CoyoteSwamp

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

$136k for a Ford F-150?

It seems so, as seen here.

Have we gotten to Wretched Excess yet?

Whatever happened to the used $2k crap hauler? Oh yeah, there's one right here. Hey it runs great, hauls everything a pickup reasonably should, has a V8, and can chirp the tires on command. Is there anything more that a pickup should deliver?

As a matter of fact, yes. However, I should have the CB installed as soon as I sort out the antenna mount.

And on that note... I only see the AM/FM antenna on that thing. $136k and the truck doesn't even come with a CB?

Last week rye, this week hops.

Mecha Hopzilla (no shit; who makes up these names?):

vs. Southern Hops'pitality:

Open a Hopzilla and it's all "whew, I can smell that stuff!" It's hoppy as all get out. It's good, but it's like... I'm expecting one last zip at the end... and it just kind of turns out sweet. Ish.

Southern Hops'titality isn't so overwhelming, I kind of miss that. But it has a citrus zip at the end, so it's ultimately more satisfying. That, and it's about the same price for a 6-pack vs. a 4-banger.

Pyrotechnics and a... fizzle, or a balanced performer. (Hmmm, made that last one sound boring, but Southern Hops'pitality is anything but.) I'll take either, but the latter is my choice.

Unrelated Side Note: Just swatted the first mosquito of 2014. Many shall follow in his six bloody, mashed footsteps.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Collards 1-2-3-4-5

A few collard leaves, fresh from the garden:

De-stem. Stack leaves and slice into ribbons. Slice stems cross-wise to keep any fibers short.

Fry up in a little olive oil with some Tony Chachere's seasoning, maybe squeeze on a little bit of lemon once it's on the plate:

Fry the stems separately, they're a little tougher and need to cook a tad longer. Just as tasty though.

Fry an egg in the residues. Tasty.

Who ever said you had to boil the damn things for four hours then add half a pig just to re-introuduce some flavor? Fresh and fast is the way to go.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Battle of the Four Ryes

Over last weekend's business trip to Apalach, four of us sat down over sixteen glasses to try four ryes. The contenders:

The results: everybody liked Knob Creek the best. Not surprising, Knob Creek always puts out a top-knotch whisky.
Dad's Hat Vermouth Finish was an odd one. While I enjoyed it immensely, opinions varied substantially. Nobody actually spit, but I could tell one of our merry band was getting close. Me, I could chuck a cube of ice and an olive in it, serve it in a Martini glass, call it the best of all worlds and call it a day.
Bulleit is very good. At 60% the price of Knob Creek, it delivers the flavor Ford F-150 style: solidly and in full measure, but there's some good taste lurking in the background too. It's my #2 choice of this bunch.
In this high-dollar company, $14-a-fifth Old Overholt held its own. Two of the tasters declared this to be their second-favorite of the bunch. Being 40%+ corn whisky, this doesn't have all the complexity of the other three, but boy does it pack an up-front flavor. I've been saying it for years: it's good enough to sip and cheap enough to mix. Evidently, the folks at theKitchn agree (it's an informative article, go read).

Well, there were two missing persons in this line-up, High West Double Rye and (RI)1 (pronounced "Rye One"). I'll have to do a head-to-head test with these at some later date, but working from memory the (RI)1 is awfully like Knob Creek, perhaps just a bit less full-flavored, while the High West Double is all about the spice, sort of a "more of what you came here for" proposition.