The 2nd of my Year End review: The Best of

The Best of 2010:

10. Making it back from France, alive. To paraphrase Pete Townsend, 8 hours in a tin can, there's got to be a better way!
9. The world Cup and Winter Olympics
8. "The Morning After The Night Before" by James. Proof that not all comebacks are bad. Technically, "Hey Ma" was the comeback album but whatever.
7. Still being employed!!!
6. Duckworth's move into the new space!
5. Chelsea winning The Double!
4. Friends, you know who you are
3. My parents
2. Andi
1. The arrival of our little, Chewy, Emma!

Bring on 2011!!!!

The 1st of my Year End review. The Negatives

My, top ten, worst things about this year. To be followed shortly by the best things!
Some of these items may have gotten their start in 2009 but they all hit their zenith in 2010.

10. Swine Flu in Paris
9. Beady Eyes
8. Gaining 20lbs
7. Top Gear USA
6. Chevy Volt
5. Autotune
4. Republicans
3. Democrats
2. Justin Bieber
1. The Tea Party

I think this list is self-explanatory, if not, ask away. Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day and here's to a cracking New Year!!

Cheers!

The life of a thirty-something father.

Well, I have neglected this little corner of cyber-space for the better part of two months. I have also neglected our yard, my car, the house cleaning, and a myriad of other things that have become highly neglectable since the arrival of Chewy. Chewy has taken over our lives like a Tasmanian Devil devouring a sheep. The results, however, are devastating in a positive manner. I can no longer imagine life without our little monkey, she is the most amazing creature. Chewy has her own language, which we pretend to understand, that sounds as if a seagull, a seal, and a small dog found the same morsel of food all at the same time! I find myself wishing that my glasses had an endless video feed so that I could capture all of the funny, sweet and amusing faces that I know will only be made once or twice, never to be seen again. Fatherhood is pretty effing sweet, except for the sleep deprivation.

So, at some point, I may get back to the theme of this blog but right now I have more important things to do.

Cheers!

Ben

The TacoMac review

Now those of you that have known me for more than five seconds know that I don't succumb to hype very easily. Well, that all changed when I found out that Andi's favorite ATL restaurant was opening a location in South Park. I took the bait, hook, line and sinker. Result......

TacoMac is a regional chain, out of Atlanta, that serves Americanized Mexican food as well as your typical pub grub. They also host a very large beer selection with 140 taps and probably twice that amount in bottle. I have had at least 115 of the 140 beers that are on tap and more than 80% of the bottled goods. Quantity trumps quality, unfortunately, but that's okay because I'm not their target demographic. TacoMac is the perfect place for the beer novice to get his or her feet wet. From Founders to Corona, they have something that will appeal to all drinkers, me included.

This place is a sports bar to it's core. Large flat screen TV's hang from every available I-beam and I mean EVERY. It is sensory overload! You are "welcomed", more like accosted, by a gaggle of young hostesses, before you can get both feet in the door. I don't need to be yelled at when I walk into a restaurant, just say hello and sit me at a table. The "scenery" is best described as "not the Flying Saucer". Take from that what you will.

Then there is the food. Andi got the boneless wings which looked pretty damn tasty and I'm sure she would have enjoyed them, if she hadn't gotten heartburn halfway into our meal. No fault of the wings, mind you. I ordered the buffalo and blue cheese burger with fries. As soon as I ordered, our waitress asked if I wanted "that medium-well or well-done". I informed her that I would prefer medium and was told that "they don't do that". Fearing the worst, I let my order stand and was well surprised when my burger came out pink in the middle. I'm pretty sure it was an accident. The burger itself was of the frozen kind but of a respectable quality, the buffalo sauce had just the right amount of kick with a good BBQ flavor and the blue cheese was plentiful, strong and just plain good. The bun was more than acceptable, not too hard and not too soft, and it held up to the burger and toppings admirably.

Yes, I joined the beer club that they have as I assume that this place will be on heavy rotation. Plus it was free. The quality of the beer selection may not be on par with Duckworth's but the prices are fair, for both food and beer, the TV's are nice and I could easily see myself here, yelling at the US team as they fail miserably for the umpteenth time.

I have chosen the A - F scale for my reviews. Enjoy!

Beer: Quantity A

Quality B-

Food: Solid B+

Atmosphere: B

Bathrooms: A

Scenery: D

Parking: C

TV's: A++

Location: B

Cheers!

