Minkin FTW

Doing an egoboo search on myself in Google Groups, I'm reminded of the following passage from Stephen Minkin's novel, A No Doubt Mad Idea, regarding a twenty-questions game:

"Did you know that the Russian composer Aram Katchaturian described his 'Sabre Dance' as no more than a button on the shirt on the body of his work? No? You're not alone. Suppose my twenty-questions answer was that metaphorical button -- would that be fair?"

((Quoting from Minkin is itself obscure -- I've only ever seen three copies of this novel, two of which I've bought, the third is in the library at UCLA. Minkin has told me there were only 500 or so printed. Which is a damn shame, it's a great book.))

Bourbon-y stout-y heaven

Picked up akirlu at the airport earlier, and we decided to lunch at Gyros2Go in Redmond. Since it's right next door, that meant I took a side trip to Malt & Vine. Browsing around, I saw a beer that I'd seen recommended earlier in the week by the email newsletter from 99 Bottles:

Bourbon County Stout from Chicago's Goose Island Beer Co.

Oh. My. God.

Hideously expensive, at $20 for a 4-pack of 12-ounce bottles. But one taste and... Worth every penny.

Thankfully, I still have three left to go.