Day 6.333: Things I've learned #2

Things I've learned from living on my own in Maine #2

I can still cook.

Although my treatment of bottle-conditioned ale leaves something to be desired.

Day 6.282: Pump Station and Olde English

Some revisionist history...

This evening some past- and soon-to-be past-colleagues came out to congratulate me on my new job.  I still have two weeks to go - but that will fly by.

The Pump Station was very busy because (although it had passed me by) it was Restaurant Week.  We enjoyed the special set menu a lot.  I had some excellent corn & crab fritters, a NY strip with goat cheese and a piece of caramel apple pie.

It is perhaps surprising that our second stop was the first time that I made to the English pub in Albany.  It was strange to be in a British-style pub but tipping the bar tender.  We enjoyed the beer (although most English pubs do not serve beer in pint jugs these days!) and the British music selection in the jukebox.

A good (and late) night was had by me - and I hope everyone else too!

Due to popular demand: here's the original entry - written at 2:30 am or something that night...

It is perhaps surprising that this is the first time that I made to the English pub in Albany. It was for my farewell from the job that I still have two weeks to work at.

The beer selection and the decor are pretty much English pub - but I had to remember to tip the bar tender!  Their shot of choice - the pickleback - was a new experience too. 

Jameson whisky with a pickle-juice chaser - surprisingly palletable!

Day 6.261: That brings a whole new meaning to "flight"

Here's a few more clues to my location at the end of the week:

Anti- (or counter-) clockwise from top left:

1. No clue here - but look how nice my hotel lobby was!
2. A long-distance iPhone snap of the capital building overlooking one of the two lakes.
3. You can get a flight of local beers - AT THE AIRPORT BAR!
4. Less surprisingly, lots of options if you want to look like a Cheesehead.

Yes I was in the capital of Wisconsin ... you know ... oh it's on the tip of my tongue ... aargh what is it? ... ... ...  (yes  - I think that was an ellipsisis)

Day 6.068: A fried chicken

Shortly after my return from my last trip here to Korea in January, I read this post at FUSSYlittleBLOG extolling the virtues Korean fried chicken. I realised that in the four weeks I'd spent here up until then I'd never eaten fried chicken, so this time I was determined to find out what the fuss was about.

I dropped Daniel a line to get what information I could and then managed to get away on my own to downtown Busan where I set out to find fried chicken, eat it and not miss the last train home. I succeeded - just.

It turns out that in a country of very specific restaurants - grilled pork restaurants, boiled pork restaurants, chicken soup restaurants etc. - it is not straightforward to find a fried chicken restaurant because it is not a dish traditionally eaten as a meal. No, it is drinking food. So, newly armed with this knowledge I went into a small establishment resembling the seating area of a bar (but with no bar) more than a restaurant. Took a seat and ordered chicken and beer.

It was a whole small chicken in what seemed from my interpretation of the menu to be the house traditional spiced-sauced style. There were two legs, two wings and pile of bone-in pieces about the size of a child's fist. It was sticky spicy sweet deliciousness and I'm very pleased I tracked it down.  Maybe I'll get to try some of the other varieties, but this will be hard to beat.

After I ate a little over half the plate and realised that there was no way I was going to do justice to the rest, I checked the train times and realised that the last express train was leaving in about 40 minutes and I was over a mile's walk across downtown streets or two stops on the metro away from the station and didn't yet have a ticket so it was a bit of a rush - but I made it with, maybe five minutes to spare!

Day 6.053: A taste of history

I picked up some beer at the local store the other day, but realising I needed one to drink now I wandered from the craft beer shelves to the cooler to see what was cold and would therefore be ready to drink when I got home*. I was a little uninspired until I spotted this nestling next to the Sam Adams six packs:

It is actually a Sam Adams brew - a recreation of what they say is the first beer of the craft-beer revolution in America.  It was brewed by Jim Koch (of Sam Adams) and its original creator, Jack McAuliffe to the original recipe. The front label is also a replica of the original ones and does not mention Sam Adams at all - the beer is credited to New Albion Brewing Company - but of Boston MA not Sonoma CA where it was originally brewed.

The shocking thing is when this history happened...the beer was brewed from 1976 to 1982, just over 30 years ago.  Wow - history happens fast at times!

It's a very easy drinking beer - I can imagine it fitted right in when its creator took it to the UK for a CAMRA beer festival in the 70s.  It's quite an English-style beer - not overly hoppy, not very fizzy, but with enough flavour to hold the attention through a few pints I would imagine.  I may well buy it again!





* Yes I know - we Brits are supposed to like warm beer, but 'warm' really means cellar temperature unless it takes you too long to drink your 20oz pint. In any case, when in Rome...

