whither august?
apparently at least one person regularly checks this page and was disappointed by the lack of august updates, so i guess a recap will have to do. it was a busy month, starting off with a mini ahs-reunion at kyle and ashley’s wedding. it was a good time to catch up with a few old friends (and surprise guest) and spend a little time in the great city of ames.
after a couple uneventful weekends in which i skipped the official ahs reunion (and mpls mercifully finally got some much-needed rain), i arrived at what was probably the high-water mark of the summer: a dream theater concert on friday followed by a rochesterfest that weekend. the cost: putting up with sam for a week and offering him my couch friday night. but i’ll admit it was good to have him around, even if just to reinstitute the old-school dinner club for a week and put back on the few pounds i’d lost in his absence. felt just like old times — almost.
the DT show was pretty awesome (excellent value in notes/$), even if the orpheum wasn’t probably the best venue — it sounded like they were playing in a cave. but got to hear my favorite song off the new album and some classics from sfam. my only real complaint would be that i was really hoping to hear something off i&w since i missed that boat long ago. ah well.
rochesterfest was a good time as always, consisting mostly of drinking samm’s beer, eating lots of food, and playing rock band. as per abuck’s suggestion, i decided to try my hand at a midwestern (lol) version of bo ssam; basically i brined a 6-lb pork shoulder (courtesty of sam) and roasted it at samm and erin’s, and served it up with white rice and kim chi. much to my surprise, it actually turned out pretty well in spite of the recipe calling for an overly-salty finish. i will try it again sometime when the weather gets colder and i can use my oven again. it certainly should be mentioned that we washed it down with a 3L bottle of chimay blue, which was really dang good, even in that quantity. also had the chance to try a couple of unique stone brewery offerings from samm’s fridge, including an ipa made with a belgian yeast (very interesting, and tasty) and finishing the night, appropriately, with a ruination. a+, would do again.
