vastateofmind

Yep, increasingly I'm with you -- prefer darker beers, stouts, etc. It indicates "creamy," but it doesn't come off that way. Maybe some vanilla in there....really, just hints of strawberry. It's very smooth, far better than I expected!

So, moving my "drank" selections over to this thread to unclog banter a bit....I'm thinking @CAPE, @North Balti Zen, @Baltimorewx, @nw baltimore wx, @Scraff, et al, might be at least partially interested in this one, based on some of your recent selections. My wife picked this one up weeks ago and it was still lurking in the back of the fridge...Shortcake from Williamsburg, VA-based Aleworks Brewing....a strawberry blonde ale at 7% ABV. On paper, I didn't think that strawberry and hops would mix well together, but honestly it's good. Not much nose to it (not that I always smell my beer), and while I've gotten away from the lighter ales recently, and avoid the "fruity" beers as a rule....I would definitely pick this one up again.

Yes, but most critically -- did the grass dry out enough to finish your mowing?? I'm half-kidding -- I have about a third of my own mowing for the week that I didn't get to on Wednesday, and which still needs finishing. Rain and thunder are semi-threatening nearby...plus, there are IPAs that require opening between now and bedtime, so....

WOW -- sriracha/brown sugar must be an amazing combo of tastes. We do roasted Brussels sprouts once weekly, either halved or shredded, one of my favorite sides....I usually toss them in basting oil and some no-salt seasoning and (when my wife's not looking) sometimes I throw on a few shakes of red pepper flakes for a little kick. Gonna try that sriracha combo you just mentioned, though.

Roast looks amazing! And I've SO been in the mood for asparagus done up like this, been forever since we've had it....just put it on the weekly grocery list. I'm wondering how a few shakes of that new "everything bagel" seasoning we just picked up would taste before roasting...

SO. FREAKIN' CUTE. Both of 'em.

LOL. Me too.

Can confirm -- weirdly (for me), I woke up for the day at 5 a.m. and fired up the work lappy. Three bursts of heavy rain rolled through between 5:30-6:15 a.m. Currently 52. Listened to the wx radio during my mini-bout of insomnia in the 5 a.m. hour and, to your point made yesterday, they're starting to talk up the chance of stronger to possibly severe storms on Sunday afternoon.

I remember the last ice cream truck that came through our neighborhood during a heat wave last August was blaring Jingle Bells and moved into Auld Lang Syne. Nothing says "Happy Holidays!" like a melting Bomb Pop.

LOL....I used that basting oil just last night to dress up a bag of frozen meatballs for spaghetti! It's really useful for a wide variety of food prep. My aim yesterday was to throw together some quick homemade meatballs from a bit of ground turkey but then the day gets away from me...so once more Wegmans basting oil saved my cheese.

Dude, PICS! Did you get any?? I find myself now grabbing my cell phone for pics and thinking "Mid Atlantic WX Forum" whenever I crack a beer or marinade something or grill something or cook/bake something or....yeah. Pretty bad..

Up to 79 IMBY, busting high on our forecasted high of 70 (at least from this morning). Comfortable out, though.

Well, I mean....Ji christened you a bad poster, so....

Your cheese suggestions are great ones. My parents always used NY white sharp cheddar in our M&C growing up. Mrs. V tends to use milder cheeses, but I like the ones with more bite.

Curry ketchup? Now that sounds like a food of the gods....didn't know it existed! I use Frank's Red Hot like that. I often pour it all over my breakfast sandwiches and on rare occasions, scrapple. For me, their tagline is spot-on -- "I put that sh*t on EVERYTHING!"

Ketchup works....my college roomie also got me used to pouring maple syrup over scrapple back then. He was a master at making scrapple the way you describe....coating the slabs lightly in flour, browning it just so in a few pats of butter in the frying pan. Sometimes he'd cut up chunks of it with hash browns and brown that mixture together. OMG.

I'm sorry you had to deal with cancer at such an early age. And here's to an early and hearty congrats to you and Mr. J -- it can become easy to let "life" get in the way of celebrating anniversaries as time goes on, but I hope y'all take the time to do so. Clearly, you landed one of the good guys. There's hardly any of us left. This is how CBS All Access -- or is it now Paramount+ -- used to rope Star Trek fans like me in, enticing with those "TRY A FREE MONTH ON US!" trials when I'd try to catch up on Star Trek: Discovery (which is awful) and ST: Picard (only slightly better than awful). Thank God I can get the previous five ST television series on either Netflix/Hulu. Verizon Wireless previously gifted us a full FREE year of Disney+ last year, which nearly everyone seems to love (especially The Mandalorian). Over the course of that year, I watched maybe three of the animated classics from the 90s but nothing else, so I killed our account. Netflix/Hulu/Prime Video seem to check the boxes for us most of the time....we're even considering getting rid of FiOS cable now. (also, vomit emoji)

Currently 53 with a few low clouds rolling through. Forecast definitely backed off from the Thu-Mon idea of showers/drizzle to mainly late tonight through Sunday evening. Despite occasionally waving my "I LOVE ONSHORE FLOW" freak flag, to @mappy's point...we could use some precip to knock back the tree pollen explosion. Like her, my seasonal allergies are spiking big-time this week.

LOL, I had to do a quadruple-take to fully understand your meaning. And yes -- at this point, Kona was really put out with me because A) I kept her inside while I mowed an hour before this, and B) then forgot to let her out while I snapped these pics. #BadDogDad BTW, we finally did get several rounds of heavy sprinkles over the past hour....so those clouds weren't necessarily lying. Not heavy enough to show up on radar, though.

Mrs. V called me on her way home from work short while ago telling me how ominous the skies look. Sure enough, the sky to the west does have that telltale "Yep, storms incoming" look that we typically get in these parts, usually starting in a few weeks....but there's ZERO activity on radar, in the entire metro region. Very weird...

Hit 85 IMBY short while ago...and just as I was going out to mow the yards! Yeah, that seems a toasty temp for this time of year, but honestly, it was NOT bad even in the sun. At least, I didn't get AS gross/sweaty as I normally do while mowing on afternoons from late May through early September.

Any chance we can get the "vomit" emoji enabled on the fly-out reaction button at the lower right of each post, just until we get clear of cicada season? Asking for a friend.

OMG...I'll bet the Boulevard Imperial Cask will be absolutely amazing...do share your impression when the time arrives! Unfortunately, I could only enjoy one Boulevard while at the Brass Tap last week....they are all about the lofty ABV counts, but man, they do it so well.

Looks awesome, as usual....a neighbor has a beautiful bed of phlox going, I LOVE that stuff.