Ad Hoc at home first try.

Lately I have been getting books from the library down the street and placing them on the coffee table in order to appear smarter than I am, however since Killer ( my cat) and Amy know I am full of it I have started to try and put these books to use. My latest book is Ad Hoc at Home from Thomas Keller, here is a whole blog dedicated to what i am dedicating one post too : http://adhocathome.blogspot.com/ .  Today I attempted Pickling veggies. Green Beans. I Really love when they put green beans in Bloody Mary's so I wanted to make my own.  I think it went pretty well, however I did add some spice to mine with a whole Jalapeno... if you do this ... do not stand over the boiling water while boiling said Jalapeno..here are photos of what i did. 

YELP CRAZY !!!

Ok so I love writing reviews on YELP.com but I always end up saving them until i have WAY too many to write. Well I am in the midst of one of those times.... and while I did crank out about 10 on friday I still have a good 15 or so to share with you... so i thought I would share a few here.
Here is the link if you want to check out more also: douglasblake.yelp.com here are todays.
I recently took a trip to NAPA and had two very different experiences at Gamble and at Cakebread. Enjoy.

  Gamble Family Vineyard 5 out of 5 stars :

 As mentioned previously this is by appointment only, not because they are stuffy, or snobby simply because they have room for 2 groups at a time only. Quaint I believe is the word. There is nothing more peaceful than going to Gamble with your picnic lunch. Enjoying some lovely white wine and watching the wind blow the vines in the background. Its wonderful. If this was not the best experience i have had at a Vineyard it has to be in the top 3. The wine, and that is what it's all about right, the wine is fantastic. Just simply fantastic. I joined the red only wine club only to hold me over until I can go back.


  CAKEBREAD Cellars 1 out of 5 stars

 What a bunch of SNOBS. You are not better than everyone and just because there is someone semi famous in our group it does not mean you can ignore the rest of us. What a joke. Every step of the way we were encountered with rudeness, from trying to set up the appointment, to letting them know that traffic was making us late, to the actual appointment. Some people need to get over themselves and their name is Cakebread. Oh as far as the wine goes, there are plenty and I mean PLENTY of places you can go to where you wont encounter such obtuse service.

College football Saturday

There I was in the Congo

Friday!!!

It's Friday. Things to do. Eat hot dogs. Play tennis. Drink wine. Try blogger app. Here is a photo of a work in progress.

I want candy

What a crazy week. Let me walk you through it.

While making a harmless salad I stabbed myself in the hand on tuesday while trying to get a pit out of an avocado. For the first time I debated if i needed to get stitches ... hopefully the right decision was made ( no stitches )
I saw some improv and discovered New York Improv is way better than San Francisco improv. Bought a coffee table. Drank wine on my porch.

Rooted for the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins.

Drank more wine.

In the past i have given up things such as beer, fries, Fast and Furious movies... this month I have decided to give up candy.

I eat a lot of i. I love it. I kind of want to see how hard it is to give up! Wish me luck. So day One was yesterday. So far so good.

Hello San Francisco!

So I have been here for almost 2 months! Time flies. Loving it here for sure I finally got to work on getting a new Business Card.
It came down to 2 choices :

I really wanted the first one to work.... I really did. But it just does not "POP" as much as the second one. What do you think?