I mean that in a good way.

Here’s a secret: Harvard Square is nice. Really nice. If my Institute were next to Harvard Square, instead of a bunch of biotech labs and homeless people, I would be a happier man. We may have the CBC (I’m not giving you a link because one of these months I’ll get around to properly introducing it to you), but they have everything else.

So I go to Harvard whenever I have a thin excuse. Yesterday there was a topical guest speaker, so off I went with most of my lab. We quickly discovered that the stupid train wasn’t running, so we weren’t in any hurry to get back afterwards (I used to say that the MBTA would be a better system if the buses ran, the trains went farther out, and it were possible to get home from the bar at night - now I can add “when the T isn’t broken” to that list). One of the postdocs suggested: “Hey, do you wanna try the most intense hot chocolate in the world?”

Well duh.

L.A. Burdick offers up exactly that, at least as far as I know. It’s mostly an all-purpose upscale chocolatier, and secondly Harvard’s 30,000th coffeeshop. The hot chocolate comes in three sizes: demi, small, and large. “Once I got the small, but I couldn’t finish it and had to throw it out,” she said. “They have white, dark, and milk chocolate flavors.”

“There’s only one kind of chocolate.” I said.

“Exactly.”

So we each ponied up $2 and got a demi-sized dark hot chocolate in a tiny, tiny cup. The stuff goes a long way, though. My interpretation of the forumla is equal parts Swiss chocolate bar and milk, but I imagine if I tried to do that myself it wouldn’t work out so well. It’s not too sweet, but it’s about the richest beverage I can imagine.

This is one of those rare occasions where words fail me, but trust me, it’s the least stupid I’ve ever felt spending $2 for four ounces of non-alcoholic liquid. I’m not by any stretch a chocolate connoisseur, but I would at least consider going back if I found myself in the neighborhood with someone who was into it.

I’m scared of what happens to people who drink a large, though.

I can’t stand Gristedes. They’re overpriced, underwhelming, and manages to bring grocery shopping to a continual new low with every trip. But they are the closest grocery store to me, and my pets were hungry, so what else could I do? While browsing the frozen fruit section (because buying fresh melons every couple days for my millipedes is getting to be a bit of an annoyance), I noticed – Sierra Nevada’s spring seasonal beer!

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American news is generally a little too fair and balanced for my tastes, so I get a lot of my news from our friends across the pond. Because of that, I read an article a few days ago outlining the Tories’ plan to raise taxes on strong beer, cider, and malt beverages.

Now, let me open up with the obvious: I support taxing malternatives for the same reason I support taxing Abercrombie and Fitch: they’re just too highly correlated with sociopathic behavior (because this is a serious blog about serious topics, I’ll refrain from any terminology that ends in -baggery). And I am irreconcilably opposed to any legislation, in any country, that would increase the price of Belgian ale. So let’s call this proposal a step forward and a step backward.

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I may just have found my new favourite site.

Doesn’t it just annoy you sometimes when you discovered a wonderful new beer on tap in a bar somewhere, manage to remember the name and trace it to a brewery and maybe an online retailer or so… but then you realize you live in a state where BevMo doesn’t exist and now you’re going to have to call/visit all the local beer caves. Now imagine you live in NYC and there’s a million random grocery stores/delis/etc that randomly stock on craft beers.

Luckily, the Great Brewers’ Alliance, hooks us up with a searchable online database of the 10 nearest retailers, relative to your zip code, that bought a local alliance distributor in the past 90 days. For example, my local distribution turns out to be Union Beer Distributors in Brooklyn (which I have heard much tell of, but still haven’t made the trek out to Brooklyn to visit yet… heck, I haven’t even made it down to LES to see New Beer Distributors).

Check it out here: http://www.greatbrewers.com/union/index.php?option=com_retail&brewery=2

I now know that a grocery store just a couple blocks away from me carries Allagash White. Admittedly, it’ll probably be 200% markup or something, but at least I know I can get Allagash White whenever I feel compelled!

Rather than argue over whether or not vinaigrette counts as a liquid and therefore, eligible for a blog post (which, being slightly stupid and inebriated, Neil & I did discuss at length), I figure I’ll just post it up.

The bottle cap of this Trader Joe’s balsamic vinaigrette came off looking exactly like this — no human manipulation! Another sign of how awesome Trader Joe’s is?

(And for those who care — vinaigrette, being a oil-in-water emulsion, is about half aqueous. Good enough!)

gramstand http://www.gramstand.com/

214 Avenue A (btwn 13th & 14th st.)
New York, NY 10009
East Village

hours (their words not mine ;))
M-F: 7:30am until rather late
Weekends: 9:00am until rather late

Review after the cut! Read the rest of this entry »

Doctorate qualifying exams. Imagine that grad school is like a fraternity; qualifiers is our version of a hazing. It comes from a somewhat bygone era when intellectual inquiry was the main reason people went to get graduate degrees. And maybe there was indeed such a time that existed when people didn’t mind taking 6 months off their regularly scheduled lives to complete a 12 page research proposal that they fully intend to never carry out. Or maybe professors just want us to go through the exact same hysteria-inducing pain that they went through half a century ago (ok, maybe just 3 decades).

