Tenacious DM and the Log of Destiny

[DirtyMartini]

It's been a while!!

We had a great wedding/party/honeymoon and I ate a LOT of food. It was pretty awesome but in about 2 months I managed to pack on the pounds *innocent whistling here*. It was worth it though - cake, amazing food, and lots & lots of beer. We went to a two-star Michelin restaurant in San Francisco where we had the best meal of our lives. 8 course tasting menu with wine pairings - phenomenal and highly memorable.

We spent 3 days in the city then drove about an hour north to Santa Rosa, where we stayed for 3 more days (with a rental car). Over those 6 days, we spent quite a bit of time going to various breweries & microbreweries in Northern California. Let's see if I can remember all of them....

Anchor (San Francisco)
San Francisco Brewing (SF)
Marin Brewing (Larkspur)
Moylan's (Novato)
Russian River (Santa Rosa)
North Coast (Ft Bragg)
3rd Street AleWorks (Santa Rosa)
Lagunitas (Petaluma)
Anderson Valley (Boonville)
Bear Republic (Healdsburg)
Jupiter (Berkeley)
Triple Rock (Berkeley)

We also went to a Rogue Public House, Toronado (beer bar, lots of great selection but really crappy atmosphere), this Irish bar (great selection) with an Indian restaurant in it (LOL)... a few other places, I'm sure, but I can't remember them all.

We walked a lot, but we ate & drank even more and the weight came on like white on rice... but HEY I lost it once, I'll lose it again. It's already starting to come off. The size 4s and 6s still fit, which is a good thing.

I started to pick up FLII where I left off and will probably continue it all the way through, but I'm not that devoted anymore to doing One Single Program, if that makes sense. Last night I made up my own workout, doing 3 sets of 6 reps of 6 different exercises with heavy weights. I made them into supersets w/full rest. I've lost just a little strength, but not much - and not as much as I thought I would.

w/u - squats & push-ups
Back Squat - 3x6x95
Seated row - 3x6x100
Static Lunge - 2x6x75
Dynamic Lunge - 1x6x75
Push-up - 3x6 (feet on bench)
Barbell push-press - 3x6x65
Reverse-incline situp - 3x10

I'm also changing my diet a little to 1500-1600 calories a day during the week, then around 2000/day on the weekends. I'm going for about 40% carbs, 35% protein, 25% fat. Or thereabout. I'm hoping to lose about 3 pounds/month until the end of the year, then maintain it ... I'd like to be around 136-139 and maintaining...

[Bytsi]

Welcome back and CONGRATULATIONS on the wedding!

Do we get to see any pics???

[beesknees]

Over those 6 days, we spent quite a bit of time going to various breweries & microbreweries in Northern California. Let's see if I can remember all of them....

drool....

Welcome back! What an amazing honeymoon you had. Sounds like a dream trip for my husband and I.

Glad you had a nice time. Don't worry about the weight - it will be gone in no time. I just started Fat Loss II myself - so far so good. It's definitely harder then Fat Loss I. I like your approach to not adhering strictly to one program. I am going to finish up the Fat Loss II and probably do something similar. Just mix and match.

[stingo]

Congrats on the wedding, and looks like a grand beer tour to be sure. What about Stone's?

[DirtyMartini]

Nah, we didn't make it that far south. We'll save that and Pizza Port (and others) for another trip. I had forgotten about all the beer mags (NW Brewing News, beeradvocate, Celebrator...)

Pictures.... here are a few

outside the courthouse -


I'm really not this much taller...


My SIL & I - after a few drinks - doing our silly booty dance we do when we see each other.... you know, I've always wanted to be as small as my SIL and after seeing these pictures I realized that I'm just about there... crazy.


Some from SF:


Lagunitas (which is distributing to this area this winter!! YEAH!!!!)

[DirtyMartini]

The whole albums are here
Picasa Web Albums - OregonAmy - San Francisco...
Picasa Web Albums - OregonAmy - Wedding Weekend

This was the menu for our Super Fancy dinner.
AQUA - Autumn Mushroom Tasting Menu

There was an extra course, a cauliflower mushroom with curry sauce. Fantastic, but my favorite (and perhaps the best thing I've eaten in my entire life) was the porcini souffle with fois gras butter sauce. HOLY GOD it was good.

