Of "new beers" and New Chefs  

First of all, congratulations to my sister Carlye for creating a meal to be proud of..it wasn't so long ago that she didn't know a skillet by name. She sent me this picture last night after commenting on several of the blogged meals.

Stir fry veggies with rice, spinach and bean salad, some gorgeous-looking grapes, and a few slices of cheese. Brilliant! Very attractive and it looks delicious.

Our meals have been less than blog-worthy lately: last night we had mostly reused ingredients from already posted meals (that turned out more than fine: rice and beans with decently fresh vegetables is obviously a modus operandi around here). Tonight, with a "Buy One Get One Free" coupon in hand we marched into the local Papa John's and ordered a 'Market Fresh' pizza and got a free half-banana pepper half fresh-tomato large free. Tomorrow's looking like leftover eggplant, maybe with some pasta, and there's going to be a lot of 'za left. Look for a special treat sometime shortly thereafter.

Speaking of new, Isaac, er, Eric Asimov of the New York Times wine column The Pour, covered Belgian pale ales yesterday. He seemed to think that this is some kind of unknown style (Beeradvocate.com lists 585 style examples), some of the beers he mentions are in fact Belgian IPAs, and the beer the panel decided was the "best value" is - how to put this? - not tasty. But nevertheless it was an interesting article about spritzy drinkable summer ales, and most of the suggestions, including the top choice, Brasserie des Rocs Blonde, are quite good.

Check out The Pour's take on Belgian pales.