Shamed…

Alright, so I am horrible about writing on my own blog with any sort of regularity – this much I admit. I am no Sara May, nor a Dave Hoffmann (if that’s a reference that doesn’t register on your social sphere, they blog a lot), but I do try to stay on top of most things. My blog has not been among “most things” recently. I have been blogging for the Ithaca & Tompkins County Conventions & Visitors Bureau recently (visitithaca.wordpress.com – if you need a quick fix), but the summer has been chock-a-bock full of this, that, and the other thing, so blogging has fallen by the wayside.

So, let me try to catch you up on my life. I have made no cheese recently, as the thought of trying to keep milk at a constant temperature for upwards of an hour and a half has not been the most appealing, so I have been avoiding. No worries, though – I shall be starting up again soon, I assure you. I’ve brewed two batches of beer – one is tentatively being called “Liberty Lager” as it was brewed around the 4th of July and is a honey-ginger lager. I tasted it on my birthday (August 2, for those of you keeping track) and it was still awfully harsh (as it had only bottle-aged for a scant four days….and generally you want it in there for at least ten days). Also in the works is a Steam Beer, which hopefully turns out as well as the one I brewed for my friend’s birthday a few months back (and it was my best beer to date….well, I like my wicked dark beers, but they’re not for every palate).

For my birthday, my lovin’ wife purchased me a book. Woo-hoo, I’m sure you’re all thinking, but this book is a special kind of book, which will help me become an even more eccentric foodie – it’s a book of charcuterie. CharWHAT? Charcuterie is a French term (I know, you can almost hear my nose start to rise further into the air) that basically boils down to the process of preserving meats through salting, curing, smoking, etc. Yes, folks, that’s right…I’m going to start making sausage and jerky and other awesome nosh. I’m sure it’ll go great with Weas’s bread and my cheese, washed down with wicked good beer.

I’m quickly becoming strongly enamored of the “locavore” movement and its related movements (Slow Food, etc.), as it really is a lot of fun to grow and prepare your own food, or at the least buy it from somewhere near your house. The quality of the food is amazing, especially when compared with the produce at some of the supermarkets; granted, many larger supermarkets are offering locally-grown (and often organic) produce, which helps the local economy and provides us, the consumers, with much higher-quality goods. It’s a win-win! I don’t want to toot my own horn (at least not too often – that leads to chafing), but I wrote quite a bit about this subject on my visitithaca blog (which is referenced above)…so I won’t spend much time or space here…

So, in a completely non sequitur turn, I’d like to thank the general populace of Cortland County for bringing rudeness back and elevating it to the point of being an art form. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve experienced as much rudeness, both in number of rude behaviors and the depth of rudeness contained thereing, as I have in the past month or so in Cortland. I won’t bore you with the details, as I’m sure everyone in the world has their fair share of stories about this a-hole or that one, but I must share one of the most frequent occurrences in my life. The scene is, more often than not, a parking lot of a large store such as Tops or Wal-Mart (yes, despite my somewhat “crunchy” life view, I still go to Wal-mart). I pride myself on being a good, steady driver; yes, I get angry; yes, I make mistakes; yes, I understand that everyone does and that even the best driver have bad days. However, my issue happens so frequently that it’s beyond a mere bad day – it’s reaching epidemic. What’s so under my skin? People who drive across parking spaces. “That’s it?” you may inquire? Yes, that’s it. Let me explain why: First, it’s not that much farther to proceed to the end of the row you’re in and make a ninety degree turn toward the exit. Second, generally speaking, the people cutting across the lots are going upwards of twenty miles an hour, which is just plain ridiculous in a parking lot (I know for a fact that you didn’t buy a freshly-removed heart and are on your way to an important surgery…at least that you did not buy a heart there…). And finally, and most importantly, many of the a-holes of which I speak have the audacity to look at me incredulously (“How DARE you follow the rules of the parking lot!?!?”) and/or gesture (rudely) and/or make horribly pissed-off faces at me. My favorite drivers are those that slam on the brakes, coming to a screeching halt right next to my car in order to “teach me a lesson”….for all of them, I just smile and say “Fuck you” in my head…and off I go to find my space.

Do I honestly think that my blog is going to change the driving habits of the general populace of Cortland? No. Mainly because I’m fairly certain that those to whom my comments are directed cannot read, or if they can they probably wouldn’t bother to read something as long as this blog entry – they’ve obviously got someplace to be.

On a lighter note, my birthday party was a success – it rained, it thundered, there was sun, gardens were toured, meat was charred, dishes were passed, good friends were all around and I could not, really, have asked for much more (though the charcuterie book was a nice topper on the day). The next big thing on my agenda is a four-day weekend coming up next week, during which time my wife and I will be doing some “agri-tourism” and taking part in the area’s Farm Trail weekend, which allows you to visit local farms and sample some of their offerings (we’re geeks, okay, it’s cool). The weekend after, my wife and I go our separate ways for a few days – she is off to Philadelphia with an old friend, for cheese steaks, beads and good times, whereas I am off to Buffalo with a couple of friends to visit Dave (also previously referenced above) and to enjoy some quality homebrews (as he also has a couple of batches in the works).

It seems like July lingered quickly this year, or slowly sped by…not sure which is more appropriate. But here is is, the second week of August, and I’m already staring down the barrel of another busy school year (and yes, they’re all busy). I’m hoping to keep up with my blog this year, and share my experiences with you, my favorite people.

Did that last bit sound like shameless flattery? Good.

~ by mholl on August 8, 2008.