Smartie's Oasis Bar & Grill #44

Oh just remembered there are giant hotdogs in the kitchen. Brilliant.

Just in for a quick red wine. I have to go to feckin England for the next 2 weeks. We have Olympic tickets and then because England is a foreign country to Himself, we decided to stay down and holiday there this year instead of going somewhere good. I only hope I can avoid London, because I bloody hate it. But He said there is no one else there as tourists are avoiding it because of the games and I suppose the risk of a terrorist attack, so no doubt we will end up there looking at the crown jewels and some of Buckingham Palace is apparently open to the public for a Diamond Jubilee jewellery display. Hoop la (not).

Anyway, it's better than working.

Cheers and I hope everyone else has a wonderful holiday if you're having one, or keeping Smartie's bar afloat if you're not.

 

[video=youtube;UDRLZFgEoGw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDRLZFgEoGw[/video]

 

Good morning and welcome to FINALLY TGIF!!!!

Man, it's been a long 5 days... wasn't sure I could make it... but here I am! WOO HOO!

Now if I had some breakfast, everything would be ducky.

 

Just for the guys... the book "Understanding Women" is now out in paperback. Might wanna get you a copy!

 

My commiserations. I also hate London - I'm not a fan of huge cities generally, but I do find London a particularly unpleasant one to have to visit, and avoid it whenever possible. Still, foreign travel should always be looked upon as an interesting cultural experience, and an opportunity to try out some of the local food and drink, and if you are going to be around London for a couple of weeks there's always this event on at Olympia from 7th-11th August:
http://gbbf.org.uk/


They will have some excellent English brews (as well as Welsh, Scottish and others, of course). You could bring us back some supplies for the bar!

 

Well now I just can't stand to see a beautiful woman such as yourself go hungry and have to go out on the streets begging now can I. So just step right on up and help yourself my dear.

 

You're a lifesaver, darlin! Thanks... much better now!

*snatches a handful of strawberries*

 

Sonny Boy ... The Nuns have decided to fix yer lunch today.
3 whole wheat crackers w/smear of cream cheese,an apple an 8oz. carton
of milk.

 

Who you calling sonny boy. I probably got a good 15 to 20 years on you kiddo. The nuns are also invited to breakfast any time they want to come. And they can also contribute if they wish.

 

Sounds like fun, Viv! Look on the bright side... plenty of wine in London, eh?

Ceny... are those all beer & ale booths?? Wow! You might walk in OK, but could you walk back out??

 

I have in fact, been to Boston. Very nice it was too, I really like the city. We threw a tea crate off a ship and sang this

[video=youtube;0JvHroG3u5E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JvHroG3u5E[/video]

Just volume one, I see...

Sadly for me, my current husband is not a lush. I would easily be convinced and become a lush, but he is very little fun in this area. However, it may be possibly to convince him on cultural grounds...

Ooo. If I go back to Boston, will that happen to me?

 

I am willing to bet that he can walk right back out on all fours.

 

I am willing to bet that he can walk right back out on all fours.

 

Mornin all

Ok, so we have a 'who's the oldest geezer competition'? Goody. That should get interesting.

London, loved it as a tourist, although big cities aren't my thing. Just watched a show about foods of London last night, very interesting. Seems some of the street vendors are going all out.

 

Hello?

Hello?

(No wonder we keep going thru bars so fast!)

 

Well I may not be the oldest, but I'll bet that I can be the crankyest one. Morning there Shang.

 

Maine coons are old breed American cats, going back at least 300 years. They're from Maine and they have extra toes.

 

'mornin, Trinn. Nice to see you brought your attack cat.

 

Yup, they are (well, there is some cider and perry too, but mostly beer). Apparently there will be over 800 different drinks altogether. I certainly wouldn't be able to walk after trying all of them!

The full list of beers isn't there, but this is the list of the UK ale breweries that will be represented there:
http://gbbf.org.uk/beers/breweries

and these are the cider and perry producers:
http://gbbf.org.uk/ciders-and-perries/producers

I can't go, unfortunately (never been to that one, in fact), but I do have a local beer festival coming up in a couple of weeks - I think I will just about be able to manage with the mere 100 or so ales (and probably about 20 or 30 ciders and perries) they will have available there!

 

Isn't she a beauty? WOW

 

Sounds like fun.... what's a perry?

 

It's like cider, but made from pears instead of apples.

 

So why don't they call apple cider an appy? Well, logic, pure logic, right?

You heard it here first.

 

That's just you lot using silly double words for things, and mixing up your definitions - no need for there to be an 'appy' at all (and it would get all mixed up with being the opposite of 'sad' of course, which wouldn't help!). What on earth is 'apple cider' anyway? Cider is made from apples, by definition, so it's a meaningless term with an unnecessary word if it's supposed to mean 'cider'. Apparently, though, you use it for apple juice, which isn't cider at all, but 'apple juice' - it hasn't been fermented, and isn't alcoholic, so it isn't 'cider' but just plain 'apple juice'. You had to come up with another word for 'cider' to make it mean 'cider' by calling it 'hard cider', but if you'd have just used the right words for the right things in the first place, it wouldn't have been a problem.

'Cider' is 'cider', and 'perry' is a drink fermented like 'cider', but made from fermented pears instead of apples. You lot over there just have to make it all so much more complicated than it ever needed to be!


PS. I could go into the whole use of the term 'Pear Cider', and the disputed meanings of it (whether it is the same as a 'perry', or merely a cider that has been flavoured with pear, or a pear-flavoured cider-like drink that has been made using flavour extracts rather than actual fermented pear, and so on), but I think that might just confuse the issue!

 

LOL, gives Rick Perry a whole new meaning, doesn't it??

How interesting.. learn something new everyday in this joint.