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Sunday, 31 October 2010

Glen London Part Three: Whisky Show Day 2.

What a difference a week makes. Whilst Joel was clearly toiling this week, grappling with some stupendous whisky beasts, I was trying to make sense of just what its like to have a holiday. A Curates Egg shall we say- one moment lying on the beach, falling asleep and burning one's legs to a crisp... the next, thinking about all the great whiskies I was missing out on back home, whilst necking high strength white rum. Let's just say that i'm not particularly one for sunning myself- in fact, whilst on the beach, I realised that I had only brogues to wear- with hindsight, a totally absurd choice of footwear.

Still I'm home now and back at the second day of The Whisky Show, which I was really looking forward to.

Joel had already primed me as to what to look out for, so for the first dram of the day, the quite frankly stunning Adelphi Bunnahabhain 41 year old bottling (think a wonderful mix of fresh and dried fruits, classic sherry dryness, but not a hint of bitterness) This is certainly on my purchase list and a whisky which will surely disappear quickly after the buzz it created around the show.

So a high benchmark had been set and I drifted off to The Whisky Exchange stand in search of further perfection. Fortunately the five bottlings on offer were at the top of their game. Just how the WE find casks like this is beyond us, but keep it up chaps! I settled on a 1981 Lochside as my highlight, as modelled here by Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem band.

Lochside - 1981 - Whisky Exchange bottling - Oloroso Sherry Reserve - 57.5%

Nose: Notes of waxed mahogany, overripe bananas, tropical fruits (guava and passion fruit) and rich treacle toffee.

Palate: The fruit continues into an explosion of tropical notes. It's like i'm back in the Seychelles, trying to pick fresh mango and Jack fruit from the heavily laden trees, which line every road. Add to that a touch of brittle honey comb, humbugs and cinnamon spiced notes. Superb in every way, with no holes at all.

Finish: The fruit lingers and the flavours develop beautifully, with all the resonance of a terrific old sherry cask.

Overall: Sukhinder and his team have yet again struck gold with this one. Another highlight from what's shaping up to be a premier whisky event.

After a spot of lunch (well, I was already gorged on a fine Penge Cafe Mixed Grill, so went straight for the Panacotta and toffee/Longmorn sauce) it felt right to try something a little lighter and younger. 2 whiskies sprang to mind- Glenlivet's Nadurra Triumph 1991 and the soon-to-be-released Kilchoman Winter Release. Once again, we were enticed into Connosr's Whisky Pod to review the Kilchoman (which was a pre-release caskstrength sample) and again they struck gold with full ripe fruity fresh bourbon notes, mixed with a fresh warming smokiness. With a refreshed palate (and a big slug of water) it was onto the Nadurra, which we have reviewed previously. The Triumph exclusively uses the the strain of barley taking the same name and gives another dimension of fresh fruitiness, with an additional couple of years of maturation in bourbon oak.

Glenlivet Nadurra - Triumph - 1991 distillation- Batch 0310B - bottled 3/10 - 48%

Nose: Hot buttered crumpet, Hubba Bubba bubble gum, fresh bourbon'esque fruits, lemon zest and vanilla notes. Vibrant, exciting and totally irresistible.

Palate: Rich Tea biscuit maltiness, clear apple juice, home made apple pie, with cinnamon spice and a distinct white sugar sweetness.

Finish: Further notes of red apple and sweet vanilla creme brulee linger and resonate as the palate dries.

Overall: Well worth seeking out if you are already a fan of the original Nadurra. A big feather in Glenlivet's cap for bottling this.

Our good friend Andy was also at the show, seemingly working hard on becoming the new face of Johnnie Walker Blue Label as well as Angus, now writing an entertaining blog, as ever on hand with a bag of goodies, including this very old Signatory Longmorn (waxy, simple and hugely fruity, showing no signs of old age, just the hallmarks of how great the distillery was back in the mid 60's) Also, major props to Sam 'Dr Whisky' Simmons for fighting back the jetlag and diving headlong into the lions den of great whisky. We salute you sir and welcome back to the UK.

Final stop was at the Berry Bros stand, with Doug and Rocky propping up their burgeoning bar with a number of treats. Fresh from being awarded Whisky Magazine's Independent Bottler of the Year award, they had the family silver out on display, including this highly polished gem:

Berrys' Own Selection - Invergordon Single Grain Bottling - 1971 - bottled 2010 - 47%

Nose: Bourbon notes to the max, with candied fruit, bubble gum, soft toffee and a hint of licorice spice.

Palate: Sweet Honeycomb, very floral light fruit notes (like a freshly prepared fruit salad with kiwi fruit, strawberries, mango and banana) more bourbon sweet/spice and fresh cream.

Finish: The cream dies away into a lengthy and very juicy finish.

Overall: Berry Bros have produced some sterling grain bottlings over the past couple of years and this one is right up there again. A distinct highlight in their current portfolio, which will no doubt disappear soon.

With a final dram of the specially released Whisky Show Port Ellen on the way out (think classic sherried PE, with that hint of soft smoke winding around some fruity dryness and Devon Creamery fudge) our palates were truly dazzled by what was on offer. So far, 2 out of 2 for The Whisky Show. Last year proved that despite a high ticket price, whisky enthusiasts out there are prepared to pay for quality and this year has built on those foundations.

Expect this show to be back next year, bigger than ever with another huge tranche of the finest whiskies for you to feast yourselves on. Who needs holidays eh.....

Friday, 29 October 2010

Glen London Part Two: Down At The Whisky Show At Midday

There are few occasions when I can leave my house and end up in whisky heaven within 15 mins. I’m lucky enough (although I’m sure my bank manager would disagree) to live within walking distance of the Whisky Exchange shop at Vinopolis, with Milroys Of Soho and Vintage House on Old Compton Street a mere stone’s throw away too.

But today I get to visit somewhere new. An adventure which starts with a short walk to the bus stop and 15 mins on the number 133 bus. Trundling past Elephant and Castle, over London Bridge and into The City, my destination is The Whisky Show which this year is being held at The Brewery near The Barbican.

An ominously early start of midday, especially after the exploits of last night (Diageo Special Releases followed by far too long at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society) which concluded with a late, late blog writing mission... but seven hours kip later, I was up and ready to tackle the marathon that is The Whisky Show.

Arriving for the Press and Trade period, it was a welcome sight to see litre bottles of still water being handed out before a dram had even been poured. This was clearly an event run by people with experience. And an understatement that indeed is, for the Master behind the scenes is Whisky Exchange owner Sukhinder Singh.

Wandering through the door on the dot of midday, Sukhinder was to be found hurriedly putting the finishing touches to their shop with the rest of his team and it was perfect timing as his own independent bottles were being hauled from the shelves and opened, for tastings. A d(r)am fine line up it is too, so where better to start than with the organisers very own bottles.

Karuizawa – 1981 / 2010 – The Whisky Show 2010 bottling – 60.5%

Nose: Apricots, Bovril, old books, polished wood and leather shoes. Everything you would expect from a well sherried medium-old Karuizawa. The quality of wood that this closed distillery must have been using seems phenomenal and it gives so much colour and character to the whisky.

Palate: The deep and rich dark chocolate notes fight for space on the tongue from sherry, spice and drying oak. Old cigar notes up the ante and this feels like a very old whisky, despite being only a 1981.

Finish: The apricots re-appear along with heavy cigar notes and some vanilla.

Overall: A great example of a karuizawa and a cracking way to start the show.

Now set up and ready to explore, a short wander through the stalls revealed some gems. But we’ve got two days here and I want to ease myself in. Finishing a my fact finding mission, I settle for a chat with Doctor Andrew Forrester of The Balvenie. After a short discussion a bottle caught my eye. A bottle that I’ve heard a lot about: Tun 1401.

A marriage of 4 Bourbon casks and 2 Sherry butts and containing whisky from the 1960’s, this bottle is limited to 336 and is only available to visitors on the distillery tour at Balvenie.

The Balvenie – Tun 1401 – 48.1% NAS

Nose: rich coffee, fruit cake, plums, a hint of mint and loads of strawberry jam.

Palate: Very light, with oak, vanillas and a touch of rounded, spicy sherry.

Finish: Sweet tea, digestive biscuits, smooth and long.

Overall: An absolute cracker of a whisky. Not too bad at £150, but you have to be in Dufftown and you have to take the tour to qualify. That, or buy a bottle for silly money from eBay...

Don’t take my word for it, hear it from the horses mouth.

Onward we roam, conscience of the time restrains. Conversations are cruelly cut short as valuable drinking time was being eaten away catching up with friends and gather and sharing tips on the bottles in the room.

After much cogitation, I took a visit to Adelphi, an independent bottler who I’ve heard a lot about but never really tasted. And my! What a discovery I made! Along with a host of bottles, one shone out: Bunnahabhain 41 Year Old. A mix of two sherry butts coming in at 41.2% ABV and, for today at least, has been counted as my “Whisky of the Show 2010”.

Luckily, the good chaps from Connosr were on hand to record show-gowers describing their fav dram. So, no written notes for this one I’m afraid but a video of me giving my tasting notes*

Click here for the video

Finally, it was time to try two last drams before heading home for the day (to do some real work!) and what better way to end the session that with two independent bottles of Port Ellen.

Port Ellen – 1983 – The Whisky Show 2010 bottling – 60 bottles only (yes, 60!) – 51.3% ABV

Nose: Smoke hits you with a big engine of toffee and raisins. Some salt carries the fruity elements of this single cask right to the back of the nose.

Palate: Very, very rich with dried fruit, jams and chutney. Spices from the wood give extra body to this tasty palate.

Finish: Warm and spicey with cardamom and cinnamon.

Overall: Better than the 31 YO official bottling from yesterday, this is really, really tasty!

Port Ellen – PE 3 – Elements Of Islay – NAS – 54.8% ABV

Nose: Wow, a totally different whisky to the PE above. Very little smoke, lemon sherbet and green grass.

Palate: Light vanilla spices with some oak dryness and a hint of green apple.

Finish: Clean and fresh, this doesn’t coat your mouth with earthy notes, in the way other Port Ellens do.

Overall: Okay, but not as good as the show bottling, nor the Diageo Special Release 31 Year Old. And it’s only a 50cl bottle too.

