Negligent Sign Maker, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Doesn't the sign maker have some responsibility to say, "I think you mean
'Salon'?"

Am I just crazy? I'm mixed about places like this. On one hand you want to write them off as imbeciles, but on the other hand, perhaps they just don't spell well, but they are perfectly able to perform their business with aplomb. Granted, spelling is FREE. So I guess if you're keeping score, they definitely lose points - but enough not to frequent the business?

An example near and dear to my hear is my local deli. It's run by two Bangladeshi brothers. Initially they were going to take this Greek Deli and make it a coffee shop, but for whatever reason (likely funding) they have been operating it as a Greek Deli. Actually, they have a fantastic beer selection. They really have found a great business selling beer (my post about beer that includes them).

The only thing that is kind of akin to the Solan #2 is the official name of their business is "Expresso Plus" as it appears on my bank statement when I pay by debit. I don't have the heart to tell them you spell Espresso with an 'Es' not an 'Ex'. Meh, forgivable - beer selection good.

Perfect Day at the Beer Garden, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

At the beer garden in Astoria and it is perfect out. It reminds me of beer garden circa 2002 when it was a sleepy neighborhood hangout.

We had tried the Quelque Chose (BeerAdvocate.com: B+) from Unibroue at the TAP NY beer festival a few weeks ago. Unibroue, was the only non-New York brewery there (from what I could tell). They weren't really in the printed materials but they had a booth. As we approached the booth there was a buzz about their Cherry beer. We worked our way up to the table, got our three ounce pour and moved aside to savor it. It was really good and quite different from the beer we'd been sampling.

We had it again last night. I picked up a bottle at the Whole Foods Bowery Beer Room (Whole Foods on beermenus.com) as well as a growler of Sixpoint's Sweet Action (BeerAdvocate.com B+ overall A from the brothers, beermenus.com). The Quelque Chose (which apparently translates to 'Something') was our dessert beer after a nice dinner which included my wife's tomato, watermelon, mint and feta salad (I'll try and score the recipe for you). The Quelque Chose was really great, just as I remembered. A sweet full cherry flavor that didn't overpower the slight vanilla and spice tones. We had it out of wine glasses, and probably could have had it slightly closer to room temperature.

Now there is one thing especially notable about this beer. It is truly the first beer that escapes what I call 'the Fruit Beer Paradox'. It goes like this:

The Fruit Beer Paradox

I like fruit.
I like beer.
Therefore, I must like fruit beer.

It never seems to work out. I can't tell you how many times I've ordered a raspberry beer wanting to have my cider itch and my beer itch scratched at the same time. I am always disappointed. So at this point I more or less avoid fruit beer. Now as I write this I realize there is on more exception to my fruit beer exclusion: Smuttynose Hanami Ale (beeradvocate.com B-). I more or less agree with the B- rating from beeradvocate.com. I think I probably am giving it some extra points for standing out in a division where I'm consistently disappointed.

Circling back around: Unibroue's Quelque Chose - good beer, dessert beer if there is such a thing. Head and shoulders above the fruity beer competition in my book. And, yes I am on a beer kick.

Okay this isn't funny, but it certainly sounds like it should be. And, in my adolescent giddiness I think it's a bit more humorous that the person talking about this from the FDA is name Janet Woodcock. ( Let me just take a moment and apologize in advance to Ms. Woodcock should she ever Google herself and find this post. I hope you can at least step back a bit to realize that on a purely superficial basis sending a Woodcock to talk about nipple cream sounds a bit like a Mad Magazine story.)

FDA warns of harmful nipple cream

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned women not to use or purchase Mommy's Bliss Nipple Cream, marketed by MOM Enterprises Inc. of San Rafael, California.

The cream, promoted to nursing mothers to help soothe dry or cracked nipples, contains ingredients that may cause respiratory distress, vomiting and diarrhea in infants, the agency said.

The potentially harmful ingredients in the cream are chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol.

