new old booze

a highlight of the poor dining experience in lake placid was accidentally discovering a great hot drink: hot buttered rum. after ordering irish coffee with lunch i received a mystery drink that contained neither whiskey nor coffee. inquiring about the drink, the waitress said it was hot buttered rum. when the coffee did arrive i was disappointed not to have the rum. so to reconcile that, before dinner i ordered a hot buttered rum. it was delicious. so good that when i got home last night i bought a pint of rum and made one myself. it's a great winter drink: hot, boozy and easy to make. there are a number of variations but i used a simple recipe that took only as long as it takes to boil water.

first boil a cup of water. in a mug mix about a tablespoon of brown sugar with a little less than a tablespoon of butter, as much rum as you want (i used a generous shot of dark rum) and a little boiling water. when that's well mixed add the rest of the water. many recipes i found add whip cream, ice cream, cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves. go ahead, try one tonight.

movie night: Ace in the Hole

adrianne and i went to film forum last night to see a special screening of Ace in the Hole. this is one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors, billy wilder. the story centers around a former big-city newspaper-man stuck at a small new mexico paper when he stumbles on a man stuck deep inside an ancient indian cliff dwelling. knowing how to spin a human-interest story able to hook readers, chuck tatum, played by kirk douglas, stages all the elements of the man’s rescue for maximum drama. the movie takes a cynical look at media exploitation and the schadenfreude of the american public. it even makes you question the motivation of random acts of kindness. kirk douglas is fantastic as the ambitious ringleader, i hesitate to say journalist, with a sharp mind and sharper tongue. billy wilder’s direction, as always, is compact and straight-forward. it’s a rarely recognized gem of the director’s extensive filmography. it's not available on netflix so you may have to work to find this movie, but it's worth it.

image from CinemaCom

greetings from...

adrianne and i took advantage of the long weekend by making it extra long (we took friday off, suckas) and setting off for lake placid. we didn't have too much planned except relaxing, getting room service and bobsledding.

the first went off without a hitch. we had a cozy room at hotel saranac with a king-sized bed and quiet neighbors. (there was a christian retreat at the hotel.) we also enjoyed the feeling of space provided by long views over frozen lakes.

our second objective was less fulfilling. neither of us had gotten room service before so we were excited to have breakfast delivered to our room saturday morning. our excitement quickly faded after receiving our meal. the plates arrived on a tray covered in plastic bowls instead of on the cart under silver covers we imagined from watching too many movies. unfortunately the food was even worse than the presentation and the bad food ended up being a theme of the trip.

the third item on our itinerary was a major success, bobsledding was awesome. when we got up to the starting point we were quickly given helmets and placed in a sled. before we knew it we were gently gliding down the course. two turns later and we were whipping through the curves. left, right, left, right, done. it was over. when i looked back adrianne had a dizzied look in her eyes, but she pulled herself together for the victory photo.


the snow that greeted us when we awoke on sunday made for a lovely, if sometimes tense, drive through the hills back to the interstate. it was a great trip and i'll try to add some more photos later.

update: we set a course record!
adrianne on the medal stand
me on the medal stand

it's a mustache new year

this year marked the second attempt at a mustache new year's party. this time we got near full participation, as you can see. some of us were man enough to grow there own, for the rest of us we had bandits, smartys and scoundrels. not only did they mustaches add a distinguished air to our personas, they also made the festivities that much more festive.

guess who's mustache.

christmas eve 2006

every year on christmas eve the knott family joins the hughes and skaggs family for dinner. this is one of my favorite traditions and we always have a great time. i've uploaded the individual family photos for the enjoyment of the growing number of people participating in this event.

the hughes family
the knott family
the skaggs family

Update: the bigger pics are up on the links.