Part of what made this last weekend so phenomenal was eating one of my favorite sandwiches, the egg-in-a-grilled-cheese basket. It all starts by building a grilled cheese to your own specs. In my case it was two slices of wheat bread, one slice of muenster and one slice of swiss. Acceptable add-ons include but are not limited to: tomato, onions, smoked salmon, salsa, and damn near anything else that goes with bread, cheese, and eggs.

This next step is critical. Locate a cup around your house that will cut a hole in the sandwich large enough to allow a nice egg layer, but small enough that there is still cheese involved–you don’t want to eat eggs wrapped in crust. In my case I use a tasting glass from the Great American Beer Festival.

Next butter up your pan (mmmmm, real butter) and throw in the sandwiches. Notice the cut-outs are still used as baby grilled cheeses.

Crack 1 or 2 eggs in the middle of each sandwich and cook for a few minutes on medium heat. If you use 2 eggs, might I suggest you crack one, sprinkle some shredded cheese on it, and then add the second egg.

Next up, flip ‘em.

I’ve found that if I follow my normal grilled cheese cooking times I get a nice easy/medium egg. If you want it super runny turn the heat up a bit to cook the bread faster (and thus a faster flip) while leaving the insides pretty mushy. I’ve also pulled the sandwiches off and wrapped them in tin foil to take for a breakfast on the run, although the eggs will normally cook the rest of the way through.

In this case, however, I pulled these straight outta the pan and dove right in. A damn good meal if you ask me.

Eggtacular

Eggceptional

Egg-a-rific

This year I made progress. I’ll have to save the full glory for next year (Baby Steps) because-like last year-I got caught up in Friday’s beautiful weather and went for a run. But I kept it short, and while I missed the Bockfest parade, I certainly got my fill of Bock beer.

Arnold’s, on the other hand got their fill of people.

What I imagine (or at least hope) Laura, Pam, and the other Bartender who's name I don't know were thinking

Drunk Monk*

*Please note this was around 8pm, and the Monk may or may not have been drunk, but entering that establishment I imagine he was there soon.

Moving on to Mr. Pitifuls.

We passed Jack Potts on the way, the existence of which I was completely unaware of. For someone that lives a block away, I really don’t get up Main St. much it seems. That’s all bound to change when Neon’s opens this summer. But I digress…

It was actually less crowded than Arnold's I swear

Cheers to mini decorative drinks

I took some people new to the city out and about, and we all had a great time. There were a few people that drove downtown to meet us, and as the end of the night approached, I couldn’t help but think about those poor souls having to either sleep on a couch or temper their drinking to pilot a vehicle home. Chalk it up as another win for life in Cincinnati’s center city.

Bockfest was roaring the whole time, aided by the phenomenal weather we had. Which means one of two things as far as your Monday is concerned, either A) You, like me, had such a good time all weekend, that it’s hard to be anything other than happy today or B) you had a great time, but that simply adds to the depression you’re feeling now that you’re back on the grind.

I enjoyed Bockfest a lot, and I’ll post about it more tomorrow, but the highlight of the weekend for me was the 11 mile bike ride I went on Sunday, hitting Downtown, OTR, Newport, Mt. Adams, and Eden Park, all the while snapping pictures.

My first stop was The Banks/QCS to get a few photos of the ongoing construction.

Next I rode over to Newport to stop in Reser bikes for a little air (and because I love saying I went riding in a couple states).

Then it was back to the Ohio side to tackle Mt. Adams and Eden Park

Music Hall and the heart of OTR as seen from the Ida St. Bridge

Then it was back downtown for a few more QCS shots.

The remnants of a great season of ice skating

I hope you were able to go out an enjoy the great weather like I did!

First we got a little Cincinnati beer history lesson from Timothy Holian, the author of both of the Over The Barrel books. Much like the literature, Tim gave a nice talk about the culture of beer in Cincinnati, and was kind enough to answer questions for us at the end (even though only one person asked something).

