Blue Apron

Somewhere along the way, I became the one responsible for most of the cooking at home. My wife would tell you that it's because I'm controlling, and that she'd rather just let me do it and than get in my way. This line of reasoning sounds pretty convenient for her, but not so much for me. Also inconvenient, for anyone who has ever gone grocery shopping and/or cooked dinner, is planning it all out.

"What do you want to eat this week," it starts out, when one of us says this to the other just before we set out for the grocery store.

"Yeah, I'll have a 20-piece McNugget, a medium fry and a cheeseburger," it eventually ends, when I say this out my driver's side window to the speaker box at the Mac-Deezy drive-thru.

#firstworldproblems

What IS convenient, however, is the meal-planning service that she signed us up for: Blue Apron. Basically, it's a subscription service like Graze Box, Crafted Taste Cocktails Box, Birch Box, or any other sort of box, but they provide you with meal recipes and all the ingredients needed to make them.

The box upon arrival.

Our first foray included recipes and ingredient for three meals: A salmon dish, a lamb pasta dish, and a chicken with kale dish.

Buncha stuff.

We decided to make the salmon dish first; rice flake crusted salmon, with ginger mustard greens, and miso mashed Japanese sweet potatoes. If it sounds fancy, it kind of was...and I liked it. The recipe was pretty simple, and the box had everything I needed (except some basics like salt/pepper and olive oil). Fifteen minutes after we opened the box, we had a great meal that we never could have come up with on our own. I'm pumped to see what's next.

MMmm.

I wonder if there is a buffalo wings box out there I can sign up for?

Birthday Blues

Every year it comes, whether you want it to or not, another birthday and another year older. For me, birthdays are a cycle of shame that basically lead to my expectations getting really high for an amazing day of wonder that actually just turns out to be a normal day with a lot of Facebook notifications.

I'm not usually someone who worries about getting older, but this year I'm turning thirty, which has me feeling rather old and reflective. Am I where I want to be? Is this as tall as I will ever be? Could I be nicer to my co-workers? I have decided that in the next year I want to try to be my best self, which includes:

• I signed up to be a Big Brother/Big Sister mentor. I may not have all the answers, but I can try, right?
• I want to live in the moment as much as possible. We all know that life is short, but when you factor in 40 hours a week of work, it really is short. I want to be present and enjoy what free time I do have as much as possible.
• Try to eat more vegetables. I'm not the biggest fan of veggies and at best eat one a day. I need to expand my palate and eat more of the green stuff. Which may mean less potato chips?
• Don't sweat the small stuff. I tend to stress about really dumb stuff that in a few years won't even matter. I'd like to let go and just enjoy the ride a little more (see point 2). 

Whew, I'm sweating just thinking about it all! Happy Birthday to all my October Birthday friends, which I believe is truly the best birthday month.

Knicks/Celtics

The climax of baseball season upon us; exciting but short-lived. At the same time, football season in full swing; but I've never been much of a fan, which I know is sacrilegious talk for an American male. Lucky for me, however, another sports season that I very much enjoy is on the horizon. I'm talking about basketball season. The Boston Celtics first regular season game is coming up on October 29, and the UConn Huskies men play their first game just shy of a week later.

Last night, some friends and I heralded in the coming season by attending the Boston Celtics/New York Knicks pre-season game at the XL Center in awesome Hartford (for previous coverage of "New England's Rising Star" see here).

Basically Hartford.

It was my first NBA game, and despite having to haul up to Hartford, I was pretty excited. Attendance was pretty low, which was a surprise, but we got to see some of the starters get in some good play, which was also a surprise. Unfortunately, Celtics point guard and assist magician Rajon Rondo is out for the first few games of the season due to injury.

But Kelly Olynyk, Brandon Bass, and especially Jared Sullinger played great, and led the Celtics to a 20 point win over the Knicks. On the blue/orange side, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire played nearly the whole game, and there was a pretty sick performance by some upstart named Travis Wear who isn't even listed on their roster. According to to the ticket, it was a home game for the Celtics, and they were pretty hyped about it:

17 time?! Oh, and the Knicks are playing too.

My buddy is a pretty die-hard NY fan, he got pretty bummed during the last minute of the game.

Yo, D, what are you looking at?

Oh, yeah, that.

Having a Moment: Skinny Sweatpants

Historically sweatpants have been seen as the thing you wear when you're feeling a little chubby and hiding in your room. I wore sweatpants pretty much every day in college, where the only place I could buy clothes was my school bookstore. But this season, it seems sweatpants have gotten an upgrade and are fashion forward in a new skinny fit, which is clearly why I jumped on the band wagon and bought a pair from Jcrew.