[stingo]

Nice - I'll check out the pics when I'm not at work. I actually had a Lost Abbey Avant-Garde this past Sunday and enjoyed it lot, so I'd be interested to try anything from Tomme Arthur/Port Brewing. I've also had Lagunitas and Anderson Valley a while back and remember liking their brews too.

As for your booty dance, the thing I noticed was what looks like a tulip glass in your hand (well, ok, after the whole booty thing).

[DirtyMartini]

yeah, that's my Magic Chouffe glass. I LOVE THAT GLASS.




John's got a giant Tripel Karmeliet glass that he used all night as well, which is in a few of the pictures - good times.

[DirtyMartini]

I've heard great things about Lost Abbey, but to be honest I can't recall if I've ever had any of their beer. I think out of our trip, Moylan's was my all-time favorite. Their Moylander (IIPA) is utterly fantastic... mmmm.

I picked up 2 bottles of New Belgium's La Folie last night... I hope to store one for a while but will drink the other one soon - maybe this weekend. I can't wait, as it sounds SO good. I love flanders-style ales. mmmmm.

Oh! That reminds me, we also went to a belgian-style pub in SF and I got moules-frites and some belgian beer. It reminded me that KC is missing any sort of restaurant like that and got me thinking about opening my own beer-related business someday... someday maybe.

[stingo]

Cool - I'll have to check and see if Moylan's makes it over here.

Sour Flemish reds are a particular favorite of mine - still debating whether to take the plunge and put Duchesse de Bourgogne on tap at home.

I understand that many brewers got started by homebrewing, then progressively enlarging their operations until they'd volunteer/get a low level job at a local brewing establishment to learn the trade. Not sure if that's the route you were thinking about, but it's an option.

[realcdn]

Hey there, welcome back. Glad that everything went well, and the outfit really looks fantastic. I think the last time we saw it, it was just pieces. You look like you had a great day. And it sounds like you have a good solid plan to take you into the New Year, so I'll wish you good luck on that!

[Bytsi]

Great pics DM - thanks for sharing! You looked beautiful!

[DirtyMartini]

Thanks guys!! We really did have a great time. It went just about as planned! Well, except for the honeymoon - we planned on spending 6 days in the city, but it turned out we messed up our hotel reservation so we split after 3 days. It actually turned out BETTER than our original plan... it's so nice when that happens.

Originally Posted by stingo

I understand that many brewers got started by homebrewing, then progressively enlarging their operations until they'd volunteer/get a low level job at a local brewing establishment to learn the trade. Not sure if that's the route you were thinking about, but it's an option.

Sort of! We got to talking about getting back into home brewing again, and decided to go for it...

We loaded up on homebrewing equipment this week - it's still sitting in the living room but we hope to use it this weekend... we saved our bottles from our wedding party. I'm keen on bottling (though it's a pain in the ass) but we'll get a kegging system one of these days. It's dangerous having beer on tap, though, as you well know. You seem to do OK with it though...

John picked out a dark mild ale to make and I picked out a chocolate cherry stout (I've been on a stout kick lately, and Bell's Cherry Stout BLOWS MY MIND it's so good).

What I would *really* like to look into doing is opening a beer bar. John doesn't think there's a market for it here, and I go back & forth. Sometimes I think he's right so I shouldn't bother. Other times I think I could pull it off given it's combined with something else (like Flying Saucer, which appears to do well here). I think a belgian bar might be able to cut it, since you could get the Stella/Leffe/Chimay drinkers who like to be fancier than the typical Heineken & Sam Adams at times, but aren't beer geeks... then of course you'd get the beer seekers who are looking for a great beer pub that has a fantastic selection. We'll see.

I noticed Boulevard does several tours & I've been mulling over submitting an app for a tour guide position. It'd be a great way to meet people in teh bizness AND just figure things out... bar/restaurant hours may not be for me, especially as I get older, so we'll see... I'll continue to think on it.