Tim skyping in from Wisconsin

After the education from afar, we were treated to my style of learning–a more hands on approach (as in hands on glasses of beer). Jason and his business partner (who I didn’t get a card from, and thus forgot his name) from Rivertown Brewing Co were on hand with their 5 signature beers (available year round) and of course, their seasonal Bock.

I was first introduced to Rivertown at the Winter Beerfest (I assume that is the case with most everyone, because they are a relatively new game in town) and I have to say I wasn’t all that impressed at the time. Last night however, with the chance to taste an entire flight of brews, I thought a bit higher of their beers. Honestly, most of them aren’t my style (too damn malty) but the Hop Bomber was right up my alley. At ~60 IBU’s it was a well balanced pale ale that I could drink all night given the chance.

Bomb Me

Free beer (minus the pints we bought), free pretzels from Servatti, and the good company of other Cincinnati beer enthusiasts, what more could you ask for? How about a few more pictures….

In the interest of full disclosure (and to comply with this) I feel obligated to reiterate that I was invited to this event by the operators/promotors of the upcoming beerfest, and we were given free samples of Rivertown’s beer, and free pretzels. That said, I will be attending the beerfest, and would’ve regardless……and I already knew how much I loved Servatti’s pretzels.

In addition to the website you can also find the Cincinnati Beerfest on twitter. Follow @CinciBeerfest for info and chances to win tickets.

A special thanks to Danielle who was kind enough to coordinate this whole gig and invite yours truly.

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My only prior experience was inserting the dailymile widget on the right column of the site. After tackling Art By McDermott and stuck in PHP mode, I decided to make some tweaks to my own site, which are subtle, but get me closer to where I want the site to be.

That also got me to combine the About Me and About The Blog page into one About The Boilover page. This site has taken a life of it’s own far from what I originally intended it to be, and the process has been a lot of fun. Not that it’s over, by any stretch of the imagination. But now I have something to fall back on when people ask me what the site is about (historically I just made up some BS and let them figure it out).

I also figured out a way to get the images to look a little better in the Pix on the Right. I threw some new ones in there of things that put a smile on my face–something I could always use =)

So rather than work on any number of drafts last night, it felt good to get all techy. Check out the about page, it will give you a little more insight into the crazy work of The Boilover.

Yeah, it was a nice try.

See, the thought in my head was to use all this stair climbing as a way to gain strength and recover from a rather annoying knee injury. Instead, a minimum 400-600 stairs a day was never allowing any rest for my knees, and it was aggravating the issue (I know there are people in NY [not that people in NY read this site] that are laughing at me because they live in an 8th story walk up…whatever, blow me). So I made it a month, and for the last 15 days I have used the elevator as I normally would.

And I’ll be damned if my knee doesn’t already feel better.

Will I give it another shot? Probably not, but I may get back to taking the steps up to my office. I will certainly be taking advantage of the open stadium policy UC has at Nippert, and I plan on hiking Carew Tower and QCS at least once. But in between those episodes of stair madness, I will just be another dude on the elevator.

Still, that much of a failure (<—-notice the “ure” at the end, that is how this word is normally used, I know many of you have forgotten this basic principle) is giving me a case of the monday’s this morning.

While walking back to my car from the #birthdayburgerbash at Bar Louie on Wednesday I passed Southgate House and noticed the name “Andy McKee” on the list of upcoming events. I couldn’t place the name right away, but when I typed Andy into youtube, Mckee was the first suggested result. Upon seeing the word drifting and the thumbnail for the video I immediately remembered watching/being amazed at the following clip. 28 million views and counting says it’s worth your time to watch.

So if you don’t have plans for this Saturday (unfortunately I do) you should check this guy out. Apparently he’s an incredible one man show and the ballroom at Southgate House should be a great place to see him. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door.