"FDA is particularly concerned that nursing infants are being unwittingly exposed by their mothers to this product with dangerous side effects," said Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Additionally, these two ingredients may interact with one another to further compound and increase the risk of respiratory depression in nursing infants."

The company has stopped selling the cream. The FDA said consumers should stop using the cream and consult a doctor if they experience problems or believe that their infant may have experienced problems due to the product.

Mothers whose children may have suffered adverse effects because of this product should contact the FDA's MedWatch at 800-332-1088.

A gorgeous day in New York, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Wonder what I am doing at work this gorgeous spring Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

I have been using Gmail a whole bunch lately and getting deeper into the advanced functionality. One of my favorite features is the search operators. These Ginsu Knives allow you to both find and filter email.

I found a help page that gives a great overview of the search operators that I find really useful. It's not hard to find the page but I thought I'd link you to it anyhow - Click Here.

Example:
from:Dave(friday funny) - returns email that is from Dave with the words 'friday' and 'funny' in the subject

Until I started using Gmail more I had no idea these features are there, and I think most folks are the same way. Finding email is my second biggest feature requirement for an email and this makes my life easier.

Amazon rolled out a new kind of affiliate widget recently - the MP3 Clips Widget. It's pretty cool as it allows me to put a little flash doo-dad on my page and you can sample the tunes that I'm digging. I actually have used the Amazon music service (actual name eludes me). I have no love for iTunes and their DRM bullshit. Amazon gives me what I want, tunes tunes and tunes.

So, for this installment, Vampire Weekend and their self titled album... These guys rock. Love the album. I actually blogged one of their songs a while a go Walcott Insane Mix #2 - freaking awesome. So, stream a sample and if you decide to buy, thanks, I actually got it from Amazon Download too. Otherwise head over to Pandora and check the Vampire Weekend station I'm groovin too.

BeerMenus.com, this site looks that useful and definitely deserving of it's own post. After futzing with it a bit, it looks pretty great for browsing. Finding the page that had the Smuttynose stuff took a bit more work than I would have liked. The search requires you to be pretty dead on with a match, e.g. 'Six' does not return much but 'Sixpoint' returns the Sixpoint Craft Ales offering. In addition you can subscribe via email to when an ale house has specials so you're up to date on the latest, and their RSS appears to be pretty full featured. The site looks wicked useful. I'll be frequenting it... frequently.

Wait, there's more

They are having a launch party.

BeerMenus Launch Party Sat. 5/24 at Blind Tiger Ale House!

By Will, 3 days ago

We’ll be there starting at 5pm and we hope to see you there!

A bit ago I did a post about Smuttynose Brewery's Robust Porter and I promised that I would get information about where you could get their beer here in NYC. Well, from the better-late-than-never department, here is a link to a site Kathleen pointed out to me beermenus.com. It's a nice little site that tells you what beers are being served at what bars and/or what bars are serving what beers. I love it when a website provides real value to humanity.

To keep my promise about getting you that information about Smuttynose (the brewery never returned my email about where you can get their stuff in NY), here is a link to a page listing Smuttynose's offerings with links to what bars are serving them.

Taking a break from cleaning up my file system to free up space and make sure I have a good back up of the stuff I want and I came across a great commercial from a few years ago:

Falafel Porn, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Fantastic dude on Falafel action to the last bite.

Finally I make it to Falafel Drive In, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

I have been meaning to go here for years. Thanks Andrew for the directions. Corner of Revey Ave & Stevens Creek in San Jose California (just east of I880).

This site (williamsburgeats.com) came to my attention and I thought I would share. The do have my favorite BBQ place as the only location under their BBQ category. I think I like the simplicity of it actually.

On the cable car, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Had to shoot the view.

Blogging while on cable car, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

We had to. Vijay had never been. (Hyde at Pacific)

Found the one Republican in San Fran, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

It is hard to see in the photo, but that is a McCain sticker on his bumper. Good news, he's enviornmently friendly.

Grubstake, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

We had our second meal at Grubstake near the corner of Polk & Pine in San Fran. Good stuff, cash only.

More to come...