Good Beer on Sunday

Sundays are perfect for beer! Fall is upon us, football is in full swing and there's nothing better than pouring a tall foamy cold one and watching two teams on a big green field beat the crap out of each other...oh wait, they can't do that anymore...but this is not about football, it's about beer. It's not that I don't drink beer during any other season or on any other day of the week, but since we Southerners tend to be social drinkers, I enjoy the aroma and taste of the hops and barley most when the occasion is suited  for it...football, backyard barbeques, crawfish boils, festivals, or just sitting on the patio enjoying the great outdoors. So let me be clear, I'm certainly not talking about downing a six pack of Bud Light...I'm talking about drinking GOOD beer. My husband and I brew our own, but any quality craft beer will do. If your not into making your own, I would suggest Abita's Restoration Ale, Tin Roof's Perfect Tin, or Nola Brown. If you like the lighter style beers, go for a Nola Blonde or Abita Wheat...and if your local grocer or liquor store doesn't carry these brands, there are many high quality microbreweries all around the country.

Today I will enjoy either the "Flat Tire", which is close to a Fat Tire Amber Ale made by New Belgium in Colorado, or a "Kilt Lifter", a Scottish Style Ale. While both are a bit on the hoppy side, the Kilt Lifter is a bit smoother and sweeter, but can be deceiving because it's a "stronger" beer, meaning higher alcohol content...it is, after all, a "wee heavy". I think I'll go with that one...and Who Dat!

Kicking & Screaming - Part II

Part II:
Here comes the dreaded tropical storm threat. Not a threat to a vacation or a party or anything I had major plans for...but nonetheless, a reminder that summer is coming to an end, and definitely a reminder of how serious a hurricane can really be! Living in the New Orleans area all my life, I know that hurricane season may start on June 1st, but it doesn't really get into full swing until summer is over and school begins. The greatest threat is always August through September. We stock up on our supplies...water, batteries, canned food, gas, etc. It doesn't matter that only one computer model says it's coming straight towards you and all others say something else...sometimes you just get a gut feeling that you'd rather be safe than sorry! If there's one thing I've learned from the boy scouts, it's this: "Be Prepared"! So, needless to say...but I will anyway...the path of Tropical Storm Isaac changes again, with all paths leading toward Louisiana, as everyone else is waiting in long lines for gas and fighting for gallons of water at Wal-Mart, I am sitting on the patio having a margarita and watching my husband smoke a cigar. This is the life! I just wish this "calm before the storm" could last forever.

My sister and her husband decide to come stay with us because they live further south and we have a generator and plenty of supplies (a.k.a. 12 bottles of rum, 6 bottles of wine, 2 fifths of tequila, a case of home-brew beer, and a partridge in a pear tree). The forecast calls for a direct hit by a Category 2, the Governor calls for a state of emergency, and mayors order evacuations for surrounding regions closer to the coast. As the storm draws closer, the party gets started and the forecast actually sounds better. The storm hasn't even developed into a hurricane yet and it may be on a path to shift east, putting us on the weaker side. But no such luck! It remains on the predicted path and as the storm makes landfall, the local weather-celebrity grimly reports that the storm appears to be stationery. To make a long blog shorter...a category 1 Hurricane can be as bad as a 3 or 4 if it doesn't move quickly. We were very fortunate that we didn't lose anything but electricity, water, and sleep for a few days, but others were not so lucky! Family and co-workers were flooded and others are still without power and water. Even as I sit here writing, I feel somewhat guilty because I got a cool shower after cleaning up the debris in the sweltering heat, restocking groceries, and am now having margaritas and watching the LSU game in the air-conditioned "Drunken Parrot Pub" (in my own bar, in my own house).

But I'd like to think that my attitudes and latitudes have changed. I would do it all over again (including the other "big storm" that happened almost exactly 7 years ago), even if I lived on some island, in the threat of some other hurricane or some other disaster...I feel like I would still be PREPARED at least as much as I can be...even if it meant leaving everything behind for safer ground. I also have the common sense to know that not every disaster or situation can be prevented or fully prepared for.

That's why you have to..."Live Like You Were Dying", "Learn to Dance in the Rain", and my personal favorite..."Breath in, Breathe Out, Move On"!

Kicking & Screaming - Part I

This blog is in two parts only because it was started before it could be published...and as you will read below, the only thing that remains the same is "change"...

Part I:
The last vacation of the summer is over...school is now in full swing with relief of not having to pay summer camp tuition any longer...but at the same time resisting the end of summer with full force! My weekends are now spent at the pool trying to maintain the tan and beach body I spent all spring and summer working on, crossing my fingers that teachers don't assign too much homework to my 10 year old, and drinking as many margaritas and rum drinks my cardio sessions can "work off". It seems like only yesterday I was planning, scheming, working out and depriving myself of carbs to get ready for my long anticipated cruise to the Bahamas & Key West. That amazing vacation came and went, little league baseball ended, scout summer camp and family barbecues are now documented with digital images on Facebook, the Olympics are over, and finally our final summer trip with our closest friends was spent cruising around a lazy river in a tube, listening to Radio Margaritaville with boat drinks in hand. It was an unforgettable summer, but that's the problem...I don't want to forget and I don't want it to end!

Don't get me wrong, I am excited about the start of football season...the Saints, LSU and a good excuse to drink beer and eat nachos and pizza...but to put it simply, that's about it. I used to love Thanksgiving, Christmas, colder weather and my Eddie Bauer clothing collection that I only got to wear when the temps were below 40 degrees...but to quote Jimmy Buffett, I guess "I'm growing older, but not up"! Nowadays, I don't really mind the sweltering heat, sweating profusely at a baseball game or longing to jump in the pool after a hard workout. Maybe it's because I missed out on those careless days of crazy spring breaks in Panama City Beach and sneaking out to Bourbon Street as a youth...or maybe I'm just becoming a "snow bird"...way too early?  I guess it really doesn't matter because as life goes on, everyone goes through some form of "change" in one way or another. It may be a change from the way I felt...or the way I thought I was supposed to be so many years ago...but I feel like I truly belong on the "Coast of Somewhere Beautiful"...like I am meant to be thriving on a sun-soaked, sandy beach, blue water island somewhere in the Caribbean. I long for it day and night...and though I live in a sub-tropical climate near the Gulf Coast and thankfully, not in a northern frozen wasteland...it's still not nearly "paradise". I now find myself each year running out of summertime, like a child throwing a tantrum...kicking and screaming!