Where it all began.....Vol. 1

It's fitting that, as I start this entry, Oasis's Wonderall is the song that Steve Lamacq starts his August 20, 2010 show with.

You would think, with everything that has been going on in my life lately, that I would not have time to reflect on how I became an Anglophile but you'd be wrong. Let me start by stating that I'm not an Anglophile in the traditional sense of the word. I don't pretend, as some would contest, that the English do everything better than we Yanks. I mean, we've already proven that Arthur's Fish'n'Chips was not as good an idea as McDonald's.

I've been trying to pinpoint the exact time in space that I became an Anglophile but I think that it is more a series of events than one specific moment. To start with, my parents had a decent collection of vinyl that I listened to growing up: Motown, Beatles, and singer-song writer stuff. My parents didn't actually encourage this hobby but they accepted that it was better than the alternatives. I must make this perfectly clear, the first record that I bought of my own accord, contributing to my disease, was "A Hard Days Night" by the Beatles. Yes, I know that this is fairly generic but at this time most kids my age were listening to Kid n Play or something equally as foul.

Wait, hold on a minute, I remember the band that totally blew my mind and that is responsible for my affliction. I had a friend named Adam and we were in his parents Chrysler minivan one Sunday after Youth Group, yeah Christian kids are the worst. So, he pops in this tape by a band called Pink Floyd and plays a song called "Bike". I had never heard anything like it and I didn't like it at first. "I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like, It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things that make it look good". But how can you deny the genius of, "I know a mouse
And he hasn't got a house
I don't know why
I call him Gerald
He's getting rather old
But he's a good mouse"
I mean, you don't hear that kind of stream of consciousness on American Idol. It altered the way I thought about music and life.

Then I heard Lola by The Kinks!

Hipster dinning in the QC

The Mrs. and I have gotten into the habit of eating out far too much recently. That being said, we have found two restaurants that, we hope, will live past the dreaded 3 year curse that plagues the Charlotte dinning scene. First off is a brand new venture in the cursed South End Brewery location called "Icehouse". I had been here with the lads for a footy match and decided that we should go back and try dinner. The menu is typical American pub fair, burgers, chicken, salads, etc. We both ordered the French Dip and were pleasantly surprised. The meat was tender with a modest amount of fat and the amount of cheese was spot on. The bread, however, was something different. This roll was the best I've had in quite some time; soft and fluffy, not chewy and it soaked up the au jus as if it wanted to jump in and swim around in the salty brown goodness. The fries were good with a nice, crisp outside and a soft warm center. Our waitress was decent and that's about as good as it gets, in Charlotte, these days. Overall, I would suggest that you give it shot. It's not out standing but it's far better than the Liberty.

Our second dinning adventure, this past weekend, was at Big Daddy's. This is a burger joint on East Blvd that opened a year or so ago. We had been meaning to give it a shot but for some reason or another never quite made it over. Maybe it was the long lines that always seem to be snaking out of the building. We went on Friday with the thought that most people were either out of town or stuck entertaining in-laws. We were correct. We got there around 6:30 and were seated immediately. Then the line started. The interior is a hodgepodge of beer signs, diamond plate wainscoting, laminate tables, HD tv's and Dilworth hipsters galore. It's kind of like the Penguin without the body art, which it could really use. The Mrs. ordered the Chili Burger and had to eat it with a fork! It looked amazing. I ordered the Buffalo Burger, with fried onion strings and sweet potato fires. I usually like me meat on the rare side, but in NC this is not really an option. Our server asked how I would like burger cooked and I replied "medium rare, if you an". The response to this was "we can only do medium". I took the medium. It has been my experience that "medium" means slightly pink on the inside, not here. "Medium" at BD's means gray through and through. I was pleased that the meat was still juicy and tender. A solid 8 on the burger scale. Here, again, the service was decent. The beer selection here cannot touch Icehouse but that's alright, sometimes a Highland Gaelic is all that is called for. We will definitely be going back as they have a burger that is topped with jalapeno bacon and apple-wood smoked bacon!! www.bigdaddysburgerbar.com/Home/?load=1

Cheers!

This is it...

This is a perfect example of why winter beers are so exciting. Crystal, Chocolate and smoked malts with Challenger hops, it's going to be great! http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/tumbler.html

Cheers!