Either way, I have 12 pages of science stuff to write over the next 3 weeks. I could try working from my apartment and inevitably get nothing done, I could go to the school library (which I adore and love to death), but all of those will probably get old after a few couped up days. So I figure that while I’ll go to the library in the evenings/nights, this might be a good opportunity to scout out all those lovely coffee & tea houses in the city that I would never go to otherwise once I’m full time in the lab.

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I wonder if that’s grammatically correct Italian? There’s basically no chance, actually. But whatever.

Sometimes I like to drink things that are neither alcoholic, hot, nor tap water — weird, I know. There aren’t a whole lot of liquids that fill that bill, especially since I stopped drinking soda in college. At the time, it was mostly because I wanted to keep having teeth and a functioning pancreas, but since then my palate has shifted enough that I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth anymore.

I do drink fruit juice, but most of it is either too expensive or too sweet/mostly apple juice. Trader Joe’s sells some excellent juices and cocktails, and it would take an entire entry to even provide a respectable cross-section. I’ll save that for another time and just cut to the chase.

• 1 part Trader Joe’s 100% Pomegranate Juice (it comes in a glass bottle and will stain anything. You could drink certain other brands but they tend to cost about twice as much.)
• 1 part sparkling water (if you have to ask what flavor, you’re doing it wrong)

That’s it.

In my opinion, it’s a great combination. It’s not too sweet, it’s a lot lighter than straight pomegranate juice, and, unlike pretty much everything that calls itself “juice” these days, I don’t mind thinking about what’s in it. I’ve been drinking this with dinner the last couple of nights, and it really hits the spot. I’m sure it would work just as well with (real) cranberry or blueberry juice, too.

Of course, it would probably be alright with gin or maybe vodka in it, too. Hmm…

Despite Neil’s ardent protests to the contrary — I like Sam Adams. I enjoy it. It tastes delicious. I would order it at a bar. I would be happy if someone brought it to my place for a party (however, if you bring Heineken and you don’t drink all of it, I’ll have to start thinking of interesting steak marinades for it… and if you bring Bud Lite, that just means you hated me in the first place).

So, when Freshdirect offered a chance to sample 6 Sam Adams in one convenient 12pack for $16.99 of course I took it!

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Spoiler Alert: I’m not going to say one word about coffee.

I don’t normally eat breakfast — in fact, I try not to be awake at that time of the day — but I was starving on my commute (a 15 minute walk) this morning. Lunch was three hours in the future, so I dropped into my friendly neighborhood donut shop. It seemed like a better choice than the gas station.

Standing in line, anxious to purchase blueberry muffin with large granules of sugar baked into the browned, delectable crust, I saw a sign of the upcoming apocalypse: a cardboard display for what they called a “Milky Way Hot Chocolate“.

This is the point where Dave Barry would swear that he were not making this up, but this is the digital age and I’m hipper than he is, so I’ll just provide a hyperlink.

Would that I could have been a fly on the wall at that board meeting!

Generic Executive (henceforth “Atilla”): *standing in front of a whiteboard* I hate everything.

Chairman (henceforth “Ghengis”): You’re right, Atilla, the world should drown in its own filth. Faster than it is, I mean. *murmurs of agreement from board members, most of whom have goatees*

Atilla: But I don’t want to get my slightly-expensive suit dirty. *more agreement* There just has to be some way for a dedicated group of rich pudgy caucasian men to erode all that is humane and wholesome. Other than letting minority groups who aren’t hurting anybody do what they want. I mean, this is Massachusetts and we are a for-profit enterprise.

Ghengis: I have to admit, that was what I was thinking. I hear good things about superplagues though. And bombs.

Atilla: Bombs are just a fad. Viruses are trendy for a reason, I have to say, but we all kinda suck at biology, don’t we? *nervous whispers. Ghengis is visibly displeased* Never fear though, because I have something that should knock ‘em dead. *Writes on board: “Candy Bar + Hot Beverage = Civilization“* The Milky Way Hot Chocolate. *audible gasps from the board*

Ghengis: …Is that what I think it is?

Atilla: You’re damn right. People will die of diabetes, heart disease, and gingivitis faster than they can say “Diseases of excess”!

Ghengis: My sleeping god, you’re right!

Atilla: Oh, I know… MUAHAHAHAHA

Ghengis: MUAHAHAHAHA

All: MUAHAHAHAHA

Okay, maybe that’s not how it actually transpired. But if it is you heard it here first.

In response to the inevitable question, did I man up and try it for science? No I didn’t. I thought about it, but then I remembered what happened to me when I tried the Cherry Lime Sobe Coolatta one hot day last summer. I focused on my mission, and left with just a pastry.

I wish I were making that last bit up.