I love to burp. I sometimes drink diet Pepsi really fast with deep gulps JUST so that I can make a goooood loooong burp. Thinking to myself yesterday at work, "Self, burps need more accolades and better treatment (outside of parties and home)." - even though they're essentially social pariah in most circles. I created a list of words, at least that express different essences and states of "The Burp"!

Burpage - noun; a person's presence of burp at a given moment, ex. "Your burpage tonight is quite exceptional."

Burpaphobia - noun; the fear of someone else's burp(s); aka "eructophobia".

Burpability - noun; someone's capability to burp, whether on command or with the assistance of a carbonated beverage

Anaburp - noun; the reverse burp

Burpwise - conj; a transition word and/or conjunctive adverb that initiates a burpage or burpability phrase; ex. "On a scale of high-medium-low, burpwise, I rate this meal high."

Burpacious - adj.; given to, inclined to, abounding in burpage or burpability

Burpation - noun; the state of burping; ex. "My burpation lately has been lasting longer than normal because, burpwise, I'm mixing carbonated drinks with acidic food without TUMS."

Burpness - noun; the essential quality of something (beverage, acidic meal, air, etc.) to cause burps; see also burpessence

Burply - adv; describing specifically an individual's phraseology that contains burps; ex. Finishing his last sip of diet ginger ale, Jack burply ordered another.

Burpate - adj; describing the burp state or quality of something; ex. "The burpate conversation suddenly took on a different tenet when air was no longer being burped."

Pteroburp - noun; a very rare burp stemming from the expeditious or overindulgent ingestation of fowl (turkey, chicken, squab, duck, etc.).

Burpessence - noun; the basic, real, and invariable nature of something causing burpation

Burpgate - noun; the constant denial during a social gathering of someone who is constantly burping, but no one can quite pin the burpage on them.

Burpalicious - adj; burpage or burpability that is exceptionally expressive or excessive; ex. "My, how that burpate Pepsi has made this evening burpalicious!"

Unburped - adj; the state of a burp not coming to the surface for full burpage.

Preburp - noun; the phase or period that an individual can sense that a burp is imminent

Please let me know if I've missed any! Thanks!!

If you didn't already know, I like vodka. Much like some of my friends taste and try to find the best chocolates in the world, I like to find really good vodkas. Ones that you can drink at room temperature and don't burn too much or have any bitterness to them. There are the typical bar vodkas you see like Stolichnaya, Grey Goose, Skyy, Absolut, etc., and sometimes Belvedere (not easily found in neighborhood bars).

Last year, in Washington, DC, at a friend's birthday party during DC Pride, I discovered Tito's "Handmade vodka", which was pretty good. The bartender had about 1/3 of a bottle left that I drank slowly on my own throughout the evening without a chaser. I was very happy to find that vodka and we bought a large bottle at the beginning of Bear Week 2011.

The other day, before we had friends over to discuss our upcoming trip to France, I bought a bottle of this vodka:

It's smooth, delicious, and makes really clean martinis. This bottle did not last long in this household. We finished it off last night, in fact, with a friend who is equally as discerning about his vodka as I am.  There's a Speak-Easy we go to in Manhattan once in a while and I think they use this vodka for their martinis, which are very tasty.

My all-time favorite vodka, however, is Sibirskaya, which, if ever I find a US distributor, I would set up regular deliveries of it and enjoy it for a long time.

All the places I've looked so far say that it's "discontinued". Hopefully, I'll stumble across a place that sells it or can get it in soon.

And last summer, before we boarded our cruise ship, I bought a bottle of Moskovskaya that I made last our entire cruise of 11 days before we got off in Naples. That was pretty good vodka, as well, and we didn't always have good access to ice. I was happy that we could drink it at room temp without too much of a bite from it.

Here's to the search for more of the world's best vodkas!!

When Matt and I were in Germany, I remembered Jacobs coffee, which I used to buy when I lived there and in Austria. There were other brands that were good, too, but a little more expensive or perhaps not as easy to get. Since we got back from that trip (end of 2008), I have been ordering Jacobs coffee regularly. Once in a while, I might get another kind as a one-off just for the fun of it, but more often than not, I stick with Jacobs.

Here are links to places from which I order Jacobs coffee online. It usually comes at the basic shipping rate within 2 weeks.

This site typically has better prices (per pound); right now its ~$7.00/lb:

12-pack shipment for roughly $6.50 a package (the website's math is wrong):

Currently this site has a better price (per pound) ~$6.50/lb! Their 12-pack shipment makes each package roughly $5.84! (And it's easier to order - from same page as the single package.)

There are other places, but these two sites are good competitors and I can't get a better price in Manhattan or anywhere in NJ for the same brand of coffee. There are also other kinds of coffee and countries from which I'm sure there are also good coffees, but these are by far my favorites - and I drink a LOT of coffee. Try it; you'll love it! Enjoy!

Matt hates that I love Scotch. Not just any particular Scotch, but it must preferably be Single Malt Scotch. I have liked some blended Scotches in my day, though. Matt does not like Scotch or any type of whisky at all. I like to enjoy the odd glass now and then. And, yes, I'm a one-ice-cube Scotch drinker (die-hards, go ahead and poo-poo that, but a man likes what a man likes!). Although, I have to say, if I've never tasted a certain Single Malt, I will refrain from the ice cube for the first taste - a small shot of it for the flavor and experience of its face value. Then for a full serving, I'd slide in one cube.

On Wednesday, I was offered many rare treats! Along side some wonderful pâtés, goat cheeses, truffled honey, and heavenly olives, were three bottles of (potentially very expensive) Scotch!! One of the bottles was Johnny Walker Blue. At a local retail store JWB goes for almost $200). The second I spied was a 27-yr Tomintoul, which was oaked in 1983. I would have been about 15 then. Its price point ranges possibly between $100-180 a bottle. Lastly, there stood a bottle of 16-yr Lagavulin, which is about $75.