Day 5.224: Lake Ontario

Our campsite last week was at the eastern end of Lake Ontario - not too far from the area that received more than ten feet of snow in a single storm during our first winter here.

Snow was not really on our mind as we enjoyed a beautiful evening at the beach on our second day of camping.

On the third day, we spent the afternoon at the beach swimming and lazing and enjoying the sunshine (without my camera). But first we visited nearby Sackets Harbor where we learned about the area and particularly its role in the War of 1812.  It was, shall we say, a less anti-British telling of that history than the one we read in Burlington VT early in the summer.

To me, it seems to be a war that no-one really wanted or was ready for, no-one really benefited from and, at the end of the day, its lasting results are a stirring national anthem and the details of the location of the US/Canadian border.

Before we left the village, we had a rather good lunch at a brew-pub on the lake shore and drove around the barracks.  We were very glad we made the short trip to visit this little but fascinating place.

Day 5.170: Wild Goose recap #3 (Saturday)

In the present day, my parents have arrived safely from the UK to visit, but now back to the Wild Goose Festival recap. You can also read part 1 and part 2.

My first session was Dave Andrews talking about inclusive community.  We discussed the advantages and disadvantages and he talked about his community of simple-living part-time employed people.  Excellent stuff.

After that I stayed where I was to hear Melvin Bray talking about the heroes (especially of the Old Testament) and the fact that there were people who God also loved on the other side of the stories.

In the afternoon, I watched The Collection produce a very pleasing sound with no less than twelve multi-instrumentalists on stage.

I caught the end of a talk by Dan Brennan and Jennifer Ould about their long-term friendship.  He is married, she is single.  Wouldn't have expected this to challenge me really, but it did - maybe it was his brutal honesty about being physically attracted to Jennifer and other women - I guess it's just a statement of fact and one that I (and probably most people) could (but probably wouldn't) make.

Cathleen Falsani was talking about her fascinating life and work as a journalist but I have to confess that my tiredness was catching up with me.

After that it was time for a second set by Damion Suomi and The Minor Prophets.  They were playing at the Coffee Barn (outdoor) stage.  They were excellent again.  E5N1 went and sat virtually on their feet and had a great time.  In the end they were asked to quieten down and did the final number unplugged - very compelling indeed.

Next, I went and bought a beer in order to take full part in Beer & Hymns.  Like last year it was moved from its scheduled time-slot.  Unlike last year I was not fooled this time.  It was great.  There are some pictures above, but you really need moving ones to get a flavour (of the singing if not the beer).



The video is a bit deceptive - there were lots of people behind me (at the bar) and on both sides of the tent (at least by the end).

After that E5N1 was completely shattered, so I took him back to the tent and pretty soon we all turned in for an early night.

Photos (now including Saturday's) are here.

Day 5.112: Pump Station takes 2

Today was the last day in the region for my Korean visitors. We celebrated with them at the Albany Pump Station.

A few tried the beer sampler.

and we all had a good time.  In fact they rated it second amongst the meals they had in the region.  Their top three were:

1. Shogun (Madison Ave)
2. Albany Pump Station
3. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

I think these might have been my top three too.  I had the duck this evening and it was exquisite - and a sensible-sized portion too which was welcome after the many meals eaten out over the last week.

Day 5.072: All Over Albany is 4!

This evening I delayed my journey home from work to spend a few very pleasant hours in the company of local Internet royalty at the All Over Albany 4th Birthday Party.

The location was perfect for a extremely summery early-spring evening.  The City Beer Hall's patio, surrounded by the towering presence of downtown Albany was singularly appropriate and the food, beer and company were all excellent.

Photos are here

I spent time chatting with Mary and Greg (the AOA editors and our hosts), Jake from Chatham Brewing - brewer of the wonderful guest ale, Daniel from FUSSYlittleBLOG, Jerry, Kristi, a group from YNN including Innae Park, Matt Hunter and Kate Welshofer, Albaniana, Akum and her husband, Marcie, Abe, Mike (briefly) and Jen (talked about dog walking but not chickens) and a bunch of other very nice people.

Happy Birthday AOA - heart and soul of the online region - and thanks for a lovely evening!

Day 4.333: Alcohol and caffeine

Why didn't someone think of mixing alcohol and caffeine together before?*

Ale with coffee added.

After all that Four Loco business - is this even legal?  I can only imagine that it must be - it's also rather good.





* Yes I am aware of the long history of such beverages.

Day 4.225: New and old in Cambridge

We had a crazy rush around London in the rush hour this morning to get to the US embassy to get our visas renewed. This evening I am in Cambridge to meet up with some old colleagues for beer and curry (by which I mean Indian food in American English). First I had a wander around the city centre looking for an ATM that would accept my strange foreign card and stumbled upon the new Grand Arcade. I remember when this was all grim buildings!

