Kittens & Rochefort 10

I realized I have been neglecting to introduce my dear readers to Darwin (left) and Huxley (right), the kittens that Sarah and I adopted.  We had talked about getting pets for some time, including a misadventure (nearly) acquiring a puppy last summer, but the timing was never quite right.  Well Sarah found someone in the Pittsburgh area looking to give some kittens a good home which lead to these siblings joining our family.  Sarah wanted two so they could entertain each other while left alone and they seem perfectly capable of doing that.  Darwin is the female, slightly smaller and less eager to be held with a penchant for exploring.  Huxley is male, larger, and a bit more calm being handled, but he plays rougher; no qualms about using claws or nibbling on you.  It was really nice to finally meet them, since my only interaction with them prior had been through skype.  They took to me quickly, playing and sleeping near my head.  I imagine they'll change quite a bit in the year we're apart, but I hope that early bonding will be memorable for their little kitty brains.

Another Belgian Trappist Ale?  This one is a Quadrupel called Rochefort 10 that I had the pleasure of trying during Easter dinner with family.  Every ounce of this brew originated at the hands of a few careful monks inside the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy.  The Rochefort series (6, 8, and 10) are numbered after an old method of rating the strength of a beer, with the 10 bearing the strongest flavors as well as 11.3% ABV.  It had a bit of the same cherry flavors as Trois Pistoles and Three Philosophers, but presented them in a more refined and balanced way that agreed with my palate.  This was a rich brew that seemed to get better as it warmed.  I will definitely be trying this again, given the chance.

Planning a Surprise and Chimay Grande Réserve

Last week I found out that I would get a 4-day weekend for Easter.  Originally I wasn't planning on doing anything, but on a whim started looking a flight prices anyway.  I happened to find a cheaper American Airlines connection through Dallas to Pittsburgh from Friday evening to Sunday evening.  A plan hatched to surprise Sarah with a visit for the weekend.  Well I arranged for my grandma to pick me up from the airport and kept the whole plan under wraps.  This was easier to accomplish considering that getting confirmation for my extended mileage pass was delayed until Thursday afternoon.  But it all fell into place and Sarah had no idea what was waiting for her outside the apartment when I messaged her from my kindle that I had sent her something that should arrive by 6.  Surprise!

My Aunt gave me a bottle of Chimay Grande Réserve for Sarah and I to try.  This is probably the most famous Trappist Ale and I had been putting off trying it since it will always be there whereas the American and  Canadian experiments in the style may disappear after only a few seasons.  This is a winner.  It's a strong dark Belgian ale with a polished taste.  It's more refined and "beer-like" than the bold dark fruit flavors that come out of Maudite, though the two pour very similarly.  Sarah and I both really enjoyed it.

Smallpox, waiting, and Glissade

Today I earned my paycheck from Uncle Sam by waiting in line from 0630-1630.  I don't have enough stripes or deployments to really complain, but suffice to say I overheard more than a few veterans remark that the medical processing didn't take this long for their prior deployments.  Within this time I spent about 15 minutes (between different lines) receiving a smallpox vaccination and getting my already-completed clinical evaluation electronically notarized.  I am especially glad that I brought a) a ziploc bag of trail mix because there was no opportunity for reprieve standing/sitting in the lines and b) my Kindle, because I was the only one from my squad processing today.  I finished one nonfiction book and the H. P. Lovecraft novella The Shunned House.

Tonight I'm sampling Sierra Nevada's Glissade golden bock.  It's light in the mouth with some easygoing bright flavors, but still a bit hoppy for me.  I'm not choking it down, but I don't get excited about each swallow either.  The internet tells me its IBU is 42, which is higher than anything I've liked previously.  Not bad, but not my style.

Brother Thelonious & Camping part 2

Last night had a bright gibbous moon and in combination with my firelight, I really didn't need anything else in order to see fairly well.  Undaunted, I was still eager to try out a new headlamp I'd purchased to take to Iraq.  My previous two headlamps had both been "opportunistically relieved of my possession:" one during a party at Pitt and another at JRTC in January.  This new one is a Princeton Tec like my first one, but a cheaper/lighter model with a red LED that only needs 2 AAAs.  I sewed a nametape on the headband so hopefully this one doesn't walk off like its predecessors.

My stainless steel camp cup has split 3/4" along a seam, but it still performed well for making a pack of ramen noodles.  Straining the cooked noodles took some creativity, though.  I used a nalgene bottle to push the hot noodle-water out the sides like a leaky piston.

Tonight's beverage is Brother Thelonious.  North Coast brewery donates a portion the sales of this brew to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.  So off the bat, that's a pretty cool tie-in.  The beer itself is a strong dark Belgian-style ale.  It pours with a rich, mahogany color with strong raisin flavors, including a relative sweetness.  This flavor profile masks the 9.4% ABV very well and makes it pretty good for sipping.  I would get this again and may do a side by side comparison with Maudite in the future.

Camping & Snake Dog IPA

I went back to the Peak Trail yesterday to do some camping up on the little peak.  I was looking forward to having a fire and actually being able to cook something instead of just heating things up in my motel microwave. I cooked some mild italian sausage, noodles and beans over the fire. and stacked on some cheese and trailmix as well.  Pretty solid meal, though the sausage would have to be replaced if I were taking a more lengthy excursion by foot.  Suitable firewood is way more bountiful here in contrast to places I've camped in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario.  Lots of dead and dry pine just laying about and dry, fibrous bark that peals off and takes a spark easily.  Not many large limbs, though.

I was eager to try out my issued Military Sleep System with my hammock.  I left the goretex bivvy-sack behind, but the patrol and intermediate bags kept me pretty warm until 0430 or so.  You'll always be warmer sleeping on the ground, but that's one of the tradeoffs when choosing a hammock.

Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA

I got this as part of a Flying Dog Brewery sampler pack.  No revelations here; I still don't like IPA.  But I want to thank the Flying Dog Brewery for introducing me to International Bitterness Units by putting the IBU value of their brews on each bottle.  Snake Dog's 60 IBU is just way to high for my tastes.