Day Two of the Great London Whisky Weekend is over, but rest assured! We shall be back tomorrow with more notes from Whisky Heaven 2010.

*wide screen monitor advised

Glen London Part One: White (Dram) Riot

You may have guessed, but weheartwhisky.

This week is Christmas and Easter rolled in to one for the London based whisky blogger.

In the space of 24 short hours, we get to taste the Diageo Special Release AND get in to the Press and Trade Period of the Whisky Show 2010.

How does one prepare for such fare? With a week of abstinence, of course.

Neil has been away with Mrs Neil, making sure that he doesn't become The Singleton Of Penge while I’ve been left to cleanse my liver, making sure each and every sample that arrives at HQ is filed away for the “quiet period”... goodness know when that is.

An absence of booze for a week, and therefore the absence of postings, highlights the madness to come.

So tonight we start with the Diageo Special Releases and this year we see some familiar faces: Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Port Ellen and Brora. But, like watching Manchester United introducing young talent around a spine of great players, these mainstays are joined by some unique and interesting individuals: Glen Spey, Auchroisk and Cragganmore.

In total nine single malts grace the “special” release for this year and a wide variety of prices, ages and finishes are available.

The list runs thus:

Auchroisk 30

Brora 30

Caol Ila 12 unpeated

Cragganmore 21

Glenkinchie 20

Glen Spey 21

Glenkinchie 20

Lagavulin 12

Port Ellen 31

Talisker 30

It would be difficult to run through each and give detailed tasting notes, so I’m going to highlight what, in our opinion , are the best.

As usual you can't just scroll to the end and read the two digit figure score, because we don’t believe in any of that bollocks. What does a score mean, anyway? Nothing to you to, because you’ve not had the same experiences as we’ve had in drinking whisky. So, read the notes and if you think you like the “broad-brush” tasting notes we give, then go and try / buy the whisky.

If you don’t, then stay the hell away from it. We’re not here to tell you what’s good and bad; we’re here to advise you and inform you if you wish to make a purchase. At the end of the day, when you pull a cork out of a bottle, we want you to love and to cherish the whisky inside. Not to have a bad reaction to it, to then have to fob it off on your Brother, your Uncle or your Dad. On that note, here are our picks of the DSR 2010:

Lagavulin - 12 Years Old - 56.5%

£59 a bottle. Yes please! This is a whisky that gives and gives and gives and gives.

Nose: A complex vanilla butter toffee mixed with heavy peat smoke and rich, runny honey. Classic Lagavulin Creme Brulee and creamy vanilla ice cream burst through giving a sharp, clean and fresh, salty nose.

Palate: Sweet and smokey with notes of citrus and pine and charred wood, toffee apple and lime.

Finish: Long and smoky with medicinal backdrop.

Overall: Just delicious. The Lagavulin 12 has yet to let me down.

Auchroisk - 20 Years Old- ABV 58.1%

Who? Auchroisk is not a name famillar to many. But this Single Malt delivers and delivers well.

Nose: Very rich and extremely nutty with vanilla toffee and rich sherry notes.

Palate: That nutty-ness keeps coming, with hazelnuts and walnuts but there is also some dust and dryness. Toffee and caramel and rum and raisin fudge with dry biscuit and pastry come to the fore.

Finish: Earthy notes with dark chocolate and hints of tropical fruit. Like and old Bowmore without the smoke.

Overall: At this price point (sub £120), get it while you can!

Glen Spey - 21 Years Old - 50.4%

Nose: Wow! Rich, very rich! This whisky has one of the most complex noses I’ve had in a long time. I could sit with this for hours. After the stewed fruit comes leather and polished wood. Antique wood and polish makes its way to the front, but with an energy, a zest. Energy, but complexity. All good.

Palate: Simple palate notes for this: Pear, almond and apricot tart with vanilla ice cream.

Finish: Long and complex with the pear lingering and lime adding zest to the overall character.

Overall: A real surprise. Well worth the money.

And a special mention for a cracking Cragganmore. More on that tomorrow. We're Craggenmore fans anayway, but this years Special Release really is worth trying.

All in, this is a good haul of releases, despite a rather dull Talisker 30 and Caol Ila that misses the point (it is like Nirvana Unplugged: does a good job, but you’d rather have the rawk guitars and riffs, over the emo vocals and overacting).

And the Port Ellen? It’s fantastic. A fantastic effort for a whisky destined for blending 28 years ago. Honestly, how no one ever saw the Single Malt potential in this distillery is beyond me. But there you go. The wonderful world of whisky!

Epic Day One of our London Whisky Adventure is over. More to tell tomorrow, but for now: bed.

Thursday, 21 October 2010

The Gourmet 'Burgie Company

Fresh from scouring our notes on the best whiskies of 2010 for this year's BIG Awards, we came across a bottling, which sadly doesn't fit into the criteria to be eligible- down to being released in 2007 and only being available at the distillery. But fear not, we wanted to bring it to your attention anyway.

Glenburgie is not a whisky we've reviewed on here before (other than as part of a blending sample) and probably has more profile through its inclusion into the Chivas Regal & Ballantine's blends, but this particular example is prime reason why it should be taken very seriously indeed as a single malt.

Part of the Chivas Brothers Cask Strength Edition range, (only available at the distillery shops) this Glenburgie sashays in at 15yo and is part of batch GB 15 001. We have little idea what that number means, but expect there to be more of this round the corner in the guise of other batches.

Glenburgie - 15 yo - Cask Strength Edition - Distilled 1992- bottled 2007 - Batch no: 15 001 - 58.8% - 50cl

Nose: Initially highly fruity, with some superb bourbon sweetness, Wrigley's Juicy Fruit, blackcurrant jam, scented wax, a dusting of cocoa and milk chocolate covered limes. It shares a similar freshness to that of Rosebank bottled around the same age. Developed, with a hint of oak too, but just wonderfully balanced.

Palate: Notes of honey comb hit the palate first, into fruit salad sweets, chocolate covered fudge, fresh clean malt and brittle caramel. The fruits push on through, delivering a sweet, tangy freshness, with a hint of sherbet on the back palate.

Finish: Creamy but slightly drying, with lingering blackcurrant notes.

Overall: What a totally brilliant find. In this day and age of the 'heightened aesthetic', the whisky bottle needs to reflect all the positivity it can about the liquid inside. So often, it goes totally wrong and looks cheap, glitzy and frankly, off-putting. What we have here is a really delicious well made and matured single malt, packaged simply, offering no airs or graces. It rewards the effort of a distillery visit and at around £40 is rewarding on the wallet too. You could buy 2,500 bottles of this for the cost of one Dalmore Trinitas. Not the point of either whisky I know, but food for thought.

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

BiG Is Back!!!

As 2010 draws ever nearer to a close, we have started to think about the vast number of whiskies released this year. Some superb bottlings have enraptured our hearts, whilst some have enraged and enflamed a great many drinkers across the whisky community.

With this in mind, we've started to collate a list towards the 2010 BIG Awards (Best In Glass), now in its 3rd year. For those of you who have missed our annual awards- the premise is simple. Pit the 10 best whiskies released in a calendar year against each other in a huge tasting bonanza.

Last year saw a 3-year old pitted against a 45-year old. Single Malt vs Grain. Japanese vs Scotch vs American. It's amazing just how eloquent certain whiskies can be when the need to be.

In 2008, it was No.1 Drinks 1971 Karuizawa which triumphed.

In 2009, Kilchoman's Inaugural Release beat the other contenders into a Glencairn-shaped hat.

So which whisky will be mighty in the 2010 awards?

Well.... that's where you come in. Instead of just Joel and I picking the short list of 10 whiskies from the multitude of releases, we want your help.

We want your suggestions as to the year's very best whiskies you've tasted.
Along with your name and country you're located in, you can email your suggestions thru to:

The only set of criteria is as follows:
1. The entry must be a 'newly released whisky' from this year (2010)
2. It has to be available from a retailer of any kind- i.e. no festival bottlings, or distillery-only bottlings.

And that's it! Here's what's in it for you....

from all the entries we get, we'll draw 3 lucky winners who will each receive a bottle of something exceptional from the Caskstrength cabinet... not bad for letting us know your favourite whisky of the year!

The competition closes on December 1st, so get thinking and re-trying all those great drams, in anticipation.

Neil + Joel

Friday, 15 October 2010

"Money doesn't talk. It swears." Bob Dylan

Good old Robert Zimmerman with his ever-political lyric writing.

Yesterday a bottle of whisky went on sale for £100,000.

In previous posts we have discussed the growing market demand for whisky and part of the natural order of capitalism deems that something is only worth what someone will pay for it. With only one bottle available for sale (you can buy it here if you're feeling flush), I'm sure it will sell.

And sell quite quickly.

However, if the announcement of this bottling makes you feel how we feel, then we've done some of the work for you and provided you with links to be able to donate whatever you can afford to one or all of the charities below:

WWTKLFD? Click to find out.

We Heart Whisky.

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Help! My Palate Is Broken!!

It's been 3 days now and I am still consigned to my bed with a truly dreadful cold, here at Caskstrength towers. In all my years of drinking whisky in a 'semi-serious' capacity, ie since I was about 23, I cannot remember a time when a cold has taken hold as voraciously as this. In fact, such is my faith in the healing properties of whisky, that i've been crudely paraphrasing an old Irish saying whenever I do a tasting - especially when one of the audience has a few sneezes... 'What butter and whisky can't cure, cannot be cured' I yell, in a mock, strong-as-an-ox, Brian Blessed-styled voice. And it seemed to have worked. Until now that is.

So i'm sat up, propped against 2 pillows, trying to get comfortable, drinking a full steaming Cafetiere of lemon juice, freshly ground ginger, honey, a double measure of Kings Ginger Liqueur, topped off with a generous slug of Compass Box Asyla. Oh... and some boiling water.

As I cough up another lung, I realise why the cold has had such a profound effect. It was my week long trip across Europe (last week) which was clearly to blame. It suddenly dawned on me that as I was driving most days, I hadn't had a drop of whisky for nigh on the entire trip, whilst my co-driver coughed and spluttered all over the dash board... and all over my service station sandwich. Had the protective seal of a Talisker or Highland Park fortified my immune system, i'd be jumping around now like a 10 year old. Well, perhaps not that energetic, but you get my drift.

