Award Winning Beer

My Belgian-Style Strong Pale Ale was the overall winner at the annual Lebanon Health Food Store homebrew contest! Granted, there were only 9 other entries, but I still got a $75 gift certificate out of the deal. Anyone reading this who wants a bottle should let me know, I'll put one aside. Although at around 9% alcohol, I'm not drinking them that quickly.

Beer Business

Here is an interesting article (from the always entertaining Lew Bryson) comparing the beer business of today to the wine business of yesterday. It would be really amazing if, when Sadie is legal, the #1 selling type of beer in the US isn't light lager but pale ale, or even something else. Although, I would put money on Anheuser-Busch brewing it, whatever it is - they seem to be catching on to the craft thing in a big way (Michelob makes a great Hefeweizen), and the amount of money they can throw at it would be unbelievable. The only thing stopping them might be the inability to swallow their pride and have Bud no longer be their flagship beer.

Blue Steel

...is what I like to call this look:

This is what happens when people take your picture without telling you as you stare into the sun. It is from our lab retreat on Squam Lake, and was taken by Franck Mennechet, a member of my lab.

More France Pics

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but here are a few more pics I took while in France:

The Institut Pasteur. Louis Pasteur is actually interred in a tomb below this building. The tomb is very elaborate; the entire ceiling is a tile mosaic depicting Pasteur's achievements - studies on the fermentation of beer, the spoilage of wine, the rabies vaccine, an anthrax vaccine. Also in his tomb is his plaster death mask...that's got to be my favorite 19th century tradition.

A sculpture on the grounds depicting the boy that was the first person successfully vaccinated for Rabies.

This is the Tour Montparnasse, which is the tallest building in Paris. (The Eiffel Tower counts as a structure, technically).

It is a little known fact that there is a small branch of the casino in Paris.

Château de Chenonceau in the Loire Valley. This was a summer home for French Royalty. Now it is a tourist trap (but a pretty nice one).

The gardens on the grounds of the Château.

Well, that's it, I'll try to get back to posting on a more regular basis, because I know you are all dying to hear from me.

Je suis désolé...

...or "I'm sorry" that I haven't posted in a while. I've been working a lot and have had a little less time for interesting activities to write about. I did get to go to the Musée Picasso last weekend where I snapped a picture of this sculpture (taking pictures of the paintings was interdit):

It's called "The woman with an orange or the woman with an apple." I guess Pablo couldn't make up his mind. It was an excellent museum, and after the overwhelming vastness of the Louvre, it felt much more manageable. On Sunday I was invited to lunch by a woman in the lab - this turned out to be a 5 course (not including the aperitif) meal that took about 3 hours. We drank quite a lot of wine and discussed politics, child rearing (they have 3 daughters and 1 son, the son being about 6 months older than Sadie) and basically any topic that came to mind. They wanted my opinion on who would be the next president of the US (I told them I had no idea) - and my reassurances that Bush couldn't run again. I was happy to tell them that he can't, and that you even see bumper stickers printed with his last day in office. It was a great time.

Other than that, I have been settling in. My French has not improved, but I can get my daily baguette with no problem which serves as dinner (sandwhich) and breakfast (jam). I even branched out a bit and grabbed a slice of Quiche Lorraine the other night, which was by far the fluffiest, most delicious piece of Quiche I have ever had (apologies to my mom and Ann of course). Here is the view down the street from my front door (and yes, that is the Eiffel Tower in the distance):

I'll try to post a little more often, I'm going to see a Castle tomorrow so I will definitely have some pictures.