Jun. 18th, 2009

aggienaut: (trogdor)
   CONTINUING the epic adventure in Spain...


Day 12 - Thursday, May 20th - (cont.) Bus ride to Zaragoza took about four hours. We arrived there around 7pm, with nowhere to stay.
   Kerri-face however got a list of hostels and "pensions" from a tourism office at the Zaragoza transit station (Pensions being apparently where people rent out a spare room), so we found a payphone and started calling down the list. Shortly we found one that sounded good -- was cheaper than the hostels and nice and centrally located. We hiked two or three blocks over to it and took one of two rooms a nice old man had.

   We then wandered around town a bit. I felt like maybe I was getting sick but tried my best not to admit it and to suppress the ominous achey feeling through sheer force of will.
   For dinner we stopped at a little restaurant / cafe / bar. Looking at the menu, it was mostly gibberish to me (recall that I don't speak spanish), but I noticed a sandwich (bocadillo!) that said something about balsamic viniagrette and dijon. I like balsamic viniagrette and dijon mustard so I asked Kerri what it was. A duck sandwich she said. Sounded like an interesting experience so I got it.
   And I must say, it was delicious. One of the highlights of my trip! Mmm so good. If you're ever in Zaragoza (which I recommend you be sometime), look for "The Boss" restaurant. (:
   Stopped at a few bars on our way back to the hostel but ultimately we were rather more sober than usual by the time we were headed back to our place.
   "I feel like we should drink more, but then again, it IS okay to be sober, I suppose" I speculated.
   However twenty minutes later as we both lay in bed too hot to sleep we recanted "no, it is NOT okay to go to bed sober!" (:


Day 13 - Friday, May 21st - Friday we spent much of the afternoon just wandering around the town. There was beautiful historic stuff all over the place. Visited the AljaferĂ­a Palace, an impressive castle, that was the headquarters of the inquisition back in the day (and thus, would have been THE place where my inquisition entry took place, which is kind of neat).
   I liked Zaragoza a lot better than Barcelona. I've never liked big cities. And Barcelona feels awash with tourists, while Zaragoza feels a lot more local and authentic.

   That evening we of course hit the town. Ended up staying out until the clubs closed.. at 7am (:



Babies for sale, babies for sale!

Pictures!
Pictures from the above-referenced days!!

aggienaut: (Default)

   A month and a half ago Mark and I made an imperial stout (ie dark strong beer). We then placed most of it in my barrel, which I had been filled with homemade rum until immediately prior (rum is now in a Gallo wine jug). The barrel, obviously, still had rum soaked into the wood. We let the beer age in this barrel for about a month. Saturday we bottled it.

   Even warm and uncarbonated, the beer tasted like awesome! We mixed priming sugar with it as we bottled it, so it will ferment just enough more over the next two weeks to become carbonated. I am extremely excited about how it is going to be when we try it cold and carbonated. This is a beer we can be proud to take to a brew club gathering.


   And then Mark opened a bottle of the belgian ale he had made while he was gone. He aged this one with oak chips (theoretically giving the barrel age effect without the barrel), and had mixed in orange peels and some other things. It had fermented so hard it blew the lid off his bucket.
   This beer also tasted fantastic! Our first batch I'm not gonna lie had been kind of dubious. The second one was barely passable. After that we got pretty good. The oatmeal cream stout I'd made was downright good, but it was, after all, only following a recipe. I feel these last two beers we made though, we could win contests with!


When Things Go Wrong
   Mark reported to me that while I was gone, he was making a barleywine (a really strong beer). One Friday evening just before he went out he decided to check on it. He noticed that the fermentation lock (the valve on top that lets air out but not in, so it doesn't build up pressure but unwanted bacteria doesn't get in) had blocked up. So he pulled it out to clean it.
   As soon as he got it loose however it shot out and yeast gunk shot everywhere, covering him and the surrounding area. Unable to see because he had gunk in his eyes he had to feel his way to the kitchen sink to clean off. Once he was able to see again he could see green handprints all over the walls where he had felt his way to the kitchen. And of course now he had a fantastic mess to clean up. Good times.
   Moral of the story: make sure you're fermentation lock doesn't clog!! (and if it does, be very careful opening it?)




And more pictures of light refracted through bottles because I can never resist

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