The other night, however, brought about rumblings in my stomach that wouldn’t be quelled by any ordinary breakfast sandwich. No, after a grueling circuit workout of body and free weight exercises I needed something more substantial. Raiding my bare cupboard turned up the usual; bread, cans of soups, pasta and peanut butter. The fridge wasn’t any better, not holding much more than eggs, bread, cheese, and OJ. Like a word problem on the SAT’s I was left trying to figure out the best combination of pieces, knowing not every foodstuff was going to be thrown into the mix (if all those cooking shows taught me one thing it was KISS!–keep it simple stupid!).

Ok, tomato-basil soup, cheese, and bread–that’s an easy option. But I didn’t want to make three grilled cheeses, requiring my continued attention at the stove, eating one sandwich as a made another. No, I was looking to cook, eat, and be done.

Thus I bring you the smothered and covered (I don’t think waffle house has that trademarked) over-medium triple decker, served bloody.

Don’t be fooled, there is no meat in this.

It all starts with four pieces of bread and cheese (I’m going muenster and swiss) in the toaster oven. Crisping bread and melting cheese, keys to a good start.

While that’s toasting it’s time to turn our attention to the eggs. Fried eggs aren’t that difficult. Normally I like mine over-easy, and for me that means cooking them on one side, flipping them over for about 30 seconds and then pulling them off the stove for that phenomenal runny yoke. But for this adventure I wanted over-medium, with a gooey center that stayed in place upon dissection. Instead of pulling my eggs off at the over-easy phase, I just kill the heat and let them finish up while the toast/cheese is in it’s final stages of toastymeltification.

At this point it’s time I turn to my friends at Progresso, heating up their tomato-basil soup in the microwave.

Now, for the construction (click on the pic below to see the GIF, sometimes it doesn’t load on this page).

I call it the stack n’ smash, because the next step is….

Now, for the awesome inside reveal shot:

So that’s the triple decker over-medium, but where’s the blood? Remember the tomato soup that is still sitting in the microwave…lay it on…thick.

Truth be told I ladled some soup on so I could take that picture, but then I just dumped the rest of the bowl over it.

The final step, clean your plate, as best you can.

Editor’s Note: Is this a cop-out, everyone-in-Cincy-is-doing-this post? Yes. Do I really care? No.

Inspired by the video above, this is a pretty cool ad for the Olympus PEN, and I dig the song.

QCS as seen from 8th and Sycamore

Various Downtown Shots

Central Pkwy/Reading Rd

Treacherous

Court St

Fountain Square

Sherman tailgating a cop in the snow

Snow tires...one of my better purchases in the last two years

And remember, if you are unlucky enough to get stopped by a blue+white, just use the following excuse (at least, if you’re a white guy).

For some it’s shitty hours, for others it’s shitty bosses. It could be the clientele you have to deal with day in and day out. Or maybe you don’t have a guaranteed steady paycheck because you’re out working for yourself.

Whatever irks you about your job, I’m pretty sure you’re not in danger of being eaten by a Raptor, which might be your fate if you are a Toronto NBA cheerleader.

via

This week, when I had the chance to climb high on two skyscapers and had to pass, I felt pretty bad about the whole thing.

It started when my boss and I drove to Dayton to look at expanding our business to the north. We went to the 12 story administrative building on Third St, discussing our course of action as we passed through the above ground tunnel from the parking garage to the building lobby. I didn’t think twice as he called the elevator, and we continued our banter as we entered the cab. The doors closed and a look of panic washed over my face as I said “Oh shit!” My boss, realizing the situation, simply laughed as we rode up 3 stories.

I managed to walk between floors after that, still disappointed in myself for taking that first ride. When we hit the lobby again, my boss asked a question which could only be answered by someone on the 10th floor. I gazed at him with the why-are-we-just-thinking-about-this-now look, and he knew I was about to break for the stairs. He replied to my nonverbal communication with “You can’t be out of breath when we walk into that office, just make it up later.” Not worth the argument, or having to wait outside an office to catch my breath, I agreed, and we ascended ten floors with the push of a button.

At this point I owed myself 13 flights of stairs.

