Friday, October 17, 2014

Three Beautiful Things 10/16/14: Corgis Draw Attention, A Diaz Visit, Lousy Pumpkin Cider

1.  As I walk around Greenbelt Lake with the corgis, more and more people continue to be unimpressed with the disheveled guy with his unkempt mop of gray hair trying to lower his blood pressure and lose a little weight but are more and more casting approving glances and smiles and making complimentary comments about Maggie and Charly.  It's as it should be.

2.  The often too too quiet of my day in the apartment was broken when Olivia and David arrived at Nana and Grandpa's with Molly and Hiram and all kinds of joy erupted.   The grandkids love visiting us and there seems to be plenty for them to do whether it's dominoes or coloring or sitting at the table and eating mac and cheese and talking about what our favorite color is or our favorite animal.  Molly and Hiram were fun, too, and we all enjoyed (thank goodness) the rice salad I made with jasmine rice, eggplant sauteed in garlic and covered with fresh lemon juice as it cooled, roasted almonds, tomato, fresh basil leaves, kalamata olives, feta cheese, garlic, and a little olive oil.I   Molly made and brought a very tasty salad dressing that we all thought enhanced the already flavorful salad.  We had a great dinner.

3.  I love beer and cider.  But every once in a while I have to make an executive decision and face the facts that sometimes a brewery fails in its efforts to make a fermented beverage.  Such was the case today.  I purchased a sixer of Harpoon Pumpkin Cider and it was awful.  I went ahead and drank one bottle to see if maybe the taste would grow on me, but it didn't.  Then, as a family, we all tasted from another bottle -- sour faces all the way around.  I surrendered.  I poured five bottles of Harpoon Pumpkin Cider down the drain and declared it the lousiest cider -- and maybe the lousiest fermented beverage -- I'd ever tasted. I've never surrendered like this before.  I've enjoyed other Harpoon products, but this one was awful.

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