We tried a newer place in town on Friday, Stoney’s Bar and Grill.   After meeting up with some other University of Cincinnati alumni the week prior, we suggested checking this place out for the next football game on TV.   As mentioned earlier, the Bearcats took on South Florida this past Friday, an eventual loss for the Cats.   But this isn’t about the game, it’s about Stoney’s.

Kim and I arrived just as the game was getting started to find a small group already seated just inside the front door.   They had arranged a large table, which we joined, and soon enough took advantage of their wonderful 2-for-1 happy hour.   This includes all drafts, premium wells (not sure what that means), Colorado wines and margaritas.   I decided to go with Great Divide’s newly released Hibernation Ale, which was just as great as I remembered it from last winter.

Halfway through the game we decided to order some food.   Stoney’s menu is pretty much limited to sliders, along with some sides and salads.   I ordered the chicken fried chicken sliders, which featured  mashed Yukon  potatoes and country gravy on the sliders, and decided to try the tater tots on the side. Kim had the Habanero  roasted Colorado pork sliders served with Jack Daniels BBQ sauce with truffle Parmesan fries on the side.   All of the food was excellent, but if I had to pick a favorite it would definitely be the chicken fried chicken sliders.

The restaurant itself is a huge improvement over the prior  occupant (Andrew’s on Lincoln).   There are over twenty TV’s and lots of space to accompany  two large bars and skee-ball  machines.   There are large garage doors across the front, which allow the nice Colorado air inside on the many nice days.   We had a great experience at Stoney’s and we will definitely be back.   I already know that I want to try the vegetarian black bean sliders, flash fried black bean cake and caramelized onion, served with spicy pineapple chutney.

Here’s another update on my world of sports.

I went 1-2 in fantasy football this past week.   Not my best performance, but I’m predicted to win all three games this weekend, so I’ll keep thinking positively.   Also I remain  in the top half of the leagues: 3 of 12, 5 of 10, and 5 of 12.   I remain in second in college pick’em and moved up one spot to eighth in the pro level.

Hockey was pretty brutal this week, as we lost 7-2 to one of the perennial powerhouses in the league.   My team is sponsored by the bar/restaurant in the rink, while our opponents are actually sponsored by the rink itself.   With a 2-2 record, we are now in 7th place in the 12 team league.

Prior to last night’s round of bowling, my average was close to my new goal of 120.   It was at 114, but I expect that to possibly fall a little after last night’s performance.   My first game was a nice warmup score of 106.   However, my second game went down to 101, before I rebounded to finish at 126 for the third game.   My team should remain in first place, though we only took four of the possible seven points last night.   Fortunately the team closest to us lost all seven points last night.

We will be venturing out for a game watch tonight as the University of Cincinnati takes on the University of South Florida.   After last weeks win over Louisville, the Bearcats have won thirteen straight Big East Conference games, looking to take that even higher tonight.   For those interested in tuning in,  the game is on ESPN2 at 8pm EDT.   Go Cats!

It was another early morning on our second full day in Grand Teton National Park.   We opted to skip sitting down for breakfast so that  we could drive out to some popular viewing points for sunrise photos.   We first stopped at the Oxbow Bend, where we were treated  to great views of Mount […]

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On our first full day in Grand Teton National Park, we woke to amazing views out of the cabin window at the Jackson Lake Lodge.   We had a quick, but enjoyable, breakfast at the Pioneer Grill inside of the lodge.   From there we drove out to Jenny Lake for an early hike toward […]

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This past Saturday friends of our decided to host an Oktoberfest party.   They provided their handmade brats, and everyone else brought along a German side.   While researching my options, I realized that either Germans eat a ton of potatoes, or we Americans think they do.   Either way I decided to make potato pancakes based on this recipe.   The prep work wasn’t too bad, but cooking well over thirty pancakes took some time.   The recipe said to cook each side for about three minutes, but I found it was closer to four minutes.   At the suggestion of a few reviewers, I added parsley to the ingredients, but followed everything else exactly.   I wish I would have taken a picture of my creations, but they looked a lot like this.

Other items at the party included German potato salad, fries, sauerkraut, and even some home-brewed Hefeweizen!   It was all so good, and the potato pancakes were a hit as well.   Prost!

