(no subject)

We got alll-lll excited on Tuesday as we were returning from our "Total Wine and More" (a wine/beer/cider store that is HUGE since it took over the defunct Border's Bookstore space) and spotted a Whole Foods being built just down the street from it. That means that in a three-block area, we will have a kicking cider (or ale, in my husband's case) store, a Trader Joe's, a Whole Foods, and just a short ways away, the Heritage Health Store, which is a grocery store full of very-very nice organic products and imported foods plus things like home-made soaps and the 'odd' brands of deodorants and beauty items (they had "Burt's Bees" products for years before those became mainstream). All of these stores will be well within a half-mile of the site we'll be using for our Baronial Investiture this November... I wonder if we ought to advertise that in our event flyer? There is a Jo-Ann's fabrics across the street from the Wine store, and a Michael's next door... hmmm... nah, most folks probably have those stores in their own areas. We're just slow getting them in.

My debit card whimpered when I spotted the Whole Foods building being worked on... that was just after we passed Arby's. Where they are currently selling their "Orange Creme milkshakes". (I has a sad. I can't even think about having that darned milkshake, which I used to anticipate every season.)

There were two beverages we spotted at Total Wine that we just had to buy and bring to the Fourth of July celebration (hosted by Arradd & Izzy) to share with friends. One was a Creme Brulee Stout. I don't drink ale/stout/beer, but I did like the smell of it - it smelled like creme soda with a slight burnt 'tinge'. Arni said that it tasted of vanilla and he liked it a lot. So did most of our beer-drinking friends. I brought a Rhubarb-Elderberry Perry with me, because the idea of Rhubarb flavoring in a beverage was just to weird too ignore. (And this one was sweetened with honey, which put it well within my carb-counting realm. 22 carbs for the whole bottle, which was one of those wine-bottle sizes.) I didn't care for it as the yeast was too heavy/obvious at the end, but some of my friends are making a bee-line for the store today to buy their own supplies. It disappeared pretty quickly.

I, however, will be returning to buy some more of their blackberry Perry. Oh my, was that yummy! At the rate I drink alcohol, another 4-pack of that combined with my bottle of Scrumpy apple cider will see me well through Pennsic. (7 bottles on hand? I'll have to share a few - that will be fun!)