Binge-watching & Drinking

As we are all trying to survive this pandemic most of us have found that binge watching a television series or series of movies, while drinking heavily is an unhealthy but awesome escape. Let me proffer my contribution:

Harry Potter – Custom Cocktail Pairings

The Philosopher’s Stone

  • 3 fingers of scotch
  • 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
  • A dash of lemon juice
  • 1 very chilled whiskey stone

Cocktail of Secrets

  • Grab all the bottles and a tumbler.
  • Apply a blindfold to yourself.
  • Mix without breaking anything.
  • Drink.
  • Regret.

The Azkaban

  • A double shot of Conviction Small Batch Bourbon
  • 1 oz Cointreau
  • Two dashes of blood orange bitters
  • 1 teaspoon sugar or 2 shots simple syrup
  • Shake with ice
  • Serve with a sprinkle of black pepper on top

The Goblet of Fire

  • 1 goblet mostly full of coffee
  • 1 shot of vanilla cognac
  • 2 dashes of chili powder
  • Mix
  • Pour 1 shot of overproof rum on top, gently over an upside down spoon
  • Ignite
  • Wait for the fire to stop before drinking

Boilermaker of the Phoenix

  • 1 pint Pileated Night Hawk Stout (or your favorite local stout)
  • 1 shot Eagle Rare
  • You know what to do.

Half-Blood Prince

  • 734 Brewing Apple Wine
  • 734 Brewing Oatmeal Stout
  • Pour half a pint of the former, then slowly fill with the latter poured over a spoon (black and tan style).

Hallowed Death

  • Rinse a coupe glass with absinthe.
  • Fill with chilled champagne.
  • Add 1 oz floater of Luxardo.

What’s Going on Out There?

red skyline

Every day of this lockdown I feel a little less knowledgable about what’s going on in the world around me, specifically locally. I hear fire, ambulance, and police sirens scream through the night… but what happened? The Eastern Echo used to run the police blotters, but those kids seem to all be in hiding these days. Nextdoor doesn’t really provide any information of use. MLive seems to be the closest thing to real local news for Ypsi, but it is pretty sparse and 90% of the articles are about draft picks for sports rather than anything about what’s actually happening and 90% of what’s left is about Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids for some reason (as though those were the only real cities in Michigan).

So what is left? Social media and texts from friends. Rumors.

I heard Trump reactivated the Obama Death Squads and they’re in Ypsi eliminating people who have spoken ill of Vladimir Putin on Facebook. Is Facebook still a thing? I meant Tiktok. Get off my lawn! But seriously, how do we know what is happening out there?

The other day we were waiting for food in line out front of Corner. There was a loud yelp from the lady bringing food to the car behind us and she was holding up her hand in an unnatural way. The car in question sped off and the manager came out and was on the phone. As we left I saw the cops rolling up. What was that about?

This pandemic has really driven home to me that the social media era and death of local news has unplugged us more and more from our local communities. Well, stay safe out there. I’ve got your back people of Ypsi! If you see zombies fire 3 shots in the air! 4 shots for aliens. 5 if you run out of toilet paper.

I Want Fish Tacos.

Okay, I know I’m not the only one, but I really, really, really want a fish taco or two from Dolores. Is anyone else as disappointed as I am that they are completely closed for this nonsense? I don’t know what Andrew’s situation is or if he has family members that are immunocompromised or if he ran the numbers and decided he was going to lose money just doing takeout & delivery.

He probably has good reasons for just being closed. Heck, maybe he just wanted the time to play Animal Crossing without interruption. Who am I to say that is wrong? But… tacos!

Okay I’ll stop whining about tacos now. That is all.

Support Your Local Bar, Restaurant, Pub, Venue, etc.

In these trying times we should all think about what comes after this apocalypse. Sure maybe the world will be scorched and burned, with bones bleaching in the sun and twisted mutants and zombies stumbling about in the night. But where will those mutants go for food and refreshment I ask you?

If we don’t support all our pubs and eateries now, they likely will not exist when your tentacled mutant ass wants a rat burger and some grain alcohol. So try to get some takeout from the places that are still operating.

I’m trying to keep a list up to date here: Who is Open List