Jumpin' At The Woodside

Well, the P’burg Stateliners lost this morning, but still great to see the game and get all the background stories about the old hometown. It was weird watching the game and then seeing local commercials for Charlotte, a little disorienting. Started switching to the Macy’s Parade during commercials so got the full holiday experience. Lago’s got the turkey going and we’re enjoying a bottle of Chandon Blanc de Noirs, a very nice California sparkling wine as a pre-meal starter. I had a bottle of French Pinot Noir set aside for the meal. It was highly recommended, but after tasting it was only so, so. We decided to go with one of our traditional favorites of the Clos Du Val from California. It's a Cabernet and not really meant to go with turkley, but it's always very good, so we figure why not go with a wine we've enjoyed time and again. Eat, drink and be merry! For desert, we’re having a deep-dish apple pie from a McCormick & Schmick’s recipe -- I personally sliced the ap...

Phillipsburg vs. Easton - 100 Years Every year fields the game of the century (USA Today) A rivalry for the ages (USA Today) AUDIO/PHOTO GALLERY

This is the first year, probably since I was a kid, that I’ve had to deal with falling leaves. Our place in Virginia didn't have a lot of trees being a fairly new neighborhood. Mostly, we had a wooded area away from the house, and the trees we did have in the yard were small and didn't generate a lot of leaf action. I remember back when I was a kid growing up in Harmony, NJ, we had almost every tree imaginable in our yard. We had apple trees, maples trees, oak trees, pear trees, cherry trees - we even had grape vines, red and white. Dad used to try his hand at wine making, but I think he mostly wound up with some good vinegar. What I remember most about our annual chore of leafin’ back then, was raking the leaves into a big pile so my sisters and I could run and jump into the leaves. Then we’d rake them back up and jump into the pile again. For Halloween, we’d stuff some old jeans and a shirt with leaves – don’t remember what we did for the head, a pumpkin maybe? I also remembe...

I know what you're thinking. Thanksgiving is coming up and you want to get your game on first thing in the a.m. on the big holiday morning. Yeah, you've got the Macy's Parade, that's fine and dandy. Lemme tell ya, they may not be the pros, NCAA Division I-A or any college team, but my high school, the Philllipsburg H.S. "Stateliners" of Phillipsburg, NJ, has the distinction of celebrating the 100th anniversary of playing their arch rival, the Easton H.S. "Red Rovers" of Easton, PA, on Thanksgiving morning at 9am ET on ESPN2 & ESPN2 HD. In my hometown, this is the equivalent of Auburn vs. Alabama, Notre Dame vs. USC, Oklahoma vs. Nebraska, etc. It's been awhile since I've been to the big "Turkey Day game" in person. The last time I went, the morning started with a pork roll & egg sandwhich accompanied by a beer, with many more beers to follow. I think every game I went to was either cold or raining or both. Hey, you've go...

The Carolina Panthers are playing Monday night and who "woulda thunk" we'd get the Eagles game on TV this afternoon - woohoo! Got my jersey on and the brew's a flowin' - BOOYAH baby! Go Eagles!!! Even gettin some G. Love coming back from commercial and don't ya know it, McNabb to Stallworth - TOUCHDOWN!!! Holy Bobble-rewsky - did you see that! Brown bobbles the catch and Buckhalter takes it in for the score! BOOYAHHHHHH! I love me some HDTV!

Lago and I went to the Charlotte Symphony last night. It was a special 75th Anniversary Concert Celebration of the Symphony and they welcomed back former conductors going back to the 1950s. They opened with Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro," which many may know from Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes cartoons, hence the obscure reference in the title of this post. I like a lot of the old classics like Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Bach, because to me those guys were the "rock stars" of their day. I listen to more jazz than classical, but when you listen to some of the classical pieces, some of them grab you right in your gut - you don't need an electric guitar to rock. Beethoven's 9th is one of my favorites and almost anything by Mozart. They played another piece by Mozart at the end of the evening. It's amazing how nothing else sounds like Mozart. As soon as his music starts it grabs your attention and forces you to listen. We plan on going again to the sym...

Really chilly here tonight, going down to 29! The cool air and my cool Sierra Nevada Pale Ale remind me the holidays are coming, and the holiday and winter lagers & ales are already starting to hit the shelves. I picked up the ultimate stuff, Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale already and with the cool weather may even break some out this weekend. I'm looking forward to other winter/holiday brews by Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams and Harpoon. The Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is great stuff, but be prepared for a strong, hoppy wallop of a taste. It's one of my favorite holiday brews for the taste and the label, one of the best. I also love the Sam Adams Winter Lager and especially the holiday 12-pack that includes the Old Fezziwig brew. There's nothing like an Old Fezziwig once it gets to be that holiday time and you have the lights low, some Christmas music and the fireplace DVD playing... ahhhhh. There are some winter/holiday brews that have a little too much seasonal sp...