Then two days ago we were wrapping things up in the office and I had to take some things over to 3CDC, located on the 14th floor of the Kroger building. It was already past five o’clock, and I wasn’t sure anyone would be in their office. As I walked along court street I wrestled with the stairs vs. elevator argument. My delivery couldn’t wait until the next day, and I heard my boss’ voice in my head “Just make it up later.” I succumbed to the ‘vator.

Now I was up to 27 flights of stairs.

Last night I was thinking about the make-up stairs, and frankly 27 flights seemed like a lot. To make that up in my building was going to mean hiking top to bottom over four times. While there wasn’t going to be that much time involved in executing those stair climbs, the thought of simply walking up and down the steps wasn’t all that appealing. Instead I decided to mix it in with a workout routine. I went down to our “gym” (one room with a few machines and some free weights) and started on one of my weight training circuits I’ve put together. In between sets however, I ran up the steps to the top floor and jogged back down, all in an effort to knock out some of my make-up stairs.

It was actually a great feeling to be worn out from lifting weights only to will my body upwards in the building. It kept my heart rate up when I would normally be taking a sip of water and relaxing before my next set of weights. Instead my trip back down the stairs worked as my cool down, and I was still ready to go into my next circuit.

I’ve still missed all my opportunities to climb anything over six stories thus far. But I discovered another facet of training to work into my routine, and I think that’s well worth it. Not to mention I’ve still climbed almost 10,000 stairs so far this year.

And I still can’t wait to get back to my stadium workouts this summer.

Then I remembered the annoying orange. This bastard is such a pain in the ass, but every other fruit gets the punishment. Pretty much, if you ever meet this particular orange, you will be having a case of the mondays from that point on (if you live through the experience).

Hey Apple!

He can even piss off Jigsaw!

These dudes work at Miller and use fancy words like "diacetyl" and "beer"

There were a lot of great highlights from the usual cast of craft brew characters. Founders had a great showing, with Double Trouble being the standout at the table. Not to be outhopped Bell’s brought along some Hopslam, but that lasted almost as long as it did when it was first tapped. Our good friends at Rogue decided to come fashionably late, but it proved worthwhile with their winter spirit:

The Madness was Epic

My favorite of the evening was Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch, which was so good I didn’t even bother to take a picture of the tap handle or me enjoying any of it. Cause that makes sense…..

I did, however, take advantage of a couple of great photo ops:

Chugfest

Any bottle of beer that big deserves a hug, even if it is inflatable

Even though most craft beer is domestic, I found a couple of imports

That actually hurt a lot more than I let on at the time

I’ve been to a number of beer tastings in a variety of venues. I have to say that for the most part, this was a great event. One gripe would be the pain-in-the-ass check in process. Allow me to add some constructive criticism: YOU NEED MORE THAN 2 PEOPLE GIVING OUT WRISTBANDS! This isn’t a door job at a martini club, it’s a BEERFEST. That means get us in and starting feeding us samples. Although the complete abandonment of the thirty sample punch card leveled the playing field, so I’ll take it.

While I’m talking negatives: the VIP food ran out, well, before I saw it, and I was there when the doors opened. If you can’t keep that table stocked until (at least) the end of the VIP session then don’t tease me with it on the flyer. The food for purchase wasn’t bad (pretzel and cheese, mini-burgers, etc) but just about anything looks gourmet after sampling so many different–and high alcohol content–beers.

But you don’t go for the food. That’s why Via Vite exists a few blocks away.

The conclusion: Cincy Winter Beerfest was worth every penny I didn’t-pay-because-Ryan-bought-my-ticket-on-the-condition-I-bought-the-pizza-after. You should probably go next year, unless you’re not into the whole fun thing.

The plan was to run a 15k in Mason last November, and then back down to the 10k for Thanksgiving. Instead I hurt myself during the 15k (after really, overuse thing) and have been healing since. Easing back into it right now is a delicate balance of cardio and strength training. I’m barely starting to run any worthwhile distance. Consequently, there is no way I’m gonna be ready for the Pig. I think the half marathon would still be a stretch, and these next few weeks are going to be critical in establishing a base of miles to train off of.

