The Big One And The Big Beers

Lots of beer. Paired with lots of food. How to say no lar?

I got to try out the new menu at Brussels Beer Cafe at their new outlet in Solaris Mont Kiara in two separate sessions recently (one for the column, one as a blogger. AWESOME LOL), AND got to pair the food with their range of imported beers as well. AWESOME.

Ok, there was a lot of food there, but this ain't a food blog, so if you wanna know more about it then you should go read KY's blog instead.

There WAS one awesomely HUGE sausage that is worth mentioning though. Behold.. THE BIG ONE:



How big is the Big One? Well, in length, it's about the size of Kimberlycun's forearm (minus the middle finger):



In terms of diameter, well, see for yourself in this comparison with a 20 sen coin:



Frankly speaking, it's a bit too er... meaty for me though, and I DEFINITELY won't be able to finish it on my own. And the beer that came with it definitely helped to wash it down, because my jaw got a little tired from chewing it after a while. Heh.

But never mind the food. I was there mostly for the beers. We tried a couple of beers that Brussels had on tap that day, including Konig Ludwing, Hoegaarden, Franziskaner, Warsteiner, Leffe, Stella Artois...



My favorite of the lot is definitely Konig Ludwig. In fact, these days I would not take another wheat beer if there is Konig Ludwig available. It's THAT good. It's refreshing Bavarian wheat beer that is full of flavor, full-bodied and even slightly sweet and easier to drink than say, Paulaner.

Brussels tried pairing the beers with the food, and while some didn't really work, some were quite good, including the Warsteiner lager paired with the pork knuckle:



And also the Hoegaarden with the er.. Mussels cooked in Hoegaarden.

Speaking of Hoegaarden, during the blogger session, we got to drink beer from the GIGANTIC five liter Hoegaarden glass...



Yup, using STRAWS. Which was quite sad. Using straws to drink beer just isn't the same as gulping it down properly, because you can't smell the aroma of the beer properly, and all the amount you suck up from the straw just isn't enough to let you properly taste the damn beer.

But watudu. After all, the glass WAS bigger than the head of a Fireangel:



That tiny glass in front of FA is the cute little Hoegaarden miniature glass they gave each of us as a doorgift.

Just to illustrate further how awesomely BIG the glass is (and how cute the tiny one is), here's another picture featuring Shaolintiger and LL:



During my first session, we got to try a new beer they had in stock from Erdinger - the Erdinger Schneeweisse Winterbier - which is a seasonal wheat beer that is apparently only brewed between November and February.



How does it taste like? Frankly speaking, it's a bit too light for me. It IS slightly better than those shite lite beers from America, but for a German wheat beer, it's just not full-bodied or flavorful enough for my liking.

After that, the big boss of Brussels decided to have some fun and treat us to some less er... conventional drinks. Like this shooter that consists of Midori, Amarula cream liqueur, and something else I don't remember (it might be Jager or codka, I'm not sure):



Then, in response to a shocking revelation from someone who said she had not tried Jagermeister before, he merrily ordered a line of 'Submarine' drinks:



... which was basically just a glass of Carlsberg with a shotglass of Jagermeister chucked into it and downed in one gulp. Urgh. I won't be drinking THAT anytime soon...

All in all, the food at Brussels is pretty good (though a bit pricey for my liking). But the BEER is a different matter. They've got so many different types of beers it'll take a few more visits to try them all (or one VERY LONG visit, heh heh). Who wanna join? :D

Free Music and Cheap Books In Xcess!

Today is Music Freedom Day! And in conjunction with the celebration, Bookxcess is having a Music Appreciation Night tomorrow (Firday) and Saturday, night in conjunction with ongoing their Music Freedom Day promotion:



This event is organized to appreciate some free performances by Malaysian musicians including Azmyl Yunor,

Here are the details:

Date: 4th-5th March 2011 Time: 8pm-9pm
Venue: Bookxcess, 3rd Floor, Amcorp Mall
Admission is free!

RSVP At the Facebook event page, and non-members will get a FREE BookXcess membership and one FREE book thong when they attend the event.

Even if you don't show up for the shows, at least go check out the promotion, which has the AWESOME Rolling Stone Cover-To-Cover box set going for 30% discount from its alrady discounted and cheap price:



Usual price is RM99.90, but for the promo, it's gonna be about RM63 only! Dammit, I should have waited....

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Oh, and at the same time, they're also having a promo for International Women's Day, with discounts for selected women-themed books:




And no, guys, I don't think back-issues of FHM or Maxim count...

The Eyeris Quarter Impression Rule

How I Met Your Mother is awesome. No let me rephrase that - Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother is awesome. Unfortunately, you know when you've watched WAY too much How I Met Your Mother when you actually start talking like Barney Stinson and coming up with half-baked theories about men and women, AND give those theories NAMES.

This actually happened last night, when Fireangel and I were out having way too much Kronenbourg 1664 beer and tok-kok-ing about how guys check out girls and I came up with The Eyeris Quarter Impression Rule of Courtship.

You know how people say that the first impression is the one that counts? I say nay. For guys, it's actually way before that. Before you even hit the First Impression part of the courtship, guys tend to go through two other phases first:

Quarter Impression:
Check her out from the neck down. This is to er... make sure that she is actually a she.

Once it has been established that she is actually a she (and has a body that you wouldn't mind being... ahem, close to), comes the:

Half Impression:
Check her out from the neck up. This is to see if she's good looking enough and worth mustering the courage to go talk to her and face potential rejection.

Once the Quarter and Half impressions have been made (and is positive), THEN comes the:

First Impression:
Actually talking to her and getting to know her.

Ok fine, it's a little sad and maybe a little (ok, VERY) shallow, but if you think about it, this really is true (Admit it, guys!). And besides, it's a half-baked theory cooked up when I was high on beer. So yeah, it might be a little flawed (heh heh).

But hey, that goes to show that with a little (ok, A LOT OF) beer and some good tok-kok-ing company around, ANYONE can be Barney Stinson (ok no, Barney Stinson is awesome and no one can be him. EVER.)