So ladies and gentlemen, I can categorically state that lack of whisky has clearly led me to a weakened constitution. To develop this wild thesis further, Grandma Caskstrength is living proof that whisky kills the bugs and gives you hugs. She has been inseparable from a bottle of Famous Grouse and ginger ale for the latter part of her adult life and was only told to stop on the outset of Gout in her left leg. On more detailed explanation, the doctor actually told her to give up the ginger ale, as it was that, which was causing the problems. So it's neat whisky all the way and the old girl has never looked healthier- now at the ripe old age of 88.

Grandma Caskstrength, on being told
she should give up her daily dram

So can I top up?

Make up for last week's clearly idotic thinking? What should I have? And where, more importantly, does the line between self-medication and binge drinking get well and truly blurred?

I have ventured downstairs to let in my faithful companion Bobby (who, incidentally, is eating better than me these days - Felix Roast Turkey Dinner pouches are the way forward) and have stopped momentarily by the whisky cabinet. Which bottling is going to restore life and well-being in double quick time?

I make a quick mental check list for what I am looking for:

1. It needs to be caskstrength. Stop the bug in its tracks, from 1000 yards.

2. As my tastebuds and nose are useless at the moment, it needs to be a monster. Big sherry or big peat.

3. It also needs to warm me up. The equivalent of both a hot water bottle and a throat lozenge.

My hand hovers over a few cask samples of Karuizawa vintages, which technically fit the bill. But it would be a shame to waste their complexity on such a sickly palate.

Laphroaig Quarter Cask?? Close. Big, bold, medicinal and known to kill 99.9% germs in a single sip.

On this occasion though, I've chosen something from the back of my cabinet, which I haven't tried in a while. Aberlour a'bunadh...batch 15. Whilst it's bottled at 59.6%, I seem to remember it having a softer note on the palate, whilst still being able to cut through a safe door like a Oxy acetylene torch.

My little self-medicating saloon is all set. Batch 15 will either lift my unhealthy pallor, or just give me a rocking hangover tomorrow. Right now, i'd take either over this despicable bout of the sniffles.

Aberlour - a'bunadh - Batch no. 15 - 59.6%

Nose: Initially nothing, until I locate a new pack of tissues. Then it comes alive- big dry sherry cask notes, booze steeped raisins, dates, menthol, some earthy, compost/dried leaves and then dark cigar wrappers. Just nosing this is certainly cleaning the pipes. Colour is being restored as I type! There is perhaps the vaguest hint of something sulphury, but my nose is in no shape to be getting all pernickety.

Palate: Surprisingly smooth initially, then the fire starts to burn and I can feel the whole of my throat being jet washed, all the bugs trying to hang on in vain. There's no escape from this whisky in the flavour department; the dry cask notes are still present, but now rich christmas cake, more dates, some sweet cereal notes are developing, alongside some decidedly lighter and more delicate fruity/barley sugar flavours. Wow. Never noticed them before.

Finish: Resinous, powerful and spicy, with a little licorice developing as the palate dries.

Overall: Well, after the first initial dram, I am feeling a whole lot more perky and positive. Whether ANY whisky in great quantity could achieve the same effects is debatable, but in this instance, I feel I have chosen wisely. Aberlour a'bunadh is not to everyone's liking- it's bold, powerful and sometimes too brutal, but batch 15, which I have been keeping for a little while now, has suddenly found its moment in the sun. And tonight, I don't think anything else could come close.

Monday, 11 October 2010

Christmas Comes Early...

We're barely out of the golden glow of summer (time to pack away those Lowland drams, folks) and already, a tranche of whiskies, aimed at the Christmas markets has begun to flow into our awaiting Glencairns.

Usually, I find the build-up to Christmas totally absurd. Walk into Sainsbury's and there's a festive chocolates isle at the end of August- why are retailers so keen to see the back of the warmer months?

Having said all that, last week was bloody cold in London. The berries and summer fruits have begun to disappear from the trees (mostly into my freezer) and endeavours to find a new winter coat have begun...please email us which one of these you think looks best!!

I was even thinking about switching on the archaic heating at Caskstrength Towers, as I shuffled uncomfortably from wing to wing, trying my best to keep warm. A hilarious scene from 'Withnail and I' sprang to mind.

Then, a knock at the door. Was it the case of Deep Heat I had ordered online?
Not quite, but an altogether more tasty winter warmer.

Ballantine's have always impressed us with their very well put together blends- the sublime 17yo (a cabinet staple) works in a multitude of ways, from cocktails to sipping straight or on the rocks. This Christmas will feel very special indeed for fans of Ballantine's- for a new limited edition Christmas Reserve has arrived...and it's heavy on all the elements you associate with the festive season. Created by Master Blender Sandy Hyslop, Ballantine's Christmas Reserve is a non-aged expression, aiming to play on all the familiar seasonal notes, those flavours and aromas which tend to amplify goodwill and indeed, good cheer.

With a bleak October grey sky bruising outside, I slipped on my luxurious padded silk dressing gown, New & Lingwood slippers and placed another log on the fire. I poured a large dram and settled back to the strains of Phil Spector's legendary Christmas album. Then the sun came out and wrecked the whole damn experience. Bah Humbug!!

Ballantine's - Christmas Reserve - Limited Edition Blended Whisky - 40%

Nose: Cinnamon, cooking apples, rich chocolate covered fudge notes, brazil nuts and a large slice of christmas cake. There's even a slightly musky incense. So far, spot on. With a touch of water, hazelnuts make their presence known. The whole experience is like peeling the cellophane off a classic Christmas Fruit & Nut Selection Box.

Palate: Warming dry spices, mincemeat, dark chocolate, rum steeped raisins and a drizzle of Oloroso sherry. Put your ear to the glass too and I swear you can hear the clipped tones of a posh woman in her mid 80's, and, yes, there it is again.... a muffled bark of a Corgi in the background. As Christmas speeches go, this one is positive, eloquent, full of fruity fun, with no unpleasant bitterness.

Finish: The drying spices leave a lasting impression, with a touch of menthol developing further in. As a post-prandial Christmas dram, this will last way into the obligatory Bond film that you always begin to watch, but end up falling asleep half way through.

Overall: Without a single doubt, I have no hesitation in saying this is a perfect festive whisky. It's like drinking in 'It's A Wonderful Life' in liquid form, after having the classic family Christmas row, over nothing in particular. Absolutely spot on with its balance of spice, dried fruit and all-round drinkability. My only problem, is that we've just entered October and there is no way the contents of this bottle will be left intact for the big day.

Annus Horribilis? Hell no. This is most certainly an Annus Mirabilis!

Saturday, 9 October 2010

Reading Roundup

Fresh from our recent trip to Roseisle and Europe (more of this over the coming weeks) we have a couple of interesting new tomes that have come to our attention and clearly deserve some of yours too!

First up is another gem from our friend and whisky writer extraordinaire, Ian Buxton, author of several beautiful books, which we reviewed on caskstrength recently.

Ian's latest endeavours have been to practically catalogue the un-catalogue-able; the 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die. An ominous prospect at best and a nightmare at worst. How on earth does one decide what would make the shortlist and what to leave out?? On one slightly drunken evening, we started to compile our list of Desert Island Drams, but ended up arguing over which Glenrothes should replace a certain Laphroaig... and so on..and so on...

What Ian has done is to take the simple approach and cut through the layers of marketing hype and flannel, which surround so many whiskies today. He includes bottlings from all over the world, including Scotland, Japan, America, as well as crackers from Sweden, India and Ireland. It is a detailed, yet superbly laid out, easy to understand guidebook to the huge range of flavour and aromas in whisky, which can be a turn off for those not really knowing where to start.
We found ourselves making a little check list of everything we'd tried, but were left positively salivating at the prospect of trying all the others we'd yet to discover.

In short, this book would make an excellent stocking filler for any whisky lover, especially those who are beginning their perilous (yet boozy) journey on the lengthy path to whisky Valhalla. May the drams be with you....always.

Ian has kindly given Caskstrength readers an opportunity to buy copies of '101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die' at the exclusive price of £10.99 (RRP £12.99), which includes free postage and packing (UK Only) Contact:
and quote CASKSTRENGTH... it's as simple as that.

Next up and another of big, thick slice of world whisky information, from a man who needs little introduction; Mr Dave Broom, owner of fine tweeds, facial hair and, more importantly, a spectacular wealth of knowledge on the finest whiskies known to humanity...and beyond.

Dave has already penned many classics in the world of dark spirits, including tomes on Rum, as well as numerous guides on whisky, including his latest- The World Atlas Of WHISKY...and it's an absolute monster!!

This beautifully put together book is a complete guide to whisky distillation across the globe and includes fascinating insights into over 200 distilleries, as well as 300 different expressions of whisky. Quite how he has found the time to pack as much research into this book is beyond us, but he succeeds and triumphantly moves whisky writing forward to another level, with a wealth of information coming across like a conversation with an old friend. It is worth the RRP of £30, just for his insightful views on Japanese and American whiskies.

To sum up then...absolutely essential reading for those who know their whiskies, but want to become immersed in the spirit even further.

We have ONE copy of Dave Broom's amazing 'World Atlas of WHISKY' to give away to our readers. To enter, please answer the following (simple) question!

How many distilleries are currently in operation on the island of Islay?:

A: 5
B: 7
C: 8

No cheating by using wikipedia either... ;-)

email us at: with your name, age and correct answer and we'll randomly draw one lucky winner from the pot. Competition closes at midnight on the 1st November 2010. Good Luck!

**Dave will also be doing an insightful talk and whisky tasting to promote the release of the book at the Hotel Du Vin in Brighton on the 3rd November. For tickets (£6) contact City Books in Hove on: 01273 725306**

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

Roseisle-tinted Glasses

Every day is a school day

This is very much a motto of ours here at, so we like to visit as many different distilleries as possible to learn about the making of whisky.

Now, I know what you’re thinking:

“If you’ve seen one distillery, you've seen ‘em all”.

Well, you’d be bang wrong.