I attended my first Broncos game yesterday, along with Kim and a couple of our friends.   When our friends told us that they had some extra tickets for the game, we jumped on the chance to get face value seats for a pretty high demand stadium.   We arrived at a nearby church parking lot around 12:45, paid our $10, and had a few drinks and snacks.   Shortly before game time  we walked over the stadium, but unfortunately were too slow to catch the opening kickoff.   Our seats were up in the 500 level, and though they were high up, the stadium is very well built  so that we felt on top of the action.   This is definitely better than the upper seats I have sat in at Arrowhead in Kansas City, and on par with the uppers at Paul Brown in Cincinnati.

The fans were very energetic, and I was amazed  at how  much noise could be generated using lots of feet and the metal floor surfaces of the stands.   I’m told it is a little more calm in the lower sections, where season ticket holders for decades remain  in their assigned seats for the most part.   However, it couldn’t get much crazier than the crowd in the upper sections.   Included were an individual two seats down from us with the most fowl mouth I have ever heard.   Even more surprisingly was that it was coming from a rather normal looking female.   We had the guy in front of us who tried unsuccessfully for a full quarter to start the wave.   As soon as he left his seat for a moment, the wave was on, originating just a few sections overs.

The game was a good one, full of excitement, some questionable calls, long field goals, and a few touchdowns.   We were able to see Tim Tebow’s  first NFL touchdown, though I actually saw it from the concession line.   Matt Prater hit a 59 yard field goal at the end of the first half, the longest of his career, and the 8th longest in NFL history.   He later missed a 49-yarder.   So obviously there were some obvious  high points for the Broncos’ fans but unfortunately they lost the game 24-20.   There were some really upset fans, many whom blamed the game on a questionable pass interference penalty late in the game.   We saw a couple of arguments, and what appeared like a royal rumble near the ramps exiting the stadium.  I don’t know if we will be back to Invesco Field at Mile High, but it was quite a first experience.

Here’s a recap of what’s been going on in my sporting worlds.

First off, I had a respectable  week in fantasy football, going 2-1.   My teams are all now 3-2 so far, and in the top half of all leagues.   I can’t ask for too much more than that, though a round of wins sure would be nice this week.   My pick in the survivor league really let me down.   I had San Diego over Oakland, which was wrong.   My other choice was Cincinnati over Tampa Bay, which was also wrong.   What the hell is wrong with the Bengals, anyway?   I remain in second in college pick’em, but fell to ninth in the pro league.

I had to miss hockey this week, but I’m told that we won a good game versus one of the better teams in the league.   We have another big game next week, that I will definitely be at.   Bowling last night was overall an alright night, and my team remains in first place.   Personally I bowled much better than last week, but not even close to two weeks ago.   My scores continued to go up as the night went on: 103, 124, 127.   My handicap was 108.   I’d expect it to go down a little bit, but probably not much.   I’d like to get that down to under 100 before the end of the season.   That would mean an average of over 120.   Currently only  three people in the league are at that level.

Tonight, be sure to tune into ESPN at 8pm EDT to watch the University of Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Louisville Cardinals.   It’s a big rivalry game, and the start of Big East play, as Cincinnati looks to threepeat the league championship.   Go Cats!

We are finally watching HDTV at home!   Well almost.   I finally broke down and bought a new TV over the weekend.   It’s a 40″ Samsung LCD, which is pretty much the largest that we can currently fit in our house.   So far I am really enjoying it, and Kim is too, surprsingly.   She wasn’t too sure of the expensive purchase at the time, but she really has grown to love the large picture, improved quality, and especially how well it fits into our room.   The reason I say we are almost watching HDTV is because I don’t have the  HDMI cables yet, but I ordered them today from MonoPrice.com, at the recommendation of my friends.   My favorite part of it all is that I bought it for $150 under the suggested retail price.   Thank you price matching!

We were able to sleep in a little at the Lehrkind Mansion, as breakfast wasn’t served until 8:30.   Actually we couldn’t really sleep in anyway, so we packed up the car before heading to the dining room.   There we met two other couples who had stayed the night and exchanged vacation stories and […]

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Per usual, we woke up early on our fourth day inside Yellowstone National Park.   We packed the car, dropped of our room keys, and immediately drove down to the Hayden Valley.   There we were greeted  with some amazing views of the sunrise.   We didn’t see much wildlife activity so we left the […]

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