Weekend Preview; I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!!!

Coming into the last weekend of January 2015, I have no idea what to do for our adventure or outing.  I am sitting here listening to The Real McKenzies' album Westwinds and at the same time wanting to go back to Scotland so bad (I spent several months there in my youth and have been reminiscing and wanting to go back very much) and with that in mind the next best thing here in Utah is Piper Down, the best local pub in the state.

I have always considered Piper to be my local pub going back to the days of "Pubbing in the Land of Zion" which was my first blog that I wrote.  Every time I go in I feel welcome and at home.  So that is the first option, and if the other Lords are not able to because of money and such then I will welcome them to my own house at Kalehalla and we will have a low key evening of Beer, Whiskey and Pipes or Huka and just relax.

Then on Sunday, I will go and adventure with my D & D group.  Now it seems weird, but this group has been playing the same campaign and such for over 11 years.  It is one of the most amazing escapes that I have for it allows me to take on different personas.  This Sunday Kalenar will be running the game.  We have an amazing time and very little stress.

The other thing I hope to do this weekend will be to sleep,  it has been a busy week at Kalehalla for the Wee Dancer has had a spelling bee and a science fair.  She has done very well though and I am very proud of her.  I just want to get some rest and start planning out February for the blog because the month is damn busy.  We have Kalenar's Birthday on 2/23 and we have Regina Elsa's birthday on 2/21.  Plus, Rum Rebellion is coming to Logan on 2/14 and we have to plan Vali's festival which is going to be good wines and such.

One last note our good freinds The Anchorage just announced that the new album will be available in April go to their Kickstarter to help out and preview.

Show of the Week:

If I I can make it up to this one I want to but the hard part is finding a ride.  Beergrass Records 1 Year Anniversary Show 8:00 PM at Kamikazes in Ogden.  Click the heading for details.

Eatery of the Week:

I have been craving good pizza lately and The Pie is exactly that.  If possible go to the Pie Underground up by the U of U.  Always brings back memories of irresponsible college days.

Booze of the Week:

It might get old here but whiskey is my tried and true so this week it will be a bottle of Concannon.  An Irish style whiskey with a honey and malt flavor, a clean taste going down and slow burn that I love.  It might not be a fancy review but it is what I like.  Plus it is made here in the US by an old Irish family.  Read about the history of the whiskey on the Concannon Website.

THORRABLOT 2014 (Lord Darksteel's Day)

WHAT A GLORIOUS FEAST THIS IS!!!!  These are the words that echoed through my head during the weekend of food and drink that we just partook.  Now the real question is...who said it?  I am fairly sure all of us enjoyed ourselves, each person ate and drank and laughed and revelled, celebrating the weekend as the momentous occasion it was.  However a sneaking feeling is that the larger than life persona of Chadivus Maximus dressed in full ceremonial battle regalia was the entity shouting the exclamation that started this account.  I get ahead of myself, let me just explain that this weekend was the 1st annual Thorrablot held at Kalehalla.  It was a feast meant to celebrate the upcoming end of winter and it also happened to coincide with Lord Darksteel LaDouche's Birthday which in and of itself is a worthy celebration.  So on behalf of Kalenar, Lord of Kalehalla, I the most humble Chadivus started preparing the feast about mid morning on Saturday.  Lord Darksteel and I traveled to Snider Brothers Meat Market in Cottonwood Heights and purchased the lamb shanks and a lean beef roast, then quickly came home to assemble the meal.


The lamb shanks were my first endeavor, being that a shank is the foreleg of the lamb and has a tendency to be a tougher cut of meat, I thought it best to braise it in a simple stew of brown ale, 3 onions, garlic, salt and pepper, thyme, rosemary, sage and 1 can of diced tomatoes.  I assemble the ingredients after trimming the excess fat (which I then rendered to brown the onions with before putting them into the pot) and slow cooked for 9 hours.  I then prepped the root vegetables (red potatoes, carrots, yams and parsnips) for roasting and lastly made sure the beef roast was put into the oven to cook to a fine medium rare just before the guests arrived.

As we were waiting for the time to put the vegetables in we made a trip to the Draper Liquor Store because we found out that it was the only one in the area to carry the Linie Aquavit which we were able to purchase after a bit of a panic(in addition to the weird Utah laws involving booze, there is very little consistency in how the State Liquor Stores display their wares).



Now that all of the portions were assembled we awaited our guests.  Kalenar, Lord Darksteel and myself were already there along with the Wee Dancer (my youngest daughter).  Pretty soon Vladimir, Bomba and Signor Una Traccia all showed up and lastly my eldest daughter Regina Elsa arrived.


We served the food and the evening started.  First we raised a drink to Odin, Thor and Lord Darksteel including pouring an offering to Odin with the Aquavit.  This drink hit everyone differently.  Some stated they tasted mint, others say it tasted like absinthe, Lord Kalenar felt it was like a taking a shot of a mojito and to me it tasted like ouzo.  It was apparent however that this was definitely a vodka based drink, the shot itself went down like a vodka or gin shot as opposed to a liqueur.  We ate the food and took more drinks and then it was decided we play Cards Against Humanity.  Any of you who have played this game know it is not a game where one can easily
state what cards won or lost and the answers are sometimes funnier than the question.  Suffice to say that there is a great deal of inappropriate commentary while this game is going forth.  Also I want to remind you all that we were still partaking of the alcohol during the playing so it did get very silly very quickly.  Some of the highlights of this game session included the answer card "toweling my folds down" the "large flightless birds" card being disqualified, various meanings of cards being explained to the uninitiated and numerous other items that are very hard to recall after several shots.

We had drank our fill of the Aquavit and the drinking inclined individuals moved on to their individual favorites.  Bomba started an almost full bottle of Evan Williams Honey, Lord Darksteel and Kalenar opened an ice cold bottle of Jagermeister and I finished off a half full bottle of Concannon Irish Whiskey and then moved on to a bottle of Lord Calvert Canadian.  Suffice it to say Chadivus Maximus was in his full glory by the time we were finished.  The best quote of the night came in a text to me the next evening from Bomba " Apparently I was more drunk last night than Vlad or I realized.  I didn't remember leaving last night and beyond"  This after draining half the bottle of Evan Williams.

Now I was looking for a memorable quote on feasting and friendship and whiskey and such and such.  I was unable to find something that did not include subtle messages of guilt if you do not worship a certain way or insults about friends not being grateful and messages of dangerous alcohol, so I will end this with my own quote.  I find no other time of life better than the time I spend with loving friends and family over good food and strong drink.  It is at those times we become closer and the hardships of the world become less because our community becomes more.