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Granny's Pancake House and Diner in Hamburg, NJ was our first stop this morning
Our second day on the road started with brunch at Granny's Pancake House and Diner in Hamburg, NJ. It looked like my kind of place, and was packed with cars, a sure sign of great food in any part of the country.
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Coop and I hit the road a bit after Noon headed south toward North-West NJ and dinner with my cousin Carol and her son Christopher.
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Day 4, the last on the train I woke up somewhere in central Ohio, just west of Elyria. I got up and around, took my last train board shower (not an easy proposition for a Fat Boy, let me tell you) and then headed up for breakfast.
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Day 3 I woke up to this amazing view of the Mississippi River while rolling down the tracks in Northern Minnesota
Day 3 of the Fat Boy Summer Road Trip of 2014 found me waking to an awesome view of the Mississippi River west of Red Wing, Minnesota. Most of the day was the same as the last, with places and views the only real difference.
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Breakfast is the one meal with little chance for variety on board a train. I started my morning just outside of Shelby, MT with pancakes and pork sausage. The pancakes were cooked through and not undercooked as sometimes can be the case with quick prepared breakfasts, and the sausage while obviously coming from under a heat lamp was still juicy and flavorful.
Service was quick and easy as you would expect in a small space with many passengers to feed quickly. A good breakfast and great start to the day.
Today's Lunch Market special was a stir fry chicken but had way more sauce than I consider normal for a stir fry.
Very spicy, with big chunks of peppers and broccoli. Served over a rice pilaf. I should have gone with something else, as this was not a good meal.
Service was slow. Painfully slow, and even more so given how quick it normally is. A couple who was seated at my table after I had ordered my drink was finished with lunch and ordering dessert by the time my entree arrived. Hopefully it was an anomaly and service will be up to par for the rest of the trip.
Dinner I decided on the Catch of the Day, which was catfish tonight. It could have been seasoned better, and while others said it was great mine was a little muddy. The seasoning is just personal preference and the muddiness is dumb luck with catfish. I should have had the steak I guess. Dinner was served with a rice pilaf and green beans, both of which were great. In all a good but not great day dining aboard the Empire builder. The service anomaly from lunch thankfully proved itself just that, and dinner was a great time once again meeting new people and harassing the staff.
For my whiskey selection tonight I opened the first of two interesting new whiskeys made from already brewed and DRINKABLE beer.
Tonight's selection is Pine Barrens Single Malt, distilled from a single malted traditional barley wine by the folks at Long Island Spirits in Baiting Hollow, NY. They start by brewing from scratch a traditional English Style Barley Wine Ale and then double pot distill the conditioned Ale.
The result is very aromatic, with hints of nutmeg and allspice on the nose. The first taste gives Pine Barrens it's name, as the very floral note has a pine tar hint that quickly faded to cinnamon and nutmeg giving it a very smooth and sweet finish. The sharp floral notes make this feel almost more like a cordial or digestif than a whiskey, but from ingredients to process a whiskey it is. A very nice taste that goes perfect after a meal.
Day one of the trip had me leaving Portland behind on the train via Amtrak's Empire Builder on route to Chicago where I will have a wait before changing trains. I love train travel, and have since I discovered it in college.
Crossing the Columbia River Draw Bridge
The train leaving Portland crosses the Columbia river into Vancouver, WA before heading East up the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side of the river. There are some great views on this section of the trip, and the first afternoon and evening is one of the most scenic on Amtrak's route.
The Bistro Box served for dinner out of Portland was ok, but needed a little help.
Leaving Portland the Empire builder has a viewing car with a cafe downstairs but no dining car, so dinner the first night was a boxed affair. The choices available were limited to shrimp or beef, so I selected the Burgandy Beef Tri-tip. The beef was flavorful and tender, cooked a little farther towards well than I would prefer but when trying to serve a variety of people and keep under refrigeration that is often the case. The fruit was fresh and tasty, not over ripe as sometimes can be the case with this type of meal, and the dessert was creamy and delightful. The only thing that didn't really work for me was the veggie selection. A mushroom and broccoli combination that might have been good warm was decidedly not when served cold and tossed in some type of vinaigrette.
After dinner I decided to open the bottle of Teeling Irish Whiskey the folks at Caskers sent me to review for a first tasting. Made in Dublin since 1782 The Teeling hasn't been available in the United States since the revolution. With whiskey making such a resurgence in the Americas they decided to begin export in January of this year.
This is a smooth whiskey for a type normally known as a shot not for sipping. As a shot it was so smooth with great sweetness and depth on the finish that I decided to try it on the rocks as well. Over ice it loses what little bite it had on the nose and leaves the sweet aromas derived from its rum cask finish. The sweet malts hit the palate first, followed by a little spice before a slightly fruity finish.
In all a very nice close to my first night aboard my favorite train.
