Week 4: 

Beer: Goose Island Nut Brown Ale

ABV: 5.30%
Beers Already Tried From This Brewery: 312 Urban Wheat, Honkers Ale, and India Pale Ale

After making a trip to the West Memphis Walgreens in hopes to find different beers than we get on the East side of the Mississippi, I really didn't find much that I hadn't had before. The Goose Island Nut Brown Ale was going to be the most adventuresome that I'd run across on my trip.

After cracking this brew open, this beer poured incredibly smooth and very brown. First thing I noticed with I smelled it was the chocolate nodes, much more than a normal nut brown ale.

I went into this beer trying to compare it to my favorite brown ale, Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan but I simply can't. This beer is nothing like it. I'm not going to sit here and say that's incredibly unique because my knowledge of other nut brown ales isn't that expansive but this is a very good beer. I'm glad that I had five more sitting in my fridge waiting on me.

Album: Moontan by Golden Earring (1973)
Length: 40 Minutes, 19 Seconds

Yes, another week where most of you are going, WHO/WHAT?

After listening to Rock 103 on the way home from work last week, The Twilight Zone, which most of you, came on the radio and they said that it was from Golden Earring. I was stunned because Radar Love was by Golden Earring and I never once connected the two songs to be by the same band.

Shockingly, this band has been around since 1961 and actually just released a new album last month called Tits N Ass. Something to be said for creating music for over half a century. Apparently they have a thing for tits though as you can tell by the Moontan album cover.

After looking up information on both songs and the albums they are on, I decided to go with their most well known album called Moontan which was released 39 years ago. Despite only 6 songs, this album runs just a shade over 40 minutes.

First song is Candy's Going Bad and my first thought was, this songs pretty similar to The Rolling Stones and the good Stones at that. Something about the vocals seemed to resemble Jaggers. This song seemed like something you'd hear when you walked into a local record store. Very good song.

The second song on the album is Are You Receiving Me, which is the longest song on the album at 9 minutes and 37 seconds. I'll be honest, I got lost in this song. As you can imagine, a good chunk of this song ended up being instrumental but was pretty cool.

The third song, Suzy Lunacy, was alright. Nothing special really.

The fourth song is their first hit and their biggest as well with Radar Love. You can hear this on any local classic rock station. According to AOLRadioBlog, this was considered to be the 85th best classic rock song of all time and I'd tend to agree. Just a great, great song.

The second to last song on the album is Just Like Vince Taylor. Not bad, not great. Just kind of filler.

The last song on the album is called The Vanilla Queen and is the second longest song on the album at 9 minutes and 21 seconds. Again, not bad but nothing that drew me in.

Overall, this album had it's moments but I wouldn't recommend listening to the whole thing. Other than Radar Love, I would say to atleast check out Candy's Going Bad, which is below for your listening pleasure.

 

Movie: Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Length: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes
Main Cast: Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans

Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with this film. I knew I was going into this film with the knowledge that it was about addictions but I had no idea that it was going to be so depressingly well done. 

I personally have never had any addictions, certainly not with cocaine, heroine, or pills and don't know anyone that has either so it's hard for me to truly understand what they go through but I can't imagine a movie that could portray that as well as Requiem For A Dream did.

For me, Ellen Burstyn stole this movie. Her portrayal of Susan Goldfarb was simply phenomenal. In fact, she was nominated for an Academy Award. To see where she was at the beginning of the movie as an old widow, depressed and lonely, and her pursuit to find happiness through something that wasn't even real and how tragically it all ended for her. Every time that refrigerator moved, it gave me chills. I can't imagine how an addiction could take such a stronghold over you.

From Harry's arm to the acts Marion performed, truly a movie I could never forget. Probably my favorite part outside the acting was the cinematography. The up-close shots of the actors as well as fast cutting scenes of the addictions made this movie even better.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet but like a few said on Facebook, I can't imagine putting myself through it a second time. It's that heavy. 

Food: Shrimp Fettuccine with Lemon Caper Sauce from Tsunami (Midtown Memphis)

Going into this restaurant, I didn't really know what it was about other than it had seafood and was located in the Cooper/Young area of Midtown Memphis. After looking online at the menu a few days prior to going, I saw something that I really wanted to try in the Lemongrass Blackened Shrimp Pasta with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Sun Dried Tomatoes but sadly, it wasn't on the menu when we got to the restaurant. 

With me having to scramble to find a different option, I came across the Shrimp Fettuccine with Lemon Caper Sauce which sounded good despite the fact that I've never had Fettuccine. By the way, for those that don't know (which included me before tonight), capers are cooked and pickled flower buds of a spiny southern European shrub, used to flavor food. To me, they looked like peas.

After having a few slices of wheat with butter, the meal arrived surprisingly quick. I took my first bite and loved it, which didn't include any shrimp. The pasta alone was wonderful. Adding the shrimp, capers, and diced tomatoes to the fettuccine is really what made this meal shine. Great flavor! 

Besides this meal, I tried both of my friends different dishes. The first I tried was Asian Nachos. It might have been the first item that I tried since I started the blog that I simply didn't enjoy. It was incredibly dry and bland. 

After the nachos, I tried bacon wrapped dates. I had never tried a date and hell, I still couldn't even tell you what a date was but I know this...it was phenomenal! Superb flavor. 

Next was jalepeno hush puppies with a maple soy aioli sauce. I'm not huge on hush puppies and I don't handle the heat of a jalepeno very well but this was very good. The aioli sauce that it came with really made it in my mind. Also, despite the fact that it was jalepeno, there was little to no heat with it. 

Lastly, I tried Sesame Crusted Seared Tuna with a Wasabi Cream sauce. It was probably the most difficult of all the items I tried. I feel like I could like tuna but this tuna was too soft and I'm not big on Wasabi. It wasn't terrible, I just don't think it was my style. Someone that likes tuna already and enjoys Wasabi would probably love this dish. 

Overall, Tsunami was an excellent experience with great service and would be a great date place for anyone. Highly recommend! 

Other Food Tried This Week For First Time:

Panera Bread - Turkey Sandwich on Country Bread with Lettuce and Mayo 

Belmont Grill - BBQ Shrimp/Catfish Po Boy

Raisinettes