Peace out for now

Hey ya'll - I'm having surgery tomorrow, so I won't be blogging for at least a week or so. Nothing major, just repairing some degenerative damage to my right wrist. I've had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis since age 5, and a lot of my joints have deteriorated to the point of needing repair. I didn't expect to be having this surgery so soon, but I guess it's another way for the universe to reiterate to me that everything in life cannot be planned out. I'll be off work until next Monday or so - I'm going to try to relax in my time off, and not stress about all the stuff I'm not able to do. Anyway, I'm practicing typing with my left hand, but fine motor tasks in general are going to be kind of difficult for the next few weeks.

Any suggestions for good books to read/movies to watch while I'm recovering?

PS - Check out this awesome bag my grammy and Val made me! I have got to learn this cable stitch for myself...once I've got the use of two hands again.

Duck Rabbit Brewery

On our way back from the Outer Banks, we decided to take a small detour to visit one of Sal's favorite NC breweries, The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery. Sal had some sort of divine inspiration on the way up to Kitty Hawk, and decided to see if Farmville, where Duck-Rabbit is brewed, was anywhere near our travelling path. He checked out their website, and lo and behold - it was an easy detour on our way back to Wilmington. Filled with anticipation of a brewery tour and stocking up on cases of beer, we headed back home with our sights set on Farmville.

Driving into Farmville was a little like entering the town where I grew up, but actually slightly more run down. There was at least one stop light, which is a big deal for a small town, but other than that, we didn't see a whole lot that inspired us to hang around. We followed the directions I wrote down from Google Maps, but even I started to wonder if I had missed something somewhere. We turned right onto an apparently dead end road near an industrial site - nope; I was right. We pulled up in front of 4519 West Pine Street and started laughing. To say that the building was unassuming would be an understatement. Not exactly what we expected, but we decided to give it a go anyway.

So glad we did. After wandering around the outside of the building, we finally decided to try the brown door in the front. We pushed it open and yelled hello (we know from experience to loudly introduce your presence in small towns or sketchy residences in case the owner is a trigger happy gun owner). We didn't hear anything, so we followed the sound of voices and made our way through the office into what turned out to be the huge brewing center/warehouse of The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery.

There we discovered Paul and Ryan, the two men behind Duck-Rabbit, hard at work creating an experimental brew. We apologized for barging in, but they were completely welcoming, even though they were obviously in the middle of some labor-intensive beer making. They invited us to look around until they were finished, and gave me permission to take some photos. When they were done, Paul took the time to tell me a little bit about Duck-Rabbit and what they do. Here's what I learned:

Paul Philippon, the founder, was working on a Ph.D in Philosophy at the University of Michigan when he started doing some home brewing. Seeing that the job prospects kind of suck in the world of Philosophy, he decided to start his own brewery and produced the first Duck-Rabbit beer in August of 2004. He chose Farmville for it's inexpensive real estate and the possibility to expand if needed. His partner in crime, Ryan (on the left in the photo), got a job simply by calling him up and asking if Paul needed help. He did. Duck-Rabbit now distributes to four states, having just added Georgia this week. They produce four standard brews: Milk Stout (YUM!), Brown Ale, Amber Ale (Sal's current fave), and a Porter, plus seasonal a variety of seasonal offerings.

The brewing set up was pretty cool, with giant drums holding from one to three batches of beer. One batch of 520 gallons produces about 270 cases in 2 weeks. That seems like a lot of beer, and must be a ton of work for two guys, but it really isn't that much as compared to say, Miller Brewing Co. that produces something like 3.1 million cases per year. Needless to say, Duck-Rabbit kicks the behind of Miller, taste wise.

If you want to pick up some Duck-Rabbit beer for yourself, don't plan on getting it at the brewery; they don't sell it there, much to our disappointment. You can, however, pick it up in Wilmington at Tidal Creek, as well as a bunch of other places locally and all over the state.

Many thanks to Paul and Ryan for their hospitality, and for taking the time to teach us about brewing. Next time we drink a Duck-Rabbit beer out of our new pint glass, we'll be able to picture exactly where, and by whom it was created. Mmmmm. Beer.

On the road again.

The month of February is a busy one for us. As you know, I was in Florida last week - Friday we're going to Charleston, and this past weekend we visited the Outer Banks. We were really fortunate to have received a generous gift of a free weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn at Kitty Hawk. We love the Outer Banks, and hadn't been up that way for over 9 years (a travesty!), so it was a great getaway.

As usual, we tried to get the local flavor when looking for somewhere to eat. Last time we were there, Sal and I had to search hard to find somewhere to eat during the off-season. On this trip we could have eaten at any one of the fast food places that have unfortunately popped up around town, but of course, we have more sense in our heads than that. We opted for the RunDown Cafe the first night, a cool little place within walking distance of our hotel. Both of us opted for the mahi, which was delish.

The next evening we decided to try the Outer Banks Brewing Station, which had the obvious draw of locally brewed beer. I'm telling you, if the Mack-Daddy Stout wasn't $19 for a growler, I would have brought home a kegful. Sal tried the Compass Rose ‘Secret-Spiced’ Ale. I immediately identified the secret spice, which was confirmed by our waitress, but I won't reveal it here in case you want to solve the mystery on your own. Email me if you're curious.

Okay, so fabulous dinners abounded, but the best meal of all had to have been the breakfast we got from Duck Donuts. Holy goodness. Right across the street from the Hilton is this little, unassuming place that serves made-to-order hot cake donuts that you can have dipped in the icing and coating of your choice. Oh my lordy, you have no idea. I'm actually not a huge donut fan in general, but I could probably eat these every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly content. I tried to just order one, but the super cool woman who runs the place, Paulique, gave me two (but only charged me for one) because they were "small." Total price: $3.08.

Sal mixed it up by choosing a strawberry icing/chocolate sprinkle combo as well as a chocolate icing/rainbow sprinkles one. I kept it simple and went for a double dose of the chocolate/coconut. You know how I love the coconut. We took them back to our room and ate them on our oceanfront balcony with a cup of coffee. Seriously? These donuts were beyond believable: warm, gooey, sweet and perfect. Mmmmm. We may plan a trip back just to see Paulique.

FYI...

...the following posts were posted a little late due to the fact that wireless connection I had been logging on to has suddenly become password protected. Durn. Consequently, I may be a little less frequent in the blogging until I find a more convenient solution.