Grover is by far the funkiest.

Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

Jalapeno infused tequila

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession to make.

I like chili peppers.

I'm not one of these crazy people on a mad quest for ever more insane levels of heat in their spicy pepper dishes, but I enjoy a little burn. But more than just the heat, peppers are such a great sensory experience. They add complex flavors to dishes. They're beautiful to look at. I love the smell when one cuts into a fresh jalapeno. I love the assortment of colors in the pepper section of your local grocer.

I previously posted about trying chili beer at the great American Beer Fest in Denver. I was reluctant to try it, but it turned out that I really enjoyed it. Not an everyday beer, by any means, but so very delicious.

Well, I've had a similar reluctance to try any spicy or chili-infused liquors or cocktails. A bloody mary sounds disgusting to me, but mostly because of the tomato juice. I know Absolut makes a chili pepper flavored vodka called Absolut Peppar, but that also sounds nasty to me. And really, I don't do that much drinking anyway, so when I do drink I prefer my old standby, a Dark and Stormy. Or maybe a caipirinha. Anything from the mint/lime/ginger/rum/etc family.

But the other night I found myself at Poquito's in Seattle. The drink menu had something called a Jala-pina. If my memory serves me, it had jalapeno-infused tequilla, pineapple juice, and a lime squeeze. It was delicious. The jalapeno notes are just a bit spicy, but it's more about the flavors. The spicy notes of jalapeno go so well with the sweet pineapple. Actually, now that I think about it, a good pineapple-jalapeno salsa is one of my favorite things, too. Anyway, I could have downed these Jala-pinas endlessly, but restricted myself to just two.

A few days later I was at a big nerdy gaming event in Everett. The drink menu had something called a "Lord of the Pit", composed of whiskey, bitters, Thai chili-infused simple syrup, grenadine, and soda water. My friend V ordered one and I liked it so much I had to order one of my own.

Now I'm on a chili cocktail kick. I just purchased some fresh jalapenos and some Patron Silver so I can make my own jalapeno-infused tequila. I went with Silver because it has a cleaner, simpler flavor that I'm hoping will allow the jalapeno to shine through. It might be worth trying with a more oaky tequila to see how the flavors interact, but for my first try I wanted something simpler.

I plan to start the infusion tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Endcap of awesome

Endcap of awesome
Originally uploaded by thewbert.

So I was walking through Barnes and Noble the other day and stumbled on this endcap. Now, I was a bit surprised. I know that both "Calvin and Hobbes" and "The Far Side" are the best comics ever, but they've both been done with their runs for, what, more than a decade? According to wikipedia they both ended their runs in 1995, though at opposite ends of the year. So I was wondering if these titles were featured on an endcap because they're still selling really well, despite ending their runs 15 years ago, or if someone who works there is simply a fan of the good stuff? Either way, it was nice to see them displayed so prominently.

Why Surveying is Important

Oops.

Surveying mistakes are rare, and rarely so visible.  Here a mistake of inches caused a ramp-in-progress to be torn down and the contractors to have to start over.