The Daily Hay – A little behind

The Daily Hay is a daily feature, highlighting whatever I feel worthy of your 5 minutes or less. No real commentary, just a link to the article, music, or video. Enjoy.

With all of this snow, no work, and lots of play, I’ve fallen a little behind on my Daily Hays…

Last year I had a great time with some friends ranking our favorite Superbowl Commercials.  This year because of the snow it was just me and Roommate hanging out casting judgment on the Mad Men.  So here was our pick.  This year’s best commercial:

Anyone else have a favorite?

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The Daily Hay – Never Leave

The Daily Hay is a daily feature, highlighting whatever I feel worthy of your 5 minutes or less. No real commentary, just a link to the article, music, or video. Enjoy.

No real surprise, but another reason why to never leave…

From GALLUP:  Party ID: Despite GOP Gains, Most States Remain Blue.

“Rhode Island and Massachusetts ranked as the most Democratic U.S. states in 2009, along with the District of Columbia.  Utah and Wyoming were the strongest Republican states.  Although political affiliations moved in a more Republican direction last year, most states still show a Democratic orientation.”

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Home Brew #1 – Nut Brown Ale – Time to Bottle

About 50 bottles, sure hope it is good...

Bottling the first home brew was much easier than I expected.  I had been warned of its tedious work, so I recruited some help, KFB, and made a game plan.

The bottling process really started the night before any of the first batch left the bucket.  With less than 24 hours before go time, I only had about 12 empty bottles.  Lucky for me, it was a few days before my birthday, and I was throwing a party.  My friends can party, so I knew it would be no problem to get the 50 bottles needed.  My concern was the need for 50 non-screw top bottles, but fear not, those same friends like to party with a good brews that happen to have pop-tops.  We were in business.

After sleeping in the next day, I was ready to get started.  While KFB was out running errands, I decided to do some of the prep work.  I sanitized all of the equipment, and started prepping the bottles.  This part ended up being the only annoying part of the process.

By the time she arrived to the apartment, aka The Underground Brewery, I was ready to start.  We siphoned the beer from the carboy to the bottling bucket, trying our best to avoid the sediment.  In the bottling bucket, I combined the priming suger with the beer.  The priming suger will react with the yeast, causing carbonation.  This process takes about two weeks in the bottle.

Once everything was ready in the bottling bucket, the process couldn’t have gone smoother.  She filled the bottles, I worked the caper.  Less than 30 minutes later, we had about 50 bottles of The Underground’s first brew, a Nut Brown Ale.

We both took a little sip of the uncarbonated beer, and it tasted pretty good.  I really liked the flavors, but it is kind of hard to tell since it is flat, and the flavor profiles will continue to change in the bottle.

My expectations for this first batch are pretty low.  I’m not looking for the next best thing to hit the brewing community, but rather something that is drinkable.  After all, a good beer doesn’t make the man, but the man makes the good beer.  Sometimes it just takes a few tries.

Sometime later this week or next I should have a report on the final product.

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Dead Cats, Angry Purple Birds, and Crabs: Just Another Day on the Way to Baltimore. – By Jaclyn

Jaclyn's Crab Cake Platter

Food Adventures:  An Ongoing Series

The HaySay Adventure to G&M Restaurant, Linthicum Heights, Maryland

My fellow HaySayers and I decided it was time for another food adventure and that our next outing would be crab cakes. Even though Maryland crab season is nowhere near the month of January, we became very dedicated to this idea in about ninety seconds during lunch one day.

-“Ok, gang. Where should we go for our next food adventure? We’ve already done soul food. We could go to Eden Center, but that’s kind of far. I don’t think this city has respectable Italian food…”

(The group reflects.)

-“Isn’t there an open air market somewhere in DC where we can get seafood?”

-“Um… ‘Open air’ market? You CAN’T be serious. It’s cold outside.”

-“Excuse me, Jaclyn, but I don’t hear any other ideas. Anyone?”

-(from two conversations over at the lunch table) “Hey! Did someone say crab cakes? Tracey and I were planning to go to G&M for crab cakes. We were going to drive there… Wanna come?”

-“G&M crab cakes are the hugest crab cakes I’ve ever seen. We’re going there.”

I had never heard of this mythical place, but since I had absolutely no other ideas, I went along with my friends. Nothing bad has ever resulted from going along with the group, right? Right?

Throughout the week, when people asked my weekend plans and G&M was part of my answer, everyone explained how huge these things were, my favorite being “Those are literally the biggest crab cakes in the state of Maryland, so by extension, the whole green earth.” (Believe it.) These were also billed as having only enough filler to hold the crabmeat together, making them sound even better. The enthusiasm with which my coworkers and friends described these crab cakes led me to believe that this was the best snap decision we had ever collectively made as a group. This is almost as good as when I decided to run a race with Doug and his roommate and I went from casually running maybe once a week to training for a half marathon after about two minutes of mild coercion. (Funny that this race was also in Baltimore… coincidence?)

