A day off from my weekend off?

So Friday I had about a dozen or so people try my mead and I got great feedback. Saturday I made three test batches of pear, blueberry, and pear/blueberry combo mead.

First two

There was a slight hitch with the third. My first mead related yeast eruption.
When making beer, the first 24 hours (12 actually) are the worst. Explosion seems like too powerful a word. It goes off like a baking soda volcano. Several times I've gotten angry texts from my wife about the mess my hobby is making and how she has to clean it up.

You are so sleeping on the couch tonight

This wasn't as bad and it's a good thing I like the smell of blueberries.

Not as bad as it looks

It was shortly after that the wife discovered her windshield had been broken.
It turns out the kid across the street was playing with his friends, a football got thrown, someone dove for the catch. Her car was there to break his fall. The fact that he didn't come to us right away when it happened is something his parents will surely drill into him. I spoke to the mom this morning and asked her if she or her son had seen anything yesterday. Not thirty minutes later, mom is bringing her son over by his arm. "My son has something to tell you." He apologized profusely.

Ouch

This is what insurance is for and luckily they will be out on Monday to replace it. We won't be out of pocket, so I can afford to be forgiving.
I ended the conversation with something like; "Part of being a man is owning up to your responsibilities, even when it's an accident. Another part of being a man is recognizing it as an accident and forgiving the person who wronged you."
If I'm any judge of character, the Dad across the street is going to have a heart-to-heart with his son. There might be a grounding involved for not coming forward, but that's not up to me. I consider this resolved and I'm sure it won't happen again.

Back to bottle cleaning duty. The less glamorous side of home brewing. Over 70 wine bottles of various shapes and colors are now lining my garage shelves. Boy it's nice when friends come through like that.

Should of gone with a panoramic shot

I still had to bottle my Oktoberfest beer. Clean. Sterilize. Boil. Seal with a bottle cap. And all before losing the light. Did I mention I do most of this outdoors?
Cars with their headlights on were driving by as I busily cleaned the buckets and brew equipment. No photo of that, sorry. I was a bit busy.
Hungry, tired, sore, and tomorrow I get to go to my Clark Kent job before sunrise! 
Right now I don't know if I'm going to stay up for the lunar eclipse. I'll try but no promises.

Expectation exceeding hopes

That's just a working title post until I can sort things out in my head. It may make it to the end when I hit the publish key, I dunno. There is an office down town for entrepreneurs and start up companies called Geekdom. Tonight they hosted a board game night where nerds of all flavors can get together and have a bit of fun. Make friends, learn a new game, and have a few laughs. A good time is had by all.
There's also a happy sort of serious going on. This is an excellent way to break the ice with techies and people from all walks of life. Fantastic networking possibilities. No one is going to blow your horn for you. (That came out bad... Let me try again.) The best way to promote your business is to give yourself some visibility in some way. 'Oh, I didn't know you did this!' and, 'Did you make this yourself?'
In the back of my mind, I thought they'd stop me from bringing my mead in and setting up an informal tasting. This was one of those times I was happy to be wrong.
Of the three bottles I brought, I didn't think I'd have many takers on the Serrano pepper mead. Another thing I was happy to be mistaken about. They nearly polished it off.
As they listened to my spiel about what mead was and all the talking points, the phrase, 'I'd buy this.', was heard more than once. More importantly, I heard, 'You have to talk to this guy...'
Yes, we exchanged cards and numbers. One girl asked me to pose for a picture with my mead bottles. I'll take that one at face value. More importantly we tried to set up a meeting between me and a few people who help others set up businesses. It looks legit and they seemed genuinely interested in helping me get started. The one question that comes to mind is this: Is this the best way to go about starting a business? I have friends who own businesses. One in particular owns two liquor stores, so you might say our interests might align in some respect. As loathe as I am to admit it, I most certainly qualify as disabled and there are ways for disabled business owners to get started. I'm going to have to look that one up. I've only heard rumors and I'd need some hard facts behind it before I cross that bridge.
Came across this article a week ago about the growth in the mead and craft brew business. Definitely worth a read.
Well, it's late and I have to get an early start tomorrow. I've three test batches to start. For those eagerly awaiting friends, these won't be ready until spring, March or April at least. After tonight I've moved two recipes up to the five gallon status. I've had to learn patience in order to do this, so can you guys who want to be beta testers. Wanna know the worst part? I had another idea for a recipe while I was networking with these folks.

