North Van Armoury Blues: Saturday, November 8th!

Words are not created by academics in universities and suchlike, rather it is the man in the street who does so. Dictionary compilers almost always recognise them too late and embalm them in alphabetical order, in many cases when they have lost their original meaning. -Gabriel García Márquez, novelist and journalist, Nobel laureate (1927-2014)

Big Al and I attended the malt tasting at Fell Armoury in North Van this very evening. 

[Patrick James Dunn Relaxing, drinking and eating! Cora Lee's chicken wraps with Hoisin sauce!] He and Colleen came for dinner beforehand, [Fab broiled spring rolls, (generously supplied by Marvinator's Mom, Bella), stir-fried chicken chunks with Hoisin sauce in lettuce wraps, (Coriandre), and tomatoe/mozzarella/basil salad, (yours truly), washed down with a bottle of Coffaro Escuro, (muled by you and The Jackal!), and then Colleen drove us to Olympic Station where we SkyTrained/SeaBused/Cabbed to venue. 
 

[Colleen Teahan Waldron They were incredible:) and thanx for sharing your delicious homemade spring rolls with us...such a treat!]

Quite a bit of fun with six tastings, each bottle piped in. Basic, entry level Talisker, Macallan, Jura, Tomatin, Aberlour, and Glen Scotia. While I "knew" all of them it was very interesting to taste them "side by each", so to speak. 

Interesting group of people attending and was introduced to a number of Al's friends. One chap worked at a summer job at a copper mine in Hyder, Alaska, for a couple of summers, and his stories of going fishing on a river, highly populated by grizzlies, were fascinating, as you can well imagine. We cabbed it all the way home and then decompressed with snorts of Diplomatico Reserva with a much needed beer chaser! Long day so we turned out the lights at 12:30 am. I went for a great ride out to UBC earlier that afternoon. Stats for ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/629643756#.VF-XrgOnBzM.email

Even though it was a bit cool, almost poifect riding weather. Had to watch out for wet leaves, at times, but otherwise roads were dry and clear. Great to be home but miss the sunnier climes of Napa, Sonoma, Berkeley and Lake Tahoe! When I uploaded the ride I decided I'd find out what "geocaching" actually refers to:

"Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little financial value, although sometimes they are sentimental. Geocaching shares many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking." So now you know! 

Hope you are all well! I just wanted to send an invite to all you Diplomatico Rum fans. This Tuesday November 11 @ 2pm we are holding the second annual Diplomatico World Tournament. 13 of Vancouver's Best Bartenders will be competing to Represent Canada at the World Finals in Venezuela next April. Come sample Vancouvers best Bartender cocktails featuring Diplomatico. There will be complimentary cocktails and canapés. Come done and support Vancouver's best! If you know you can make it for sure please RSVP to this email. And yes we will be Tasting the Full lineup of Diplomatico! Hope to see you there!

David Kessler Coffee in hand, walking around Lake Merritt with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - San Francisco Bay Area to show support for adequate mental health services in our society. — in Oakland, California.

• 

  Patrick James Dunn Any cyclists?
• 

  David Kessler The point is really to walk together and share thoughts and bear witness; besides, it's a relatively short walk. Patrick James Dunn Point taken!

• 

  Patrick James Dunn
• 

  David Kessler There were no cyclists; it was not a cycling event and cyclists would have made it somewhat dangerous given the terrain and meagre pathway.