Now, Tracey is an angel for many reasons – e.g. she was willing to be my partner in foosball, we see the gourmet lunches she makes her boyfriend Drew that are complete with a Diet Coke – and now one of those is that she got behind the wheel and braved the roads of crazies to drive Drew and three of his friends almost forty-five minutes outside of Washington, DC, to eat. That fateful Saturday, five fully-grown American twentysomethings piled into that angel Tracey’s Jetta, making for a very cozy and hungry backseat. Cramped and overheating in our winter coats, the drive was made even more treacherous by the insanity that is the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. At many points, cars slowed almost to a complete stop for no apparent reason. As we approached the source of one such traffic jam, we realized that we lost over five minutes due to a gawker slowdown for… a dead cat on the side of the road. A dead cat. (For the record, if people in my home state of Michigan hit the brakes every time they saw a dead quadruped on the side of the road, I-75 would be a parking lot. What amateurs.)

As Tracey admirably Mario-Karted past each obstacle, all of us progressed from “I could eat” to fungry; morale was starting to dip. While distracted by the growing abyss that used to be my stomach, I couldn’t help but notice people were decked out in purple everywhere because the Ravens were playing the Colts that night. We particularly enjoyed the tshirts for sale on the corner across from the restaurant; they said “Hey Indy!” in bright Colts blue and below it was a bold purple raven, forgive the expression, flipping the bird. Not my style, but appreciated nonetheless.

My whining aside, it was actually fairly easy to find after just a few short turns off the freeway. When we got out of the car, I think I almost ran inside. If these weren’t the best crab cakes I’d ever had, violence would have ensued.
G&M has a take-out place and a regular restaurant and we chose the former. When you walk in, there’s nothing too extraordinary to look at, but it has signs of a serious eatery: a surprisingly extravagant bakery display, the light and appetizing aroma of fry grease and seafood, and a steady line of faithfuls who were willing to wait for whatever it was they were selling. After a short wait, I opted for the single crab cake platter with two sides – Athenian-style zucchini and mashed potatoes. When I sat on our bench and opened that white Styrofoam box, I found humble greatness inside. This crab cake was about an inch and a half thick and almost six inches in diameter. The small portions of sides I received were clearly an afterthought, the zucchini sort of mushy and the mashed potatoes a little dry and salty. Fortunately for G&M, I could not have cared less because this was easily the best crab cake I’ve ever tasted. Lightly crispy on the bottom, huge chunks of crabmeat on the inside, seasoned just right, perfectly cooked, and steaming hot. Those animals did not die in vain. Despite my hunger, I tried my best to eat slowly and enjoy this masterpiece in front of me. I had just enough room in my stomach to get a cookie from the bakery counter on our way out. My compatriots that chose the sandwich were also happy with their meals. I stole some of Doug and Kareem’s fries (thanks guys!) and they were mighty good.

We ate our food and smiled at how wise our decision looked in hindsight as we had our usual ADD-style discussion, including a few minutes dedicated to the potential origins of the word “food” in the English language (Kareem had a solid theory). The car trip back was spent fending off an in-transit nap by rehashing Friday night and going over the Saturday night plans ahead. After Tracey dropped me off at my house, I beelined for my bed and promptly got hard at work napping.

Mission accomplished. Just another hard day at the office, ladies and gentlemen.

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Arganica Farm Club

Example of Arganica 'Weekly Pick'

Fresh and local veggies, meat, bread, cheese, eggs, tofu, and more, all delivered to your doorstep? May just sound like an enviro’s or foodie’s wet dream, but for me it has become a reality.

About 2 months ago KFB and I decided we wanted to join some sort of a farm share. Unfortunately for us, it was beginning to look a lot like winter and winter months don’t usually mean good things for local farm shares. That is until a friend of KFB’s recommended us to Arganica Farm Club. Upon checking them out, we were blown away at what they had to offer. Instead of just paying your fee and picking up whatever they have to offer, like most farm shares, Arganica lets you order whatever whatever you want from their weekly menu, and delivers it directly to your house. They have a range of seasonal and greenhouse veggies from several different local farms that you can order by the pound, or you can or the “weekly choice” box of their picks for that week. So far we have stuck to the weekly choice, as it is a great way to discover new vegetables you’ve never cooked with (or maybe even hear of) before. Plus it is hands down the best deal. On top of that we have ordered a few types of cheeses, breads, and homemade vegetarian sausages. Each week our order has increased, as we have been pleased with nearly every choice.

The process is not just fun, but rewarding. Our googling skills have improved (’small green tomato like fruit with paper like husk’), and it is a unique feeling to know that the entire meal you just ate came from less than 100 miles away. I have suddenly found myself a stranger where I was once a regular, the Columbia Heights Giant. When I do make my way in the food superstore, I usually leave having purchased little more than pasta, rice, beans, and a few other basic essentials (TP, Cereal, Coffee and Beer).

