Tin Cup

Just finished watching the Phillies beat the Reds again and switched over to watch the end of Tin Cup. What a great ending when he finally holes it out for a 12 in the US Open and throws the ball into the water to join the other half dozen or so he put in the pond. He also gets the girl in the end. He even makes the statement "Nice par David", to sound like an insult.

Great American Ball Park

Just back from the Phillies v Reds game in Cincinnati. Phils won 3-2 with Hamels pitching 6 innings but not getting the decision. Madsen got the save.

Great ballpark but on a beautiful summer night at 80 degrees with the best team in baseball visiting they could only get 20,000 or so fans to come out. The stadium is nice, the fans friendly (although not as friendly as St Louis), and the food great. Had two chilli cheese dogs which were very tasty, although the chilli dog at the Rokies was the best I've had at a ballpark, or perhaps ever. They also have a BBQ shack in the outfield serving brisket. They have a different speciality sandwich depending on the team visiting. Tonight was the Philly Cheesesteak. Brisket on a roll covered with cheese wiz. The brisket was tender but not especially flavorful, the wiz was gooey but the roll was just average. Worth trying once but that was it. All up a fun night with the good guys winning.

Tinto

Took Mrs Cast Iron to Tinto for her birthday recently. I had been once before and had another awesome dinner. We went with the upper end chef's selection ($70 each) with the wine pairing ($30). Our favorites were:

LOBSTER - smoked roe, brioche, truffle espuma

NEW YORK STRIP - herb roasted trumpets, truffled goat cheese

REVUELTO DE BACALAO - soft scrambled egg, black cod, goat cheese, spinach

but we probably had another half dozen dishes, including dessert, all of which we good.

We weren't much for the two red wine selections but the white wine was excellent. It was VERDEJO, Ermita de Nieve, Rueda, 2010. It is apparently a special order in PA.

Also tried the Darkhorse Boffo Brown Ale. First sip was excellent but the next just proved to be average.

The server we had was very knowledgable and friendly. Once we decided what we wanted it came quickly. All up we were in and out within about 90 minutes.

Smuttynose

Just back from Maine and New Hampshire and tried the local Portsmouth brew, Smuttynose. Both the Pale Ale and Summer ales were delicious. The Summer was particular good and probably one of my favorite summer ales.

PrimeTime also shared with me a Sierra Nevada Summer Ale. A good summer beer, that is not too light and has plenty of flavor. This was in exchange for the Cooper's Sparkling Ale, Steinlager and James Boags that I gave PT, T-Bone and Bone Marrow in our beer exchange. The exchange is on life support. For those keeping count I have supplied 6 varieties, PT 2 and TB and BM 1 each. Very disappointing boys.