Barton 1792 Distillery

It feels like we've finally woken up from our winter hibernation of just sticking close to home and doing next to nothing. More and more days feature blue skies and sunshine, and getting out just sounds more appealing than it did a month or two ago.

And so, although Saturday did not have blue skies and warm weather, we were up for the 40 minute drive south to the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown.

This is the sister distillery of Buffalo Trace, our favorite distillery in Frankfort. It is smaller, in terms of production and foot traffic, and has a nice charm about it. You drive through the center roundabout of the small town, two quick turns and it's downhill into the distillery.

As you walk up to the visitors's center, which is tucked between two large production/distribution buildings, the air is saturated with a yeasty smell - it's that fermenting mixture of grains and water called mash. As we waited for our tour to start, it seemed as if the smell changed - sometimes it was bread rising, moments later it was certain that someone close by had brownies in the oven.

When you tell them that you'd like a tour, they give you each a bung which serves as your pass for the complimentary taste testing afterwards. The bung is the soft piece of wood that acts like a stopper in the bourbon barrel. At the beginning of the taste testing, they stamp your bung, and then return it to you as a souvenir.

Like its sister company Buffalo Trace, there is no charge for tours and tastings at Barton.

Rather than having a stockpile on site, grains are delivered daily to this distillery, each truck driving onto this same drop off point where our tour group stood. Corn, rye and barley and poured through the grate below. On the right is the column still which stands several stories high (maybe seven? I can't remember).

Our group walked up to the third floor for a chance to sample their white dog - the distilled strong alcohol that will go into barrels to become bourbon. We opted just for a sniff - it smelled smoother and was less pungent than I expected.

Here's another view of the column still from a couple of floors up.
























We had a peek inside one of the warehouses and then headed back for the taste-testing.

I wish I'd taken pictures in the gift shop to show you what their bourbon bottles look like - it's a clean, classic Gatsby kind of design. If I understood correctly, this distillery has just three basic products - a mixing bourbon, a sipping bourbon and a dessert bourbon mix. All three of these were available to sample at the taste-testing. They do sell their bourbon at a variety of different proofs.

My memory of their bourbon - peppery. Much more so than Blanton's, the benchmark for my elementary bourbon palette. The stand out we agreed was their dessert beverage - Chocolate Bourbon Ball Cream Liqueur. It didn't taste chocolaty at all (our friend who hates chocolate bought a bottle), but is just delicious. Since touring, we learned that it is rather hard to get your hands on a bottle of this. It is sold almost exclusively at the distillery. Someone said that during holidays sometimes you can find it at nearby stores. When I mentioned our outing to a coworker, they regretted not asking me to pick a bottle or two for them.

And so that is Barton's 1792, all bottled up. Knowing of its relation to Buffalo Trace, we've been curious about it for a while now. Although their 1792 bottle is pretty, it's the bourbon ball cream that we wouldn't mind buying some day. By the way, the 1792 in its name does not refer to its founding year, but to the state of Kentucky's birth year.

And here is this week's Cookie conclusion - parking herself on my needlework, a subtle hint to use my hands to pet her and to not keep crocheting. This is a scrap yarn project - to make an apron - but like often happens, it is taking way longer than I imagined.

Getting Out

We have been plugging away here in Louisville these past weeks, being good grown-ups. We filed our taxes and talked about our five year plan. We tried out some new health remedies and got our feet wet in the real estate world by attending an open house. We brainstormed vacation ideas and finally tried out El Nopal, the local Mexican restaurant chain.

Amidst this yo-yo weather that it seems most of the country has been experiencing, we carved out a perfect and relaxing Sunday afternoon.

A buy one get one free special had caught my eye, so we each got a sweet and cool drink from Starbucks. Mine was pretty ridiculous sounding - coconut milk mocha macchiato - and while it was fun to try something new, I think I preferred Isaac's plain one.

We stretched our legs and enjoyed the first sights of spring. Which brings me to a subject on our minds a lot lately - breathing. More specifically, how the air in Louisville makes breathing hard for people like Isaac.

Located in the Ohio River Valley, with the river on its north and west and the baby mountain-filled Knobs Region to its south and east, Louisville is a bowl for collecting poor quality air. Pollution from factories, pollen popping from its fertile earth, it all tends to get trapped here because of the terrain surrounding the city.

Along with the incorrigible influences of horse racing bourbon, we're told by locals again and again that allergies are just a part of life here. Some don't ever open their windows during perfect weather days in spring and fall, because even if the temperature is nice, the air is still carries unwanted guests. After a week or so of just sitting in the parking lot, our cars are covered with fine white dust, evidence of what makes us feel so congested when our air purifier is turned off.

But enough with the doomsday air pollution, we still do our best to enjoy the pretty outdoors here, with a comfortable supply of allergy medicine.

As we walked around with our drinks on Sunday, we found our new favorite hill in the city, appropriately known as the dog hill.

It's just this wonderful wide open space in a park where everyone lets their dogs off of the leashes, and furry fun ensues.

There was a curious french bull dog, a grumpy loud toy poodle, a pair of friendly golden retrievers and my personal favorite - a fluffy white great pyrenees puppy. Australian shepherds, German shepherds, boxers, pit bull mixes, huskies, yorkies, the variety was better than any pet store. We just sat sipping and pointing out different dogs to each other.













Between Louisville's air and our own fluffy allergy aggravator, it feels like a constant battle to keep our air clean. New air filters, allergy medicine, local honey, we even tried apple cider vinegar - a natural remedy too unpleasant for us to keep up with.

If you've got any recommendations for breathing easier, please let me know!

I guess it's time for more adult-ing now, but the weather seems to finally be sunny enough to tempt us to get out and explore again.

Muses about being observant

Recently a few things happened to serve as reminders to be observant. Falling into the groove of routines and going between familiar places is comfortable. But it can make you sort of immune or numb to what's around.

Take the moon for example. More often than not, we are home before dark and wearing comfy pajamas by the time the stars begin to twinkle outside of our closed curtains, blinds, doors and windows. Living at home with my parents, one step outside and I could clearly see the night sky full of stars and the moon in whatever phase it was in. Even if we go for an evening stroll in our p.j.s now around the apartments, between the frequently cloudy skies and streets lights, you can't see much. So other than a few jokes around school from coworkers about the effect of full moons on children, I don't notice the moon much these days.

It was only by chance that I heard that February 10 would host a full moon and a lunar eclipse. I love my cell phone's camera, but oftentimes pictures can't do justice to the night skies. Still I tried, and ended up having fun and taking ambient blurry light photos.

And then there's that thing in your house that you've had almost forever. When we began taking piano lessons in elementary school, grandma and grandaddy bought us a very nice 88 key Alesis synthesizer keyboard. In addition to making normal piano sounds, it had many buttons that transformed the keys into a collection of fun sounds - an organ, guitar, a drum kit, a choir of voices, helicopter blades beating the air, bird calls. Dad gutted a defunct but beautiful antique upright and created a custom case for the keyboard. So walking into our living room, there was always what looked like an upright piano, fooling guests who walked over and press its keys just to find that the piano was currently turned off.

One thing our piano didn't do was dynamics. The keys were weighted to feel less like a keyboard and more like a piano, but no matter how soft or hard we pressed them, the keys had just one volume which you could control with a knob. This was very handy for late night practicing, but not helpful for learning the fluctuating dynamics of piano scores - some sections should be stamped out (forte) while others lightly caressed (piano). I remember mom staying late at church in order to let us practice on the acoustic upright piano in the sanctuary, letting us practice the louds and softs of whatever pieces we were learning.

Another quirk of our beloved instrument I found out while trying to learn songs by ear. I would listen to a song and then try to play it on the keys, but none of the notes seemed to sound quite right. I felt frustrated and tone deaf, and usually ended up just turning off the song and trying to do it from my head.

A similar thing happened whenever my friend Rachel would bring over her guitar or bass. When two or more instruments play together, you of course want to make sure that they are in tune with one another. A G played on the guitar needs to sound the same as a G played on the piano. During our jam sessions, we realized that the keyboard was not in perfect tune. I have an electric tuner used to tune acoustic instruments, and it showed that the keyboard was not quite a half-step flat or lower than it should be. It was frustrating and seemed odd, but we just tuned our guitar or bass to match the piano's unique pitch, and went on from there.

An extremely good quality keyboard that does not have touch sensitive keys and is out of tune. It doesn't make sense if you boil it down to one sentence. This is the piano we passed by multiple times every day, used year after year.

My parents brought the keyboard to Isaac and I shortly after we moved to Kentucky. Its beautiful case remains in their living room, now offering an even bigger surprise for any guests. We set the keyboard up in our bedroom on my side of the bed - the keyboard itself sits on its cushioned bench, I use a trunk for me to sit on, and a piece of cardboard to prop up my sheet music. The set-up is not the most pretty nor is it the most comfortable, but it works for now.

And it is because of this imperfect set up that I began to notice and think about the keyboard in a different way than I ever did growing up with it so carefully enclosed in our family's living room. I keep trying to imagine better ways to spruce up my piano corner using what we already own. Recently, it was during such reverie that I thought once again about the keyboard's quirks. It just didn't make sense - being out of tune and not touch sensitive. It's such a heavy, good quality keyboard - even now, two decades later.

So I hopped online and downloaded the user's manual for our keyboard. It took about 30 seconds to find on google. Another few minutes, and I had found pages that addressed both the tuning and scaling (touch sensitivity) of the keyboard. I pressed a few dusty buttons that we never bothered with growing up (they didn't make the keys tweet like birds) and it was done. Our keyboard is now in perfect tune and plays dynamics for the first time in its life.

I still can't believe how simple it was to fix. I actually remember trying while in high school, pulling out the thick paper copy of the manual, getting lost after some time and giving up. It was because of online forums and resources that I was able to find the precise terms, pages and instructions so easily. Just amazing, really. I can't help but chuckle and shake my head just thinking about it now. The whole process was another reminder to be aware of the familiar. Things get overlooked whenever you become accustomed to them.

Speaking of being overlooked, now I'm starting to feel guilty and embarrassed about sharing where Isaac and I spent our Valentine's Day evening. We usually treat the holiday as an excuse to go out to eat at delicious places. This year, he indulged me and we went to Cane's - the chicken finger place. They had a Valentine's BOGO special and since it was a week night, it seemed like a good idea. Now my reasoning just sounds like bad excuses, like I was overlooking the value of celebrating the holiday with my Valentine. I might have to suggest a redo dinner date. I'm sure he won't mind.

It was delicious though. A little grease is probably good for you now and then.

Finally, I'm starting to think that the perfect ending to every blog post is a cute Cookie photo. So here is today's photo from our ever observant rabbit. Nothing old or new escapes her attention.

Lunar New Year and Food

Lunar new year came and went, the last of the many reflective holidays cluttered in the cold months that make you think about time and life and all that kind of stuff.

We welcomed the year of the chicken (or rooster) at an Asian restaurant which had a special celebration - a discount on all chicken entrees, a dancing Chinese lion that frightened babies and a drum whose loud thump made white powder fall from above with its every pulse.

Speaking of ethnic food. We didn't know it, but we have been missing out when it comes to eating Venezuelan food. Thanks to a new friend, we discovered some of the rich and fresh tastes at a restaurant nearby.

We thought the cheese stick couldn't be improved until we tried these.

And then there's what the waiter described as their version of an english muffin - a mixture of corn flour, salt and water pan fried and then baked until it puffs - then filled with moist tasty chicken, cheese and avocado. Our next mission is to try making these amazing arepas at home.

Even though work sucks up a lot of my creative juices these days, I still do my best to cook yummy dinners during the week. I've become a big fan of marinading meats, and the one I threw together for Isaac's meal below turned out really good. Too bad I didn't measure anything or write it down. Marinades are nothing special of course, but since becoming a wife/homemaker, I have realized their power to make a meal a little more tasty and a husband a little more happy.

Baked potato wedges with salt, pepper and cayenne were a recent stand out side. That wonderful combination of easy, delicious and not too unhealthy.

And then there's yum pasta. It's a dish I've made so many times now, I usually don't bother snapping a picture of it. It's the first recipe I've kind of made myself that I think is worth sharing.

It started out as a copying a dish from The Cheesecake Factory, but evolved to be more healthy and simple.

The chicken is marinaded in lemon and honey, then cooked with all of the marinade juices until it forms a brown, sticky, caramelized layer of yum on each piece. The pasta picks up a heavy-handed dose of sauteed garlic along with some parsley and red pepper. Cook some chopped onions, bell peppers and whatever green veggie is lying around, mix it all together and it's done.

It's delicious. Even if you're not an extreme garlic lover like the two of us are, the lemon honey chicken is so simple and delicious on its own or alongside just about anything.

I look forward to better weather and packing up food to take outside and enjoy some place new. But for now I'll keep messing around inside, occasionally trying new things and continuing to make yum pasta. The sun did shine this glorious Sunday, and the high was 53. We took advantage of the day - getting some vitamin D and giving both of our cars their first good wash since November.

And what about Cookie? She has been trying out new things as well, climbing to new heights and remaining spoiled as ever.

Snow Day

Repeatedly we hear that Kentucky winters are rather tough, and we have been mentally preparing ourselves for the worst.

When it comes to snow, people here seem to act about the same as down in South Carolina. In the days before a predicted Thursday snow, the grocery stores are absurdly crowded and poorly stocked. And so when I woke up Thursday morning and peeked out of the blinds, I was disappointed to see that besides the frigid air seeping from the windowpane, it looked like a normal winter morning - dark, none of the bright white stuff. I turned on the local news anyways and saw this exciting message.

After triple checking - on the internet and with a coworker - I let myself be filled with the mirth that I was about to have my first grown-up missing-school/work snow day. Snow started falling as I ate my breakfast and drank my warm tea, watching the whitening world outside our window. I sank into my weatherproof boots to walk outside with Isaac. He still had to go to work and was curious to see how his car would handle the winter weather. The roads had been salted the days previous so luckily there wasn't much to worry about.

My snow day was split up into periodic treks through the snow, admiring the scenes and taking pictures of snowflakes with my cellphone. 

As I walked around, I was surprised by the absence of other people (especially children) out enjoying the winter weather. The next day I asked several of my students at school and not one told me that they played out in the snow. This wasn't enough snow to bother with, they told me, and so they stayed inside.

I, however, had plenty of fun kicking tracks through it and bending over our balcony railing, scrutinizing each individual and magical snowflake.

The snow kept drifting down throughout the day - sometimes thick clumps tumbling, light puffs floating or icy bits darting. And as I kept snapping pictures, I saw the snowflakes change form too. From dainty masterpieces to glistening diamonds and cupcake sprinkles.

I hope our balcony's pet fungi aren't grossing you out.

It was a nice treat after a warm Christmas to enjoy even this little bit of snow. In total we only got about two inches of snow, just enough to sugar-coat everything and make the ground glow for the next several mornings. I kind of hope next time the snow is so thick that Isaac can have a snow day too.

Farewell 2016

The closing weeks of 2016 were well spent with family and friends. But doing that required a bit more travelling than we are used to. Isaac, Cookie and I spent a little over 19 hours on the road during our trip. In some ways this was our first "grown-up" holiday - being on the road, leaving the place we call home to visit others - and it was wearing on all three of us.

Our poor little Cookie suffered the most discomfort on the long car rides. Regardless of your experience with bunny body language, I think it's pretty clear that this is not the pose of a happy, relaxed rabbit.

Perhaps it's another part of the grown-up holiday experience - regret. Despite sharing time with loved ones, the constant feeling of not-enough clung to my back. Not enough time, not enough said and definitely not enough pictures taken! Being concerned with planning and preparing for the rest of our trip (and worrying about Cookie) prevented me at times from being truly present. And I wish I had been able to more fully express things to others like joy and love and amazement.

But maybe it's the perfectionist in me kneading over the normal again and again, wanting it to become better. Because looking back through through the few pictures I have reminds me that there were many such moments of savoring the present.

Singing Christmas hymns and snickering our way through the sermon with an almost nine-month-old.

































Sharing life, memories and some amazing chocolate mint schnapps.


































A hilarious taste-testing game of yummy and gross jellybeans that look just alike.

My nephew playing in the same baby cabinet we used to as kids. Meeting up for a fiery tradition with a few new guests.

Seeing the two most important men to me work side by side.

Eating this "salad" while catching up with cousins.

Playing house and games with friends, and being part of an impressively bookish group - as many as six of us curled around the fireplace with e-readers.

Taking in a beauty profoundly different and greater than even our precious time together.

Christmas vacation was full of dining tables - steaming with warm food and shimmering with special dinnerware. Something about this time of year slows us down, letting us enjoy long and languid stretches of minutes around the table together. Food is only one course among the many topics of conversation being served. Life's normal tasks are shoved to the back corners of your mind, silenced, and you're able to just lean back in your chair and listen.

Even the perfectionist in me cannot think of any way to improve those moments squished around dinner tables.

And so after writing, and thus reflecting, I realize that this was a wonderful holiday and end to the year. 2016 was the toughest year I've lived thus far, but it was also one of the most precious. Saturated with new experiences, obstacles and personal growth. I'm thankful that Isaac and I were able to wish it farewell alongside so many loved ones.