I received an advanced edition of the LyveHome Photo and Video Manager a week ago, and have been putting it through it's paces for the last few days. It is a local network connected appliance that serves as a backup for all of your pictures and home video files. Rather than your data being in the cloud where it can be hacked, it resides in your home on your local network giving you security and only uses the cloud to authenticate and locate the device to send your pictures to it. When you have the application running on your iOS, Android, Mac, or PC device it uploads any new picture and home video to the internal 2TB HDD. This allows you to access the data files from any other authorized device.
The appliance itself is quite slick. The device has a 5 inch touch screen display with an SD card slot on the side and USB port on the rear for data transfer from portable media. It also has an HDMI port and audio out jack for connection to your entertainment center for picture or video playback. It will connect wirelessly via 802.11 b/g/n, and also has Gigabit ethernet for connection directly to your router if you need it.
The rear of the LyveHome has the ethernet, HDMI, USB, Headphone, and power ports
The LyveHome has very basic software built in, managing it's connection to the network and the LyveHome server for authentication. It also keeps track of the amount of space used my pictures and video on the internal drive.
Screen 1 of 4: The default display can show either sample pictures or scroll through your uploaded images.Screen 2 of 4: The status screen displays the amount of space remaining and number of pictures and videos stored on the device.Screen 3 of 4: The device screen shows you all of the devices authorized to transfer to and from the LyveHomeScreen 4 of 4: The final screen is the settings screen, where you control brightness, which images are displayed on the main screen, and your network and other settings.
The software for iOS is also very basic. When you first open it you are asked to either create or sign into an existing Lyve account. Once that is accomplished the software asks for permission to access your camera roll. If given access it starts processing your pictures and uploading them to the LyveHome. The settings screen gives you the ability to toggle auto-import, upload over cellular data, and a power upload feature which prevents your device from going to sleep while transferring (transfer stops when the iOS device goes into standby).
Top of settings pageBottom of settings pageThe software for the Mac is pretty similar. The software will automatically detect iPhoto and Aperture libraries and copy them, and then allows you to specify other folders to have pictures automatically copied from when the software detects they are added.
In all the software makes it easy and the device is great if you have a large quantity of photos and videos to keep a-hold of. The idea of having everything local instead of in the cloud I'm of mixed opinion about. While for my family, with multiple iPhones taking pictures and photos and videos for the web sites on multiple computers and cameras, I don't know that it makes as much sense for most families. Cloud storage is more convenient for most people, and doesn't require connection to a local device. While intended for the home, I really see this as being of more value to home office and small business customers with multiple users and content they need to keep secure. The only value it has to the average family is as a way for everyone to share photos without them being uploaded to the web where photos can be accessed by others.
As those of you that know me are aware, one of the first things I started reviewing online was music. I still listen to and write about music quite a bit, and was just passed a link to this preview of Miranda Lambert's upcoming album. Have a safe Memorial Day, and please remember to take time to keep our men and women in uniform, and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom in your thoughts and prayers as you spend time with family and friends.
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For quite some time now, the most popular brand of over-the-ear headphones has been Beats by Dre, a brand built mainly on the reputation of hip-hop legend Dr. Dre. They have been called the best headphones in the world. They have worn the tagline "Listen to music as the artist intended". However much like BOSE in the home speaker world, there have been many who have claimed that Beats are over hyped and severely over rated. I decided to put them to the test, so I compared them to headphones significantly cheaper but well rated in two different categories: Skullcandy Crushers, respected as great headphones by those who love strong bass; and V-Moda's crossfade LP2 Voice limited edition headphones, highly rated as among the most durable and best sounding headphones in the world. Both are more than $100 less than the Beats Studio Over-Ear Headphones I compared them to, with the V-Moda's coming in at $199.99 and the Skullcandy's coming in at just $99.99 compared to the Beats at $299.99.
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This months Loot Crate arrived today, here are the unboxing pictures.
With my wife and son out of town for the Holiday weekend I had the chance to take our daughter out to dinner tonight. We decided to try something new and settled on The Thirsty Lion's newest addition to the Streets of Tanasbourne.
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In November of 2013 a design firm in New York called Pollen Designs launched a project on Kickstarter.com for a new type of storage container they called EVAK, which was designed to remove air from the container while the lid was put in place, creating a vacuum seal and helping to keep dry goods fresh longer.
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When you aren't sure what you feel like for dinner, beef stew is usually the answer you were looking for
Sometimes I just don't know what I want to make for dinner. I love to cook, but especially when my wife is out of town for extended periods of time (she has been gone since last Wednesday at this point) and I know the kids would be just as happy with Hot Pockets or McDonalds as they are with anything fancy I decide to make for dinner it is difficult to find inspiration. It is times like this that have brought me to an interesting realization. No matter what mood I am in, if I can't decide what to make for dinner beef stew or corned beef hash always work and never disappoint. Really. A big bowl of a thick beef stew made from scratch and cooked the right way for hours in the oven with a good whole wheat roll is NEVER the wrong answer.
Click the link to see my recipe and understand why it is easy enough to make this anytime you aren't sure what to make for dinner.
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The HydroFlask 40oz and 64oz bottles keep liquids cold up to 24 hours and warm for up to 12!
