Deal Alert: Scruby's BBQ

Places that claim to have the best ribs and places that claim to have the best wings abound everywhere. For baby back ribs, we've got two favorites - Damon's (which is 15 miles away) and Scruby's (much closer). For the past couple years we've been dropping $32 every few months on a couple full racks of ribs at Scrubys.

Last Sunday, I noticed a coupon in the back of the Local Section of the Sun Sentinel (the coupon is actually there every week: $9.99 for a full rack of baby back ribs, plus choice of potato, plus coleslaw, plus the best BBQ baked beans ever, plus two big onion rings, plus one piece of garlic toast. Smokes! That is a killer deal. All that grub for 20 bucks? We'll be hitting that place more than once every few months from now on.

Michigan Pizza

We've been living in South Florida for 7 years now. One thing I've missed: Michigan pizza. You see, South Florida is the 6th burrough of New York City. Down here, all the pizza is New York style pizza. That means that the crust is too thin and the sauce is too sweet. Even the cheese isn't quite right most of the time.

What makes Michigan pizza different? No, its not the water. (I roll my eyes every time I hear a New Yorker say that its "in the water.") The sauce is bolder, not necessarily spicy, just bold. Also, the crust is thicker; the slice doesn't "flop" or require folding. I'm not sure what makes the cheese different, or if its just that they use more of it.

But I digress. We've discovered Michigan pizza in South Florida. Jet's is a Michigan pizza chain with locations throughout Florida - I don't know why. The bad news is that Jet's is exactly 14 miles from our house. Now we're going to see how determined I am to get good pizza.

Alcohol 101 - Part 4 - Beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Ben Franklin

There are two kinds of beer. Yellow, flavorless, watered-down American lager, and everything else. Sure, there are times when yellow, beer-flavored water comes in handy: fishing, working on the car, golfing, mowing the lawn. But that is no excuse to go making a habit of drinking that crap.

If you find that you are one of the many consumers of yellow beer, let me give you a suggestion. Stop drinking it. Let your taste buds grow back. And drink some beer with flavor.

Ok. I'll admit it. I am an amateur beer connoisseur. I haven't yet taken that all important step of brewing my own beer, but I will admit that I've been tempted of late. The beer selection in south Florida sucks compared to what we were presented up in Michigan. But I make do with what I have.

I try to keep a variety of beers on hand, including something from each genre that I enjoy. I call this my Noah's Ark of Beer - two of every kind.

I've been know to enjoy:

Black Apples - a mixture of Guinness and hard cider - preferably Woodchuck

Sam Adams - especially the Cranberry Lambic

Leinenkugels - Sunset Wheat and Berryweiss are my two favorite beers

Paulaner

Duvel

Hacker-Pschorr

Shipyard

Bell's

Hoegaarden

Tucher

Mackeson

Rogue - their mocha porter is awesome, though expensive

Youngs - the chocolate stout is killer

Any stout, cream stout, bock, porter, or otherwise dark beer

Just about any wheat beer, ale, amber, or lambic.

And yes, I even enjoy the so-called Malternatives:

Bacardi Mojito

Smirnoff Green Apple

Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade

Lest you confuse my appreciation of beer with my actual consumption, I'd say that I probably consume about 4 or 5 beers a week. That is by no means excessive. Typically, I like to have a nice heavy beer shortly before bedtime.

Alcohol 101 - Part 3

Liquor, aka Hard Liquor

First of all, there is a world of difference between Apple Pucker (20% alcohol) and Everclear (90% alcohol). There is a science to this, you know. They do actually measure out how much alcohol is contained in each of these liquors and then they neatly display those values on the bottle.

That said, liquor demands much more caution than its weaker cousins, beer and wine. Conveniently, mixed drinks have recipes which aid one in figuring out how "strong" that drink might be. Of course, every bartender makes every drink to their own particular taste, but that just adds another level of caution which must be taken before entering the realm of mixed drink consumption.

As a general rule, doing shots should pretty much be off limits, unless you enjoy vomiting. There are a couple exceptions to this rule, but they are few. You can probably do a single shot of apple pucker without any feelings of guilt or remorse. Usually, bartenders use the following equation to compare beer, wine, and liquor and their respective alcohol contents:

12 oz of beer = 5 oz of wine = 1.5 oz of liquor

Personally, I keep a small wet bar stashed in the pantry, but I rarely use it. Occasionally, we'll feel the urge to make mojitos, pina coladas, gin&tonics, or rum&cokes. Also, we've been known to nip from the bottle of Butterscotch Schnapps while sitting around a bonfire.