Here are two of the bottles:


The Tomintoul was by far my favorite. A description of the 16-yr Tomintoul reads, "One of the gentler whiskies in Speyside. It's a fragrant whisky too with a firm malty foundation, fruit gum drops and caramel. Subtle notes of almond and anise helped keep my interest, as did its soft, subtle wood spice finish. Very easy to drink too!"

The extra 11 years added to the bottle definitely added more spice and starker caramel. I don't think I got the almond in the 27-yr bottle, but certainly the fruity overtones and malt were very present. There was a nice bite to it as it finished.

For the 27-yr Tomintoul, a different description reads, "Deep amber color. Sweet dried peach and apricot, brown spice, and orange blossom aromas. A very smooth rich entry leads to a dry-yet fruity full-bodied palate of sweet dried fruits, Sherry and spice with a very long fade. Excellently balanced and soft with a gently Sherried and very fruity character that makes this an easygoing pleasure to drink. This is a remarkable value as well." There was a lot of repetition in this description, which tells me the author was probably drinking glass after glass to pull in as many adjectives into his description as possible before having to leave the bottle behind. I could picture myself doing that.

I was happy to taste the JWB; people get those bottles as gifts in business. It would be nice to build up a business that would warrant that type of gift! I think I liked the Lagavulin better than the JWB, though.

So, in order of preference, taste, and complexities:
#1 - Tomintoul, 27-yr
#2 - Lagavulin, 16-yr
#3 - Johnny Walker Blue

Then we went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I got a fantastic Osso Bucco accompanied by roasted fennel mashed potatoes following a goat cheese arugula salad. Dinner was finished off with coffee and fig & honey gelato. YUM!!

Yeah, we had to ring in the new year with some amazing food after Matt and my family put out so much other good stuff for the better part of a week! Starting Monday, it's starvation mode (within reason) and exercise. Gotta look good in my summer bikini (as opposed to my winter bikini!).

Last night before going to bed, I forgot to turn on the dishwasher so the coffee carafe wasn't clean; I had no inclination of taking it out of the dishwasher and washing it by hand either. Still not feeling well (sinuses are killing me) and I only got roughly 4.5 hours of good sleep. So I opted for tea.

Whilst sipping me tea here this morning, finally starting to read through two weeks of friends' posts, I got to thinking - a quick thought and one I knew wouldn't take long to answer: Is there a difference between chemical make up of caffeine found in coffee and caffeine found in tea.





( Here's what I found out: )

So, I'm happily drinking my Lipton tea and not worrying about my typical coffee consumption (2-4 cups a day). But, I've discovered through reading all these things that I would have to drink twice the amount of tea in the mornings to match the caffeine gleaned from coffee.

When making a martini at a party (that you throw), make sure you have and use powered sugar for the sugar-rimmers. It's fabulously tasty. We discovered that at Martuni's in San Francisco. Made the blueberry lemon drop and raspberry lemon drop taste all that much more wonderful. Just a thought.

Delectable Drinks
(courtesy of Pier 1's website)

‘Tis time to raise a glass of New Year's cheer. Here are a few of our favorite holiday recipes.

Fuzzy Temple (non-alcoholic)
· 2 oz Ginger Ale
· 2 oz Stirrings™ Peach Bellini Mix
· Serve over ice in a tall Collins glass dipped in Stirrings™ Peach Bellini Rimmer.

Sparkling Lemonade (non-alcoholic)
· 2 oz Stirrings™ Lemon Drop Mix
· Top with cold sparkling water and serve in a wine or champagne glass dipped in Stirrings™ Lemon Drop Rimmer.

Hot Peppermint Cocoa (non-alcoholic)
· Prepare your cocoa as instructed (amazing with Scheffenburg chocolate!) and add 1-2 oz Stirrings™ Chocolate Peppermintini Mix. Serve steaming hot in a large mug.

12 o‘clock Bellini
· 1 oz raspberry vodka
· 1 oz Stirrings™ Peach Bellini Mix
· Top with Prosecco or dry sparkling wine in a champagne flute.

Classic Sidecar
· 2 oz brandy or cognac
· ½ oz Cointreau®
· 2 oz Stirrings™ Lemon Drop Mix
· Shake well with ice and strain into a martini glass dipped in Stirrings™ Lemon Drop Rimmer.

Classic Hot Toddy
· 2 oz brandy
· 2 oz hot black or orange pekoe tea
· 1 oz Stirrings™ Lemon Drop Mix
· Serve hot in a mug with a soothing spoon of honey.

Classic Kansas City
· 2 oz bourbon
· 1 oz coffee liqueur
· 2 oz Stirrings™ Chocolate Peppermintini Mix
· Serve in a tall Collins glass over ice.

Chocolate Peppermint Frappé
· 3 cups chocolate or vanilla ice cream
· 2 cups Stirrings™ Chocolate Peppermintini Mix
· Handful of broken candy canes and chocolate chips
· ½ cup coffee liqueur
· 2 cups dark rum
· Blend all and serve in a fancy glass with a straw; sprinkle candy canes and chocolate chips on top.

Bloody Limey
· 1 ½ oz Smirnoff® Lime Twist Vodka
· 1 ½ oz Stirrings™ Bloody Mary Mix
· Shake well with ice and serve in a martini glass with a cucumber slice.

Bloody Elite
· 1 ½ oz vodka
· 1 ½ oz Stirrings™ Bloody Mary Mix
· ¼ tsp orange zest
· Splash of orange juice
· Shake well with ice and serve in a martini glass with a cold poached jumbo shrimp.

CHEERS!!!