Recommended Game — Bad Piggies

by A.J. Coltrane

Bad Piggies. If you’re not already familiar, here’s a pic:

It’s another physics-based game by the same folks that created Angry Birds. The object is to build a very silly machine and pilot it to the finish line. Crossing the finish line in one piece is optional, usually. The vehicle in the picture above features two drive wheels, two fans to help push, a little engine in the back, an umbrella to pull things along, and pop bottles for extra “oomph” when needed. Will that build work? As likely as not, yes. Oftentimes you don’t know until you try. I’ve had some strange looking stuff succeed when the obvious solution failed.

It’s free. There are tons of popups that are easy to click through. I’d guess that the pay version removes the ads. I got a bunch of hours out of Bad Piggies before sort of hitting the wall a bit — the challenges can get very challenging.

It’s a little silly *and* can be sort of brain-twisting. If you liked Angry Birds, or you just think that building fanciful machines might be fun, give this one a download. Highly recommended.

Beer of the Week: Laughing Dog Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

If you live in the Northwest, you have probably seen Laughing Dog’s beers in most places, including your local megamart, and just not bothered with them. If you are doing that, then you are definitely missing out on one of the better breweries in the Northwest and one that, despite wide distribution, really seems to fly under the radar. They make some killer IPA’s and a few years back, they started putting out an Imperial IPA, available in 12 oz. bottles for around $4. Knowing that I love their other beers, it was time to give the imperial a shot, especially since I found out that this beer was finished with honey.

From the Laughing Dog website:

Sneaky Pete is a blend of five hop types: Simcoe, Glacier, Centennial, Vanguard and Hallertauer, with Simcoe playing the dominate role at 30%. In addition, three separate malts were used: Honey Malt, Rye Malt, and Munich Malt. The brew has a copious aroma of white grapefruit, citrus overtones, a complex rich middle and long flavors in the finish; a real beauty. Finished with wild clover honey. 89 IBU’s, 10% ABV

The beer pours deep amber red in color with a tan head. Notes of honey, caramel and hops dominate the nose with floral notes and light hints of toffee in the background. The beer starts off fairly mild on the palate with light malt sweetness before quickly moving into what you would expect from an Imperial IPA – strong notes of citrus and grapefruit with hints of resin first make an appearance before yielding to a significant pleasant bitterness that fades into a spectacular finally where the hop character is joined by a touch of sweetness and a touch of caramel that lingers and intermingles with the citrus bitterness, creating a sweet and bitter dynamic. The balance on this beer is superb and the layering complex with the added bonus of the 10% alcohol being completely unnoticeable, making this beer surprisingly easy to drink. My biggest surprise with this beer is that they honey adds a noticeable depth and very light earthiness and manages to not be overpowered by the bold hop flavor in this beer.

Laughing Dog Sneaky Pete grabs its leash and takes you out for a walk with 5 big dogs out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Esmeralda Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Sorry for the delay in posting some beer reviews. Seattle Beer Week and a few personal issues kept me from keeping up with the posting. I am back now, so you get to “enjoy” my reviews again.

Having been a member of the MountainBeer club at NW Peaks for over a year now, we are starting to see some of the beers make a return appearance. Since they are only brewed once a year, they warrant inclusion in my beer notes as well as posting here, just so I can compare how the beers and my tastes changed year over year. I posted a review of the Esmeralda Ale a mere 9 months ago and that was actually 5 months after I drank the beer. This time I am posting a review of it just 2 weeks after I drank the 2014 version. I am getting better at timely reviews.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Esmeralda is located in the Teanaway River drainage just S of Ingalls peak and SW of Mt Stuart – one of our favorite areas. It’s on the other side of the Teanaway River from its beastly neighbors and is a much easier approach/climb than that of it’s neighbors. The “class 2″ trek to the summit offers some great views of the massive Mt Stuart and the Stuart range and is part of a great loop for a day hike.

