Red Dirt Harriers

A good leisurely weekend has been had. The weather has cooled down from our balmy 70 degree temps of last week, but the wind also died down after Friday and so I hit the bike for a mini bar crawl last night going Library/NY pizza/ Blu. A good crew was on hand but the town was pretty quiet and so there is not much debauchery to report. I think that I probably wisely turned down a dance party invite, but I probably would have had more to blog up had I attended and maybe that's what matters more than my hangover quotient. I will note that my morning of dim sum was a great success. I had lots of shrimp dumplings, spring rolls, egg rolls, sweet dumplings, sticky rice and jasmine tea. Also of note, they were offering a Chinese New Year cake. Seeing as how we are leaving the year of the rat and moving forward into oxen times, I think this year will be full of toil and good yields. The cake was interesting. If you know anything about Asian sweets, they tend to not be really sugary sweet. T...

Today marks the 26th year of my existence. My title is typical of a cognac designation (very very special old pale) and yet it strangely applies to me as well. I read somewhere that the 21st of January, not the 23rd luckily, is supposed to be the most unhappy day of the year. I know that my birthday, almost without fail, tends to be cloudy and cold, and accordingly the weather is taking a plunge as I sit tending shop. Luckily, I was able to get some very crucial face time in with the boys at Plaid this morning, and the coffee is just going to tide me over until I get my second wind sometime this evening. I'm going to give the Grand House a whirl tomorrow. It's been a while since I've had dim sum. I'm a sucker for steamed dumplings and actually had a great experience outside of St. Louis and then San Fran, naturally. Tonight, I may end up going Asian as well, maybe sushi, but not before a couple leisurely pints. Speaking of pints, my obligatory malt beverage reference i...

The Dallas weekend extravaganza has come and gone and I've mixed emotions about it. I got to hit the King Tut exhibit which was more like just a general Egyptian royalty from 2 millenia ago. There were some amazing pieces that I could go on and on about but overall it seemed like they were showing us the B circuit. The place was also way overbooked, I felt like we were being extorted and then herded around. I will say that it gave me an even higher appreciation for the pomegranate, being in that it is carved in the gold coffin of Tut's grandmother. Let's see... we hit countless shops and I endured my sister's rigid scheduling of all things pertaining to indulgence. I got a massage at the Spa at the Cresent which was pretty excellent, if not awkward because my masseuse was oh so capable and how can it not be somehow overly personal when you're nude and being worked on by a fit, healthy chick. Maybe I was just a little off because of the birthday champagne they served...

That would be the theme for last night's outing to OKC with der boys. The trend of feeling off continues to overwhelm and I can't help but chalk it up to the "smorgasboard effect." Contemporary wisdom tells us that fusion is all the rage and who am I to blow against the wind? At some point however, I think that can lead to an assemblage frought with gastronomic peril and, worse, something that gives little Scotty D a tummy ache. Cue the scene, we had put down a few stouts and pale ales prior to departure from Stu's. I, of course, was lauded for my incredible driving ability over the perhaps 2 mile route to Cheever's. Upon arrival we ordered a couple bottles of vino and some apps. I think this is where the trouble began. The first combo would be the Malbec/Hummus/Fried Calamari/Pinot combo only to be outdone by the proceeding Merlot/Nacho/Pecan, Chocolate,& Ice Cream Ball conglomeration. Stu knew something was up and opted for a jog back to the house where ...

Going up to Cheever's this evening. THe place is quality and I will be eating lightly, just enough food to go with a couple glasses of wine. I wish that I could put my alcohol charges on the expense report for On The Rocks as "product research." Maybe the higher ups would go for it if they realized that our wine orders have been made in large part by connections made by moi as a result of genuine interest in the product and not its direct monetary gain for the store, as that will obviously come if you do a good job of promoting your wine and impressing upon people some sort of competence and outgoing passion for orientation through the wine industry. I'm getting pretty tired of explaining to customers why I can't help them or why our guarantee holds no water. On the bright side, I'm going away to Dallas this weekend for what I'm sure will be both a fun and frantic weekend. My mom and sister are the true organizers of this operation so I will undoubtedly by...

