken.

Hiding Holly


But Bar Man, silver tongued devil that I am, was finally able to persuade her to pose.

Bar Man And Holly


I guess she had to wait until she was off duty and changed out of her work clothes.  That is my brother behind us.  He stopped by on Sunday for a short visit.  He rode his bike up from Brainerd, where he lives.

And that is it, another great get-away with the boys. Already looking forward to next year when, I hope, we will have more of our full contingent.

Rest In Peace

Good-bye to one of the good guys.

Hammerin' Harmon Killebrew aka Killer

Clearing Up Some Confusion

In my last post I made reference to eating mussels at Bar Tabac, no matter what Anthony Bourdain says.  I did not mean to imply that Anthony Bourdain ever said anything bad about Bar Tabac.  It was in reference to an opinion that he has stated regarding eating mussels in restaurants in general.

In an article titled Things To Avoid When Eating In Restaurants he said:

"I don't eat mussels in restaurants unless I know the chef, or have seen, with my own eyes, how they store and hold their mussels for service. I love mussels. But, in my experience, most cooks are less than scrupulous in their handling of them. It takes only a single bad mussel, one treacherous little guy hidden among an otherwise impeccable group... If I'm hungry for mussels, I'll pick the good-looking ones out of your order."

You can read the article by clicking on this link:

Beware The Mussels

The article is an extract from his book  Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly.

Thank you Splunge for pointing out the possible confusion in my post.

Cinco de Mayo And Mussels

As promised, the Mysterious Chinese Woman and headed to Bar Tabac to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  Kind of a tradition since we got such rude service trying to celebrate it at the nearby Pacifico several years back.  Bar Man has a long memory.  It takes a long time for me to return to a place where I, and others, received rude service.  As you may recall, on that occasion not only did the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I leave but four others didn't even bother to sit down because they were treated so rudely.  That was four years ago, and I haven't been back since.  Maybe one nice day I will give it another shot.  In all liklihood that same guy isn't there anymore.

But I like Bar Tabac anyway.  Just like a little corner of Paris in my own neighborhood.

As we were heading to Bar Tabac we passed a new place that has just opened.  I hadn't been in there yet so I thought I would pop in for a pre-luncheon beer.

Two8Two


As you might have guessed, you can find Two8Two at 282 Court Street. What is it with the run of restaurants incorporating their address in their names?

Alas, all we could do was gaze in wistfully because it doesn't open until 5:00 PM.

So Close, Yet So Far


Now, if they don't want to open until five in the afternoon, that is their business. Not a particularly good idea, in my opinion. They are located in a bit of a no-man's land, across from our local jail and next to a bail bond place. They are right around the corner from the lively Smith Street and diagonally across from a fairly new boutique hotel. I would think they would try to encourage as much business as they could from people who might just be walking by. But I really think you shouldn't put your little chalkboard sign out on the sidewalk unless you are actually open for business. That is just the protocol.

I Know, It Says Open At 5pm, But Still


Bar Man has lots of rules. but this is just a minor infraction so I still pop in and see what the place is like one day soon.

No big deal, though. We just continued on our way to our primary destination.

Bar Tabac


I hadn't been here in a while so I was glad to see that nothing had changed except some of the waitstaff. I decided to have a Ricard as an apertif today instead of having it after dinner like I usually do.

Ricard And Water Over Ice, Refreshing


We started off our meal with some Salmon Brochette. Kind of like little kebabs, and quite tasty. The Salmon was done just right, nice and moist.

Lip Smacking Good, The Brochette As Well


But the real reason we come here is to get the Les Moules "Bar Tabac" Provençales. A big bowl of mussels served in a white wine and butter sauce with plenty of bread to sop up the juice and a side of really great French fries.

The Mussels From, Not Brussels, Canada


Good eating, no matter what Bourdain says.

Although I usually eat my fries with Catsup or Ketchup (both terms derived from the Chinese ke-tsiap, a pickled fish sauce) I eat them with the homemade mayonnaise when I am here. You should try it, really good.

We split a bottle of a chilled white wine and and had a mighty fine and relatively inexpensive lunceon.

Bar Tabac, just one more reason that I love my neighborhood.

A Nice Little Italian Restaurant

As I already mentioned, after seeing the Black Coffee Blues Band the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I headed to Frankie's 457 for a little nosh.

Frankies 457


As I said before, this is kind of a small place, very friendly, and with a homey feel to it. And I don't know why they don't have an apostrophe in their name. This place is at 457 Court Street kind of in my neighborhood and they have another one in Manhattan at 17 Clinton Street and I bet you can guess what that one is called.  Now pay attention, that is Clinton Street in Manhattan, not Clinton Street here in Brooklyn.

There was a short wait for a table inside and it was a bit too chilly for me to want to sit outside so I forced myself to have a beer at the bar.

Someone Has To Do It


The beer I had was an Edelstoff from the Augustiner Brewery in Munich, Germany. This brewery has a history that goes back to 1328 although, obviously, it has changed a bit since then. The Edelstoff is brewed for export only because, as you may know, the United States requires stuff to be added to beer that would violate the Bavarian "Reinheitsgebot" (Purity Law) of 1516. It always amazes me that European's manage to survive quite well drinking beers and eating foods that, by law, are not allowed in the United States. Ah, but all those preservatives and stuff have to be good for us, Right?

Anyway, the Edelstoff is a crisp and sparkly brew that is very refreshing. It is a decent 5.6% ABV and downing a six-pack of this on a hot summer day would be no problem at all. But it was a chilly spring day so I only had one.

More Of A Wine Day




I generally prefer a red wine but the Mysterious Chinese Woman likes the white. I bought a whole bottle of the red because I wanted a Chianti and, surprisingly, they didn't Chianti by the glass. They do let you take the unfinished bottle home with you, as almost every restaurant does.

We weren't overly hungry so we just ordered appetizers. An octopus salad for the Mysterious Chinese Woman and a cold cut sampler and cheese plate for me.

Just A Little Nosh


Although it was too chilly for me outside, there were some hardier souls eating out in the nice looking area.

They Were Probably Drinking Hard Stuff


They had a grill outside but I am not sure how often it gets used. I hasn't been used in awhile, that's for sure.

I Could Fix This Up


There is another indoor area that is separate from and larger than the main restaurant, but it wasn't being used today. Maybe it is for private parties or something.

Perhaps A Party Room


I did bring most of the wine home but it didn't make it through the evening. Hey, once it is open, you know it won't keep. I also took home some of the cold cuts and cheese with some bread and had that for a snack the next day.

I will have to head back to this place again in the not too distant future. There are so many good restaurants that are closer to where I live, Queen being one, that I tend to get lazy and don't wander too far. This one is worth the walk, though.