The story of two experiences. Because of its popularity from past renditions, we bring Esmeralda Ale back for another late winter mountainBeer. Of course it is always fun (or not) to remember the comedy of errors that was our first batch brewed on our current system (Esmeralda Ale), while now we have everything dialed in.

The Beer. Esmeralda is one of our ‘adjunct’ beers for March. The adjuncts in Esmeralda are corn and molasses that create a unique character. The corn provides a nice sweetness and smoothness and complements the molasses notes. Esmeralda was fermented with an English ale yeast adding a smooth fruity flavor on top. With very little few hop notes, the slight grain sweetness and dark sugar properties are uniquely featured.

Malts: ESB, munich, corn, special B, biscuit, carafa 2. Hops: Apollo and Goldings. Fermented with British Ale yeast. OG/TG 1.058/1.016 ~5.5% ABV

The beer pours light mahogany brown in color with a thin tan head. The beer has a significant up front nose of corn and grain with hints of spice and grass and just a touch of bread. It starts out on the palate with a slight grain and corn sweetness before bringing in a very light hop bitterness that stays until the end of the beer, when it couples with a pleasant note of corn cakes, molasses spice and an almost pilsner maltiness that linger in a crisp, long fade. This is a full-bodied beer and different from almost anything out there, this beer brings hints of fresh corn to the party in a well-balanced and easy drinking way.

NW Peaks Esmeralda Ale travels down the yellow brick road with 4 flying monkeys out of 5.

Container Garden Update — May 16, 2014

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

The peppers and basil were planted in the EarthBoxes last night. If it threatens to get much under 50 degrees the basil will get rolled into the garage. (Note that the boxes now have casters — we bought them when EarthBox had a Valentine’s Day promotion. Money well spent.)

An overview picture:

Far left: Four boxes of tomatoes (2 plants in each box). Tomatillos in the back box (2 plants)

2nd row from left: Front box – Basil (6 plants). Back box – Peppers (6 King of the North)

3rd row: Front box – 6 pepper plants (hot peppers nearest the camera). Back box – 6 Brussels Sprouts in a tulle hoop house.

Right row: Front box – 6 pepper plants (hot peppers nearest the camera). Back box – 4 cucumber plants. Trellis – 2 zucchini.

Far right container: Shallots, Arugula, Dill, Radicchio.

Compared to last year it came together in a fairly fast and organized way. With a little deduction the containers mostly arranged themselves. Many of last years’ issues had to do with attempting to mix plants varieties within the boxes — this year it’s all “mono-boxes”. We also tried to make sure that all of the fill tubes will be easy to access. (The tubes are arranged in what amounts to two rows, which should help minimize any wasted watering motion.)

In the front yard, the peas are now doing this:

There are maybe two or three dozen pea pods on the vines now. Unfortunately, they’re doing this too:

The leaves on the bottom have withered, and the leaves to to left higher up have turned yellow. I *think* it’s root rot, which is supposed to be caused by poor drainage/too much water. I think it’s interesting that the peas made it through a rainy February/March/April and chose now to crap out. If I’ve correctly identified the root rot then it’s now a race to see how many peas we get before the plants collapse.

Which is… fine, I guess. Pea enation virus would have killed them before too long anyway. Now we’ll be able to use the planter for something else.

Final note: So far this year we’ve gotten 11.3 pounds of mostly leafy greens out of the containers. At this time last year we’d gotten 1.3 pounds. Starting earlier seems to have helped.

The Better Player Is…

By Blaidd Drwg

Looking at these 162 game averages, who would you rather have on your team?

Player	AVG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	IBB	SB
A	.299	30	99	53	147	.357	.531	8	25
B	.314	29	96	103	127	.419	.541	14	8

Based on the more traditional stats, it is close, but player B seems to be the better choice.

What if I include this?

Player	OPS+	ASG	MVP	GG	oWAR	dWAR	Pos	Age	GP
A	125	2	0	2	17.5	0.0	LF	28	704
B	155	4	1	1	31.4	-3.2	1B	30	903

Player B is obviously a better hitter, but B is, in theory, a “better” defender and he is in his peak season right now.