One of the good secrets

Here is another review of deaf friendly places here in San Antonio. Like the name suggests, The Magnolia Pancake Haus serves breakfast and brunch. The Germanic spelling of the word house... I don't know what is up with that. Perhaps it is the European cooking style of the quiche or the eggs Benedict. Perhaps it's a nod to the decor of the restaurant. In any case, the food is awesome. There isn't a bad thing on the menu. Yelp has some good things to say. There is no wrong choice. When I want to impress someone from out of town, we take them here. Now with a place this good, there is a downside: the wait to get in. It fills up fast. My wife had to drop off her car at the dealership for a repair. Being 8:15 on a Saturday and the restaurant was only a few miles away, we took a chance we could get a seat in a decent time. We did, only 10 minutes, but the line sure got long fast. By 8:45 the wait was almost an hour long. This is one of those places you want to get ready to visit the night before. With that in mind, this is where you want to go. Load up Google map the night before.
Now for my deaf friends: take off your hearing aids. With this many people, there is a lot of noise to deal with. There is a bit of elbow room to sign and the booths are big enough that no one is blocked in. Plus the place has these big windows in front so it's well illuminated. The staff is friendly enough, but you will have to point to the menu and perhaps get a little help from a hearing person. Would you like hash browns? Yes. 
Coffee? Hell, yes!
I can best describe the place as a country tea room. Lots of knick-knacks on the walls in a pleasant tasteful way. It is downright relaxing and a great way to start your day.
Knowing that they have a good thing going, they have an app that gives you the wait time and lets you know when your table is ready called Nowait app. You can type in the restaurant and the rest is history. One less thing to worry about. 
On my Yelp review of the place I made an observation and I'll share it here. I've never understood why people take pictures of their food until I ate at the pancake haus. The meals are works of art. In fact, I was tempted to pull out my iPhone and snap a picture before digging in to my omelet. I can now tell my nieces and nephews I did indeed have green eggs and ham, and I loved it!

Neglecting a promise

In the interest of changing things up, I promised to write about Deaf friendly businesses in my town. So if you don't live in San Antonio or are not hearing impaired, this might not be relevant to you.
The Tip Top Cafe first came to my attention when it was featured in Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. The original restaurant is at 2814 Fredericksburg rd. on the west side of San Antonio. Two or three times I've eaten there I have not been disappointed. It has been described as comfort food or going to your grandmothers house. My only criticism of the place is that it is too small a building to handle such a loyal following of patrons. So it was with great joy when I discovered a second location was opening on my side of town and near my neighborhood! The second location is at 13835 Nacogdoches rd. on the east side of San Antonio.
It is to be expected that there are things to be ironed out when a new place opens. Waiting for the reviews and talking to friends I got a good measure of where the restaurant stood. After all, the new place had big shoes to fill compared to the parent restaurant. I'm trying to be fair here. My visit was at 6:00 on a Friday. I found a seat at one of the widest counters I've encountered. Reaching across it would be hard, at a guess it would be easily four feet.
At least 22 tables and nearly all full. I'd just beaten the dinner rush.
The menu is here. The Yelp reviews are here. The fare is average. If I had two of the same dishes side by side, one from the original and the other from the new place, the first entree would stand out more. Simply put: the new place is a pale reflection of the original restaurant. Service was prompt and friendly. (Thanks Emilee!) The prices are fair, but the kitchen needs to step up it's game if it is going to be worthy of the name of it's predecessor. A tall order indeed.
But here is where it's different in a positive way. Wide open space with plenty of elbow room and lines of sight. This is important for communicating in ASL. Two big screen TVs that the staff was more than happy to put captions on for me. It did take them a bit to figure out how, but they got it done after a few tries. (Thanks Josh!) The whole dining area is well lit and bright. On the whole, the place was noisy and I had to turn my implant way down in order not to have some aspirin with my dessert. My recommendation is to turn off your hearing aids and implants. Less headache and more enjoyment that way.
There is one way the new place is on par with the original. Pies baked on the premises. Mile high meringue! The pecan pie I had for dessert was tasty, light and not overly sweet. You know how some pies can give you cavities by looking at it? Not so in this case. I will be back to try a new pie for dessert. Spot on Tip Top!
I love my chicken fried steak and gravy, so they better be ready. I found the service very good and I felt comfortable being there. The staff was kind and helpful when I ordered my meal. A good friendly server staff can cover many overall shortcomings in a restaurant, such is the case here. The deaf man says give 'em both a try and see what I'm talking about.