Yes, most distilleries have the same basic 4 stage set up: milling, washing, brewing and distillation using just the three ingredients: barley, water and yeast. But every distillery we visit teaches us something new about the process, how the distillery achieves its unique New Make characteristics and which variables they choose to manipulate.

Most distilleries have perfected their choice of flavour profile from years and years of practice. (As I write, there is a miniature of Highland Park 18 Year Old sat on my desk. The date on this: 1798. That’s a long time to work out what type of spirit you want to produce) But what happens if you want to build a brand new distillery?

A few months ago we visited Arran, one of the newest in Scotland. Founded in 1995, it has a tiny production run of just 750,000 litres per annum. When designing the still and building the distillery, the folk at Arran chose (and yes, it is a choice) “light, sweet, fruity and grassy” as the profile for their spirit.

This, roughly, seems to be the answer whenever we ask a distiller “if you were to set up a new distillery, what style of New Make would you produce?”. I guess Light and Grassy leads to a spirit which is easier to mature, more reactive to cask enhancement, but also provides good fodder for blends, as most distilleries will be trading casks either for their own blends or for other blends. The Scotch whisky business worldwide is made up of around 93% blended whisky sales, leaving 7% for our beloved Single Malts.

That’s not very much, really.

The last figures I saw had Speyside alone down as producing 162,000,000 litres of alcohol per year, with a total output in Scotland of ~267,000,000 litres of alcohol.

That’s quite a lot.

And if it was all matured and released as Single Malt, we’d be left with companies going bust and mountains of stock no one wanted to drink. The vast majority of this production is going into blends in countries I’ve never heard of, for blends I’ll never see. For example, Diageo’s White Witch blend is the top selling whisky in Narnia, where as Chiva’s Voldemort blend tops the charts in Hogwarts. I read recently that Voldemort, or Lord Voldemort as he became, was the Son of Tom Riddle and Merope Gaunt, Dark Wizard, the last living descendant of Salazar Slytherin, descendant of Cadmus Peverell Slytherin, who owned a grocers in Midlothian and wanted to create a consistent whisky for their customers...

With demand predicted to grow globally for all types of whisky, we have seen expansions of existing premises, such as the opening of a new still house at Glenlivet, designed to meet this forecasted hike in whisky consumption.

And so we find ourselves at Aberdeen airport en route, as a group of around 10 journalists and bloggers, to Diageo's new malt distillery Roseisle.

Located in Speyside, much has been made of this new facility and it is certainly less cosy than Lagavulin, Royal Lochnagar or Glen Kinchie. But Mos Eisley it isn't.

Churning out 10,000,000 ltrs of whisky a year (12.6 mil if they tried really, really hard), the still room has 7 pairs of stills which have been designed with unusual straight sides. Each spirit stills feed into its own spirit receiver for one vital reason: a few of the stills have two different types of condensers attached.

"So what?", I hear you cry.

Well, sit down for today's lesson in distillation: the style and type of condenser has an enormous effect on the weight of the spirit produced.

Traditionally, there have been two main types of condensers used: Shell & Tube and Worm Tub. Shell & Tube condensers means the spirit spends longer in contact with copper and therefore the new make appears light, clean and grassy. With a worm tub, the spirit spends less time in contact with the copper and as such the spirit appears heavier and sulphury. Mortlach and Craggenmore are examples of distilleries with worm tubs.

Attaching both types of condensers to some of the spirit stills means Roseisle has the ability to produce two different styles of New Make. Diageo have been honest in saying that the building of Roseisle increases their volume of Speyside-style malt, vital for blends. And Speyside malt traditionally comes in two styles; light and grassy and heavy and grassy so the ability to produce the two styles of new make, heavy and light, allows Diageo to be more reactive to predicted shifts in the market and consumer flavour profile tendencies.

We were told that what Roseisle is not designed to do is replace any of the current 27 malt distilleries which Diageo owns; each distillery produces an individual style malt which cannot be replicated elsewhere. With the predicted demand worldwide for Scotch, this means all the major companies will need to increase production somewhere, somehow and building a distillery which can add two different styles of Speyside whisky to their blending ability, under one roof, seems like a smart move.

But what of Roseisle as a Single Malt? Well, we'll have to wait a good 10 years plus to find out how that is going to pan out, but the folk at Diageo tell us that, in keeping with their structure of releasing a Single Malt from each of their Malt Distilleries, Roseisle will be no different. What the ultimate house style turns out to be is unknown as yet. Let's have a quick try of their New Make, then:

Roseisle - New Make - unknown ABV

Nose: Once watered down, the nose is clean with some mint, lemon sherbert and a big hit of copper.

Palate: Juicy fruit chewing gum, parma violets and some mint, with delicate limes on the back palate.

Finish: It’s new make, so it’s gone in an instant.

Overall: It's solid new make. We'll have to wait a good deal of time to tell you what it'll be like as a single malt!

Roseisle has a lot of progressive environmental design features, with sustainability the key behind the building and we were talked through all of these complicated energy conservation technologies by Sean Pritchard, the most articulate Swindon Town fan we've ever met and, whisper it, a thoroughly nice bloke. They do exist...

Roseisle is progressive distilling with a commercial hat on, not with an artisinal (straw)hat on. In a way, it is the first post-modern distillery. If you see an old farm distillery, making erratic spirit in the 1800’s as the first wave of distillation. The highly controlled, consistent approach from distilleries in the present day should be classed as modern. Take this control and consistency and adapt it to be able to manipulate the spirit within your own set boundaries and surely you have a step beyond: post-modern.

Building this work-horse of a distillery has cost Diageo somewhere in the region of forty million quid (or 666 cases of Highland Park 50 Year Old) and it won't return this in Single Malt sales.

But, if their accountants are believed to be correct, it will do in sales of Johnnie Walker Red label, Black label, Gold label...

If, God forbid, the accounts have it wrong, I'd recommend to reinvest in shares in Beefeater Restaurants...


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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Celebrating the feast of the Assumption just three days after visiting a group of young women rescued from the sex trade, Pope Francis prayed for all exploited women and girls.

“The Lord bows down to the lowly in order to raise them up as is proclaimed in the Magnificat,” Mary’s hymn of praise to God, the pope said Aug. 15.

“Mary’s canticle leads us to think of many painful situations today and particularly those of women overpowered by the burdens of life and the drama of violence, women who are slaves of the abuse of the powerful, girls forced into inhuman work, women forced to surrender body and spirit to the greed of men,” Pope Francis told thousands of people gathered to pray the Angelus with him.

The pope prayed that exploited women soon would be able to live “a life of peace, justice and love in expectation of the day they finally will feel held by hands that do not humiliate them, but tenderly lift them and lead them on the path to life.”

Pope Francis also prayed on the feast day that Mary would intercede to bring “compassion, understanding and agreement” to the many places in the world experiencing war and violent conflicts.

“My thoughts particularly go to the inhabitants of North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recently struck by new massacres,” he said, referring to reports that suspected rebels killed 42 people in the town of Beni Aug. 13. Such massacres, he said, have been occurring for months in “shameful silence.”

Thousands of people also gathered under the window of the Apostolic Palace Aug. 14 for the Angelus prayer with the pope. In his Sunday Angelus talk, Pope Francis spoke about Jesus’ words in the day’s Gospel reading: “I have come to set the earth on fire.”

“The fire Jesus is speaking about is the fire of the Holy Spirit present and alive in us from the day of our baptism,” the pope said. “This fire is a creative force that purifies and renews, burning away every human misery, every selfishness, every sin, transforming us from within.”

To renew the world and build the kingdom of God, he said, the fire must start in the hearts and lives of individuals. “It does not start from the head; it starts from the heart.”

The Holy Spirit gives those with open hearts “the boldness and fervor to proclaim Jesus and his consoling message of mercy and salvation, navigating on the open sea without fear,” the pope said.

Without the Holy Spirit’s help, he said, the Christian community would “let itself be held back by fear and calculation,” preferring to play it safe.

The church, Pope Francis said, “does not need bureaucrats and diligent functionaries, but passionate missionaries consumed with the drive to bring everyone the consoling word of Jesus and his grace.”

“The apostolic courage that the Holy Spirit lights in us like a fire helps us overcome walls and barriers, makes us creative and pushes us to set out on unexplored or uncomfortable paths, offering hope to all we meet,” the pope said.

Expressing his admiration for priests, religious and lay missionaries who devote — and even risk — their lives to share the Gospel, Pope Francis said the need is greater than ever for Christians willing to allow their hearts to be moved with compassion and reach out to those suffering material and spiritual poverty. Evangelization and mission, he said, need “the healing rhythm of closeness.”

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text:
Page 4: Cats for Sale in Denver, Colorado

(46 - 60 of 1,888)
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  2. Main color: Brown Tabby Second color: White Weight: 6 Age: one years 6 mnths 1wks ·18 hours ago on
  3. LET''S TAKE THINGS SLOW Favorite Things: Taking her time getting to know new people, finding a quiet spot to call her own Special Featu... ·17 hours ago on
  4. CUTE, ADORABLE, GOOD BOY Favorite Things: Enjoys being pet & will lean into them Special Features: Uses box at shelter, purrs, easy to ... ·17 hours ago on
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  10. ... see more at
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  11. Main color: Orange Tabby Weight: 12.625 Age: 6 years 0 months 0wks ·18 hours ago on
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  13. ADORABLE, CURIOUS, SOCIAL Favorite Things: Enjoys being pet, likes tuna and Greenie treats Special Features: Uses box at shelter, toler... ·1 day ago on
  14. STEALER OF YOUR LONELY HEART Favorite Things: Loves head rubs. Special Features: She is a lovable girl, cute, a little shy, but warms up ...
    ALICE ·1 day ago on
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Safety Tips
  • Meet the seller and pet in person
  • Don’t wire money or take advance payments.
  • Only pay for shipping if you know the seller.

