I'm Surly for Surly

Back in my Minnesota days, I would bemoan my lot in life from a beer perspective. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a beer snob. Not a "reading the Beer Advocate" snob but after four years of living in St. Louis and drinking more Budweiser products than I could possibly imagine, I prefer the taste of a good beer. Having lived out in Oregon, I was used to a fantastic supply of micro brews all available as close as my grocery store. Imagine my surprise when I reached Minnesota. While micro brews were still available, the diversity of selection and ease of acquisition were both at a much lesser level than in the northwest.

Imagine my surprise then upon my return to Minnesota. Our friends Alex and Seth had turned us on to Surly beer. Led by Omar Ansari, a former ultimate teammate of Becca's, Surly was just getting off the ground and at that point was only available in a few taps in town. Needless to say they've taken the beer world by storm (securing Brewery of the Year from the aforementioned Beer Advocate and even a mention in the WSJ) and while they are still only available in Minneapolis and a few select spots in Chicago, we have been lucky enough to secure a few cans for the Davis household. In short, they make damn good beer and I wish it was here.

So despite being back in Oregon where I can find nearly any beer known to man, I find myself longing for that which I cannot have. I never thought I'd miss drinking Minnesota beers but with the emergence of Surly, I have to add that to the list of things I miss (All of our Friends, the State Fair, tailgating for Vikings games in subzero temps, etc.).

So if you're ever in Minneapolis, look the guys at Surly up. It is worth the trip. And for the native Minnesotans, drink more Surly!

BD

PS Surly's website: http://www.surlybrewing.com/

How Quickly We Forget...

So the Northwest has had an active meteorological week, with snow, sleet, rain, wind, hail and more and lots of schools and roads being closed. The damp chill pervades everywhere and leaves us longing for open fireplaces, warm blankets, and steaming mugs of hot chocolate -- or, at the very least, has us lunging for the thermostat.

However whenever the whining gets too much or we start to feel too sorry for ourselves we stop and remind ourselves of where we just moved from. That's right: the frozen tundra of Minnesota. From this week's Star Tribune:

The bitter cold and dangerously low windchills between minus 35 and minus 50 degrees this morning caused scores of schools across Minnesota to call off school or start late. Windchill readings will remain in the teens and 20s below zero this afternoon across the Twin Cities. Even with the improvement in the windchill, exposed skin in today's conditions can still freeze in five to 10 minutes, the National Weather Service said.

Um. Yeah. Right....... what were we complaining about again??

Sorry to run, but I'm off to go for a walk in our envigorating cool wet weather and give thanks for living in Oregon again.

Becca

On the other hand, I'm not quite him:

With windchills well below zero, a Danish man who is known as only as Wimhof walked along the Universityof Minnesota campus on Wednesday while an ABC News crew shot film of him. The network brought the man, who says he’s impervious to cold, to the Twin Cities. (photo Elizabeth Flores)

Hey dere!

(spam, spam, spam, spam...)

Our friends Wade and Chelle are party hosts extraordinaire. Everything from their Super Bowl festivities to their Iron Chef parties to just small get togethers are always extravagant and quite a bit of fun. They put a ton of work into them and really go all out to make it a great experience. (And they throw a mean wedding shower, as Becca can attest to.) As a result, when they sent us an invite to their "Minnesota Nice" party, we were on the case.

The theme of the party was simple enough: everyone was meant to dress as Minnesotans and bring either a dessert or crock pot (casserole)-related dish. First the food: I briefly contemplated bringing my crock pot Jambalaya but then remembered that might be a wee bit spicy for the sensitive Minnesota palate. Then it came to me: the Davis family speciality. Mayonnaise cake. A Davis family recipe for generations, it's not nearly as disgusting as it sounds. In fact it's quite moist and tasty though not easy on the waistline.

In fact I was quite confident I would be leading the caloric intake race until we arrived and saw Wade's creation. Velveeta Fudge.

(good and good for you!)

Seven pounds of materials (including 1 pound of velveeta cheese and 4 pounds of powdered sugar), 12,000 calories and one broken wooden spoon all put into a 9x13 pan. Ugh. Even the most adventurous of us took a VERY small sliver. The rest went to the tech guys at Wade's company (fulfilling the truism that tech people will eat anything if it's free).

The crock pot creations were a little more standard; tater tot hot dish, wild rice soup, spam casserole, etc. In fact, here is crock pot row in all it's caloric glory.

(I think I saw something green somewhere. No, wait that was the beer talking.)

Overall though a good quality of food. One side effect of the food though was the party was a lot lower key than usual. As people tried everything everyone slipped into a serious food coma and sat around on couches. At least people didn't start talking about the church bingo or god forbid the Vikings.

From the sartorial perspective, there was just a lot of plaid and hockey jerseys.

(Brian and Alex represnting the new and old of Minnesota hockey)

However, special props need to go out to Wade Anderson and his wife Sara. They did it up in style. Why use words when pictures will do just fine?

(Where's the lutefisk casserole, Ole?)

And yes, Wade A had waders on and wore them all evening.

So there you go, a little slice of Minnesota from me to you, the loyal reader.

Brian