There is a part of me that thinks I should take this summer and focus on shorter races. I have a lot of fun at 5k races–they’re short enough where you can really push yourself the whole time and feel absolutely exhausted after only 20-25 minutes (20 being my goal for this coming race season) but still recover fast and not be shell shocked by a long race.

So The Pig is out. But I’m gonna leave it up there in support of the many people who are running. One day I will make it happen.

As for the Bolder Boulder….my sister used to live in Boulder, CO–she ran it last year, and I was going to come out and run it with her this year. Well, she moved, so I’m not sure if I’m still going to fly out for a road race. If I were going to fly anywhere for a race, this would be the place and the event, and that’s the only reason it’s still under consideration. I could end up waiting until the third week in May, and if I feel up for it and the last minute airline deal stars have aligned I’ll pull the trigger.

But Boulder is most likely out. It’s a badass race, I’m leaving it up there.

I don’t know when I’m going to sign up for my first 5k of 2010. I hope I’m racing by April, but it’s only Feb 1 and I’m still only jogging 2 miles. I’m always guilty of coming back to fast from injury, but if I get healthy now I’ll have an entire summer of outdoor activity ahead of me. My goals are 5 5ks, 1 10k, and 1 sprint triathlon. Still, I would love to have The Pig on that list, and accepting the fact that it’s not gonna happen this season is giving me a case of the Monday’s.

ridn dwntwn if ur in.

When it’s 40 degrees and overcast on a January weekend in Ohio, it’s “nice weather”. I jumped at the chance to cruise downtown and northern Kentucky on my bike, half riding, half hopping around on various elevations of pavement. A few hours outside was just what I needed to follow a meal I gormandized (I like new words). What I didn’t consider however, was what I was going to do in regards to not taking the elevator while still getting my bike back into my apartment.

That thought struck me as I headed back home and rode the uphill along Eggleston Ave. I was really cranking, and just as I thought about how tired my legs were getting, I remembered I still had a hike ahead of me.

I’ve been known to run/walk briskly up steps with my bike. Last summer I would ride up Reading Rd from Central Pkwy and turn up towards Gilbert. I would run up the steps next to Channel 9 with my bike on my shoulders and hop back on at the top in Mt. Adams/Eden Park.

At the tail end of this ride however, I wasn’t feeling the need to drag my bike up 6 stories. Instead I put it in the elevator and ran up the steps. I actually made it upstairs right as the doors were closing–forget the fact that my chest was heaving as I searched for air. Frankly it was still better than lugging that thing up with me.

As I sat in my apartment catching my breath, I wondered whether or not that counted as cheating in my year without elevators quest. I came up with two reasons why it’s not.

1. I’m not out to rid my life of elevators (I’m still taking them down). I’m doing this whole thing for fitness (and to see if I can). The goal is to walk up every time I have to ascend to my apartment, so in that regard, mission accomplished.

2. As an extension of the previous thought, I’m not doing this to save energy/the environment. Yes, taking an elevator takes energy, and yes, I am saving the planet one trip at a time when I walk. However that is merely a side benefit, I’m doing this for ME. So I don’t feel one iota of guilt about using the elevator (and consequent energy) to get my bike up to the sixth floor. The guy who did the year without a car said that at times he would ride his bike to go purchase something large, and have a friend with a car actually transport the purchase. If that’s not cheating than I am definitely in the clear.

But I did get a nice taste of what the summer will be like when I ride 3-5 times a week.

]]> http://www.theboilover.com/2010/01/elevatorless-challenge-the-bike/feed/ 0 http://www.theboilover.com/2010/01/monday-morning-puberty/ http://www.theboilover.com/2010/01/monday-morning-puberty/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:52:46 +0000 theboilover http://www.theboilover.com/?p=674 A buddy of mine told me he had a video gem that he had been saving for youtube for a long time. It was embarrassing enough that it’s taken 10 years for him to actually post it. Thankfully he did so on my birthday, and it was one of the best inadvertent gifts I received.

Enjoy, ’cause puberty was a great time for all of us.