Day 4.101: Near-island (quite far away)

Yesterday we decided to "Feel the Lake Effect." That's the slogan for the Visit Erie PA website - but it was a fairly accurate description of our visit to Presque Isle State Park. This narrow spit of land stretching into Lake Erie is an amazing place. The biting winds were pretty amazing too.

After a stop at the rather impressive Tom Ridge Environmental Center (including an encounter with a prehistoric giant shark mouth), we drove out into the park.  It is hard to believe that this is not seashore. It has waves, beaches, no sign of another shore... I suppose they don't call them the Great Lakes for nothing.

We ate our lunch sheltering from the wind in the car and watching (amongst other things) the Red-breasted Mergansers on the bay-side of the park.

A lot of places are called Peninsula-something in the area - a curious translation of the French name of the park into Latin*.  I suggest that the locals should remember themselves and start using the proper American translation: "Nearly-Island".

Or perhaps I should shut up and have another local beer.



* I am, in fact, aware that 'peninsula' is an English word (on both sides of the Atlantic).

Day 3.253: In tent - to leave

Apart from our walk at Wolf Creek Falls, Saturday took us to a leaving party for two of my colleagues (well technically one is already a former-colleague having retired a few weeks ago). They are returning to the UK after just over three years here.

When I first received the invitation to this party, I thought we would already have left by now. I think it's safe to say that if we had we wouldn't have arranged anything like as good a leaving do as they did. The tent was in their yard beside the house - in fact it was such a glorious day that we could have managed without it, but it was very congenial and the party spilled outside into the warm evening as the sun went down which was nice too.

Exile #3 found that it was a good place to enlarge her latest collection - beer bottle caps, and her younger siblings ran around and charmed at least as many as they annoyed I think. There were some former colleagues to catch up with and other-halves to meet and/or renew acquaintances with - all rather good. When we could finally stretch the children's day no further, we left wishing we could stay longer - just as it should be.

Day 3.240: Flying visit

After a church meeting featuring some sad news from some of our friends, I went to meet a UK friend at his hotel in Albany. He is over for a business meeting and we were able to carve out a few hours to catch up while he is here.

N was instrumental in helping us settle in following our previous relocation (to Cambridge in the UK in 2000) and it was good to catch up with family and church news and to talk briefly about work and business travel etc. We went in search of beer and snack-food in the vicinity of the airport and ended up at Maxies on Wolf Road - it turned out that not only was there live music, but karaoke as well. We chose the area with karaoke as having a better chance for supporting a conversation. In fact there was only one singer - who gamely got up to sing three times while we were there.

I was nearly persuaded to get up and sing - had Maximo Park or The Bravery featured I might well have done so. In the end The Cure's Just Like Heaven came closest to getting me out of my seat - maybe it's just as well I hadn't had another beer.

Day 3.135: Crashing the Tweet-up

I was very sad to miss the April Albany Tweet-up as I was on my way down to Washington D.C. for the TransFORM conference. It looked like I would miss the May one too right up until I heard at 6.15pm that my plans had fallen through. So I dragged my friend J along on the basis that we could crash the party, or if not, we'd still be in a bar where we could have a beer and grab something to eat.

In the end I got to say a real-world hello to @cassiecramer and @derryX renew an acquaintance with @tcrpmg and @Dozenroses13 which was cool. In the end however, we found ourselves having a great time hanging with the late-staying remnant of the group:

@JayMarzian, @ndkelly29, @AllThingsEllie, @HockeyJoeGM and, yes that's me, @the_exile

Which made for a very nice evening indeed.  Thanks guys!

Day 1.285: Public service

This evening I found myself here with some folk from work - this place looks, smells and sounds like a pub. They have more beers on tap than any pub I've ever been in, but you have to take the good with the bad.

Day 1.119: Bug - wiser

As I was about to leave for work this morning this creature caught my eye - it was about 2 mm long and crawling on our bathroom wall. It took me several attempts to get a decent picture of it, then I caught it and disposed of it.

My first reaction was to wonder if it was a tick - it was about the size of an adult deer tick - although the long mouth-parts/pincers did not look right for a tick. Sure enough, it turned out when I researched it that my 'disposal' of it was 'unnecessary carnage' although the 'unnecessary' killing of bugs that wouldn't harm us is hardly unusual.

Still, I have nothing to be proud of. It was a pseudoscorpion and apparently although harmless to humans, these tiny creatures have been known to catch and eat much-larger-than-themselves house flies. For some reason (perhaps my stature) I am inclined to cheer for the little guy or maybe it's my British leaning towards supporting the under-bug.