To learn more, visit the Safety Center. Report suspicious listings by clicking on .


text:
Reported Misconduct Committed By Attorney Lisa M. Butti In Rhode Island
Reported Misconduct Committed By Attorney Lisa M. Butti In Rhode Island

Attorney Lisa Butti Misappropriated Funds And Has Ethics And Unauthorized Practice Of Law Violations

Jump To Misconduct Listings or Search This Site

This attorney was disbarred - see details.
Added 1-2010 -- The state Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the law license of Lisa M. Butti, of Cranston for allegedly misappropriating client funds. The court took the action based on disciplinary complaints it received from clients of Attorney Lisa Butti. Attorney Butti was accused of misappropriating funds she received to settle personal-injury cases.

In asking that she be suspended, the court's disciplinary counsel, David D. Curtin, noted that she already has prior disciplinary complaints that are pending a hearing. In the prior ethics complaints, brought last fall by the court's disciplinary counsel, she stands accused of representing two clients who were injured in automobile accidents, receiving settlements for them and then failing to pay off creditors, including medical providers, who were owed money from the settlements. Some of the creditors filed the disciplinary complaints after they weren't paid by Attorney Lisa Butti. In the new complaints, she is accused of similar activities involving other clients.

Attorney Lisa Butti has not actually been authorized to practice law since March 2008 because she failed to pay Supreme Court administrative fees that all lawyers are required to pay each year to fund the operations of the disciplinary counsel's office. But according to papers filed with the court, she actually has been handling legal matters since then.

In the new complaints filed against her, she is accused by Curtin of forging a client's name to a $7,500 settlement check from an insurance company and transferring payment of the proceeds to her father. Curtin's office said Tuesday that the check was never deposited and that it appears that Butti's father cashed it. The money was supposed to go to the client who was injured in an automobile accident and to some of his medical providers. The client eventually got $2,356, but the medical providers still haven't been paid. Butti is also accused in the new complaint of failing to pay medical providers from another insurance settlement check she received on behalf of a client injured in a slip and fall case. As of this posting no charges had been filed but the case was referred to the State Police for investigation.

Many times the reason or purpose for events in our life initially escapes us,
but I am certain we can find reason and/or purpose in everything that happens!

It takes a short time to learn to exercise power, but a lifetime to learn how to avoid abusing it.

We are no longer a country of laws, we are a country where laws are "creatively interpreted."

This site is not free, it takes time and money. Please help!
Donate online NOW
Due to volume, we only deal with electronic communications now (email).

Caught.Net | Pro Se Way | Handling Judges | Secret Canons | Trial Handbook | Bad Judges | Bad Lawyers | Legal Abuse Syndrome | Aggrieved Citizens List

Learn How To Represent Yourself In Court!

Is Gay Prejudice Taught In The Bible?
Tithing - Fact vs. Fiction

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the way websites are built today!


text:
Reported Misconduct Committed By Attorney Aaron Weisman In Rhode Island
Reported Misconduct Committed By Attorney Aaron Weisman In Rhode Island

Jump To Misconduct Listings or Search This Site

Complaint One

Withholding evidence, perjury, suborning perjury, false court documents, etc. Sound like what criminals do? Unfortunately this kind of conduct is common amongst Prosecutors when they want to win a case against you. It is common knowledge that in our present system, one can indict a postage stamp. [see proof] With the ignoring of prosecutorial misconduct being allowed and ignored by our judiciary [see the DiPrete case] and bar members, it is becoming possible to convict a postage stamp as well. Read how the case against Ronald L'Heureux was handled and the impossibility, thus far, of getting prosecutorial misconduct properly addressed. Also see similar issues in the Thomas Livermore case.

Many times the reason or purpose for events in our life initially escapes us,
but I am certain we can find reason and/or purpose in everything that happens!

It takes a short time to learn to exercise power, but a lifetime to learn how to avoid abusing it.

We are no longer a country of laws, we are a country where laws are "creatively interpreted."

Your EX said you are cheap!  Prove them wrong by donating!
Donate online NOW
Due to volume, we only deal with electronic communications now (email).

Caught.Net | Pro Se Way | Handling Judges | Secret Canons | Trial Handbook | Bad Judges | Bad Lawyers | Legal Abuse Syndrome | Aggrieved Citizens List

Learn How To Represent Yourself In Court!

Is Gay Prejudice Taught In The Bible?
Tithing - Fact vs. Fiction

Checked with CSE HTML Validator

the way websites are built today!


text:
Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Za'atar-Crusted Chicken with Pomegranate Tabouli

A few months ago, I heard the rumbling about a new site that would pair food bloggers with products in order to create unique recipes. Little did I know that I would be joining in the fun that is Kitchen Play so soon!

I was sent a link to, this month's sponsor, with the instructions that I was to pick out something to use for an entree. Immediately, my mind was racing. With an entire spice store at my fingertips, how was I to narrow down my recipes? I wasn't sure what to do, so in the end, I just picked a wild (and not often used) spice, za'atar, figuring it could use a little love, and started brainstorming.

Za'atar is a blend of dried herbs ( uses thyme), sesame seeds, and salt. There are as many variations on this blend as there are cooks who use it (and can include oregano, marjoram, sumac, savory, cumin, coriander, fennel, or caraway), but those three ingredients are what makes za'atar za'atar. I opted to add some sumac to my mix to give it a lighter, fruitier flavor. Of course, if you like the base flavor of the spice mix, the real fun comes in blending your own to get exactly the flavors you like.

When it came to actually using the za'atar, though, I was a little stumped. The only place I've ever seen it used was on bread, much like foccacia, at my local Armenian grocery store - definitely not something to make an entree out of. So I opted to stick with the Armenian flavors and pull out a little trick that my mother had used in my childhood.

Whenever my mother and I would go through the effort of making boreg (either sou boreg or the crispy version that is much like spanakopita triangles), there would inevitably be leftover cheese filling. Instead of just throwing it away, she would combine it with chicken and bake it up for dinner, like a nice little preview of the special-occasion appetizers we had slaved over all day. I don't know why I never thought to ask her just to make that for dinner without having to go through all the other cooking.

So here we are: crazy Middle Eastern spice + childhood memories = a dish that is perfect for any dinner party (or any dinner, really). I paired the chicken with a winter-y version of tabouli, incorporating pomegranate seeds, more sumac (which may be my new favorite spice after this challenge), and just a hint of spicy cayenne pepper (ok, I added more than just a hint to my final dish, but you don't have to go as far as me). The chicken reheats wonderfully, and the tabouli is almost better the second day, so don't worry about having leftovers around.

You can join in the fun of the Progressive Party and earn a chance to win $100 by recreating this and other recipes at home. Check out the contest page of Kitchen Play for more details.

Za'atar-Crusted Chicken
2 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded muenster cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
6 chicken breasts
1/2 cup za'atar
1/2 cup panko
1 Tbsp sumac
2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 13x9 glass baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Combine shredded muenster cheese, cottage cheese, and parsley, stirring well to evenly distribute, and set aside.

Place one chicken breast between two sheets of wax paper and, using the flat end of a meat tenderizer, a rolling pin, or the flat bottom of a pan, pound the chicken until it is uniformly flat. Don't hit it too hard or the meat will tear. Place 1/6th of the cheese mixture in the center of the flattened chicken and pull the sides up around the cheese. Use toothpicks to secure the chicken closed. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

In a shallow bowl, combine za'atar, panko, and sumac. Dip chicken in egg white, then za'atar mixture, making sure to evenly cover all the sides. Place chicken in the prepared baking dish, seam-side down. Bake for 40 minutes. Make sure to remove the toothpicks before serving.

Pomegranate Tabouli
1 cup fine bulgur wheat
2 cups hot water
1 tsp salt
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp mint, finely chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice*
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sumac
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
salt and pepper

Place bulgur wheat in a large bowl and pour in water. Stir in salt and cover with a kitchen towel. After 30 minutes, drain off any excess water. Stir in parsley and mint. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, sumac, and cayenne and pour over the salad. Add pomegranate seeds and salt and pepper to taste; mix well to combine. Best served at room temperature.

*Microwave your lemon for about 10 seconds to get more juice out of it - 1/4 cup juice should be about one lemon.

Fun and Fearless in Beantown said...

This dish looks great and Kitchen Play sounds really interesting. I want to hear more about it the next time we can chat. I've never used Za'atar in my kitchen so I'm definitely impressed!

wendy said...

We love the delightful Za'atar Crusted Chicken you developed with ingredients from our website! Thank you!

savorthethyme said...

I have yet to try to Za-tar and until now, I was quite intimidated by it. So glad to be teaming up with a 'neighbor' and hope to meet you soon!

Steph said...

I've never used Za'atar before. Sounds great and I love the pomegranate tabouli too.
-Stephanie from

Janis said...

Awesome! I have Za'atar and I also have sumac. I will have to give this a try!

Pam said...

Thanks everyone! I got the idea for the ingredient combo without knowing how I would put them together and then was pretty sure it was going to fail. Fortunately, it turned out waaaay better than I expected.

Alicia said...

Za'atar sounds great - I've been curious about it since The season of top chef when the challenge was to make some of the fish dishes from Le'Bernadin with Eric Ripert judging....too much info?

I'd love to hear more about Kitchen Play!

Sean Grey Hanson said...

This looks amazing. I can see why you are addicted to it, I would be too.
Cooking Channel

adele said...

I bought a sachet of za'tar at Haymarket, and ended up at a loss for how to use it once I tired of eating it with bread and olive oil. It went stale before I could come up with any creative ideas.

This, however, might make me run out and replenish. :)


text:
Audio recording of man’s voice released in murder of Delphi teens; $50,000 reward offered

Rexnord officially decides to leave Indy for Mexico, taking 375 jobs with it

Photo from the protest in Indianapolis on Friday

Photo from the protest in Indianapolis on Friday

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.– Rexnord Bearings has officially decided to pull out of Indianapolis and move hundreds of jobs to Mexico.

United Steel Workers Union President Chuck Jones said the union met with Rexnord officials today. He said the company decided to move forward with its plans to have 300 union jobs and 75-80 supervisory jobs moved to Mexico.

According to Jones, the manufacturing company cited the wage difference as the reason they are moving. In Indianapolis, workers were making $25 per hour, plus benefits. The workers in Mexico will be making $2.50-$3 per hour, plus benefits.

The move is tentatively set to begin in April and be done by June 2017. More details on dates and times are expected Tuesday.

