Spicy Garden Pasta from Rozella Bogasian

Ingredients:
1 lb. penne or pasta
4 ripe plum tomatos (approx 3/4 lb.) cut into half-inch dice (go for snake eyes)
1/3 cup virgin olive oil (discuss definition of virgin)
1/4 cup of chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons of chopped mint
1/4 cup of basil, cut in chiffonade
1 clove of minced garlic (1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon of capers
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Prepare:
Boil water to cook pasta; when boiling, add salt to water and cook pasta according to package directions
Dice tomatos and place in a large, heat-resistant bowl.
Add oil, herbs, capers, peppers and garlic. Stir to combine.
Drain pasta when cooked and add to bowl of ingredients. Stir to combine.
Add the cheese and mix thoroughly.
May be served warm or cold.

Suggested music - For this refreshing dish, grab a nice vino and listen to The Manhattan Transfer's Vocalese, a wonderful tribute to Jon Hendricks.

Friday lunch at The Clam with Johnny Gumbo

"You eat yet?"
"Nope."
"Pick you up in fifteen."

It's Friday noon. Perfect time to review the week and prospective weekend with Gumbo over a brewski and some lunch at Sam's. We choose the bar and each pull up a stool. Real men don't do sundecks. Not being real men, we sometimes do.

Topics discussed over a couple Bass Ales, one Philly cheese and one chicken wrap:

Center Street rumors - Tonic has been sold and will become a sports bar; Brickhouse/Gorilla Joe's will reopen shortly as the "Groggy Frog" and will go after the young professional crowd (yeah, right);

What year will Emilio's open shortly in?

The new seafood place on Eden Avenue not a keeper

Apple Fest crunch time; things looking pretty good; some good music entertainment coming in

Gulp, gulp......we're outta here!

German brews world's strongest beer

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German brewer has concocted what he says is the world's strongest beer, a potent drink with an alcohol content of 25.4 percent that is served in a shot glass. "Everyone who has tried it is enthusiastic. It tastes like a quirky mixture of beer and sherry," said Bavarian brewer Harald Schneider.

Schneider, who lives in southern Germany where beer is a tradition, said his beer fermented for 12 weeks for an alcohol content twice that of Germany's other strongest beers. "People will only be able to drink two or three glasses, otherwise they'll drop like flies," he said.

Schneider expects the holders of the world's strongest beer, the Boston Beer Company, to put up a fight. "I'm pretty sure the Americans have something up their sleeve."

Musings on Malt
Bill Brand's Beer Blog