Week 10: 

Note: I do apologize for the delay this week, it's been a little more hectic than normal. This write-up will be very short but I promise, it's not a trend. Thanks again for everyone who reads this, I truly do appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

Beer (ABV): 

Lakefront Organic ESB (5.42%)

Lakefront Wheat Monkey (4.2%)

Lakefront IPA (6.9%)

Harpoon Belgium Pale Ale (5.8%)

Beers Already Tried From This Brewery: 

Lakefront (Wisconsinite Summer Weiss, Kilsch Pilsner)

Harpoon (Winter Warmer, Celtic Ale, Hefeweizen, Raspberry Hefeweizen, etc)

I have to say, nothing really wowed me this week with the beers. Surprisingly, the one I enjoyed more than the others was the Lakefront IPA. It had some good flavor to it and wasn't overly hoppy. The Wheat Monkey was more bland that a Coors Light frankly. The other two were just meh.

Album: The Rescue by Explosions In The Sky (2005)

Length: 32 Minutes, 48 Seconds

Already being a huge fan of Explosions In The Sky, I realized there were a few albums I hadn't checked out so I decided to check out The Rescue. The Rescue is a concept album of sorts.

Back in 2005, while on tour, their van broke down and they had to wait eight days in order to get it fixed, which is where they got the eight title tracks from (Day One through Day Eight).

If you didn't already known, Explosions In The Sky is an instrumental band that has no lyrics. With that in mind, it's a little more difficult to break it down by song so I'll just say that while not as good as the Friday Night Lights soundtrack or The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, this was a very good album and I'd suggest everyone give it atleast one listen.

Movie: To The Arctic/Tornado Alley (IMAX)

Length: 40 Minutes each

Main Cast: Narrated by Meryl Streep/Bill Paxton

I have no idea the last time I saw an IMAX film so when I decided to go see these two, I was very excited. The screen was even bigger than I remember it. Just absolutely massive.

I have to say, both of these films definitely had their positives but did also have a negative as well.

With To The Arctic, you start off with a beautiful footage panning over glaciers and the waterfalls. Being on the IMAX screen, it looked simply stunning. Throughout the whole movie, it was just fantastic. Getting to follow polar bears, which by the way I'd like to see about adopting one because they are so freaking cute, was really cool. You get to see a mother bear protect her young from being hunted, which was nice to see.

My only negative with To The Arctic was that it was clearly trying to push Global Warming/Climate Change throughout it. I'm not here to argue on either side of it but it just wasn't what I was anticipating. I guess I just wanted forty minutes of something pretty to look at.

Despite that, I'd still suggest you go see this.

With Tornado Alley, I was simply giddy. As most of you know, I'm a huge severe weather/tornado nut so this was right down my alley, no pun intended.

Right off the bat, I was excited because who else other than Bill Paxton was narrating this film. If you didn't know, he was the main male casted in the movie Twister, so it seemed fitting to say the least.

Throughout this movie, you get to follow two different people. The first is a group that is trying to collect data, much like in Twister and the other guy is trying to get in the middle of a tornado. He built this tank that can withstand wind speeds up to 200mph. Really impressive.

Like To The Arctic, it did have a negative and that was it ended very anti-climactically. The movie ended with him getting inside a tornado but it never felt like it happened. I guessed I expected it to look different but once it was over, I was like...that's it?

Overall, I still felt both films definitely had more positives and are worth going to see.

Food: John Deere Snowcone Supreme from Jerry's Snow Cones (Nut Bush)

Yedoro Key Wot from Abyssinia (Midtown/East Memphis)


Without question, the most interesting week of food that I've tried to date and probably will try.

As my friends and I look for the list of Top 100 places in Memphis to eat, we came across two items at Jerry's Sno Cones in Nut Bush, which is hardly the best part of town. The two sno cones are Wedding Cake and John Deere.

When I placed my order, I noticed everyone was ordering a sno cone and saying "Supreme", which I thought was the size. After ordering my John Deere Supreme, I realized size was hardly what it meant. Supreme, in fact, meant that it had soft serve vanilla ice cream in the cup. For those that have known me long enough, I have never tried ice cream in my life (as well as cake, pies, cupcakes, sundaes, pudding, etc) so if I decided to eat my ordering gaffe, this would be HUGE.

After hesistating, I finally took my first bite. Needless to say, it wasn't as awful as I was thinking it would be. The texture wasn't bad however I didn't like the flavor. I think that has more to do with my not liking anything vanilla.

After Jerry's, we headed into town to go to an Ethiopian restaurant called Abyssinia.

I decided to order the Yedoro Key Wot, which is chicken stew on flatbread. The sponginess of the flatbread was very weird to me but the chicken was okay. Too much stew for me to enjoy the chicken itself. By the way, I forgot to take a picture while I was there so that's the closest I could find to what I had, minus the eggs.

I also got to try some cabbage for the first time, which was pretty tasty actually.

Overall, I'm glad I experienced Ethiopian but I'm certainly in no rush to do it again soon.

Also Tried: Guacamole at Fox & Hound

Week 9: 

Beers (ABV):
Rodenbach Classic (5.2%)
Samuel Smith Organic Apricot (5.1%)
Bear Republic/Fat Head's/Stone TBA (7.1%)
 Smuttynose IPA (6.9%)
Westbrook Citrus Ninja Exchange (8.9%)

Beers Already Tried From This Brewery: 
Rodenbach (none)
Samuel Smith (Organic Cider, Organic Cherry, Organic Raspberry, Organic Strawberry, IPA, Pale Ale, Pure Lager, Imperial Stout, Nut Brown Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Taddy Porter)
Bear Republic/Fat Head's/Stone (none)
Smuttynose (none)
Westbrook (none)

Another Sunday night at the Flying Saucer where I decided to get one of my blog beers knocked out and the Rodenbach Classic is the beer of choice. It was Flanders red ale which is a sour beer. This beer poured a darker amber color and had slight hint of cherry flavor with a huge tart flavor. I actually was a bit nervous to try this beer after the smell because it was overwhelmingly sour.