The union will also work with Rexnord Tuesday to secure help for the hundreds of employees who will soon be out of a job.

Employees impacted by the decision protested outside the company’s west side building Friday.

After Carrier decided to leave Indianapolis for Mexico, Mayor Joe Hogsett set up a task force to help prevent other companies, like Rexnord, from doing the same.

Hogsett issued the following statement:

I am incredibly disappointed in Rexnord’s decision to disregard the experience, the investment, the sacrifice and the good faith efforts of their long-time employees with the decision to uproot this plant and move 300 good-paying Indianapolis jobs to Mexico.

From the beginning, I’ve made clear that my top priority is the well-being of the families affected. That is why, nearly a month ago, we expanded the City’s Carrier Task Force to begin marshalling local, state and federal resources to aid Rexnord employees. Despite today’s announcement, we will continue to work with community and union leaders to connect affected workers with the job training and assistance they need during this difficult time. In addition, we will begin the process of seeking to recover for the taxpayers of Marion County any and all applicable financial incentives that have been provided to Rexnord over the years.

A Rexnord spokesperson issued the following statement:

Today, Rexnord and the union came to the mutual agreement to move past our tentative decision and into the next stage of negotiations.  Decisions like these are extremely difficult and we recognize the impact on our associates, their families and the Indianapolis community.

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text:
Saturday, June 03, 2006

Three tons of love

They are "natural born" Canadians.
Sources close to last night's investigation are calling the suspects arrested yesterday a "homegrown" group, meaning they are Canadian citizens or long-time residents, raised and allegedly radicalized without leaving the country. It's a phenomenon Canadian officials have been warning about for the past few years.
Nice Irish boys.
1. Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto;
2. Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.;
3. Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga;
4. Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga;
5. Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga;
6. Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.;
7. Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston;
8. Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto;
9. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto;
10. Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, Toronto;
11. Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga;
12. Saad Khalid, 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga.
Now ponder our Northern border. Feel secure?

This is our world as it is; not as you wish it to be.

More from The Commissar, LGF, PajamasMedia, and ThreatsWatch. Also here, here, here, here, and here. Coming to at town near you.

Peas be upon you.

No comments:


text:
Winona Ryder is not dead

Internet rumors began circulating earlier today that Winona Ryder had died of an overdose: "In what appears to be an apparent suicide, Winona Ryder was pronounced dead as a result of cardiac arrest after consuming more than two-dozen sleeping pills... Complete details are not yet available, as this story is still developing," read one site. However, the story appears to be an online hoax and in fact the Heathers actress is still very much alive and well. Good news.

Anonymous said...

*Le sigh*

Anonymous said...

She is a great actress and still looks classic and beautiful.


text:
Sunday, March 13, 2011

is TOLERATION even a word?

. . . the more I keep saying it in my head, the less and less it's sounding like a word. Kevin has to tolerate a lot from me.

He has to tolerate my endless giggling. When we're getting ready to pray at night-we're on bended knee and everything-and I'm giggling with tears running down my face. He just patiently sits there until I'm finished and composed then we pray.

He has to tolerate my licking his neck instead of kissing it. I don't know why or when I started this, but when we hug, I'm at the perfect height to kiss his neck, but instead of kissing it, I lick it. I think secretly he likes this.

He has to tolerate my whining like a puppy whenever I see a puppy. I love dogs. And all he has to do is say the word puppy, and my bottom lip juts out and I start in whining.

He has to tolerate being kicked everyday at dinner. Do not even begin to ask where this tradition got started. I have no idea. But I kick him at the table and he rolls his eyes and says, "Vegetables." Perhaps I started kicking him to get him to eat his vegetables, but I honestly have no recollection of how it ever began.

He has to tolerate my yelling out in excitement ANY time I see a commercial for whatever 'FEST' is going on at Red Lobster. Just last week I saw an advertisement for Lobster Fest and I got really excited. I get just as excited for Shrimp Fest and Crab Fest. Needless to say, he took me to Red Lobster Friday night for dinner. I love that man.

But you know, I have to tolerate a lot too.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Date night!

Thursday afternoon, Kevin said that he needed to know my feelings on Contra Dancing ASAP. I must admit, I needed to look it up online before I could even give him my opinion. I told him that it seemed like something I would like and if he was willing, I was willing. So-Friday night, we went Contra Dancing. For those of you not in the know, Contra Dancing is several partnered folk dance styles where couples dance in two lines facing each other. A bit like square dancing. Kevin suggested we go, and to admit, I was a bit floored. He was going to go dancing. And it was his idea!!! Crazy. We have danced together a total of 3 times our whole dating/engaged/married life together. On average, once a year. So, since the last time we danced together was at our wedding a year and a half ago, I guess it was time again.

It was actually a lot of fun. There was a lesson for an hour before the dancing actually got started where you could go and learn some various dances. The lessons sure helped a lot. We got to wear buttons that said it was our first time and man was I grateful for those because it gave me an excuse as to my awfulness. We were there for about 2 1/2 hours and it went on for an hour longer, but because the dances kept getting harder and harder, we decided to head out. Kevin said that he liked contra dancing because it was more about placing your body in the right spot than getting correct footwork, which he claims he can't do. All in all, it was a fun evening. Before hand he took me out to a really yummy Lebanese place for dinner where I was not adventurous and only got a gyro. Next time I told him I'd get something a little more daring. It was a great date night!!

On a side note, I was shaving my legs on Saturday and cut my leg worse than I probably ever had. And it wasn't even a new razor! I bled straight for 10 minutes using up a lot of toilet paper to absorb the blood before switching over to a cloth. Band-aid has been applied. Healing has started. But still-OUCH!!! I suppose I'll completely recover with time. And with Kevin not poking at it anymore. Silly boy.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I BLOG!!! (no, really, I do)

Well, I figured after a year and a half, it was high time to update the blog. Kevin keeps telling me that I need to do it, so...why not. Good luck. It's a long one. Also, it wouldn't let me upload all the pics that I wanted to, so you'll just have to deal with text for a bit until I can upload the rest of the pictures.

Much has happened in the past year and a half. We survived Snowmageddon here last February. I can't even believe it's been a year. Today it's about 50 degrees. This time last year, we were under 3 feet of snow. We missed the first dumping because we were at home in Colorado for the weekend for my nephews' baptism/blessing. We BARELY got there, and then we BARELY got home. We were supposed to leave Friday afternoon, but luckily got out Friday morning before the snow started. We were scheduled to come home Monday evening and that was the ONE DAY that the airport was open for an entire week. We got lucky. Tuesday the snow had started again, and finally quit about Thursday. Out of that entire week, I think I worked about 6 hours. It was pretty sweet. I didn't get pictures of it though. Bummer :( It's not that I'm not used to feet of snow dumping in a couple of days, it's that DC isn't used to it, so people were freaking out. It was fun.

Kevin and I went to the circus last March. It was the first time for him so it was really exciting. I always went growing up, so I knew just what to expect. We're going again this year in a couple of weeks, but even better this year than last year-we got our tickets for 50 % off. Maybe this year we'll be able to afford the $12 cotton candy. Maybe.

We went to the zoo for the first time as a married couple. The DC zoo is great because it's FREE. We really should go more often, but we don't. We were trying to do something fun every month, so April's activity was the zoo. Kevin hadn't ever been to the zoo here before, so it was high time we went. The day was perfect for it because it was April which meant fair weather, and also pre-tourist season. And that's always a plus.

Kevin started school in May!! So that's exciting stuff. He's getting his Master's of Library Science at Catholic University up in the district. He goes generally two days a week. So, it's not so bad. It's a two year program, so we're hoping that he'll be done around May 2012. Again, we're hoping. We'll just see how it goes.

In June, my little sister Katy came out to see me, and we went up to NYC for the weekend. It was her first time, and we had SO MUCH FUN. She wants to make it a yearly event, and I don't see why we can't do that. We had a blast together. She's so cute. Quentin and Georgia (the two kiddos I nanny for) always tell me that I can't call her my little sister because she's taller than me. But she'll always be my baby sister. Even if she is tall and gorgeous.

In July we went to the beach with some of our friends from the ward here. It was fun to drive down Sat. morning with them, spend all day at the beach and drive home Sunday morning. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it. Kevin had a lot of fun boogie boarding. That it until Sunday afternoon when he realized he was badly sunburned. If you ask him, it was probably the worst sunburn he's ever had. I felt so bad for him. He said it was so itchy, and nothing really was able to relieve the itching. I bought all kinds of creams to rub on his back, and by 11pm Monday night, was ready to take him to the emergency room. I was literally putting on my shoes and was probably going to drag him out to the car, when he was able to just sit and not move. It was no fun for either of us, but mostly Kevin. Needless to say, the next week, we went out and bought him a rash guard to wear whenever he goes swimming. He says his torso shall never see the sun again.

In August we went down to Williamsburg, VA for our anniversary. It was crazy that we were celebrating our first anniversary because it went by so fast. We had a lot of fun though. Williamsburg/Jamestown was where the United States was first colonized back in the 1600's so it was really cool to go and visit. We walked through Williamsburg like it was 'back in the day' and it was SO HOT. But we had a good time getting to see how they made guns, where the original capital was, getting to see their jail, and so on. We really had a good time. We also went to Busch Gardens Amusement park and spent the day riding roller coasters. Good vacation!!

Since I feel the need to update everybody on the past year, I can't very well leave out our mouse escapades. So, in about October, we heard scratching in our wall and I knew that we had a mouse. A few weeks later, Kevin and I were sitting on the couch, and I saw this dark thing dart out of our kitchen and underneath the table. I screamed and started hitting Kevin. The next day, I went out and bought some poison to stick in the corners so that it would kill the mouse. After talking with my mom a few days later, she convinced me to just go buy some traps that would kill them. I went to the store and looked around for the old school snap traps, but couldn't find any (luckily because I HATE those. And if you know my husband, you know that's no good for him either). I bought some sticky traps and laid those out in the kitchen. A few days later, we heard some rustling around in the kitchen and we went and looked, and found a mouse stuck to the trap. THANK GOODNESS we thought. We finally caught him. We could sleep easy again.