Alcohol 101 - Part 2 - Wine

Ah wine, the Biblical choice for the casual drinker. Too bad I don't actually like wine. I've tried it again and again, but I just can't seem to develop a palate for it. The only wine I've ever had that I almost enjoyed was a fruit wine - Thomasello.

Wine may be the "Biblical choice", but it usually has a higher alcohol content than beer and therein lies the caution. A typical serving of wine is usually almost half that of beer - a 12-16 oz. glass of beer to a 6 or 8 oz. glass of wine. This is because of that higher alcohol content. Contrary to popular conception, public establishments are not supposed to be in the business of getting people drunk. If they do, they can actually be held liable for their contribution.

Also, one should consider the popular notion that once a bottle of wine has been opened, it should also be finished, lest it spoil. My wife, who usually drinks white zinfandel, does not prescribe to this notion. She'll easily let a bottle sit, once opened, for months. Still, this notion can often be used as an excuse to "finish the bottle".

The celebration of Passover is always an interesting step out of my comfort zone, as it calls for the consumption of four glasses of wine. That's right, Baptists, let me repeat that. We celebrate the Messianic Passover each spring with four glasses of wine. I haven't seen anyone get drunk, so calm down. Now, of course, I pour small glasses for myself because I don't like wine.

Alcohol 101 - Part 1

As someone who has seen the ups and downs and in and outs of drinking alcohol, I am going to impart as much of the knowledge that I have gained upon you in four short posts. First, a little background on my pedigree and qualifications.

Growing up, I rarely saw my parents drink. I might've seen my father have a whiskey sour once or twice, as well as the occasional red wine because it was supposedly good for the heart. My mother would keep a pint of Seagram's whiskey hidden in the kitchen that would make an appearance once or twice a year for a 7 & 7.

I dabbled a bit in drinking when I was 19 or 20, frequenting a bar that was known to serve minors - I think the draw was 2 dollar margaritas if I'm not mistaken. I didn't really drink a whole lot though, until I turned 21 years old. On my 21st birthday, I went from 0 to 60 and began partying on an ever-increasing basis. I was the oldest of my friends, so it was up to me to supply them all with libations.

Between the ages of 21 and 24, I basically turned into Van Wilder and corrupted as many people as I could get my hands on. We threw house parties on a regular basis - BIG house parties. We taught people how to do shots, shotgun beers, make flaming Dr. Peppers and car bombs, keg stands, beer bongs (funnels) and pretty much anything else that might get you tanked quickly. At the same time, my wife was a bartender for 8 years with an extensive knowledge of mixed drink recipes - hence, we didn't need any mixology posters on the wall. Of course, there are the obvious downsides to this lifestyle. Blackouts became a regular occurrence as well as a fair share of vomiting. Not to mention the plethora of poor moral choices that go along with being drunk.

When I was 24, I found Jesus, or rather I submitted and gave control of my life over to Jesus. I stopped partying cold turkey, went to AA everyday for a month (though I hated it because they were depressing and defeatist and prayed to a faceless "higher power"), and stayed completely "dry" for about six months. One day, while sitting at the bar where my fiance' worked, a fellow offered to buy me a beer and one of the bartenders declined the offer on my behalf, remarking, "Lew can't drink." I was bothered by the fact that she said that I was unable to drink rather than "He chooses not to drink." As a Christ-follower, I was perfectly able to have a drink and remain sober, and I didn't like being made to look like a weakling. Jesus had given me strength, power, self-control and if I couldn't exemplify that, then what was the difference between my relationship with Him and an alcoholic's commitment to the "12 steps." Well, in my mind, there was a big difference.

So after being "dry" for six months, I began to slowly integrate alcohol back into my diet. Fortunately, I discovered that I had new-found taste buds and a new appreciation for beer that actually had taste, flavor, and weight. In my next post, I will continue to tell you a little of what I've learned about alcohol - differentiating between beer, wine and hard liquor.

My Favorite Beer

Where do I begin? I grew up in Michigan. As a matter of fact, I've only lived in South Florida for 7 years. In the past 7 years, the beer selection in South Florida has improved significantly. I used this analogy before and I will use it again to show the difference between Michigan and South Florida. In Michigan, when you go to the local corner store, the entire back wall of coolers will be devoted to cold beer - if you are in the mood for Sam Adams, you'll have your choice of at least 7 of their 20 available flavors. 7 years ago in South Florida, you'd have had your choice of 2 flavors of Sam Adams beer - regular and light, maybe a seasonal if you were lucky. Now, at our local Publix Grocery, we are offered at least 4 varieties of Sams, sometimes even 5.

