I've been busy, so here are a few things to ponder...

I've been very, very busy this week. I apologize to all my regular readers who have been starving for a little Misery. This is what has happened...

My mom was in town to help us watch the little one, who now looks like this...


Murry's continues to be a COMO staple. Despite it's crummy location, the restaurant who birthed all other COMO restaurants is as solid as ever. Sure, there are better places to eat, but none are as consistently good as Murry's. My mom, R, and I all ordered the steak "sandwich", maybe the best deal in town. I washed it down with a Rogue Dead Guy and was fully satisfied.


After a long two days of conference presenting, I started my Friday off right with one of my remaining New Glarus selections: Alt. This might be the best of the New Glarus bunch. Thick foam and lacing reveal a pungently fruity aroma. The flavor doesn't disappoint with caramel, more fruit, and oak with a lingering alcoholic effect. Great beer.

The fourth in a series of happy hours went down at the 'Tag. The turnout is waning, but we'll keep at it. There are a few regulars, so it's becoming a "thing" people do. I sipped on two Coney Island Human Blockheads. It's a solid bock, but at 8.8% ABV, it may be too powerful to be a session beer. Word on the street is that session beers are in, but I don't know whether I believe that or not.


I actually worked on Saturday, but the day was topped off with a chocolate and wine tasting at one of our favorite restaurants, Wine Cellar and Bistro. The local slow foods cub put on this little shindig which featured Patric Chocolate. I believe I've mentioned Alan and his chocolate before but it's certainly worth noting again.

Alan is one of 25 or so craft chocolate makers in the US, one of two in Misery. He takes the chocolate from bean to bar, traveling to Madagascar to befriend cocoa farmers before the beans arrive here in COMO for processing. The chocolate is absolutely amazing. I'd put it up against any chocolate anywhere. In fact, you should try it out and back me up on this. Valentine's Day is coming up.

Anyway, the tasting was extremely informational as Alan likes to talk about chocolate. For the first time, I really savored each piece, picking up on the subtle differences. Unfortunately, the wine pairings were not impressive, but I won't hold that against the bistro since Chef Craig Cyr made this absolutely incredible dessert with the chocolate.

So, buy Patric Chocolate now.

R's hosted yet another baby shower. It seems that the only thing people do around here is get knocked up.

Afterward, I sneaked out to Flat Branch for a tour of the facilities and some tasting. I'm still not a brewer (yet), but I appreciated getting the dish on how Flat Branch conducts its brewing business. The best part was when Jarrett let us sample some barley wine from '03, '04, and '06. Each had rather distinct qualities. The '03 had the best aroma by far, but the '04 had some great alcoholic levels. I'm not really sure what I thought of the '06 by the time I got there.

Currently, I'm listening to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The vinyl sounds good as this band reminds me of the Smiths, Cure, and early Belle and Sebastian. This album would have been huge in 1980's England. I'm liking it a lot and expect it to be on heavy rotation in the weeks to come.


Ooh, and I almost forgot to mention that Merryweather Post Pavilion finally arrived. I actually have yet to listen to the vinyl, but the digital version has been on repeat in my car. Animal Collective now joins Radiohead, Wilco, and TV on the Radio as bands who only release critical acclaim-inducing records. Besides the fact that it reminds me of a complicated Vampire weekend record, Merryweather is really quite brilliant. I don't know that it will be the best record of the year, but it's already a strong contender, living up to the hype ten fold.

The True/False schedule is finally up. We have some decisions to make as Yes Men and Waltz with Bashir top our early list. There will be much debate in our household until then. I will post our schedule as soon as it is clear.


Hopefully, I can get back to some regular posts in the coming weeks instead of these summary posts I've been doing as of late.