Taking advantage

Like the rest of the world, I found out about Ahmed Mohamad, the 14 year old boy who built a clock, brought it to school to show his teacher and got arrested for it.
Down at the bottom of that article from the Dallas Morning News is a picture of his homemade clock. The picture is a little fuzzy but I can see a digital display, a circuit board, some hand soldered wires, a small transformer and underneath the mesh at the bottom of the case appears to be a metallic power supply. I'm also seeing a nine volt battery connector and an AC plug. Absolutely nothing more dangerous than a science kit.
The principle called the cops and arrested the kid. Want to see the letter the school wrote about the incident?
Simply put: I'm stunned. I remember taking phones apart and trying (badly) to fix them when I was his age. I remember getting a 500 in 1 electronic science kit for Christmas when I was a kid. Looking back I realize I could have been arrested to taking my kit to school for show and tell.
This whole thing doesn't pass the smell test.
He is a fucking kid! The principal saw a brown kid with 'a suspicious package'. Get a clue! Those three words are trying to cover your prejudice and ignorance, and they're doing a crappy job of it. In reading a couple of articles there was mention of the clock looking like a bomb from the movies. Uh, right. I thought I had an active imagination.
Right away other agencies stepped in to counter this craptastic episode. Offers began pouring in on Ahmed's brush with the law. Here's what has been offered to this boy:

Makes me want to build a clock

While these people may have their own agenda for offering all this stuff, I see the larger picture.

Here is an intelligent kid who is curious about the way things work in the world. The principal of MacArthur high school in Irving, Texas was doing a knee jerk reaction. I'm curious why the police didn't refuse to arrest the kid. Perhaps the principle was insisting on pressing charges. They all were reacting out of fear.

Here's the larger picture I mentioned:

The general population is tired of living in fear. Not that there is nothing to be afraid of, but allowing fear and uncertainty to control your life is no life at all.

Why did they inter Japanese Americans during World War II? Fear and ignorance.

In today's world replace the word Muslim with Japanese. Every day I see some blowhard with a microphone calling for all Muslims to be rounded up and/or executed.

Fear is a very powerful thing and these idiots are reacting out of hate and ignorance.

This is a big thing that took me a while to realize: I don't do fear.

While I detest Nazis, I don't go blaming Germans.

For the Navy Seal who double tapped Osama bin Laden, good shot soldier! But I have no hatred in my heart for my friends of different faiths. Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu.

This is just my two cents, but if you embrace friendship with people who live differently, aren't you making the world a better place? If you can't bring yourself to call someone with different color skin friend, can you at least try to respect them?  

Starting to Fall

This weekend wasn't as blistering as the ones before it. The grass is merely dead and not kindling waiting for a match. Last night it got down to the mid sixties. It seems we turned a corner here in mid-Texas. We equally enjoy and complain about the heat. I know, that seems like a contradiction. Now is the time to plant a fall garden here in what is generally considered the Hill Country. It took me a while to figure that out. July and August is the don't you dare plant anything months. This is just a reminder for me to purchase some dirt. I think I figured out how to get the lawn to come back. Now I need the materials to do it. Throwing money at a problem to make it go away. Seems like the thing to do.
I'm thinking of putting my herb garden back in order. About the only thing that survived was the rosemary bush. We had some truly massive rainstorms over the course of the summer and my oregano took a beating. I want to say it's 85-90% dead, but trying to make a comeback. I like to remain hopeful.
We kissed our cable goodbye. AT&T raised their prices again after promising us they wouldn't. This is called voting with your wallet and you'd be surprised at how effective it is. This is exactly why I love it when there are cable and phone companies trying to compete for my hard earned dollars. If a company can't give me what I want or doesn't do as they promised, I take my business elsewhere. We've entered a new phase here in my household. No Time Warner. No land lines, We're streaming our favorite programming over the internet and video on demand services such as Netflix and Hulu. There are drawbacks to be sure. Not all of my favorite things are available, for example, the TV series Firefly.
I enjoyed watching all the episodes on Netflix. (Another black mark against Fox for cancelling a great show.) But where was that movie, Serenity? That was supposed to tie up some loose ends from the show before it was cut by the evil bean counters at Fox. Who did Joss Whedon piss off over there in Rupert Murdoch land? The movie isn't on Netflix or Hulu and it was released ten years ago! I smell contract dispute, that or someone is being pissy.
So I was having a conversation with my daughters and we were talking about the Beatles. I wanted to bring up Yellow Submarine on Netflix, but to no avail. Has Paul McCartney not given permission for it to be shown? I've noticed B movies and a lot of straight to video stuff is on Netflix. Stuff that was released a year ago, not so much.
This gives me the opportunity to refocus my time and energy, at least that's the way I'm looking at it.
In a few days I'll be taking the wife to the mead fest and play in that sandbox for a bit. When company comes in October, I want to have the chance to show the stuff I made.