But I'm not going to dwell on Sam Adams today. Today I want to talk about Leinenkugels Brewery, a small brewery in Wisconsin. Though small, it was bought this year by Miller and they've since been shipping Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat throughout the entire nation. Sunset Wheat is an excellent beer and definitely in my top 5. But there was one beer that was available in Michigan that I've missed since we left - Leinenkugel Berry Weiss. In Michigan, we usually had a choice of at least 5 or 6 different Leinenkugel varieties.

I have just recently discovered, to my delight, that South Florida now carries 3 varieties of Leinenkugels beer - Sunset Wheat, Honey Weiss, and (drumroll) Berry Weiss. I am a happy fella. And I don't want to hear any crap from you manly men who think that it isn't right for a guy to enjoy a "berry flavored" beer. From my experience, most of the "manly men" out there get by on a steady diet of "yellow-colored water" - better known as American Light Lager (Bud, Miller, etc.)

Florida Baptists - "Jesus is a recreational drug user"

This week, the Florida Baptist Convention approved a bylaw amendment agreeing to "abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages and using any other recreational drugs." (I wonder how many of those old geezers get by on a daily cocktail of caffeine and pharmaceutical drugs.)

This is just another account of Baptists further distancing themselves from Jesus by holding to tradition. The executive director of the FBC said that he was embarrassed that any discussion was even necessary when clarifying the issue of alcohol use.

Pub Theology

Rather than host our usual Dinner and Discussion at our home this week, we decided to take it on the road and inaugurate Pub Theology. We went to Ye Olde Falcon Pub in Davie. They let us use their now defunct cigar room, so it was actually quite conducive to our purposes. Ye Olde Falcon Pub has one of the best beer selections in town (33 taps and over 130 bottles) and they also have some killer authentic dishes like Shepard's pie, bangers and mash, and the Scottish meat pie. In the mood for some Pumpkin Ale? They had two different selections available. That is my kind of pub, though I went for the Anchor Steam, because I've already got some Shipyard Pumpkin Ale at home.



Exodus 40 - Leviticus 2

At the end of the book of Exodus, Moses inspects the completed work of the building of the tabernacle according to God's plans. Upon completion, God moves into the Tabernacle in the form of a cloud.

Leviticus begins with about 9 chapters dealing with the 5 different types of offerings as well as the sins which necessitate those offerings. We covered the burnt offering and the grain offering. Apparently, God does not like honey and yeast, but He does like olive oil and salt, go figure. Also, the business of the burnt offering is pretty nasty to our 21st century "cultured" tastes, unless we've been watching Bear Grylls kill animals with his bare hands. After reading only the first two chapters of Leviticus, I have only this to say: "Thank you Jesus for making yourself a once-for-all sacrifice in payment for our sins."

Our next Dinner and Discussion will be on October 14 at 6 pm. We will attempt cover Leviticus 3 through 9. The next bit of entertaining narrative reading begins in Chapter 10 when Aaron's sons get fried.

Interesting Trivia: The Broward Atheists meet at Ye Olde Falcon Pub every week.

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT AS PARENTS

I had to pass along this post from shane:

OUR CROWING ACHIEVEMENT AS PARENTS

Fast Food Nation

The first half of the book, Fast Food Nation, was somewhat of a dry, slow read. I'll give the author credit for doing his research, but slogging through the entire history of the fast food/restaurant industry was daunting. It was interesting and I still enjoyed it and learned a lot, but it was kind of like watching the history channel when you know that you're missing Seinfeld and The Simpsons.
I imagine this is the reason that they fictionalized the movie version of the nonfiction book.

The second half of the book, was what I really came for: it was all about the production of the food itself. But here's the interesting thing - Schlosser didn't take the angle that I thought he would go for. Rather than dwell on the "plight of the animals" amid ever rampant industrial farming, he continued to build on the foundation that he had been laying throughout the book - that this was an economic, political, ethical, inhumane, poisonous, toxic, dangerous quagmire that involved much more than just the animals.

I would recommend this book to everyone. I think that this book should be taught in the classrooms. The author concludes the book with recent updates and changes in the industry since the first publication - most are not positive changes. He also has over a hundred pages devoted to notes, research, bibliography, and an index. Unlike Trudeau, who might as well be peddling fortunes alongside Dione Warwick, Schlosser really does his homework and then follows it up with more homework.

