Monday musings

April 28, 2008

My video ended up coming out about as well to be expected from an amateur filmmaker, and it required a great deal of practicing my lines, a reshoot or five, and cutting some of what I thought would be the funniest lines.  I ended up filming scenes at John’s Marketplace, Belmont Station, Roots, Lucky Lab, Barley Mill, Green Dragon, Jace Gace, and with a pizza from Vincente’s and a sandwich and chips from Zupan’s.  ‘Twas a lot of work, though I’m pretty proud of it in the end.  I overnighted it to New York on Thursday, and I’m just waiting to hear if they like my video (and me) enough to fly me out there to meet with the bigwigs.

Hanne’s parents were both in town this last weekend, and it; was good to see them both and go out a few times.  On Thursday we met for dinner up at the Laurelwood Public House in NW, Friday we did a chianti wine tasting at the local wine shop and then had dinner at Nostrana next door, Saturday we had lunch at ther Green Dragon, and Sunday we had brunch at Simpatica.  What a rich weekend of food.  Ooog.  Too much good food, you might say.  Hanne’s Dad will be staying out here for awhile on a job in Hillsboro, and Hanne’s Mom will most likely come out to Portland for the summer, possibly longer.

Hanne’s remarkably calm about her parents both moving across the country and living a short bus ride away, but she assures me they’re not the drop-in type.  Not that I mind it per se–after all, they’re very generous when it comes to picking up the tab when it arrives–but on the other hand, maybe I’m just drawing on my experiences from my own family, which in small doses is wonderful but en masse becomes a real adventure.

I bottled my first two batches of beer from 2008 this weekend, and both was that fun.  You know, sarcasm really doesn’t translate well into writing, does it?  Bottling beer is always a real pain in the ass, and doing two back to back with very little help is just asking for trouble.  Personally, I don’t mind the actual bottling part, but it’s the setup and then cleanup that always get me.  It’s just…messy.  I’m looking forward to tasting them in a few weeks when Hanne and I have our housewarming, though.  I think they will both probably go over well along with my lager.

Hanne’s still busy studying–in fact, as we’re sitting here eating she’s studying–but in two weeks she’ll be free as a bird.  Good for her, being 2/3 done with law school.

And me?  I have nothing else of consequence to report.

Posted in Beer, Family, Food, General, Hanne