In a time when the average plate of food has traveled thousands of miles just to feed you, it is important to think about what that food is doing to the environment, global trade, and your health.  Buying local and organic, whether at the farmers market, a farm club, or a grocery store, gives the consumer the oppertunity to get behind what you are eating.  To know what is in your food is to know what is in your body, and there are a lot of things in the food I have eaten throughout my life (and still sometimes today) I wouldn’t even want near my house, let alone my body.

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The Daily Hay – Analysis

The Daily Hay is a daily feature, highlighting whatever I feel worthy of your 5 minutes or less. No real commentary, just a link to the article, music, or video. Enjoy.

From Huffington Post – State of The Union: Reactions, Analysis of Obama’s 2010 Address

“Barack Obama gave his State of the Union address Wednesday night. Below is a roundup of analysis and reaction to the speech.”

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The Daily Hay – It’s Just a Bag

The Daily Hay is a daily feature, highlighting whatever I feel worthy of your 5 minutes or less. No real commentary, just a link to the article, music, or video. Enjoy.

From The Wall Street Journal – In Washington a Lesson in Bureaucracy comes in Every Bag

“The Washington, D.C., bag tax seemed simple enough: Beginning Jan. 1, grocery stores in the district would charge five cents a bag, plastic or paper. The goal was to cut down on waste and raise money to clean up the polluted Anacostia River.

But nearly a month into the program, it’s turning out that government is having trouble legislating its way out of a plastic bag.”

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The Daily Hay – The Morning After

The Daily Hay is a daily feature, highlighting whatever I feel worthy of your 5 minutes or less. No real commentary, just a link to the article, music, or video. Enjoy.
KFB and I spent last night with Thievery Corporation.  The last of 5 straight sold out shows at the 9:30 club.  It was an incredible event, but this morning I’m definitely feeling to effects of too much boogie and too little sleep.  Good thing I still have their beats to get me though…

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The Daily Hay – Of Big Business, For Big Business, By Big Business

The Daily Hay is a daily feature, highlighting whatever I feel worthy of your 5 minutes or less.  No real commentary, just a link to the article, music, or video.  Enjoy.

Of Big Business, For Big Business, By Big Business

From NPR:   Supreme Court Rips Up Campaign Finance Laws

Listen Here

Read Here

“The Supreme Court has struck down longstanding distinctions between corporate and individual donations in elections. The ruling on Thursday opens the way for almost unlimited campaign spending by unions and corporations. The court’s 5-4 decision split the justices along bitter ideological lines. A conservative majority invalidated a ban on corporate campaign spending that dates back to 1907.”

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Home Brew #1 – Nut Brown Ale

The beer, ready for fermentation.

This fall I decided a needed a new hobby. Picking something that you will want to spend a lot of time perfecting can be tricky, so I took a look what I enjoy.

• Eating, eh already close to mastering that art.

• Running, at this point I already consider that one a hobby.

• Dancing, whoa, I embarrass myself with enough of that as it is.

• Drinking, bingo.

But I got to thinking, “Hobbies:  Drinking” isn’t really a winning self descriptor. So I decided to combine my creative juices, with something that will produce the ultimate reward. For Christmas I asked for a home brewing kit.

Last Sunday was the first big day of this brand new hobby. For those of you who have never brewed beer before, there are really two big days to each batch. The first is brew day, the second the bottling day. Sunday was my first brew day.  For the first batch, I wanted something easy, tasty, and rich. I went with a Nut Brown Ale.

Grains in the brew pot

It took me about an hour to get organized. I laid out the ingredients and equipment and did little more than stare at all the malts and tubes for nearly twenty minutes. Once I finally began piecing everything together, I started feeling a little more comfortable.  Before I knew it, I had grains simmering in the pot, and yeast rehydrating on the counter.  I was on a roll.

I boiled in the malt for nearly an hour, adding hops along the way.  When the boil was finished, I carefully added the wort to the water in the carboy and pitched the yeast.  I covered the carboy with an old sweatshirt, and placed it where it now resides in the corner of my closet.

Just 8 hours later, the yeast was really in action with the airlock bubbling violently, indicating that fermentation was taking place.  Yesterday I noticed that things had already slowed down, so I might be bottling as early as this weekend.  I was a little surprised at how rapidly the fermentation slowed, but I have been told it is nothing to worry about.  One ‘plus’ to preparing for bottling day is that you need to supply around 50 empty bottles.  The best way to do that is drink around 50 beers.  I didn’t plan ahead enough to start saving over the past few weeks, so this week I’ve been ‘forced’ to play catchup.

While I will not know for a few more weeks if this first attempt was successful, I feel good about my efforts.  I got a feel for what it takes, and how to think ahead.  I now have no doubt that this will be a hobby enjoyed (by myself and my friends) for many years to come.

Lessons Learned:

1. Don’t rely on a single Brita pitcher to purify 5 gallons of water.
2. Make sure you have someone who knows what they are doing in your speed dial.  Thanks Greg.

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