Archive for the ‘“Lifestyle”’ Category
if you haven’t watched these, you should:
t says: Hulu’s been kind to us, freeing us from the grasp of Comcast. On top of that, g and I also find some of the Hulu-specific programming to be pretty darn good. While they tend to require HuluPlus in order to see the whole season, if you do happen to have it, be sure to check these out:
Whites
Spy
And, for those without HuluPlus, fear not, there’s always Kitchen Confidential, which is not a Hulu-specific special , however, I didn’t see it when it first aired. Maybe I was just too un-cool.
my name is t, and i’m a sugar addict
t says: I just saw the 60minutes special featuring some sugar researchers. Interesting stuff – it’s a shame they had to cut it down to less than 15 minutes, because I can tell the researchers had a bit more to say before Sanjay Gupta’s voice cut in.
Check it out and decide for yourself:
Toxic Sugar on 60Minutes
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403942n&tag=contentMain;contentAux
Also, here’s the original 1.5 hour Lustig lecture – he’s a little abrasive here, but it’s all part of the “show”. He has a watered down version in 2011 as well where he’s a bit nicer in delivery.
More to the point: is it time for me to start making strides towards that goal of 100 calories a day from sugar? The AHA thinks so. I was planning to do so when I turn 30 this year, but maybe it should be sooner? It’s ironic, because I have some sugary posts coming up soon …
happy [impending] bday g!!
t says: It’s g’s birthday on 3/3. In an effort to surprise her, I orchestrated [with a lot of help] a little multi-phase gathering/party this past weekend to celebrate. The theme was “things that g likes”. Phase 1 featured hanging out, eating food, and drinking wine.
meat, cheeses, veggies, chocolate sauce, utz specials extra dark pretzels, donuts, hummus
And all that food was for like … 6 people (we had some last-minute bailers – no problem – more for us!). The wine list was extensive (bottles outnumbered people at least 2:1), and we wasted no time getting started with reds, whites, bubbles, etc. But I think what made this phase of the evening fun were these:
donut close-up
a, being the selfless trooper that he is, ventured to “Fednuts” (i.e. “Federal Donuts”) to pick up a dozen of the above donuts: grapefruit, pistachio, pina colada, raspberry balsamic, s’mores, and banana. They. Were. Awesome. Grapefruit was the winner of the group, capturing 3 of 7 votes, with the remaining votes scattered among the rest. I disagree with the grapefruit victory (being my least favorite of the six), but I can’t argue with the numbers. In any case, you absolutely MUST go to Federal Donuts because it’s not all hype. It’s actually that good!
Other phases of the evening (with more attendees) include bowling, eating at Han Dynasty, and resuming wine consumption while watching tivo’d Iron Chef. To my surprise, everything ran according schedule and g was not the least bit sleepy at any point throughout the evening. Awesome!
g and I send our sincerest thanks to everyone who came – you really made the night special for g. Also – happy birthdays to w’s boyfriend (and to m!) … AND … congratulations to both w and her boyfriend-now-fiance for getting engaged! We’d like to think they got engaged the night before our party as a birthday present for g (she was rootin’ for ’em). We wish them nothing but the best!
New Year’s Bubbly
a says: This time of year, people are always looking for sparking wine bargains so I thought I’d give you a few suggestions. Most Champagne (Technically, this can only be sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France while in Spain it’s called Cava and Italians have Prosecco.) will be over $15 so I’ll make sparkling wine picks from Italy, Spain, and America. Any of these will be dry or off-dry, bread-y, and have hints of apple or pear.
1. Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut (Washington)
2. Gruet Brut or Blanc de Noirs (New Mexico?!?!)
3. Cristalino Brut Cava (Spain)
4. Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut or Carneros Blanc de Noirs (California)
5. Mionetto Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut Spumante (Italy)
Worth the extra $5:
1. Schramsberg Mirabelle North Coast Brut or Rose (California)
And here are two good articles about sparkling wine if you want to
learn a bit more:
1. http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/The-Best-Sparkling-Wine-to-Buy-This-Season
2. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575293040043529462.html
Prost!
g & t are going back to school
t says: g and I are going to a wine tasting “class” at “The Wine School”. We went to one a while ago in the days when groupon was new/exciting and not 99.99% useless like it is now. Basically, you show up, sit down at small tables like at a restaurant (n.b. there’s no food at these events), and some enthusiastic guy/gal talks to you about the wines you’re going to taste. It was actually a lot of fun. Perhaps the most famous quote of the night we went was when d exclaimed, “You know … after all these years, I think that I finally understand that all that wine snobbery isn’t just made-up bullshit … you really CAN taste a difference!”
We’re going to return to school and go to the 12/23/2011 tasting of “Luxury Wines of Napa Valley”. For more info, go to https://www.vinology.com/ and scroll down until you find it.
While I can’t guarantee the level of luxuriosity of the wines at this particular tasting (they’re not naming any wines in the listing), I can at least say that they did a pretty good job with the Italian tasting we went to – some whites in the $20-30 range, and some [appropriately aged] reds in the $60+ range … and that class didn’t have the word “luxury” in its name!
So if you’re bored on Christmas Eve Eve, get warm with some California wine.
UPDATE: They’re now down to 12 spots left! Hurry!!!!
UPDATE: a and v are in! That should be extra incentive to go, because if you didn’t know: awesome story-worthy things happen when you mix together a and v and wine on a Friday night. Can’t wait to see what the night’ll bring.
Commonwealth Proper on RueLaLa
t says: I’m a big fan of Commonwealth Proper for my sartorial needs (follow-up photos pending)! They’re running a deal on RueLaLa in the Philadelphia section: 2 custom shirts for $150. That’s a darn good deal. Check it out!
knife skills t wishes he had
t says: I’ve watched this video at least three times and have come to the conclusion that I gotta learn how to do this … without losing a finger …
after dinner sneeze 