Belgian Congo Ale

So the brew master at Devil's Backbone is a history buff and likes to have a bit of fun with his beers, and he created this delight: Belgian Congo Style Ale. Suppose the Belgians abroad had behaved like the English in their colonies. The English wanted English Ale in India, but it spoiled as ballast on ships in transit. Their cure: add more of the natural preservative hops, accidentally inventing IPA. It took a long time for anyone to really actually like India Pale Ale, but they eventually did.
Now what if the Belgians did the same thing with Belgian Ales to get them to officers in the Congo? Well, you would get something like Devil Backbone's CPA. Isn't that awesome?
I am thrilled to have it at the Darjeeling Café. It's really delicious, one if the best things DB has created. It's refreshing and complex and most of all drinkable. I could put away a few of these in one sitting easy. Plus, it's local Virginia beer, and that's good for everyone.

Girls at Darjeeling

These ladies are Rockin out on Saturday at Darjeeling. Hell yeah.

Reading Liberally at the Restaurant

On Thursday we discussed Unscientific America by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum at the restaurant for Reading Liberally. The book depressed me because it paints a rather grim picture of the current state of the union, and I don't think there's much hope in it. On the other hand, I know it isn't that grim. Sure, there are way too many people who think Noah's Ark was real, but look how far we've come. The world is becoming a better place all the time. 50 years ago, black people had to sit in a different part of the movie theater in Staunton, and they had to enjoy a different park, too. If that's not moving toward a more enlightened public, I don't what is. There might not be very many people who care about science, and there probably should be more, but aren't there more today than there were 50 years ago? Mooney says no.

I disagree. I was looking forward to his chapter called "Bruising their Religion" because I wanted to know how a Bright can speak with a person who believes in the demented idea that a magic man in the sky made humanity from mud. I often think that I am more like a "New Atheist" than I am anything else. But it occurred to me while reading this book, that I haven't had to talk about evolution in ages and there isn't any way to talk to insane people who refuse to accept facts. Maybe I'm not confronted by crazies as often as I was in Orange County, CA, but maybe there are just fewer people in general who actually believe the Old Testament is real. Why do I even need to think about that part of science. I'd rather trip out about cool space stuff and talk with people about sci-fi things that look like they might be the coming reality. I talk with my friends about RadioLab and Science Friday and NPR and politics and technology and wine and coffee and tea and beer and all sorts of things that are awesome. I know some people who go to church, but we never talk about Jesus except that, yeah, I read the Bible, and I think it was a good book and can engage on some level in the same way I engage in discussions about Moby Dick.

Anyway, I am writing this right before the Friday night dinner rush, so I have to go. It's really very cool to host Reading Liberally at the Darjeeling Café, and I hope if you live in Staunton, you can come discuss the next book with us: The Wealth of Nature. The one after that (June's) will Drift by Rachel Maddow. Good discussions will follow. I love this part about owning a restaurant.

Stegmaier Honey Suckle Ale

 

Normally, I don't eat honey because I'm ethically against it. But, I drank this beer thinking it didn't actually have honey in it. It turns out it does.

Anyway, it's a perfect spring and summer drink if you don't mind drinking honey. It's slightly sweet and goes down smooth. We have a case of it at the restaurant for May if you want to come by and give it a try.

Last week, I earned my introductory sommelier course certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers. The class was pretty intense, and I learned a lot. The exam was challenging, too. That means that I am currently the most highly educated wine professional in this area. What does that mean?

Well, that means that we are well on our way to making the Darjeeling Café the wine destination of Virginia. We are centrally located in Staunton, Virginia, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley surrounded by vineyards and wineries, and we have the most extensive wine list in the region. Our cellar currently feautures 156 different labels! Many of them are local, regional, or state wineries, but we also have a wonderful selection of old world and new world wines, too.

Isn't that cool? Soon, I want to get my certified sommelier level. Then, maybe I'll even do my advanced level. To do the advanced you have to be able to blind taste a lot better than I can now, but I will persevere!

Tonight, we are hosting a Rock Star Wine Dinner featuring some wines owned by rock stars and a dinner menu inspired by their songs. We're also starting a class on the 30th called Wine for Nubes. That's going to be a monthly thing. I just got finished talking with someone about doing a wine festival in Staunton. Things are happening.

