Overbooking the Social Calendar

I took a fashion tip from Jeremy Clarkson for this event.

Yet again, it seems my calendar is filling quicker than is possible to handle. But this usually happens in the Autumn…at least, I won’t have to run six blocks in a suit this time to perform on stage at a local theater then go to a nearby dance. Only a regretful decline is necessary. And is there enough to regret but so much more to enjoy.

With Oktoberfest (actually in SEPTEMBER) as a primer, October is when events get into high gear before the Holiday Season is upon us. With the political scene in high gear due to the Presidential election, things get really busy.

Already this month, I’ve been to a debate party; a Memorial fundraiser for Philadelphia Police officers and just recently, I tried some two Guinness varieties now available on the American market.

Today alone has no less than THREE events that range from a 25^th Anniversary Celebration in Manayunk, a Concert at the Kimmel Center with the after-party scheduled for XIX at the Bellevue and a Hendricks Gin event in Old City.

Garnish with veggies not citrus

On the plus side, the man playing the Kimmel Center, Jeff Bradshaw, I have seen one multiple occasions at various venues. If you’ve not seen him live, get out there. Or better yet, if you’re an R&B fan, buy his album. It’s quite pleasant. So I can skip that event without him being too mad. The only draw for me is to be in the Kimmel Center which I have yet to enter, but there is plenty of time.

The Anniversary celebration I’m a little saddened to be not attending. It marks the 25^th year of Jake’s Restaurant and Bruce Cooper’s investment in Manayunk’s Main St. I’ve gotten to know Bruce from my time at the paper but his reputation stretched into my early days working in Derek Davis’ restaurants while going to high school, then college. Many waiters that I worked with used to hold Jake’s as a model of how a restaurant should be run.  Now Bruce has Jake’s and Cooper’s Wine Bar and neither disappoint.

Bruce personally reached out to me last night to invite me to the celebration tonight. I will certainly try to stop by later in the evening.

Like drinking a peat bog...SMOKY!

But the event I will be attending involves an unusual kind of gin. I first had Kendrick’s while interviewing Sandra Day and the late Jim Wiest after the Delaware Valley Opera Company were forced out of their 20-year home in Fairmount Park. Jim served me a full glass of Hendrick’s with some ice and a slice of cucumber. No water, no tonic. Straight gin. I have been a fan ever since.

Those who know me know that once I give my word, I carry through. So when a friend asked me to join her for this Hendrick’s event, I accepted. Dinner in Old City then a “Voyage into the Unusual”; should be an interesting evening after all.

 

Update: I have just been invited by another friend to an Ardbeg event on Delaware Ave on Tuesday. Apparently, there will be a rocket involved. I wonder if Dan Dare or Buck Rogers will be there.

This is MY cigar

Yes, I own that sweatervest and I wore jeans on the golf course.

Yes. I made a cigar. Well, strictly speaking, I blended it. I am thrilled that it has been a VERY popular item in my local cigar shop. As a cigar aficionado, it is a culmination of something or other. It was all luck to be honest. Luck to get a spot on a trip to Honduras to start.  Here is what I wrote in my diary of that trip:

I had a definite blend in mine. Many worked from the inside out. I went the opposite way. I saw the wrapper I wanted and went from there. I wanted a cigar with a candela wrapper but was also full of flavor and distinct body. The candela wrapper was all the rage in the middle of last century. It was a distinctly green color from the captured chlorophyll because the leaf is picked early. It is seldom seen nowadays with only a few top brand names carrying them. (Fuente makes an 8-5-8 in a candela.) The wrapper was paying homage to my late grandfather who smoked Lord Beaconsfield Rounds, a short filler cigar in a candela (called Double Claro) wrapper. Even this cigar no longer comes in Candela. It is very mild but I find and earthy nuttiness to it. One of my friends compared it to "smoking spinach leaves."
To give my cigar some flavor, I chose to two ligero (full-bodied) fillers and smoothed it out with a seco filler (mild) and chose a viso (medium-bodied) binder to polish it off. My only hope was that this cigar wouldn't taste awful. Many of the guys made their cigars very full bodied, one made it very mild. Their choices included maduro wrappers or even wrappers from Cameroon. (Yes, Tobacco can grow almost everywhere.)
My recipe came as a surprise to everyone including Gustavo, the quality control manager who asked out loud, "Who the hell ordered the candela wrapper?"

I really do not miss the mustache

Not once but TWICE has my local shop sold out of this cigar. What made it even more interesting was that only recently that other cigar companies (outside of the Fuentes) have been pushing Candela wrappers. Only today, a friend looking for a good cigar said, “I’m looking for a ‘Bernard Scally’”. I gave him one of my small stash. Doubt I’ll be doing that anymore since I don’t know when more will come in.