While I'm unsure how fashion forward I look, I can tell you that they are extremely comfortable and actually pretty flattering. Run out and get your own pair now, here are a few cute options:

Gap

Old Navy 

JCrew Factory

iPhone 6 miracle

A few weeks ago my job gave me the okay to get a new iPhone 6 that they would be paying for. To say I was elated would be an understatement. To add to my joy, I didn't have to wait in line with the rest of the crazies--they ordered it for me and it was here two days after they were released. I loved it and felt so special, until the unthinkable happened. Forced to wait for a new case from J.Crew I was going case-less and fancy free, when I dropped it on the pavement. The screen cracked and and so did my swagger.

All I could think about for days was this stupid crack. Every time I looked at it I was reminded of my failure. I figured I was going to have to pay a few hundred dollars to get it replaced (karma for being so sassy about my free phone) until the ultimate iPhone miracle happened. I went to the Apple store today and they replaced it completely for free! And so my iPhone 6 fairy tale continues.

Oktoberfest!

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on fall finally being upon us, I thought it would also be appropriate to do a post about another fall tradition: Oktoberfest Parties. This is timely for two reasons;

The first being that tomorrow is October 1st, and while the American liquor store tradition seems to be that Oktoberfest official starts some time in mid-August, my Hello Kitty wall calendar does not lie.

The time is nigh, y'all.

The second reason for this post is because I was invited to an Oktoberfest party this Friday (because I'm popular and people invite me to stuff like that, and I'm pretty excited!

Probably me on Friday.

At any rate, I'd like to go over some basics. First, Oktoberfest is for me, like a lot of folks, very much about the beer. Oktoberfest beer is a style called "Marzen," which is German for March; the month when the beer is traditionally brewed to age all spring and summer to finally be enjoyed in the fall. It's a Bavarian-style lager, characterized by amber-to-brown color, malty flavor, and low bitterness. Basically, it is the opposite of an IPA, which is  a lot of the reason I like Oktoberfest beers. Not that I don't enjoy IPAs, but being a rich, deep season, fall deserves a rich, deep beer to enjoy therein. There is more to the season than a good drunk, though, and food and festivity play a big part, as well.

Drinks

Pretty much every brewery puts out an Oktoberfest; Samuel Adams, Brooklyn, and Harpoon are some of the more common ones to see on tap here in the Northeast. Some of my favorites include:

Spaten: A large Munich brewery, Spaten Oktoberfest is the definition of Oktoberfest beer.

Hofbrau: Another large Munich brewery, I like Hofbrau Oktoberfest because it's a bit lighter than most. Anyone hesitant to put down the Budweiser can will definitely enjoy this one.

Hooker: A smaller brewery from right here in Connecticut, Hooker has long been one of my favorite Oktoberfest beers. In fact, right now is a good time to visit the Thomas Hooker brewery up in Bloomfield and suck down as much as you can right from the tap for $5.

Eats

Once you've got your beer, it's time to get your grub on. The best (and most common) Oktoberfest party dishes are the classics: beer brats and homemade pretzels with cheese sauce.

Beer Brats: I use this recipe.

Mmmm cheese: recipe.

Accessories

Beer Stein: You've probably all been to or seen a stein-holding contest around this time of year at your local bar. Why not bring the competitive fun to your on Oktoberfest party? A sweet 1-Liter Hofbrau stein from Amazon only run you $15.

This guy's elbow game looks a bit weak.

Beer Boot: I can't really claim to know much about the legitimacy of tradition on this one. According to this shady, citation-less wikipedia article, there is some legend about an army general promising his soldiers they can drink from his boot if they were successful in battle. That actually sounds like more of an incentive not to be successful, but none the less, we now have a tradition of filling the glass boot, and passing it around to toast our successes. A 2-Liter glass boot will cost you about $28 from Amazon.

A word of advice: when drinking from the boot, turn it so that the toe points to the side, otherwise enjoy a splash of malty brew to the face.

das boot.

Fall/Autumn

It's here! September 23 marks the first official day of Autumn and I couldn't be happier. Maybe it's because I am an October baby, but everything about this time of year makes me excited: pumpkins, Halloween, cooler weather, sweaters, apples, the list goes on and on. Although we are still experiencing an Indian Summer in New England, I had the chance to partake in a few fun fall activities this past weekend, including apple picking, pumpkin picking, and wine drinking. Now I just have to figure out what to do with all these apples. Ideas?