Mad brew

My kids don't like when I talk about my home brewing hobby. I can see their side of it, (through the rolling teenager eyes of course.) When I bought tickets to go to a local mead fest, my daughter pointed out; 'People go there to get drunk.'
Well... yes and no. The same could be said for any popular dance club on a Saturday night.
The wife and I are going to see what other home brewers are doing. We're going to have a few tastes and network with people who are doing what we are considering going into.
Let me start with a preface: We are not quitting our day jobs. I like eating and having a roof over my head. That said, our jobs are not enough. They've kept the lights on, and we're not going hungry for the most part, but we can't go on living like this. A long time ago we both realized that we are one accident away from ruin. There's a mad scramble when a car breaks down, but if I were to be hospitalized for a hernia, things would get pretty dire.
This is for my family. 
Wouldn't it be nice to say, 'Put it on the credit card.' rather than count out pennies and dimes at the supermarket? Wouldn't it be nice to have a credit card?
I'm at the point where I need to enter a contest or county fair with what I'm making. Now that I've gotten the hang of it, I can unequivocally say what I make doesn't suck.

This is the dangerous one

 When I made this, I thought three Serrano peppers might not be enough. Oh, how wrong I was.
You smell the capsaicin oil as you tip the glass back, but your taste buds tell you this is a sweet drink. Then a tiny scorpion will proceed to dance on your tongue for twenty or thirty seconds.
Nailed it.


So many friends asked about this next one I think I'll be making this regularly. My prickly pear mead, Lady Jane's time out.

A new flavor of awesome

Yes, I named this with a nod to my stepmom, whom I think the world of. It started off as a joke, but the more popular it got, the more the name made perfect sense.
As of this writing I have a handful of friends who are waiting in line for me to declare this batch is ready. The first time brewing this I gave away over sixteen to eighteen bottles. The others became wedding gifts, white elephant presents at Christmas parties and so forth.

The next one caught my eye when I read about it in an online forum. There were no recipes or they varied so much I had to use my best judgement and I think I came fairly close to what I wanted.

Not a typo

This is a pineapple ginger mead. After a lot of thinking, this might be best described as a dessert beverage. I'm tempted to describe it as candy sweet.
My daughter who does the teen eye roll over her dad's weird hobbies actually came up with the name for this one.

But there is a bigger purpose. I want to do more for my family. 
A long time ago I thought I could use my natural physical abilities to earn a living. What I learned was everyone has a number. No matter how good you are, no matter how often you perform a feat/trick/routine, there will be a time where it all goes wrong. If we're lucky, we live through it.
So now I have the ability to make things people like and it's not nearly so death defying.
After perfecting the recipes, my next step will be to enter a contest or two, get some exposure. In mingling with the home brew crowd, I learned they are all about sharing ideas and promoting the hobby. No trade secrets, no copyrights per se. It's more of an artistic endeavor. Fortunately it's one that can translate to a capitalistic venture as well. 
The wife came up with the name B&C meadery. Easy enough to change in the computer when a batch of beer comes out to B&C brewery. Beer is easy, mead presents it's own challenges. Right now the operation is very small. Looking over to the corner I have approximately forty bottles corked and aging on the rack. The rack is overflowing and I'll be building another winerack in the near future. I sense a weekend project coming up.
Saturday I invited a few friends over for an informal tasting of my latest creations. This is not simply an opportunity to show off. I'm recruiting. That sounds bad when I put it out like that. There is a meme that pops up online every so often and it goes like this:

'If you want to sail the ocean, do not hire woodworkers to build your craft. Instead, teach them the love and longing of the sea.'

A few of these friends have abilities. A few of these friends have contacts. Every one of them knows things I don't.
While doing this out of my garage has convenient access to the tools I need, I require a more structured work area. I'm going to rebuild my porch while letting my brother-in-law know if he can locate a shed for my backyard. Temperature control is critical for this to work and I'll have to run a water line out to said insulated, bee proof building. Making mead attracts bees, go figure.