About a year ago I came across a great 18oz coffee flask from a local Oregon company called Hydro Flask that was insulated well enough to keep coffee hot for up to 12 hours. I looked into the company and found that they had an expanded line of products ranging up to 64oz Growlers for the MicroBrew Market. All are insulated to keep beverages cold for up to 24 hours as well as keeping them warm for up to 12.
All Hydro Flask products carry a lifetime warranty
From an idea born out of frustration on the beaches of Hawaii with sweaty water bottles that held tepid water and were caked with sand came one of the best insulated beverage container designs I have ever used. The result was the first Hydro Flask, incorporating double-wall vacuum insulation, BPA-free materials, food grade stainless steel, a range of fun, durable colors and a charitable arm called 5% Back. And with great quality comes great commitment, so Hydro Flask created its lifetime warranty to stand behind its products.
Available in a wide range of sizes and styles, the one thing the larger bottles have in common is a large flat wide-mouth lid which screws on and off. While this is normal for large beverage bottles, it makes it harder to drink from because you need both hands to open and close the bottle. In addition, because of the volume of these bottles many will find them hard to hold with one hand. A common fix for many is to purchase the optional HydroFlip lid. While this solves the ease of use problem it introduces another....carrying such a large bottle. An enterprising gentleman from Hawaii designed a solution and ran a successful KickStarter campaign earlier this year to solve this problem. Called the JugLug, his product is a hard plastic handle which is held in place by the lid, giving you a safe and easy way to carry your bottle with you wherever you go.
The JugLug solves the problem of how to carry your HydroFlask after replacing the standard flat-cap lid with the HydroFlip lid to make drinking easier.
Now ranging in size from 12oz to the 64oz growlers, Hydro Flask has a product for everyone. I use the 18oz Coffee and Tea Flask almost every day, as well as the 40oz and 64oz flasks for water. Some days I even have been known to use the 40oz for coffee if I have had a hard time sleeping the night before. I love that they never sweat with condensation in addition to the great insulation. This week I recieved the latest versions of their 40oz and 64oz flasks, and am just as impressed as I have been with the other products I already owned.
Previously I had the stainless steel version of the 40oz, and I recieved the matte black variation of the newest version. Aside from color you would be hard pressed to notice a difference between the bottles, but there is a minor change. They added a small lip at the bottom of the cap. It appears that this change was made to help improve the seal (although my old one never leaked). Otherwise the bottle is unchanged. I must say that I prefer the pebbly texture of the matte finish over the smooth stainless of my old flask. It feels like I have a better grip and it is less likely to slip out oft hands, especially if it were to get wet.
The other flask I recieved this week was the largest in Hydro Flask's lineup, the 64oz "growler" pictured above. This thing is HUGE! The same height as the 40oz, it's larger volume is all accounted for in width. While I have pretty large hands and can get ahold of this (barely) with one hand, it will clearly be too large for most people to do this. Bend, Oregon is the corporate home of Hydro Flask, and like any other city of moderate size in Oregon is home to several Micro Breweries. Part of the Micro Brew culture here is the "Growler", allowing visitors to the tasting rooms or restaurants of smaller brewers to take the beers that they often become passionate about home with them. The traditional size for these "Growlers" is 64oz, or four imperial pints, hence the sizing of this particular flask. At this point I have only used it to keep larger amounts of water cold when away from the house, but I plan to test it for it's intended purpose soon and will update this review when I do.
64oz Hydro Flask with HydroFlip lid and JugLug handle added.
If you are in the market for a hot or cold beverage container, you can't go wrong with anything in the Hydro Flask lineup.
I was looking for a place to meet up with an old friend for a beer and was intrigued by Stickmen's website so we decided to give it a try. Located right on the East side of the lake in Lake Oswego, in a historic building next door to the Lake Theatre Stickmen is a brewpub that features a full menu, but specializes in Japanese skewers called Yakitori.
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One of my favorite things in the world is a nice thick beef short rib, and I'm always trying new ways to prepare them. I decided to cut the normally long cooking time by doing them in my pressure cooker tonight. Using a sugar based soda as the foundation of this braising liquid not only caramelizes onto the outside of the meat but also helps break through the salt and work with the spices to make an amazing pan sauce.
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The JugLug looks like a pretty simple invention, but it actually solves an issue many owners of larger HydroFlask insulated bottles. The bottles are shipped with a large-mouthed screw-on lid that is tethered to the bottle, providing an easy way to carry it. Those of us who have added the optional flip-top lid to make it easier to drink from lose a convenient way to carry the large (and when full, heavy) bottles. The JugLug quickly and easily gives us back a convenient way to carry our bottles while on the go. Click below for more information on this great new product.
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We get a lot of cool products in the mailbox here at Fat Boy Heaven, but this is one of the coolest in a long time. Sure to illicit a sense of nostalgia in any old-school gamer geek is the Concealable Entertainment Flask from InkWhiskey.com, a Portland company with an interesting idea.
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There is nothing more comforting to many than spaghetti and meatballs, and many spend years working to perfect their meatball recipe. I have spent years working on my recipe, and finally have it right. Give this one a try, you'll love it.
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