Dinner at Sean's Kitchen

The photos are crap because they are from my camera phone, but the meal there on saturday night was awesome, pity about the location, the casino is a hole and on saturday night......
The pics are the main courses, gnocci with shaved mushrooms and broadbeans, really good, light fluffy gnocci and beautifully composed, the other is rabbit pie. It was in a suet crust and tasted very intensely of rabbit. The meat was cooked perfectly, was moist and tender.
The service here was also excellent. I had a Chandon pinot to accompany it and this was vibrant bright red colour and suited the meal perfectly

Home

Wonder What these do For you ?

Old school viagra?

Cool Car

Glistening in the morning dew. This was my childhood dream car because my uncle in America had one.

Darlo Taphouse Brewshare

Last night was the first Brewshare at the Taphouse, it was an awesome night for us homebrewers to share our beers and talk beer geek stuff, this is hopefully the first of many. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27700409@N07/sets/72157622755702845/show/
Here I am winning the inaugural prize for the best beer of the night

Christoffel Bier

This is a very unusual beer in that its a European take on an IPA. Its quite hoppy when compared to other beers from Belgium.
Very drinkable and tasty with a nice balance between the hops and the sweet malt finish

Punk IPA

Aroma is citrusy sweet and spicy.
Appearance- pours a cloudy deep gold with a white fast dissipating head.
There is some yeast in the bottom so pour cautiously.
Flavour-sweet hoppy, resiny, malty, candy like with a lingering bitterness on the back of the tounge.
Was expecting a more expressive hop assault after reading the label, perhaps the best by date on the bottle may have had something to do with this as it was not possibly the freshest example.
Oveall it was a big enjoyable beer.

A beer review Barking Flamingo

Pours a pinky red colour with medium carbonation and a quickly dissipating white head
Sweet aroma of rapberry and some honeyish caramel.A light note of Belgian yeast funk initially but it vanishes quickly.
Taste is somewhat sweet but dry with some lingering raspberry flavour.
The Belgian saison charcter is quite subdued lacking the spice of traditional saisons, however the dryness does create a perception that the bitterness is higher than the hop additions suggest. The mouthfeel is quite thin.
Overall its a disappointing beer which I would describe as lolly water and fits into the alcopop category more so than a Belgian Saison with fruit which seems to be a misnomer

The Beatles in MONO- revisited

Ok so I got the boxed set on monday and have listened to nothing but since, its a revelation. The CD's sound so good, really punchy, the bass and drums are much clearer rounder and fatter. There's things on many of the tracks I've never heard before.
I need to have a clear out as in many cases I have two copies of the albums on vinyl (one of which is most definitely worn out) and the initial CD release.

33 1/3 series of books

These books are about classic albums you may have grown up with or are dear to your heart. After many years of not listening to some of these records the books prompt me to get them out or re-buy on CD and re-experience them with a different perspective, I'm really enjoying the journey. I've read the one on Bowies Low, and am currently revisiting REM's Murmur in its deluxe edition.
Here's the list
1 Dusty in Memphis Dusty Springfield 1969
2 Forever Changes Love 1967
3 Harvest Neil Young 1972
4 The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks 1968
5 Meat Is Murder The Smiths 1985
6 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Pink Floyd 1967
7 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits ABBA 1992
8 Electric Ladyland The Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968
9 Unknown Pleasures Joy Division 1979
10 Sign “☮” the Times Prince 1987 Michaelangelo Matos
11 The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground 1967
12 Let It Be The Beatles 1970
13 Live at the Apollo James Brown 1963 Douglas Wolk ISBN
14 Aqualung Jethro Tull 1971
15 OK Computer Radiohead 1997
16 Let It Be The Replacements 1984
17 Led Zeppelin IV Led Zeppelin 1971
18 Exile on Main St. The Rolling Stones 1972
19 Pet Sounds The Beach Boys 1966
20 Ramones Ramones 1976
21 Armed Forces Elvis Costello 1979
22 Murmur R.E.M. 1983
23 Grace Jeff Buckley 1994
24 Endtroducing..... DJ Shadow 1996
25 Kick Out the Jams MC5 1969
26 Low David Bowie 1977
27 Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen 1984
28 Music from Big Pink The Band 1968
29 In the Aeroplane over the Sea Neutral Milk Hotel 1998
30 Paul's Boutique Beastie Boys 1989
31 Doolittle Pixies 1989
32 There's a Riot Goin' On Sly and the Family Stone 1971
33 The Stone Roses The Stone Roses 1989
34 In Utero Nirvana 1993
35 Highway 61 Revisited Bob Dylan 1965
36 Loveless My Bloody Valentine 1991
37 The Who Sell Out The Who 1967
38 Bee Thousand Guided by Voices 1994
39 Daydream Nation Sonic Youth 1988
40 Court and Spark Joni Mitchell 1974
41 Use Your Illusion I and II Guns N' Roses 1991
42 Songs in the Key of Life Stevie Wonder 1976
43 The Notorious Byrd Brothers The Byrds 1968
44 Trout Mask Replica Captain Beefheart 1969
45 Double Nickels on the Dime Minutemen 1984
46 Aja Steely Dan 1977
47 People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm A Tribe Called Quest
48 Rid of Me PJ Harvey 1993
49 Achtung Baby U2 1991
50 If You're Feeling Sinister Belle & Sebastian 1996
51 Pink Moon Nick Drake 1972
52 Let's Talk About Love Celine Dion 1997
69* 69 Love Songs The Magnetic Fields 1999
53 Swordfishtrombones Tom Waits 1983
54 20 Jazz Funk Greats Throbbing Gristle 1979
55 Horses Patti Smith 1975
56 Master of Reality Black Sabbath 1971
57 Reign in Blood Slayer 1986 D.X. Ferris
58 Shoot Out the Lights Richard and Linda Thompson 1982
59 Gentlemen The Afghan Whigs 1993
60 Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash The Pogues 1985
61 The Gilded Palace of Sin The Flying Burrito Brothers 1969
62 Pink Flag Wire 1977
63 XO Elliott Smith 1998
64 Illmatic Nas 1994
65 Radio City Big Star 1974
66 One Step Beyond... Madness 1979

