Travel: The Omni San Diego

This past weekend my lovely wife, M2, and I had a grown-ups only weekend in San Diego.  One of the nice things about the suburbs is that, by definition, there is a major city nearby.  For us, we have two:  Los Angeles to the west and San Diego to the south.  We decided to spend a couple of nights at the Omni Hotel in the Gas Lamp district of San Diego.  Very nice district with pubs and restaurants aplenty.

One of the notable features of the Omni is its location with respect to Petco Park, the stadium where the San Diego Padres play.  It's just across the street.  Below is a photo from our room.

Previously we stayed around the corner on the side of the building facing the stadium.  We could look down into the field and if it were baseball season I could have watched nearly all of the game from the comfort of my bathroom.  It would have only been better if I could have actually sat on the porcelain throne and watched.  Wouldn't that have been a picture.

The hotel also has its own entrance, a bridge that crosses over the street separating the two, into the stadium.  I'll need to check the schedule and see if our Anaheim Angels (I'm not calling them Los Angeles) play some interleague games there this year.  Although, I'm freightened to know what the rates are on game nights.

From the other direction we had a view of the Gas Lamp distrct and San Diego.

I've swiped some pictures from the Omni website below.  As I said, this was a "grown ups" weekend.  There wasn't much leaving the room (wink-wink) for picture taking.


The bridge leading into Petco Park.



Lobby.



Pool.  We did enjoy a drink (or two) out here as the weather was gorgeous.



View of the outside.

It was a great hotel to stay at.  There is a McCormick & Schmick's restaurant on the first floor.  McCormick & Schmick's is a chain restaurant with locations throughout the United States.

My only complaint about the entire weekend was the room service we ordered Saturday night.  I'm not sure if the restaurant prepares the food or the hotel has their own kitchen, but the meal was not good.  And, I had a caesar salad.  How the hell can you screw up a caesar salad?  Throw a chunk of cold dry chicken on the top.  Ick.  And, it was too bad as the breakfast is spectacular.  Bananas Foster French Toast.  Enough said.  Get it.  Eat it.  Love it.  Send me a buck for the recommendation.

Come ON Summer!!

I know it's not even spring.  But, a boy can dream.

Have you ever tried polishing these things?  Holy frijoles, it's a chore.  And, you have to concentrate.  Don't get the brown on the white, oh Lordy, a fate worse then death.  These will be shined up soon.

Brew: An Actual Drinkable Batch

Finally, the third time is the charm.  Something I can actually give to people I like.  The other swills I created I sent to my enemy's.  They sent it back.

We'll call this one the Turling Castle Pale Ale.  I like that.  Imagine on the label a big picture of a castle with me at the top surrounded by...well, I digress.  I picked up a new toy for this batch.  Actually, I didn't "pick it up" so much as "borrow" it from my father-in-law.

This is where I should impress you by spewing out how many BTU's it runs.  I have no idea.  Let's just go with it gets really, really hot.  Hotter then the stove.  Cooler then the sun.  It's somewhere between those two.

Here we are brewing the wort.  I did have a little trouble being outside as a few week's back when this batch was made we had Santa Ana winds.  It seems we've had Santa Ana's all winter.  (For those of you wondering, Santa Ana winds occur when a high pressure system sits over Nevada/Arizona and a low pressure system is off our California coast.  The hot, dry desert air moves from the high pressure system to the low blowing it's way across Southern California.  One of the rare occasions it can actually be as hot, if not hotter, on the coast then here inland.)

Off to take the wort into the house to place it in the ice bath in the sink.  I don't have a cooler yet.  Baby steps.

I got my recipe from Palmer's How to Brew book and modified it slightly for what my brew shop carried. Here's the recipe and the process:

          3 lbs. Briess Golden Light Dried Malt
          3 lbs. Briess Sparkling Amber Dried Malt
          1 oz. Cascade hops (pellets)
          .5 oz. Columbus hops (pellets)
          California V Ale Yeast - liquid (1 vile)

In the pot placed three gallons bottled drinking water, brought to a boil and added the malt extracts.  Just pour them in while stirring.  Waited a couple of minutes for the hot break (the point where it's less likely the whole concoction will explode) and threw in the Columbus hops.