I suppose now I'll watch the movie.

Natural Cures "They" don't want you to know about

"Natural Cures 'They' don't want you to know about" is a great book for conspiracy theorists and suckers alike. Alas, I am neither. (thank you, public library. Please, like I'd give this guy any of my hard-earned money.) Either way, it was an enjoyable, quick read. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do find the basic premise of this book very believable - Money makes the world go round. Unfortunately, I believe the same probably holds true for Trudeau himself as well. Sure, I don't trust my government, (the FDA/FTC). I also don't trust drug companies, food manufacturers, fast-food restaurants, or any of the other faceless corporations that essentially run our lives. But that is about the extant of it. There isn't a whole lot I can do about it, though there are some small things that can be done on a personal level, to be sure. (Just like Al Gore suggests for fuel consumption)

An example of this premise in action:

During college, my wife (then fiance) announced to me that she was going to be a vegetarian (thank you very much, PETA). I was a bit put off, mostly because there was no warning given for such a drastic lifestyle change. (Unlike most men, I went along and became a vegetarian myself). Rather than start eating garbage like tofu, couscous, and bean sprouts; we simply removed the meat from our existing recipes - fajitas(no meat), spaghetti(no meat), pizza(no meat), etc. And by "meat", I mean beef, pork, AND CHICKEN (to all you girls out there that think that chicken isn't meat, try educating yourself to the fact that the beef industry actually treats their animals better than the poultry industry. And that isn't saying much.) After about 5 years, we decided (consciously) to begin to let limited amounts of meat back into our diet. (Being vegetarian had proven to be too difficult and restricting amidst our level of cultural immersion, but we still believed in the basic premise that our culture consumes WAY TOO MUCH MEAT in a way that overloads the system and forces it to produce meat in a manner that is both unthinkable and inhumane. We still make most of our recipes without meat, and really only eat meat when "eating out" for social ease. (about once a week)

I've already seen the documentary "Super-Size Me" (it was awesome!) and I'm about to start reading "Fast Food Nation".

Ultimate Beer

Ultimate Beer is a Dorling Kindersley book, and therefore, irresistible. If I could own every DK book that is out there, I would. And for them to put out a book about beer from the "beer hunter" himself, Michael Jackson; I couldn't pass it up.

Jackson does a great job of giving a thorough explanation of the brewing process and brewing history, especially regional geographic brewing history. He weighs heavily on Germany, Belgium, and England/Scotland, as well as the Pacific Northwest/U.S.

I learned a lot. I discovered a few new beers that I'd like to try, and read about some that I've already had. He did an o.k. job of "spreading it out" and mentioning a number of different breweries, including some favorites of my own, like Kalamazoo Brewing Co. (Bell's)

I only have one problem with this book: we can't all be world travelers like Mr. Jackson. Many of the beers that he touts are some that I will never have the opportunity to experience. What I need, is a lexicon similar to this, but limited to beers that are actually available in the United States.

Hibachi

Since I've moved to south Florida, I've been exposed to an ever increasing number of ethnic restaurants. Cuban, Spanish, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Japanese, French, English, German, Italian, to name a few. I've never been a big fan of most of these.

For me, ethnic is Taco Bell and Chili's, but hey, I'll try anything.

Recently we went out to a hibachi restaurant, Japan Inn in Sunrise, FL. I had fun. The food was good. Let's face it, having a guy cook at the table, make big fire balls, throw shrimp at everyone, while flinging his knives around, making jokes, and talking smack is a no-brainer. And I know what you're thinking - "what rock have you been hiding under that you've never had hibachi?". As I said, I'm more than content with Taco Bell.

michigan

i'm going back home to michigan this week to officiate my brother-in-law's wedding.
some have said that i have a stomach-worldview, so here's my view of michigan.

it'll be somewhat cool: i can wear pants and sweaters. something i don't get to do often in south florida.

pizza king pizza rolls - pizza king is one the dirtiest establishments ever, i don't think they've cleaned it since 1984, when the tigers won the world series.

magic wok - fast food chinese at its finest

olga's kitchen- a shopping mall staple, but only in michigan. don't know why.

white castle - yes, you heard it right. white castle sliders












buffalo wild wings (bw3) - best wings ever. and they actually clean their stores.

beer selection - yes, people in michigan actually appreciate a decent beer selection. case in point: samuel adams. in a south florida store, you may have a choice between 3 different variations of sam adams. in michigan, you'll have upwards of 12 choices. sam adams actually manufactures almost 20 variations. guess i'll have to go to boston one of these days.