Nope. Not so lucky. To make a long story short, every time we caught a mouse, another one showed up WITHIN THE HOUR OF CATCHING ONE. I'm not even kidding. We would catch a mouse, and another one would show up within an hour. It would always take us a few days to catch one, but as soon as we did, we would always see another one running through. I wanted to die. Seriously. It was horrible. One Saturday, we caught 6. SIX!!!! It was disgusting. We have caught 10 in all. We still have another little one running around somewhere, but he's clearly the smartest one of them all seeing is how he has lasted this long. One day we stuck a sticky trap in our linen closet because several times we had seen him run in and out of there. I usually bated them with peanut butter but when I stuck this one in there, I stuck cheese on it because I happened to have some out at the time. The next day I checked on it, and the cheese was gone, but there was no mouse. So that night, we put peanut butter on it, and stuck it back in the closet. The next morning, Kevin walked into our bedroom, and stepped right on the sticky peanut buttery trap. The mouse had pushed the trap out from underneath the closet door. Upon taking a closer look at the trap, there was mouse hair ALL DOWN ONE SIDE. I can only assume that he had gotten stuck to it, and ripped himself off of it. Like I said, that is one smart mouse. To sum the story up, we are moving next month.

We went to Indiana for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time I'd been there. And, I could add three states to the list of places I'd been. We drove, which meant that we passed through West Virginia and Ohio. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Kevin's family. Since we were fairly close, I made Kevin take me up to South Bend because I wanted to see the Notre Dame campus. He took me all around campus. We saw the stadium and “touch down Jesus” he took me to the various places he lived, and worked and had classes. It was fun, and the campus was really pretty despite being late November.

We stayed home for Christmas this year which was great because didn't have to hassle with holiday travelers/traffic and weather. We had a great time sleeping in and just hanging out. For New Years, we decided to head down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We had such a good time, we might make it an annual tradition. The weather was so great. It was in the 60's when we were there. We sat out on the beach and read for hours, and we went and saw the Wright brothers' museum and where they took their first flight. It was a lot of fun and so relaxing. Highly recommended!!

We're back to the same old, same old again. We don't do much around here, but we do it really well. We're getting excited for our little trip out West for Catherine and Matt's wedding. We don't what else we're doing this year, but hopefully, and when I say hopefully I mean HOPEFULLY we'll keep you all updated!!!!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

2009 Birthday Celebrations

This past weekend Kevin and I celebrated our birthdays (his the 23rd and mine the 24th) by taking a Riverboat ride up the Potomac from Alexandria to Georgetown. It was a lot of fun. We got to see some of the sights and grab dinner, and head on back down. It was really fun, but cold on the way home because it was dark and windy. ( of the pictures I MAY have forgotten to un-zoom the camera, but we both have pretty eyes, so I put it up!)

Tonight we also celebrated Kevin's birthday. There's a seriously funny story behind this picture that nobody's gonna find funny because nobody was there, but it brought me to tears from laughing so hard. So...I've been super busy lately, and haven't had time to go to the store, so I told Kevin he wasn't going to have any candles on his cake. He told me that I could scrounge up candles from around the house and light those. I said I probably had enough (27!) to light because I collect candles, and they really are all over. He said if I lit three that would be good enough because 3 cubed is 27. So I found three, and lit them. I sang to him all by my lonesome, and told him to blow out the candles. He took a big breath in and blew really, really hard. He blew out only the middle one. I busted up laughing because there were only three, and they were really close together. He said he was so focused on blowing out the middle one that he couldn't get the other two. I was still laughing while he started to finish blowing out the other two. He took another big breath, blew, and missed both candles entirely. He took one more, and blew out...only one candle. Only on the fourth breath did he blow out all three, yes count them, 3 candles! I told him it was a dang good thing he did not actually have 27. Good grief!!! Well, that's all for today. I get to open my presents tomorrow. Goody!!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

I got my pictures!!!

I finally got my CD of pictures from the photographer, and am so happy that I finally get to start printing some out. It's about time!!! Here's a little preview for all of you.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Like there's not enough on my plate already. Now this?

On top of not having my stupid countdown clock working (10 days 22 hours BTW) I chipped a tooth today biting down on a very yummy cracker. That can't be good right? So here's the thing. I already have a dentist appointment set up on the 15th of August to have a root canal (on that tooth I might add. Maybe it's a sign...). Do I leave it until then, or go in earlier and see if they can file it a bit? It doesn't really bother me, I just don't want to lose it completely. Now I'm nervous. WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!?!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Am I dead yet?

So...I've added a countdown to help me remember when I'm getting married. Because, you know, I could forget. I've been to told to update my blog. Here you go Dad. Wedding plans are just about done. Thank goodness! I've been busy with so many things, but for the next 2 days I've got nothing to do (Sssshhh. I don't want Kay finding out I'm not doing anything) because I need Kay's help with what I've got left. Getting married is really hard sometimes. At least if you live in Alexandria, Virginia. Alexandria is probably the worst place to live. They take all your money in really random ways, and make things difficult to do. For instance: our marriage license. We are getting married, technically in Montgomery Country, Maryland, because that's where the temple is. Well, the temple sent us our application for marriage in MoCo (you know, Montgomery County-stay with me now people) to be filled out and notarized by a clerk of the court in Alexandria. We go in one Thursday afternoon on Kevin's lunch break to do this thinking, of course, that there wouldn't be any problem. But as Kevin points out so often, with things involving him, there's usually a problem. So, we go, and the lady says we need to make an appointment with Mr. So and So and here is his contact info. Kevin calls and the man says he only has next Thursday open. Goody. We get to wait a week. Meanwhile, the temple calls me wondering where our marriage license is, because we're getting married in three weeks, and they want to make sure they have it. I explain to her the situation, and and tells me that I should consider driving the application up to the courthouse in MoCo so that they have plenty of time to mail over the license to the temple. She calls back a few days later and says if I'm driving the application to the courthouse, then I can just drive the license to the temple. Fine. Keep in mind I have a 2 year old with me during all of this. So we go back the next Thursday to meet with Mr. So and So. He looks at my license to make sure I actually do live in Alexandria, like I claim, and goes back to sign and notarize it (all of which took 5 minutes. We needed to make an appointment for that?). Friday I drive the application to MoCo courthouse. She looked at the application and told me I could've mailed this in. I said to make sure we had enough time, I decided to drive it up. She then proceeds to tell me that if that was the plan, I could've just walked in at any time and done this because all she's gonna do is take the info off the paper, put it in the computer, throw the paper away, and hand me my license. Seriously?!?! So she didn't check my I.D., ask if the marriage was consensual, make sure Kevin was not my brother, blah, blah blah. Evidently they care less in Maryland than in Virginia. Who knows.

So my dress comes in on Thursday (I should have it already, but that's another story in and of itself) and Kay comes in on Wednesday. Then all shall be right in the wedding world. I haven't been sleeping well at night lately. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the prospect of getting married, or what, but-I woke up about 2 weeks ago and noticed that I had, for the first time EVER dark circles and bags under my eyes. Clearly I will have to see to those before 11 days and 22 hours from now. But who's counting...


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socchan (socchan) wrote in cfud_scans,

Sharing Guidelines and Proposed Project Guidelines

Sharing Guidelines
Going by the responses in the first post, the general consensus seems to be:
A) Licensed manga - Okay, especially if the official translators are doing a sucky job, but we should try to pick up where it hasn't yet been released, mostly in the interest of not making more work for ourselves.
B) Doujinshi - Okay with just about everyone. Some concern was expressed over the thoughts of the artists.
C) Manga that's being scanlated by another group - Okay in general, especially if the group in question is going too slowly or making too many mistakes.
D) Either of the first two in conjunction with the third - Also okay in general, though see previous answers for conditions/limitations.

After looking through all the responses, I decided to pull an executive decision and make sharing guidelines:
1) Please keep any files you are sharing under a lock, especially if you're sharing in a community. Personal journals I'm less concerned about, but do so at your own discretion.
A) Unlicensed and licensed manga that aren't being covered by another group are okay to share anywhere.
B) Doujinshi I'd prefer to keep within CFUD-related communities if at all possible. I won't be entirely surprised if it somehow all leaks out eventually, but I'd at least like to keep the pretext of respecting the original artists' wishes.
C) This is mostly circumstantial, so I'm going to do my best to compromise here:
* Whenever possible, I'd like to approach the first group about joint projects; if joint projects are accepted (or in the off-chance they decide to give us the project), they have the same guidelines as A.
* If the joint project proposal isn't accepted, but the group is okay with us working "parallel" to them, I'd say sharing anywhere is fine, but definitely keep posts locked, even on personal journals.
* If the group is not okay with either of these, use the same guidelines as B, except less "do your best not to share outside" and more "really really do your best not to share outside".
D) Scans of dubious origin I'd like to follow the second set of guidelines for C, with a note included that we don't know where the scans came from and would like to credit who made them, and will take them down if requested. Scans that the scanner is not comfortable being used for scanlations will either not be used at all, or be under the same constraints as the third option under C.

If anyone disagrees with any of this or has suggestions on ways to make it work better, talk to me and I'll do my best to work something out. Also, if anyone feels uncomfortable with someone else in the group working on something they don't agree with, even if they don't work on it themselves, let me know and I'll try to find a compromise of some sort. I want this to be a good experience for everyone involved.

Proposed Project Guidelines
First, current proposed projects, as collected from comments in the previous post(s):

Code Geass (Chinese scans available)
Tales of the Abyss
Ouran (Chinese scans available)
.hack//G.U.+ (currently being scanned?)
Onmyou Taisenki (eventually)
Rockman.EXE (if we can find scans)
Excel Saga
Nabari no Ou (unknown scanner)
Law of Ueki (if we can find scans)
Fake chapters + sequel (if we can find the latter)

I think this might work best under a volunteer oriented system, wherein you sign up to work on the projects you're interested in. There are two different ways I can see it working:

In either case, a volunteer sign-up post is made: in the more individual group oriented version, individuals reply to the post with the name of what they want to work on in the subject line (Title (+ fandom for doujin)), and mention what they have or can do and what they need in the body of the comment, as well as what sort of project it is (see A-D). People then reply to the comment with what they can do and what they would prefer to do. The groups then work out amongst themselves who gets what job and any other issues.