Utah’s Mole Man Resurfaces

There’s another part of the mine.
An entirely new direction.

When I called that mountain evil,
when I said it was still alive,
I meant the part in which I murdered
the men--not the part
where coal still sits.

Making fun of the way I look, poets
will not help matters one bit
calling me Mole Man is hurtful.

Utah Mole Man

Utah Mole Man

The man from the federal derpartment
of mine safety spoke to cameras for nine 9 days
regarding the nine 9 men hidden beneath
crumbling mounds of coal.

The nine men were dead.
The nine men were dead.
The nine men were dead.

Mr. Mole did it.
Mr. Mole murdered all nine men.

He came out of the mountain
and told the cameras
the mountain is still alive.

Seizmic activity shows how
the mountain is still alive.
Tectonic movement is not an issue
here, Mr. Mole.
The mountain moves because it is uncomfortable.

If you’re deep enough. It’s uncomfortable.
When it starts to hurt, tremble.
Mr. Mole wears a tie.
Mr. Mole sent more men to stab at her.

All three died.
All three died.
All three died.

It's very hard work running a restaurant; the Darjeeling Café is no different from others in that respect.
We pay more than anyone else in town, we are offering health insurance, we try to make this place a family with its people. Unfortunately, none of that is enough. And now that we've been so good to people, the people we've hired have become lazy and then withered. It's been a chore trying to get spoiled workers to do their jobs. So big changes have taken place, and it's been painful and hurtful, but I'm really excited about the next step.

Many restaurants have had huge change-ups in their first six months. It's funny that we have been in business for four years but feel like we are starting all over again here. At this point, we just want to work with people who want to work and don't complain all the time about working. If you don't like this business, why are you in it? If you don't want to be a chef, why are you bothering? It's a tough job. If you can't handle it, don't bother working in this industry. I'm on my feet something like 70 hours a week. Sometimes 80. It's hard work. Cry-babies need not apply.
 I DON'T WANT TO SEEM CALLOUS, but jeez.

I've run a restaurant for a while now. We just got rid of a lot of dead wood. It's depressing, but I can't wait to work with grown-ups again. We are interviewing like crazy.

Share Something with an American You Love

I've been thinking a lot about tea in America. I've been thinking a lot about how Americans drink and maybe just how Americans are.
Before beer and wine and spirits and tea and cola, there was water. Just like animals, the only thing we drank was water, and it was by far the most important thing humans did. The first non-water drinks people got hold of was considered magical or to at least possess supernatural powers and a connection to gods and the cosmos.
Ancient people drank from shared vessels with long straws, and rituals were built around drinks. The vessels were held aloft in a gesture of thanks or offering to the supernatural. Then people shared drinks.
Unlike food, drinks can actually be truly shared. When everything is coming out of the same pot, it's not like cutting up pieces of bread or pizza, where everything is unequal and maybe you got an extra mushroom on yours and I didn't get as much onion on mine. Everything in the pot is the same when it comes to liquid, and when we're drinking from straws, we are literally drinking the same thing.
Eventually ceramics and glass and silver became more readily accessible, and people were all able to afford to drink from their very own cups. When people drank, though, they did it together and when they had their own cups, they raised them up like they did shared vessels and then clinked them together as gesture representing that what they were drinking came from a single vessel.

Drinking is a magical necessity of life. And it's something that we build our cultures around. Everything else can be put on hold as long as you keep drinking. Without drinking, you're dead.

Tea, is still drunk today–for the most part–out of a shared vessel that is displayed on or around the table. If you drink alone, it's still great, but not the same. And this brings me to Americans...
Americans like things in their OWN cups that they pour THEMSELVES. Approximately 85% of tea drunk in America is iced. They drink it in bottles from 7-11and big cups from Hardy's. This separates them from an important part of their humanity because it turns them into islands separated by liquid rather than members of a community that's connected by drink. Drink brings us together, don't let big businesses and corporations and politicians and other interests keep us from that. Share a bottle of something today. Share a pot of tea. Share a carafe. Whatever it is, do it with someone else and have an experience.