However, after tasting this beer, the bark was definitely bigger than the bite. Despite that it took quite a bit of time to drink, I thoroughly enjoyed this beer. Certainly not a session beer by any means but I would most definitely recommend this to anyone.

After thinking that my week of trying new beers was over, my friend surprised me with a few more to try that he got while on his trip to South Carolina.

The first beer of these was the Smuttynose IPA. My friend considered this to be one of his favorite IPA's ever, which is tall order. However, I'm not as big a fan of IPA's in general and this didn't change my mind. While not a terrible beer, it didn't wow me either. Clearly, it's the style and not the beer itself.

Next we tried a beer that is combined from three breweries (Bear Republic, Fat Head and Stone). This was such an interesting beer. Initially, the aroma and flavor came across hoppy but threw a curve ball and ended up like a brown ale. Certainly one of the more unique beers I've tried so far.

After that, we tried the Westbrook Citrus Ninja Exchange. I got very excited for this one because of the citrus but after first taste, I did not enjoy this one at all. All I could taste was the alcohol. At 8.9%, I'm honestly not surprised.

Thankfully, to wrap up the evening, we tried the Samuel Smith Organic Apricot which I had a feeling I was going to enjoy very much. Easily the best Apricot beer I've ever tried and very well could've been the best Samuel Smith beer that I've tried as well. 

Album: Millennium by Backstreet Boys (1999)

Length: 48 Minutes, 11 Seconds

I honestly have to say, I have no idea why I decided to go with this album. I guess it's just another example of getting out of my comfort zone and trying to take in as many different types of music and different eras.

When the boy band phase was taking over the world, I guess I had recently become a teenager and so as a male, it was very natural to immediately hate any of this kind of music, especially since it was so incredibly popular. With that in mind, I decided to go into this with a very open mind. Afterall, it is the 20th most selling album in history with 30 million copies sold.

The first three songs on this album (Larger Than Life, I Want It That Way, and Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely) are all huge hits and unless you weren't born until 2000 or lived under a rock, you've heard of these songs. Of these three, clearly I Want It That Way is my favorite. Easy to sing along and yes, I did.

Next song on Millennium is It's Gotta Be You. It's the shortest song on the album, just under 3 minutes, and it certainly felt like it. It was upbeat and went by quickly. Not terrible.

Song number 5 on the album is I Need You Tonight. I actually have to say that I really, really enjoyed this song. It's a slow song and it's pretty. Song number 6 is Don't Want You Back. Pretty catchy song. Typical boy band pop music.

Don't Want To Lose You Now is the next song on the album. Pretty bland song. Definitely forgettable. The next song after is The One. This song was much better than the previous one. After that one, there was another slower song with Back To Your Heart. This song just screamed what they'd played at a middle school dance where the couple is arms length apart swaying back in forth.

With only three songs left, we have Spanish Eyes. Honestly, I kind of zoned out on this song. Clearly didn't wow me. Second to last song on the album is No One Else Comes Close. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't a hit. Even though it's slower, I could certainly see it getting radio play.

Lastly, we've got The Perfect Fan. Apparently this song was written for one of the band members mothers. It's a cute song.

Overall, this album is about what I expected. Some catchy stuff, some duds, some average songs but I completely see why girls flocked to this. Five guys with voices like these singing songs like these, it makes complete sense.

Movie: The Big Lebowski (1998)

Length: 1 Hour, 59 Minutes

Main Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julienne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Tara Reid

That was fucking amazing.

That was the first words I said outloud as the credits started to roll. I want to kick my own ass for waiting 14 years to see that movie.

Seriously, every single part of this movie was hilarious. Dude, Walter, Donnie, Jesus...all so damn good.

It's hard to decide which is my favorite scene, whether it being the Jesus scene or the scattering ashes scene.

I'd assume most people that will read this have already seen this movie but if you haven't, GO WATCH IT NOW! After last weeks lame movie choice, it was so good to have something I truly enjoyed and will most definitely watch again (and again).

Food: Chicken Salad Sandwich and Deathrow Pimento Cheese from Young Avenue Deli (Midtown)

Another Monday in which we went looking for the list and Young Avenue Deli at Cooper and Young became the choice for the week.

In similar fashion to the week I went to Half Shell, I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to get going in. Also in similar fashion is how it turned out, by splitting two meals in half so we could try multiple items.

The item that my friend decided on was the Chicken Salad Sandwich, pictured on the right, which had chicken salad, tomato and lettuce. I enjoyed this okay, nothing great though and I probably wouldn't have it again. Honestly, I didn't even finish my half because I also had my other sandwich as well as an order of cheese fries, which were amazing as usual.

The item that I ordered was the Deathrow Pimento Cheese. I had no idea what I was getting into when I ordered this but went for it anyways. Oh my goodness, was this sandwich delicious! After the first bite, I knew I was in love. Biting into this sandwich gave me the same feeling and taste that I get when I eat an entire block of Colby cheese. It was so cheesy and wonderful. Simply made my tastebuds happy.

Overall, this trip was successful and I'll certainly be going back for more Pimento Cheese, as well as their cheese fries. Healthy, huh?