In the more "I assign you jobs" oriented system, I'll make a volunteer sign-up post, and then make comments with the project titles in the subject line and as much as I know about them in the body. People will reply to these comments with what they can do and what they would prefer to do. I'll make a post the next day (or as soon as I can) with who gets what job for which project. If we go with this one, I'll probably need to ask more about what you want to do and make a more detailed list.

In either case, I'm not going to stop you from signing up for whichever projects you want or as many projects as you want, but do keep your limits in mind (if you know them), as well as the limits of group size. If you don't know what you want to work on, I'd recommend you look for a project that has fewer people rather than one that has more. I'm also willing to approach scanlation groups about joint projects in either situation, though I certainly won't stop you if you want to approach them yourselves. It's perfectly acceptable to mix and match ideas from either option.

Posts will be made weekly (or as needed) to check after progress and generally remind people of their projects' existence.

If you have any ideas of how to improve the proposed system, or want to suggest a different system altogether that you think might work better, by all means let me know; I'm really new to this myself, and still not quite sure where to step in most cases ;) Hopefully I'll be able to get everything sorted out so we can start things up by the end of the week, knock on wood.

In fact, feedback of any sort is good, because that way I'll know that someone's actually reading this, but whatever.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to ask those of you with experience scanlating things if you have any tips or wisdom that you'd like to share, since I'm more or less making this up as I go along.

In addition, I'll have a number of art/photo editing programs up in a locked post shortly, for those of you who need or want one.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Happy Birthday, Abigail!

Today is our "baby's" 8th birthday. And in honor of this very special day, I want to share a bit of Abby's story with you.

Months before I became pregnant, the Lord told me that we were going to have another daughter, and I was to name her "Abigail". Now, at the time I didn't know what that name meant, or even why I felt like God wanted me to give her that name. I just *knew* it was to be.

So, one afternoon in a Costco parking lot I told Dean, "When we have another baby, I want to name her Abigail." He kinda looked at me funny, as he was busily loading everything into the car. We had baby Ethan in the front of the cart, and little Sierra climbing into her carseat.

"Sure honey, whatever you say. But what if it's a boy?"

"It won't be."

Fast forward a few months to mid-July. I just found out that I'm pregnant. The little pink line on the stick confirms it. I'm thrilled! But I know that Dean probably won't be. We're not exactly wealthy; in fact, we're barely making it now with two kids.

He's working full time, while I stay at home with Ethan and Sierra. There is nothing extra. We live in a two bedroom apartment, that we're quickly growing out of. We don't think we can possibly afford a 3 bedroom. I mean, have you seen the prices around here?

I'm scared at the thought of telling him, but too excited to keep it in. Later that night, after he came home from work, I break the news.

"Honey?" I begin sweetly, cuddling up next to him on the couch. "How much do you love me?"

"Very much," he replied, not looking up from Seinfeld.

"How much do you love our family?" I ask, in the same sweety-baby voice.

He started to say, "Very much" but stopped...faced me and said, "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

Busted. "Yesss..." I reply, sheepishly.

He sighed. He wasn't happy. At least, not outwardly.

He began to list all the reasons (financial) why this wasn't a good idea. And I knew them already. But I'm sure that deep down, he was happy. A little. But more scared than anything.

He had gotten used to being a Daddy to 2.5 yr. old Sierra...then Ethan came along.

Now Ethan's barely 8 months old, and here I am, just days after celebrating our first anniversary, delivering the news that we're adding to the nest!

I know he wanted to be happy, because Dean loves children and has always wanted to be a dad. He just couldn't enjoy the moment with all the negative thoughts in his head.

I was upset by his reaction, of course. But I knew it would change down the line. And it did.

However, telling the extended family was just as hard. No one....and I mean NO ONE was happy for us.

Wait...change that.

Only one person was happy for us. Uncle Henry. He hails from a family of 10 children. So to him, this was good news. But to grandmas and grandpas, aunts and wasn't. All they could say was, "How are you going to afford another one?"

Fast forward again.

We find a 3 bedroom townhouse for rent, in our price range (cheap). Even comes with a washer and dryer! Woohoo! We fill in the paperwork and prepare to move in April 1st.

March 19th, 2000. Abby's born! Everyone's excited and thrilled, especially Dean.

Especially Dean. And he's been that way ever since.

For those of you who don't know, the name "Abigail" is Hebrew and means "joy of the father" or "her father's joy".

The Lord Himself chose her name. He knew she wouldn't be welcomed with the same out-stretched arms as her brother and sister. But in His wisdom, He knew that she would live up to her name, and indeed become "her father's," and everyone else's, joy. She brings sparkle and light everywhere she goes.

(Remember, I didn't even KNOW what Abigail meant that day in the Costco parking lot! How amazing is that?!)

So, there you have it. The story of how Abigail became her father's joy.

Happy Birthday, Abby-Abigail-Pookie Poo! We love you so very, very much. xoxoxo

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How I Discovered Dragon Ball Z – MasakoX

Now that a new series of Dragon Ball is on TV, I thought about when it first appeared on the small screen. 16 years ago, I discovered Dragonball Z on UK television. Cartoon Network and Toonami opened my eyes to the anime sensation and from there…well you know the rest! Today I talk about the impact the show made in the UK, share some commercials from the time as well as how I found out about anime in general from my brother.

About MasakoX

I'm MasakoX, part of TeamfourStar's Dragonball Z Abridged team. When I'm not fighting bad guys or eating muffins, I produce content for Channel Awesome! This ranges from my long-lasting anime reviews to reading bad fan fiction to even messing around with Google Translate for kicks. Either way, it is my pleasure to present my oddments to you in glorious awesomeness!

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2 Comments on "How I Discovered Dragon Ball Z – MasakoX"

Never realised the UK was so late to jump on the Anime bandwagon! I first saw DBZ when it premiered in 1990 on French TV two years after Dragon Ball and Dr Slump begun. First anime I saw, was probably Ulysse 31 in 1981 (yes, I know it’s a French-Japanese co-production), first real anime was either Capt Harlock or Mazinger Z in the early 80s. And no worries about watching 15+ anime when you’re 10: French TV bought anime series in bulk and showed them all in children’s programmes. I fonly remember the first episodes of both Ranma and Urusei… Read more »

I remember my mind being blown first discovering DBZ was a thing. I had been an avid fan of the original Dragon Ball as a kid, and assumed the series ended there. But then one day in high school a new show aires in Which Goku is an adult, and an alien apparently. And he’s teamed up with Piccolo to fight his evil brother in an incredibly brutal battle, the likes of which I had never seen before in a cartoon. Needless to say I was hooked after that.


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Call for details on prices to have Channing’s come to you and do your make-up for that special occasion. We do wedding photo shoots and use a variety of air brush techniques to make you look like a star!
Channing’s also offers a number of makeup lessons and applications to suit your every need, prices vary so call for details.


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Celebrity Gossip

Jose Chameleone lines up saxophonist for Tubonge concert

tubongeSelf styled music Doctor Jose Chameleone has promised to promote upcoming fresh talent in the music industry in Uganda. Chameleone recently posted on his face book page that he is there to support new talent and is not in the way to block anyone.

“We never block way for Talent! Coz its a gift from above. One of Uganda’s most talented saxophonists MICHAEL KITANDA, is in the list of features to show case on the 28TH MARCH TUBONGE LIVE CONCERT LUGOGO! the list still grows as we are left with 16 days to HISTORY made on that day! God gave it us so let’s use it),” the post read.

Chameleone has lined up a list of heavyweights in the East African region for his concert dubbed ‘Tubonge live East Africa concert’ is scheduled to take place on the 28th March 2014 at Lugogo cricket Oval with follow up concerts on 29th March at Colline Hotel in Mukono and 30th March in Resort Beach Entebbe. Michael Kitanda whom some people in the know believe in extremely talented is expected to role out some serious Jazz tunes. Michael who has written about his upcoming album in his personal blog at http://fezah.com/project/michael-kitanda-saxifaction/# says he has already recorded 7 tracks off the planned 15 – track- album.

“I’m excited to finally be working on my debut solo album, Saxfaction. The album will take you on a Smooth Jazz journey filled with my Ugandan influences. I’m doing a whole 12 tracks on this debut CD. I’m working with different musicians around in Kampala – from David Pragmo, Ernest  on bass (Majestics Band), Gerald Mbuya on drums (Baximba Waves), Frank Tusubira (Code 9) on Keys (Code 9), Andrew Ahuura and Sam Bisaso handling mixing,”  he writes in his blog. Michael Kitanda is a protege of Isaiah Katumwa and has performed alongside the Jazz maestro in many concerts in Uganda

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Trend Watch: Hiding Kitchen Appliances Within Cabinetry

Stainless steel, bright colors–today’s appliances are certainly as eye-catching as they are functional. And in some cases, certain appliances can serve as a trophy of sorts; a state-of-the-art refrigerator, perhaps, or my personal holy grail: the KitchenAid artisan stand mixer.
Yet an emerging trend is producing an interesting result in regards to the visibility of appliances. More and more homeowners are opting to house refrigerators, microwaves and other appliances in custom-built cabinets. The functionality remains, but the result is a more streamlined, elegant look that places an emphasis on the kitchen materials such as stone or wood.
One of the key drivers of this trend is a desire to create a clean, minimal space. Plus, disguising some of the more prominent appliances can allow another part of the kitchen to take centerstage — maybe it’s a dramatic sink, countertops made from an unusual material or a piece of antique furniture.

If you’re considering a kitchen renovation, this is certainly a trend you could incorporate. You’ll need to plan to have custom cabinetry built to cover the appliances you’d like to integrate. Of course, ranges and ovens can’t be completely obscured due to safety reasons, but most other appliances can easily be stashed in their own cabinets.
One key thing to keep in mind with this trend is functionality. You’ll want to ensure that the appliances can still be easily accessed, even though they’re out of sight. The kitchen is arguably the most productive space in a home, and even if the look and design changes, you’ll want to maintain a sensible workflow, or even improve upon an existing design.
What do you think about hiding common appliances? Do you prefer a cleaner, more minimal look, or do you feel that visible appliances are a necessary component of any kitchen?

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