My face at Kahurangi National Park; New Zealand’s 2nd largest Natinoal Park.
Gary is victorious over a natural obstacle. I don’t think the shirt helped.
Today was a long one, guys. I awoke at 6:30am to take a five mile run before showering, dressing, and driving a friend down to Oceanside for a medical procedure. On my day off! See, I’m not such a bad person. I can be a good friend when one is in need.
Of course, I had ulterior motives. Once the procedure ended, instead of driving back to I-5 and returning to Los Angeles, I spied an entrance ramp for 78-E towards Escondido. Surprise! We’re going to the Stone Brewery!
Since my friend’s knee was still bothering him after his medical appointment (and because, well, we showed up 15 minutes after the tour started) we didn’t tour the brewery. Which is fine by me, I’ve done it before, a little over two years ago. He was a bit disappointed, but now that he knows where the brewery is he’ll be back soon to take the tour. Instead, we mulled around for a bit (the gardens were closed, sadly) and found ourselves eventually at the Stone Brewing World Bistro.
Last time I was in Escondido at the brewery I sampled both the Barbecue Duck Tacos (with psilla chile-Stone Smoked Porter BBQ sauce, corn tortillas, micro greens. Vella asiago cheese, salsa fresca & pineapple habanero salsa. Served with coconut black beans and Spanish style short-grain brown rice) and the Grilled Buffalo Burger (tamarind-glazed buffalo patty with pickled red onions, roasted garlic mayo and butter lettuce served on a caramelized onion roll from Sadie Rose bakery, with chile-lime chips and sriracha pickled cucumbers on the side). I drank a lot of booze on the tour and consumed pints of Stone Cali-Belgia IPA and Stone Imperial Russian Stout (2009 batch) at the Bistro.
This time was a little different. My friend spied the “Spud Buds” on the menu and demanded them. They were much better than I remembered. He went for the Mac ‘n Beer Cheese (Stone Smoked Porter & Garlic Beer Cheese and basil along with Stone Smoked Porter Sausage from San Marcos’ T&H Prime Meats & Sausage). I went with the Prime Rib Melt (Meyers all natural prime rib, roasted and sliced thin, generously covered with fire-roasted Anaheim chiles, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms and jalapeno havarti on house-made ciabatta roll with chili-lime corn chips on the side). He tried his first ever Maui Imperial Coconut Porter, and I drank a Jason Fields & Kevin Sheppard/Troegs/Stone Cherry Chocolate Stout and a Sierra Nevada Tumbler. Both were delicious. The food was great. And because I’m such a glutton I pretty much finished off everything on my plate plus the leftover (it was really fucking heavy and rich) Mac ‘n Beer Cheese.
Last night concluded with pub trivia, and for the second time ever our team finished in second place. And for the 80th time in a row we got the most laughs for our team name. I was really proud of myself for nailing “Eminent Domain” in one round, but disappointed that I didn’t remember Michael Crawford was the original Phantom Of The Opera. Although that also means I’m not gay.
The Druids Of Stonehenge – Earthless