At minute 45 I added the Cascade hops and 5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient.  The yeast nutrient is optional.  Gives the little buggers a little more to munch on.

At minute 50, I added 1 tablet of Whirlfloc.  This is for clarity (I think, the guy at the brew shop was helping 5 people at one time, but I'm pretty sure that's what this is for).

At minute 60, we're done.  I then dunked placed the pot in the sink filled with ice to cool it.  Took 51 minutes to get it down to 75.  Then, I pitched the yeast in after putting it in the fermenting bucket along with another 2 gallons of bottled drinking water.

I wish I could have calculated the alcohol content, but I was so happy the house was still standing I forgot to get the original gravity (OG) reading.  The final gravity (FG) was 1.02, but that doesn't do us much good.

Anyway, the brew turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  I would put it right between a pale ale and an india pale ale.  I may go a little easier on the hops the next batch and see what happens.

Until, then, cheers!

Family Ties: LBJ, This Explains A Lot

Lyndon Baines Johnson.  He's my cousin.  Distant cousin, but cousin nonetheless.  The second of two President's I'm related to, LBJ is from my father's side.  From my mother's side I get William Howard Taft.  There is a nice article over at Get Kempt on the Johnson Treatment.  Below I've dropped in a video from that same post over at Kempt.  Christ on cornbread, listening to LBJ order pants explains a lot about me.  Anyway, enjoy.  It's pretty damn funny.

Lighting: Thank God, I Can See Now While Doing Dishes

Above our sink used to be a canister light shining over the sink.  Then, we put in a tin ceiling and I covered that up.  Don't worry, Mike Holmes, I removed the wiring from the canister before covering it.  We then put in kitchen cabinets and ran a shelf between two bump outs.  So, I, being the wise one I am, decided to put a puck light in the shelf above the sink in order to replace the canister that had been there.  One problem.  Try finding a single puck light that you can hard wire.  Nope.  And, I wasn't about to spend $80 on a group, so I could use one light.  I did the next best thing, I bought a puck light that has a plug, cut the plug off, and hard wired it.  It lasted 17 seconds.  So, instead I got this:

It's from a big box store...ok, it was Lowe's, maybe they'll give me an endorsement deal.  It shines a good deal of light and is nice to use as an accent light to keep the kitchen illuminated rather than the five remaining canister lights.  I'm guessing one is cheaper to run then five.  Here is what it looks like.

And, before you start mocking me about the title that I don't do dishes, I do.  Except for that one in the sink in the picture above.  Christ, I'm really not good at this picture taking blogging thing.

Inspiration: Audwin P. McGee's Pad

If I had a house, I would want it to be like this.  Ok, I do have a house.  But, also a wife, two kids, etc.  I still want it to look like this though:

Michael Williams over at A Continuous Lean has an excellent post on Audwin McGee, who he is, what he does and why he's most likely cooler then you.  He's cooler then me, that's for sure, but gives us something to aspire to.  The post is from a little while back, but style is timeless, yes?  I tried to get permission from Mr. Williams to post these pictures, but was unsuccessful.  So, Mr. Williams, if you want me to remove them, let me know.

Travel: Go to Rome for Book Porn

If ever a reason to visit Rome, this is it for me.  As if I really need a reason.  The Vatican has released 100 previously sequestered documents for an exhibit at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, from March 1st until September 2012.  The exhibition is titled Lux in Arcana - The Vatican Secret Archives Reveals Itself. 

I will admit, I am fascinated by the Vatican.  I will gobble up any piece of information I can on them.  And, if there's a conspiracy theory involved, forget it, I'm hooked.  They have documents on the trials of the Knights Templar for crying out loud.  Who doesn't want to see that?

Enjoy the above clip.  It is, of course, propoganda and not a documentary of the exhibit, but my oh my it does get the blood pumping.  For me, at least.