The Brew Kettle

We've brewed beer at The Brew Kettle in Strongsville, Ohio (outside Cleveland) on three occasions, twice brewing an Irish Lager and once a Scottish Ale.  Our routine consists of having lunch at their restaurant and trying a few options, then going to the brewing area in the back and deciding which recipe to make.  Ingredients are gathered, grains milled and added to the kettle, already filled of water, to soak.  The temperature is raised slowly over the course of a couple hours as hops and other flavors are added. When complete, the staff drains the kettle and stores it for 2-3 weeks before we make our return trip to bottle it.  Part of the fun is designing our own custom labels, like the one below that remembers Shadow and her ability to leap fences, usually at the most inconvenient of times.

http://www.thebrewkettle.com

Mike Leach On Weddings

This is a perfect summary of what happens during wedding planning, with some advice on how us men can cope, delivered by Washington State football coach Mike Leach.  Spot on funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGIap2_tmng

Android Apps on Chromebooks

After an extra-long wait, Android app support is now available on certain models of Chromebooks, which fortunately includes my Acer Chromebook 14.  The first apps to load were Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, as they enable a small set of TV shows and movies to be downloaded, perfect for the Chromebook's large screen and will make long, cramped airplane trips a bit more tolerable.

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/7021273

University Of Dayton Arena

Thanks to a friend of ours we enjoyed our first look at the upgraded lower level seats and four-sided, center-hung video board installed during the first phase of the University of Dayton Arena's multi-year upgrades.  Even better was watching the Flyers battle back from a five point halftime deficit to defeat the Akron Zips 73-60. 

Big shout out to Karen for the tickets!

http://transformudarena.com

Sugar Cream Pies

Thanksgiving dinner concluded with these Sugar Cream Pies, a tasty departure from the usual pumpkin.  Super easy to make as long as the transfer into the oven is slowly and carefully done.  

Ingredients

• Crust
• 2 unbaked pie crusts (frozen is fine)
• One or two cookie sheets (or similar)

• Filling
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cups Half-and-Half
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the pie crusts on the cookie sheet(s), lined with foil or parchment if desired.  The cookie sheet will avoid small spills making a large mess.
• In a small bowl:
• Whisk the egg yolks
• Add the Half-and-Half and stir together
• In a large bowl:
• Whisk the sugar, flour and salt
• Add the heavy cream and vanilla, and completely blend
• Add the contents of small bowl and lightly stir together
• Pour the filling evenly into the pie crusts.
• Ever so carefully, place the cookie sheet/pies into the oven.
• Bake for 75 minutes. The top should be golden and rise above the edge of the crust. Note that the filling will still jiggle.
• Cool to room temperature then refrigerate for at least two hours.

39th Annual Turkey Trot

Another year, another Turkey Trot!  Not bad for 62.

A brisk morning, started out just below freezing, but very little wind made it reasonable to run. 

We earned an extra piece of turkey for our efforts!

http://orrrc.onlineraceresults.com

All About Me

Just received my new, custom-made T-Shirt from Vistaprint Promotional Products.  My wife thought it said "pound me", but I intended it to mean "it's all about me", which I quickly explained.  It's a good quality shirt (Gildan Heavy Cotton) and for the all-in price of $15.72, not a bad deal.

http://promo.vistaprint.com

Kohler Cavata

We liked the Kohler Cavata toilet we had installed in the second floor bedroom do-over so much that I replaced the toilet on the first floor last weekend with the same model.  A little taller, a little longer and a seat that slowly lowers itself, avoiding the annoying "big bang" of the older model.  What I like the most is the innards of tank come pre-installed.  If I can install a toilet without a single leak, it must be good.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/KOHLER-Cavata-White-WaterSense-Labeled-Dual-Elongated-Chair-Height-2-piece-Toilet-12-in-Rough-In-Size/4070737

Month Names

​Google has a public dataset available that has all the first names for people, going back to 1910 in the United States, that applied for a Social Security number.  I used their BigQuery tool to create this summary of female and male names that are months,  The most popular ones are not surprising.  August was a very popular name in my Moorman blood line and my great-grand-uncle August Moorman fathered 21 children, truly a "more man" than most.

I guess nobody likes February and March.  As a name or otherwise .

http://www.thiemangenealogy.com/getperson.php?personID=I45027&tree=tree1

Female Names	Count
January	99
April	3,141
May	1,619
June	3,535
July	9
August	184
September	33
October	19
November	1
December	15
Male Names	Count
April	8
June	104
July	1
August	1,813

Talking Turkey

Our 16+ pound Thanksgiving turkey cost us just $8.00 at Kroger.  If I had a deep freezer I would have bought several.

http://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/who-has-the-lowest-turkey-prices-in-2017