and there's many more in the pipline

Seasick Steve

I'm a bit late getting into this man but I got his CD on the weekend and it's fantastic

Bees Living inside a PA speaker

What happens when bees take up residence inside a PA speaker. 40kg of honey was removed from this box.

Local Taphouse Darlinghurst

Went out to the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst, last night, if you're unfamiliar there are twenty! craft beers on tap at any one time, a place where you can feel comfortable geeking out on beer, in fact I think its mandatory. The food was great pub/beer food and cheap also. Favorite beers of the night were the Hargraves Hill ESB and the Rogue Shakespear Stout.

Brewing this today, will hopefully be ready for the comp deadlines in three weeks time.
Special Bitter
8-B Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Size: 25.8 L
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 139.04 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.042 (1.040 - 1.048)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.008 - 1.012)
Color: 27.46 (9.85 - 31.52)
Alcohol: 4.11% (3.8% - 4.6%)
Bitterness: 31.8 (25.0 - 40.0)

Ingredients:
4.3 kg Maris Otter Pale
0.220 kg Aromatic Malt (Amber 50)
0.230 kg Crystal 130
0.110 kg Crystal 55
4 g Roasted Barley
15.0 g Target (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
14.0 g Challenger (6.1%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
14.0 g Northdown (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
14.0 g Challenger (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
14.0 g East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1968 London ESB Ale



Notes
66c mash temp 1hr

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

Seth MacFarlanes You Tube Channel

Boy there is some funny stuff here escpecially if you are a fan of Family Guy and American Dad

http://www.youtube.com/seth

Beatles Remastered in MONO!

Beatles box set coming out soon, these remastered mono mixes will rock, got one on pre-order, can't wait.

Winter in Sydney

Skies have been clear and sunny lately

Yacht Rock

http://www.myspace.com/yacht_rock
Check this out, very funny stuff

A good start to August

Kicked off the weekend judging at a beer comp, did close to 40 English, special bitters, ESB's and IPA's, there were 3 standout beers, one of which really put my effort to shame so I came home and flushed that keg down the drain, ready to brew it again next weekend.Went to the supermarket to buy some food, there's a lot of people shopping on saturday night! Amy Winehouse singing "Valerie" was on the car radio on the way home, what a nice tune.

Cooked a lamb shoulder in red wine and porcini mushrooms, served it on polenta nice bit of cab sav to wash it down with, oatmeal stout for desert.Sunday was a perfect Sydney winters day, blue skies and 19C, a walk to the beach spot of gardening, food shopping, kegged a Belgian Pale Ale and a UK IPA, should be ready by next weekend. Finished the day cooking barbecued salmon on a bed of caramelised leek, atop a potato galette with a cherry tomato, thyme & lemon sauce...tasty. Most appropriate dinner music Blossom Dearie .