One more:

	Home			Road
Player	BA	SLG	tOPS+	BA	SLG	tOPS+
A	.330	.608	124	.267	.450	75
B	.302	.536	97	.325	.546	103

Both of these guys play in home parks that favor hitters pretty extremely. Player A has huge home/road splits while player B is essentially the same hitter no matter where he plays. Given all of the above info, I think player B is clearly the better player and the guy I would want to take for my team. Just for the record, player A is Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies and player B is Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds.

This came from a discussion on a baseball board about who was the better player, Gonzalez or Votto. Superficially at least, they look pretty close until you take into account that Gonzalez gets a huge boost from his home park and is somewhat more pedestrian on the road. For what it was worth, before I looked deeply into the numbers, I sided with Votto. How could you not take the guy who has led the NL in OBP 4 consecutive seasons?

The New MLS TV Deal

by A.J. Coltrane

From Forbes:

When we reported on the Major League Soccer’s financial success in November, we noted that one of the biggest factors for the league’s continued success was its upcoming TV deal negotiations. MLS is currently in the final year of TV deals with ESPN , NBC and Univision, which pay a combined $30 million annually on average. After an especially long negotiation period, the league has finally sealed new, eight-year agreements with ESPN, Fox and Univision that will run through the 2022 season.

At today’s announcement press conference, MLS commissioner Don Garber called the set of eight-year deals the “most comprehensive media rights arrangement” in the history of American soccer. Garber also discussed the league’s need for maximizing the league’s TV revenue, an area in which MLS appears to have been incredibly successful.

In our November report we predicted that, thanks to a burgeoning fan base and the networks’ need for live programming, MLS should have little trouble more than doubling its TV rights income. It turns out even that bullish guess underestimated the final outcome – the three deals are reportedly worth a combined $90 million per year, roughly triple what MLS was receiving previously. That’s still a fair bit behind America’s other pro leagues – the NHL, for instance, gets an average $200 million per year from NBC – but is a huge step toward closing the gap.

Triple the current TV revenue!

More TV revenue -> better players -> more eyeballs -> more TV revenue…

I’d prefer to see the bulk of the revenue going to the lower and mid-tier players. I think that would improve roster “depth” and raise the overall quality of play more than would dumping the additional money into a few stars.

I won’t be surprised if the next TV contract in 2022 is triple the size of this new deal. Maybe that’s when soccer passes hockey.

Squirrel!

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Those who love me know of my man-crush on Alton Brown. Not only is he responsible igniting my interest in the science of food, he made the single best cooking show ever with Good Eats. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times over the years and he is a genuinely sincere and funny guy.

AB recently launched a web series that is a short bunch of how-to videos, like how to hard cook an egg in an oven (really useful if you need to cook a couple dozen eggs at once). His latest is how to make cat-poo flavored dog treats. I will admit, I am intrigued and am considering making them to try them out on friends’ dogs. The video is below and the link to the recipe is here. The bonus is that he shoots the short with his own dog, Sparky, guest-starring and calls the cat box the “stinky cheese shop.”

The First “Warm” Vegetables Get Planted — May 11, 2014

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post (complete plant list) here.

We decided it’s now warm enough to put out the tomatoes and tomatillos. They joined the Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, and zucchini, already in progress:

The picture is taken from slightly south (left) of the vantage point of the late-afternoon sun. The two boxes off to the right are the cucumbers and zucchini. Everything will get a trellis or cage soon. We left more room this year (for hopefully less wading through the tomato jungle), and we tried to put more emphasis on eventual size when laying out the tomatoes. Last year it was just “is it determinate or indeterminate and how long is the maturity”, followed by a big tomato wresting match.

