The play
It went fine, and people actually showed up. It pleases me that I know so many people who will go out of their way on a sunny Saturday to show up somewhere for a 10-minute performance. I wasn't nervous at all, except for the night before, when I was so paranoid I'd oversleep and miss the whole thing that I could barely sleep at all and woke up achy and groggy.
Really the best part was rehearsing last weekend. Amy, the director, took a half-page script, a few ideas she'd already come up with, and everyone else's input. Within two hours, she'd managed to develop all that into an honest-to-god performance. I was impressed, and I learned a ton. I want to do more stuff like that.
The barbecue
Saturday evening a bunch of us drove into Lockhart for Smitty's Barbecue. I was a little worried that they might be serving the dregs so late in the day. Worrying was stupid because in this case "the dregs" meant crispy, seasoning-crust ends attached to slabs of brisket laced with extra fat, so every bite had some chew and some melt to it. We gorged, and then when we were walking around the town square we ran into Margaret, who invited us over to her house for beer. Going out there is always worth the drive, but last night I was especially glad we did.
The beer
I had a lot of beer this weekend. Mostly good, and a little bad. (Hey, strip-mall bar in South Austin: If your beer tastes the way my grandparents' swamp-cooled garage smelled, you need to clean your tap lines. At $4 a pint, I'd rather not suck down mildew. Also, your bartender isn't especially friendly. I cheerfully condemn you.)
Tonight, though, I had some great beer.
Eric and I needed to go up to the bar where he works to throw away some boxes and get some flowers his florist friend had brought in. While we were there, I tried some of this exceptionally sour beer, which I liked but would not want to drink very much of.
Then, since it wasn't very busy and there was little chance Eric would be pressed into service on his night off, I asked if I could taste some beer. He brought me the four hoppiest beers in there, mostly IPAs, but they weren't exactly what I wanted. Not quite hoppy enough, I guess, or plenty hoppy but with a weird aftertaste.
So I plunged onward. I had him give me a sample of the beer he liked best (Paulaner Pils; crisp but not too light) and of the beer he thought I would like best (St. Bernardus Trippel; thick Belgian goodness).
Of all the beers, I liked Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale the best, although I didn't know that was what I was drinking at the time. Which is weird, because I've had it many times and would never call it my favorite, although maybe that's because it's nine dollars for a six pack.
I like beer a lot. I don't know much about it, but I definitely know what I like. So it was fun to have free reign over 70 taps for a while. I'd always wanted to do that, but it's usually way too busy in there for any sort of leisurely exploration.
Then we came home and tried the wheat lambic I bought at Central Market on Friday. It was totally delicious because it was sweet and tart but without the syrupy tasting fruit flavor most of lambics I've tried.
The downside of all this fun beer sampling is that I am very tired now, possibly because so many tastes of beer add up over time to many beers. Probably I should go zone out on other people's blogs and leave mine alone.