A Hot week

I don't often talk much about the weather here.  Especially in the summer as, except for a few wonderful thunderstorms, it's just plain hot for most folks.  Those of us who spend most of their day without A/C have a lot less trouble with the heat.  I have gone through several official 120°+ days, but most of those are in June, before the monsoon moisture settles in and the dew point pretty much stays over 55° rendering evaporative coolers almost useless.  Well this last week has brought temperatures that have come close to or set new records every day.  The culmination came on Friday when a new record was set, not only for the day, but for the entire month of August.  And although it has not felt as heavy as many points in the East the moisture has certainly been felt.  As I write this I acknowledge many of the folks on the East coast, especially around New York would trade my damp heat for Hurricane Irene in a second.  The official high temperature on Friday was 117°.  Here is a picture of the thermometer in my car taken about 5PM on Friday.

Beer

In addition to being exposed to several new cuisines my Yelp friends have encouraged me to try several different types of beers.  Generally I have had lagers with my most consistent purchase being MGD.  I already knew I did not care for light beers.  Not surprisingly I found out Heineken and Corona were almost identical chemically.  Getting in to craft beers I had my first taste of Fat Tire about 4 years ago in Las Vegas and still enjoy it.  I find I really like wheat beers with some of my favorites being Widmer Hefeweizen, Shock Top and Mothership Wit.  Most of the time I prefer them without the added or blended fruit.  Generally I like pale ales and summer ales.  Having tried several I still have not developed a liking for IPAs or anything heavy and dark or sweet or heavy in hops.  Bud sucks!  Now that I have a larger selection of beers that I like I can usually find something on tap I like.  And Coors rates right with Bud.  I am on the fence about Pilsners having had some I like liked and some I thought were bitter.

A (cork)screw loose

I have 2 or more of just about every thing small in my kitchen; spoons, spatulas, whisks, knives, etc.. Never thought about the wine bottle opener. As you can see I was presented with a bit of a challenge recently. I managed to get the broken screw out with a pair of pliers and found a multi purpose knife with a corkscrew to open the bottle with. If you have never used a pocket knife corkscrew before I can assure you it is not a pleasant experience.






I now have two corkscrews. Surprisingly I have found I prefer the folding bartender model over the two handled one. Of course a Rabbit would be cool but it costs too much and takes up more space.