Hay Merchant Grand Opening

So there has been a ton of press over the last months about the long anticipated opening of Hay Merchant (like here, here, here, here, here, and oh-my-dear-god-why-has-there-been-THAT-much-press here), so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel.  But, I do have to share that Jason and I actually checked the place out... on opening night, nonetheless.  Yes, we're total beer snobs.  And, yes, like one of the articles mentioned, it was full of tons of people "in the know."  Too bad I'm not "in the know" and couldn't identify half of them.

Interior shot.  Sorry for the bad picture quality.  I headed there
straight after work and didn't have a camera with me.

I do know that the guys from Karbach were there.  Also, we had an encounter with Chris Shepherd as he made his obligatory rounds.  While it's unclear how much input Chris had with the Hay Merchant menu offerings since his future next door restaurant, Underbelly, will be kept completely separate, it was still kinda funny.

Water was served in 32 oz. Budweiser bottles.  Get it?  Ha.

As Jason and I ate our blood sausage queso fundido, delicious local daily ground hamburger, and onion rings, I said, "Hey, maybe we should tell Chris how good the food is."  Jason says, "Why, he's just going to go, 'I know.'"  So later, Chris comes by the table and asks if every thing's alright.  I say, "Yea, thanks... the burger is delicious."  He so nonchalantly, responds, "Yea," and walks away.  Then Jason and I giggled cause he was totally called the response to a T.

Only an after shot of the food since it we ate it so quickly.

Anyways, we were pretty impressed by the whole experience.  Good food.  Over 75 beers on tap... and good ones too.  Attentive staff.  Nice interior.  Oh, and they have a couple dart boards so of course Jason was happy.

Dude Jase, chill out with your stalking of the
dart boards.

I'm sure we'll keep this place on our list of frequently visited beer establishments.

Update:  According to this article, the executive chef at Hay Merchant is Antoine Ware.

Crochet

Guess who has a new hobby?  Well, it's not Jason.  He has too many anyways (e.g. soccer, biking, running, darts, record collecting, etc.)

Today I learned to crochet.  After a quick class at Hobby Lobby this morning, I mastered one of the four crochet stitches.  

I practiced this afternoon, just hoping to make a square that we could use as a coaster.  After about five rows though, I noticed my rows kept getting shorter and shorter.  Once I figured out how to correct that and make it go straight, I figured I would flare how the other side to match my mistake on the starting side.

I ended up with this little guy.  I wasn't quite sure what the heck we were going to do with it, but Radar quickly remedied that situation.  

Apparently, he thought it would be a nice addition to his collection of toys.

Up next?  A scarf maybe.  Or a blanket.  Or maybe just a few more oddly shaped squares as I continue to learn the other stitches.



This Weekend Thus Far

Happy weekend, friends.  Do you have any exciting plans?  I've heard there's some football game going on, but I'm not really sure of all the details.  ;) 

At Thursday night sushi night (at which, by the way, two waitresses now have our order memorized), I asked Jason, "Hey, are we watching the Super Bowl this weekend?"  He said, "I dunno.  What day is it... Saturday?"  I responded, "Um... I'm pretty sure they call it Super Bowl Sunday for a reason."  Obviously huge football fans.

Nope, we rather do things like go watch community theater.  Last night we headed to the lovely metropolis of Pasadena, Tx with Ferryn & Steve to watch puppets sing about the hard facts of growing up. (I feel ya, puppet... I really do.)  It was actually a really great performance.  It was our first community theater experience and we both enjoyed it.  We had dinner at Don'Key's before the show and it was really good as well.

Avenue Q at Stage Door Inc.

This morning I woke up to a huge thunder storm passing through the area. Radar thought it was imperative that I wake up and enjoy the morning with him.  So, we headed to the reading room to listen to Carole King on vinyl and watch the rain come down.

Exciting stuff, huh?  We think so.  Can't wait to see what the rest of the weekend has in store for us.