Foreground to background, and left to right:

Mountain Princess (D, 68 days, 4′), Taxi (D, 65 days, 2′)

Roma (D, 75 days, 4-6′), Oregon Spring (D, 60 days, 4-5′)

Black Krim (I, 75 days, 4-7′), Tigerella (I, 65 days, 4′)

Sungold (I, 65 days, 10′), Glacier (D, 56 days, 4′) (The Glacier will hopefully be completely done before the Sungold gets too crazy big. Last year the Sungold got to around 8-9′, then flopped over the 6′ cage.)

Tomatillo “De Mipa” (60 days), Tomatillo “Mexican Strain” (65 days)

The shorter plants are all on the south sides of the boxes. As a bonus, all of the short-season determinates are in the two foreground boxes. In theory those boxes should be available late-season for planting something else.

The peas are blooming. It seems like forever since we planted them. [Checks notes] They were started indoors on February 5 and transplanted outside on February 16. They’re well beyond their listed 58 day maturity. I think in the future they’ll do better on the back patio. February and March front-yard sun isn’t all that awesome.

The basil and peppers are still coming in at night. It’ll be maybe another week for the peppers and towards the end of the month for the basil.

Random question/observation: Why do most people spell “tomatoes” with an “e”, but the plural of tomatillo lacks an “e”(?)

(And yeah, I know “tomatoes” can be spelled without the “e”, but I basically never see it.) Odd.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Cream Ale Randall with Belma Hops

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few weeks back I posted about the Reuben’s Roggenbier cask with Belma and its strawberries and banana qualities. Well, about a month later, Reuben’s came up with another Belma based cask, this time with using their Cream Ale as the base, going for a strawberries and cream profile.

The beer pours pale golden in color with light notes of cream, yeast, grain and strawberries on the nose. The beer starts off crisp with a pleasant hit of grain before moving into light fruit and jam, with notes of mild strawberry and sweet hints reminding me of a nice strawberry jam, before fading out into a very crisp and creamy finish. There is just the slightest note of grapefruit on the finish as you get near the end of the beer, making for an even more interesting end of the pint. The beer is not going to present big flavors, it is a cream ale after all, but it has plenty of balance and depth and is very easy drinking and it hits the mark for exactly what they were trying to do.

Reuben’s Cream Ale Randall with Belma Hops hits the mark with 3 William Tell’s out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Stoup T2R Haymaker III IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Back a few months ago, a bunch of breweries got together and decided to each brew an Imperial IPA and then take them on the road. Most were good, a few were great and a couple, well, let’s just say that I won’t be drinking them again. Stoup was one of the breweries that participated in the Road Show with their T2R Haymaker III IPA (say that three times fast).

From the Stoup Website:

ABV: 10.5 IBU: 90 SRM: 6

Hops: Lots of “C” hops (Chinook, Centennial, Cascade, Columbus and some Simcoe for good measure).

Malt bill: Pale, Pils, cara Pils, C15 caramel and a little kettle sugar.

Given our love of science, it should be no surprise that we named our first-ever triple IPA after T2R, a class of bitter receptors on your tongue. We had a little fun with the hopping procedures, Mill hops, mash hops, kettle hops, hop bursting, hop imploding, hop exploding, hop back, dry hops, hop missiles and rockets. We slept on hop pillows the night before the brew. We prayed to the hop gods and even the hop devil, just to cover our bases! Ultimately, we decided to go for balance in the beer. You can put some T2R on your T2Rs at the Stoup tap room and a few select events and locales around town.

The beer pours golden orange in color with a fizzy white head. Strong notes of citrus and candied fruit peel dominate the nose with hints of grain and minimal floral notes showing. The beer starts off slightly sweet before quickly moving into a light bitterness coupled with plenty of citrus and burnt citrus peel. The finish is a touch hot with strong bitter hop and bitter citrus components which linger pleasantly. The alcohol burn, while present, dissipates quickly and enhances the hop bitterness, and completely disappears as you get further into the beer. This is a big and flavorful beer with many complex flavors but it also drinks easily and well balanced, assuming that you love hops.

Stoup T2R Haymaker III IPA delivers the knockout punch with 4 body blows out of 5.