I have in front of me the potential to carry the best beer in Norman, maybe Oklahoma. The easiest way to stock the best beers is to search by the country of origin and pick up all that say Belgium . I'm sorry to all those that disagree and while there are great beers throughout the world, this is easily the best and most varied beer culture. I have the Eagle Beers catalogue which is pretty hot. The problem is that I don't the authorization to order said awesome beers and it's unclear whether I will get it. What I need you, my lovely reader, to do is stop in and suggest that maybe we carry some of these choice offerings. You needs are covered as there are options covering the gammut. If you like a lighter beer, suggest the Witterkerke, Blanche De Namur, Petrus Blonde, or Konigs Hoevens Dubbel. Middle of the road offerings include Tilburg Dutch Brown, Tripel Karmeliet, Konigs Hoevens Trippel, or Kwak. Finally, there are the heavy hitters that are best served after the day ha...

Sunday was a big day as the weather was superb in central Oklahoma. Jordan and I had done some talking and planned to knock out a "special block" workout. I, of course would not be doing any of the uptempo running but opted to bike alongside to most optimally offer up taunts and sarcasm with his gatorade. Jordan mentioned having eaten shortly prior to our departure, which for me would have been an issue, but was but an afterthought for Kinley. I think he may have opted for the chupacabra chowder, which only helped fortify him. We hit lake Hefner to join Spenis and mobs of other fitness enthusiasts for the 9.5 mile lap after we legged out a 4 mile warmup. The lake can be exceptionally windy, but it was pretty much perfect yesterday, with a light lake breeze and a cloudless sky. Good work was done, for which I'll let Jordan supply the details. This workout is about running down the fuel reserves with a morning session, then coming back for more later in the day. I think it...

It got rough last night but luckily the only carry over, other than another Sooner BCS loss, was a train wreck in my cranium. I should have known not to hang around with the likes of Spenis and Jordan but clearly I haven't learned my lesson just yet. There were some lighter moments on the evening. The first one occurred when I decided to not sit in Oklahoma City traffic for an hour and grab a jog in southwest OKC. As I drove through the derilict neighborhoods next to Woodson Park, there was this dude just walking down the middle of the busy street flipping me and everybody else off, then during my actual run some drunk lady sitting at the park offered her services as I ran by. To say that this is a good place to jog would be a lie, but it was kind of entertaining. The bright spot of the morning was getting up and at it with just enough time to grab a fritter, a pastime which has been neglected for far too long. In fact, I think I'm going to reinstate this as my official Friday...

I've got another beer in the fermenter and am anticipating a very distinct result. You see I'm trying my hand at a rauchbier which means a smoke beer. I've basically used a recipe for a nice malty brown ale and then added smoked malt on top of that. I am a little concerned that I might get tired of this flavor but unfortunately that's something I can't remedy and so my friends and family may have to step it up if I can't bring myself to comsume all of this batch. Just looking outside today makes me want to go have a BBQ which would be the ultimate compliment to this beer. I'm envisioning bringing a grill over to Jordan's new pad and having like a street party. Somehow though I think we may have to contend with The Don of Main Street so maybe we'll opt for another locale. I'n stretching like a mad man right now and have found that my soleus and calves indeed had retightened since the last time I tried to make a big push against the PF, so hopefull...

I was actually more concerned about occipital lobe trauma as I biked around various points in Norman on New Year's Eve with champagne stowed in my backpack. Things were a little frantic right after work where we sold a bottle of Dom and almost all of our champagne before noon. I biked over to the rec fields for a quick barefoot jog, then headed straight to the Library for beers. There was a festive but small crowd on hand as we were there a bit early, but some dude did stumble in and offer free tickets to the Flaming Lips New Years Concert. The house Kona Stout on tap is greatly enhanced by the N2 charge and I actually think I preferred it to the current IPA. After some beers w/ Spenis, Trev & Shirley, and Skolnick, we headed to a Lebanese fundraiser dinner which was great and featured all the standards from that line of cuisine. Unfortunately, we were forced to skip out on dessert, which I'm still bitter about, as it was catered by La Baguette. Next I watched the Y2K simps...