I'm imagining a building in the future. It looks like a country barn from the outside, but inside there is a gift shop and more than a few tables both inside and on the enclosed porch. A small delicatessen/tea room style restaurant with snack foods to compliment the honey wine I produce on the premises. Who knows? I might have to hire a beekeeper. Right now I get the honey from a local beekeeper. I want to keep things local. The standing offer with my friends is bring me your empty wine bottles and receive a bottle of mead in return. We've made a deal recently for a healthy supply of bottles. Barter makes the world go round.
This is where it starts and things will begin slow, but progress will be made.

The greatest gift

And now for something not so silly.
My friend Nick Sandora heads the Culinary arts program at Lake Minneola High School down in Florida. He put up some photos on a wall of his students who have gone on to greater achievements.
 It may just be getting started, but that wall is going to get awfully crowded. Having his students succeed is the mark of a great teacher. If the measure of a man is by his deeds, then my friend Nick is well on his way to greatness. These students will become business owners or leaders in their community. When they get an award or commendation, they will remember who got them started on the path to greatness. It will go along these lines:
A woman gets up on a stage to thunderous applause. She is handed a shiny award for her work as a business leader. In her acceptance speech she thanks her teacher, Nick Sandora, who gave her the inspiration to become the person she is today. I can think of no higher honor than to be remembered by your students as a great teacher.
I am proud to be your friend Nick. You are awesome!

'Tis the season

Ah, Labor day. The day where we work our tails off in complete irony. Today was supposed to be my day off, but just as there is no such thing as vacation during a holiday weekend, there is no such thing as a weekend off during a three day weekend. For years I worked a flex schedule and never questioned the significance of not having a weekend. Saturday held no greater importance than Tuesday in my retail/ server mode of thinking.
For the last few years I've worked Monday through Friday and enjoyed the same thing as the rest of the world. Friday night football games, mowing the lawn on Saturdays, sleeping in on Sundays. I wouldn't trade it for the world. One of my managers suggested I go back to a flex schedule and I'm very proud I kept a straight face and didn't tell her to go to hell. Once you give a person a taste of freedom, (or in my case feeling like a human being.) you can't make them go back. Well, you can force somebody to do that, but historically it's a bad idea. Revolts and revolutions have started for less.
Today was supposed to be my day off, but hold up there cowboy, everybody works today. Especially when a truckload of appliances comes in. Not for nothing, but it was my third truck this week. The belts they give us leave a lot to be desired. The only reason I haven't gotten a hernia yet is because I change them out often. My back is still messed up and my fingers are falling asleep typing this post. Just a reminder to keep looking for a better job.
After we took care of the truck (we're good at unloading it, but we still hate to do it more than once a week.) we went where ever there was work to be done. Paint this. Mop that. Carry, pull, push. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Then the epiphany hit me. The realization a cashier ten or fifteen years my junior, was ordering me around like I was her servant. A few people treat me as an equal there. They work with me or have a conversation and realize: hey, this guy is okay. Still, for every one person I impress, there are three who think less of me. I haven't lost any sleep over that, but one more reason to get out.
Here's the problem: I've tasted freedom and seen how other people live. Is it any wonder I'm having difficulty going back into the tiny mind set? 
Why do I stay? The powers that be want money and this is the quickest way to pay them off. We recently had a meeting with Social Insecurity and it may lead to a reduction in the debt I owe. I'm not going to apologize for feeding my family or keeping a roof over our heads. Still 300 bucks a month goes back to da guberment. That money may not mean a lot to others, but I could make a lot of stuff happen with that amount of cash.
I may be working in retail purgatory, but it could be worse. And perhaps, just perhaps, there is a part of me that wishes to pay the government back for keeping me alive and my family together. Still, if it's a few years off my sentence (penalty box?), I'm going to take it.
I suppose this is why I'm brewing and writing, because I can't keep going on being in the herd. Friends of mine have had heart attacks and seizures and they can only find work in the big box stores. What's wrong with this picture? The current economic mindset is killing our brightest minds.
Later in the month there will be a mead festival in Gruene, Texas. Right next to where family and friends vacationed a few months ago. The wife and I will be going. I want to network with these folks and see what there is to see. Pieces are falling into place.
A chef who could design a menu around what I brew.
Friends who know about the restaurant industry along with my knowledge and experience.
A computer savvy person to help design the infrastructure.
And finally, a location where I can produce and sell what I brew. 
I'm thinking a tea room brunch style place. Mead and sandwiches sort of stuff.
The kids may not care about what I'm making, but I'm refining recipes people like. Perhaps there is a way for this to become profitable.
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes.