FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 02:12 PM) We get those #14's (fuzzy eyebrows we call them) in the house here. Not even sure what they are - centipedes, millipedes, or something else? What do they eat? Specifically, that is Scutigera coleoptrata, the house centipede. Originally from Europe, they have become naturalized throughout much of the world. They are insectivores and are harmless to humans. QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 02:52 PM) Those are centipedes, and they're the worst living creature I've ever encountered. I've never seen a live cockroach unless it was on display behind class somewhere, I've never been stung by a bee, but this is light years worse. When I was a kid, one of those was on a wall in the house. My dad took a vacuum cleaner to collect it. The sound of it getting sucked through the nozzle made an audible noise. Worst sound I've ever heard. I don't even think they bite- the sight of all those legs moving in that wavelike motion is awful. I don't see these guys often, but just this week I went to the bathroom at work as I was leaving for the day and the light were already off. There it was. I took a magazine and killed it- at least I thought I did. I shut off the lights and left, but came back because I forgot a bottle of water that I was taking with me. I looked at the spot where the creature was and it was gone. It played dead until I left. Luckily, I noticed where it was running off to and made sure to conclude it's wretched existence. It's hard for me to even wrap my head around the idea of being phased by insects, though obviously a ton of people are. This is a cool one, and highly adaptable, too.

:drink Hope it's a good one!

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:50 AM) Not sure if I should start another thread for this, but anyone brew their own beer? Couple of friends and I are going to start brewing at my place. I'm redoing my basement and plan to build a bar with a kegerator in it so we can all hang out and drink our brew while watching the Sox/Bears/Bulls/Illini. Should be an interesting process. There are a couple of brewers here who hopefully chime in. I was a huge all-grain full mash brewer for several years and was absolutely addicted to it, but I have been out of the hobby for about seven years because it is very time-consuming to do right. I also don't have a garage with a spare fridge to ferment and serve draft homebrew from like I did at my old house, and that is the biggest thing that has kept me from getting back into the hobby. Great hobby to get into, and stove-top extract brewing is a perfectly fine way to start out. Just be ready to clean up that stove when your brewpot boils over and makes a huge mess!

QUOTE (G&T @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:36 AM) Awesome find! That actually looks like a fairly simple recipe...except for the rose water... A Middle Eastern grocery should definitely have the rose water. After a couple Mai Tais I tried the new homemade orgeat in a Japanese Cocktail made to Robert Hess' specs. It was cloudier and not as visually pleasing as the one he makes online with the crappy Fee Bros. orgeat, but taste-wise the drink was off the charts good. I would like for the homemade orgeat to be not quite as cloudy as it is but I am content to sacrifice appearance for flavor.

I just tried a new orgeat recipe and it hands-down produced the best batch of orgeat I have ever made. Not too dark or too cloudy to screw up the aesthetics of a Mai Tai in the glass, it still has tons more flavor than the cruddy chemo-commercial alternatives like Fee Bros. and Torani. A variation of a recipe buried deep in the Appleton Rums website, My scaled down and slightly altered recipe was as follows: • Blanch 12 oz whole raw almonds in water brought to boil and then removed from heat for 1 minute • Remove skins (easy to do after blanching) and place almonds in a blender with 30 oz water. Blend • Filter almond milk through cotton or cheesecloth filters, squeezing out as much milk as possible from the spent nuts. • Heat collected almond milk along with sugar (I used plain light granulated because I wanted a lighter finished product, original recipe called for Demerara) at a 2:1 sugar to liquid ratio until sugar is completely dissolved. • Allow to cool and then add: 1.5 oz Appleton V/X rum (original recipe calls for 12 year Extra), 1.5 oz amaretto, 0.75 oz rose water, 1/4 tsp. almond extract. Yield: ~ 1.25 L The wife and I are now enjoying a couple of the best Mai Tais we have ever made.

Trololo Guy, dead at age 77.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 02:50 PM) The Lantern was never just one guy, so which one is gay? There isn't a GL Corps in the Earth 2 universe, it's just original Golden Age GL Alan Scott.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 12:35 AM) I'm not a rum fan whatsoever, so the fact that I love Kraken immediately makes it one of my favorite liquors. It's delicious. Three rum and cokes, the way I mix them, and I'm feeling great. Kraken is a good mixing rum, good vanilla sweetness and spice. A great bargain for the price too.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 28, 2012 -> 09:30 AM) Happy Birthday, Jim! Hope you enjoyed your day with some special libations! Indeed I did. Last night it was the delicious Shrunken Skull courtesy of the Atomic Grog and packing lots of 151-proof Guyanese Demerara rum.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 27, 2012 -> 07:54 PM) I'm sorry Flax, but you are 1 day late from greatness Happy birthday anyways The 26th seemed so packed full of birthdays already, I decided to hang tight and wait another day so I wouldn't have to share the spotlight! Thanks all for the birthday well-wishes! :drink

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 27, 2012 -> 06:23 PM) Strangest headline I've seen in a while: Naked Man Allegedly Eating Victim's Face Shot And Killed By Miami Police some fµcked up $hit right there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 27, 2012 -> 10:24 AM) How did he ask you out? :lolhitting

Happy Birthdays all around!

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 23, 2012 -> 07:11 PM) Sister lakes in SW mich. Spent the night in Paw Paw county jail Which lake? My family has a summer cottage on Little Twin that I pretty much grew up at during my childhood summers. Lots of southsiders weekend and summer on that lake, and over the last 30 years or so members of my extended family have snatched up houses all around the Lake. Holiday weekends like this one are a huge family blowout and I really miss that.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 24, 2012 -> 09:16 PM) Oh Boy. So many things. I moved to WI which means I have a whole new world to explore, but I am resurrecting this thread based on a discovery. I may be drunk (I am bc I'm unemployed now) but a Gin and Tonic with the addition of a bottle cap (literally I used a beer bottle cap) of pimento dram is a winner. I happened to also have 2 dashes of Angostura. I'm not sure if the bitters are needed but the dram is good stuff. I also had my first Gumballhead (disappointing but that's for another time), Raspberry Tart, Dancing Man Wheat (amazing) and some other stuff that deserves mention. And in time, I will update. Good luck on the transition from the east coast to the Midwest. And good luck on the job hunt! I can absolutely see a small splash of dram punching up a Gin and Tonic nicely, and I am absolutely in favor of a scant dash of Ango in mine. My big Finer Things phenomena of late include having a fantastic time with the wife at Hukilau — the highlight of which for me was Beachbum Berry's Zombie history seminar. I am also over-the-moon happy that Lemon Hart 151 is now finally here in Florida and I don't have to keep pestering my family to bring me bottles from up north. Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale has already ditched the inferior 151 (probably Bacardi) they had been using for the last 15 years and have reformulated many of their classic drinks with the newly available Lemon Hart 151 that they originally called for. A commando return trip ti Mai Kai last week on my way home from a Miami work trip confirmed that in a drink like the Jet Pilot, the presence of the LH 151 makes all the difference in the world. I had a Jet Pilot just the month before at Hukilau and it was relatively forgettable, but with the LH 151 it is now among my favorite drinks on their menu. Speaking of Mai Kai, G&T if you have not yet discovered Jim "Hurricane" Hayward's Atomic Grog website, you are in for a treat. Hurricane (with whom I struck up a friendship online and at Hukilau) has spent the last year reviewing, researching the history of, and in many cases formulating "tribute recipes" for every single drink on the Mai Kai menu and even a couple of retired special cocktails. He has one more drink to go and then in two weeks he'll celebrate the accomplishment by hosting the first ever Mai Kai Mixer in the Molokai Bar at the restaurant where they will serve several different special tiki cocktail flights and give a bit of a seminar on the drinks. I am desperately hoping I can get back down there for it, but not sure yet. At any rate, check out the blog and start mixing up some of his tribute recipes – especially for some of the drinks whose ancestor recipes you already know from Beachbum's books.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ May 8, 2012 -> 09:11 AM) RIP Maurice Sendak Author of Where the Wild Things Are. I LOVE so much of his stuff. Where the Wild Things Are, of course, but In the Night Kitchen and all the great stuff from the Really Rosie book and television collaboration with Carole King were a huge part of my exposure to art as a child. My kids grew up on Little Bear and Seven Little Monsters (and Wild Things, of course). I'm really bummed out to hear he has passed.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 2, 2012 -> 02:13 PM) Junior Seau. Probably self-inflicted gunshot. Jeez, how many members of that same Chargers team are dead now??

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 05:54 PM) I actually liked it better than Thor. (if nothing else, the scientist-characters in Thor were really poorly done stereotypes, and I think I'm allowed to focus on disliking that). Speaking as a well done scientist-character stereotype? :-)

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 11:52 AM) One of my all time favorite singers from one of my all time favorite bands. I'll admit I teared up a bit when hearing this news the other night. Theres not another singer out there that sounds like Levon Helm. Truly one of a kind. His last couple solo albums (which both won Grammys) are just amazing and I highly recommend giving them a listen if you haven't. Yep, we lost a one-of-a-kind spirit in Levon? RIP.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 11:41 PM) Oh god what a weekend. Playing poker with a couple of old college buddies when a girl comes to my door. I say "Whats up" and she sticks her tongue down my throat which was just awesome. I turn to my buddies and tell them to GTFO (I literally said "Get the f*** out"), and proceed to play strip blackjack...yes, blackjack...which ended up being awesome. She said I have a nice ass and then she said I have a nice dick. I thanked her. I unfortunately did not get laid but I got to play with boobies which was awesome. Oh and she is 19 and I met her 15 minutes before that. Sounds like a lot of effort to not get laid for your trouble.

It looks like I might finally get a chance to attend Hukilau this year. Beachbum is doing a Zombie seminar on Saturday and Tiki Historian Sven Kirstin has been added to the Friday speaker schedule. My wife has said she is up for it and the grandparents have said they will take the kids, so as long as I can get the time off from work I think we are Hukilau bound!

I would love to spend a significant amout of time in Alaska, but my wife who is literally allergic to cold (no bull — her body generates an inflammatory response similar to an immune response with prolonged exposure to cold air or water) would never go for it.

QUOTE (G&T @ Apr 7, 2012 -> 05:02 PM) Finally scored some allspice dram. I waiting months for the St. Elizabeth's but to no avail. Went into the liquor store to check for it and found Bitter Truth Pimento Dram. Grabbed it for just under $30. Pricey but it will last a long while. I was actually amazed that the store clerk knew what it was and had actually used it. Mixed up a Jasper's Jamaican with Barcardi 8, lime, pimento dram and a touch of sugar. The dram has a christmas spice aroma going on. A touch of orange, nutmeg, and obviously allspice (which itself smells of christmas). The flavor is absolutely addictive. It's strange at first but this cocktail really uses the dram well. The rum is front and center on the tongue but gives way to the all spice on the back end. Two completely different flavor profiles in one drink. I don't know how this compares to St. Elizabeth's but I can say I'm happy with the purchase. I have read good things about Bitter Truth's liqueurs, and I am dying to try their sloeberry gin. As delicious as the St. Elizabeth's is, I always end up cutting the recipe amounts in half because it is such a strong flavoring.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 3, 2012 -> 10:09 AM) love the new Avengers spots showing Hulk destroying aliens. Also, I saw a screengrab of the aliens. Weird looking, here is a rundown of the possibilities of what they are Korbinite/Beta Ray Bill was certainly the first thing that came to mind when I saw the still. I'm hoping Joss Whedon nails this film. I have very high hopes for it.

Just got back from a week-long Caribbean family cruise vacation and I brought back a very nice rum haul. The best finds were bottles of Cuban Havana Club Añejo Blanco, Añejo Reserva, and Añejo 7 Años. I had the 7 year last year in Ecuador and Galapagos, but the other two are new to me. Can't wait to shake up some classic daiquiris and muddle a few mojitos with these new rums!