MySideOfTheBar

While the simple things in life are not always free, we often do not stop and realize how to enjoy them. That was not the case this weekend as MySideOfTheBar was out on the water at the Lake of the Ozarks courtesy of our friends S. and C. O. and their boat (Cheers S.O.) :) the Happy Hourz. We spent a great day in a cove just relaxing and of course have a few adult beverages. An absolutely great way to spend a day joined by a couple of the Usual Suspects from Baypoint, L. and D. S. and some new friends, T. and S. M. We want to wish everyone very Happy Memorial Day Holiday and we would also be remiss if we did not say a big thanks to all of the Men and Women in the military who have served and are serving our nation.

We had a great weekend which started on Thursday evening at Fidels enjoying fine Kristoff Cigars at the Kristoff Event. Kristoff Cigars are the official cigar of MySideOfTheBar, especially the Matador Maduro. We then took MySideOfTheBar on the road as is customary for the summer months to the Lake of the Ozarks. One of our favorite hangouts is Bobbers Restaurant and Bar located at the beautiful Alhonna resort . Alhonna’s is one of the few family owned and operated resorts still on the lake and will remind you a resort from Grumpy Old Men. As is our tradition we generally walk to Alhonnas as it is just a little over a mile. On Friday evening they feature all you can eat Catfish or Pango. Pango is a Vietnamese white fish and very tasty. Both are very lightly breaded and fried and come with choice of Potato, Cole Slaw, sautéed vegetables and a roll. On Saturday Morning as customary we made the hike back to Alhonnas for brunch. We were short on the gang of usual suspects, but expect the...

A couple of weeks back I decided to give pipe smoking a try. I was at one of my usual Friday night spots, Fidels in Westport. (Also see Fidel's Cigar Shop on Facebook). Seth the Tobacconist on Friday evenings and an expert in both cigars and pipes showed me several pipes, but recommended a Peterson Pipe . As I had never tried pipe smoking I took his advice and bought a starter pipe kit that contained a very nice pipe, a tamper, some pipe cleaners (very essential as I would find out) and an ounce of pipe tobacco of my choice from their many house blends. As Seth explained how to pack and light a Pipe I quickly deduced that this process was key to pipe smoking and would probably take me some time to master. Packing the pipe is a very essential step to successfully enjoying a pipe and I am still working to get the hang of it. The tobacco that I tried was a little to sweet for me as when I smoke a cigar I prefer to have one that is very dark and rich. Seth explained that pipe tobacco ...

It is no secret that Central Patti and I drink copious amounts of wine, mostly Bordeaux. We do enjoy many other types of wine if we can not find a good Bordeaux, Chianti, Pinot Noir and even a few Spanish and German wines. The year we purchased our condo we saved all the corks in a large box and when we celebrated our first anniversary we had the first annual Counting of the Corks Celebration. The festivities usually include, a nice meal, wine of course followed by the actually Counting of the Corks. The only rule is the wine had to be consumed at the House/Condo or in a restaurant while staying at the Condo. That first year the official count was 151 Corks. In the next three years we have not even come close to that number at the Condo… However the first annual Counting of the Corks here at the Petite Masion das Westwood was 166. Yesterday we held the second Counting of the Corks celebration in K.C. and the number was Drum Roll 157, while not a record it was not a bad year at all.

Well horse racing fans, the First Annual Baypoint Derby is over and what a race it a was. There was a lot of pomp, circumstance and festivities all day long. There were 22 entries this year along with a dozen or so spectators. The big winners were 1st Place J.B. riding Grumpy 2nd Place S.O. riding Know Ass Man 3rd Place was T.R. riding Pinkie Pie It was a close race until J.B. riding Grumpy took control about halfway down the first stretch and pulled away (Actually Cut Across the Grandstand) and by the time the pack made the turn by the dumpsters Grumpy had outdistanced the entire pack by a good or 5lengths. Know Ass Man tried coming up on the outside and make a run at wire, but was locked outside by Big Daisy #7 ridden, or should I say carried by J.C. By the time both Know Ass Man and Pinkie Pie were able to pass Big Daisy #7 it was to little to lake as Know Ass Man and Pinkie Pie finished second and third respectively. There were several distractions in ...