This past week, I finally convinced my good friend, Patrick, of Benedict Beer Blog, to break from tradition and come visit me in Brooklyn for some fancy beers and delicious foods. Patrick and his wife, Holly Kay, once explained to me their interesting view of Brooklyn, stating how it is, in fact, a caricature of itself. I was confused at first, but soon understood their perspective, what with all the third wave coffee shops inside barbershops, curled moustaches, plaid shirts and beanies, onstage poetry readings, fixies, and now a Whole Foods (they have an amazing beer selection, btw). Up until more recently, they hadn't really explored Brooklyn all that much. They'd visited Brooklyn every now and again, but they had never really been that deep into Brooklyn and probably not for very long.

I had previously purchased a six-pack of Threes Brewing's very tasty Categorical Error pale lager for the second time, because it's that good and because Whole Foods sells it for a great price. Patrick also had this beer in the past and expressed how much he liked it, so I knew I could lure him to Brooklyn with with it.

I was drawn to this beer for it's official flavor notes, "Fruity Pebbles, tangerine zest, hop mints, dry". If you know anything about me, you know I might have a possibly unhealthy obsession with Fruity Pebbles, but only as a dessert topping, not as a breakfast cereal. Since reaching adulthood, I am unable to stomach it as a breakfast food and am left wondering how I ever thought it was an okay breakfast when I was a kid. The super-sweet mix of fruity cereal and dairy is a recipe for a stomachache! We can add dairy to the list of things that are no longer fun as an adult:

brain freezes
hiccups
overeating
hitting your funny bone (not funny)
drinking in excess
high-lactose dairy 😕

As a result of Patrick and my mutual appreciation of Categorical Error, we recently discovered that we had a disagreement that needed settling, over how he believed that Fruity Pebbles and Fruit Loops taste the same. As soon as he brought up that idea, I wholeheartedly disagreed and asserted my allegiance to Fruity Pebbles. Patrick more or less just smiled and nodded, like is wasn't a big deal. I decided very last minute to make this disagreement the theme of Patrick's eventual Brooklyn visit, an unlikely cereal and beer pairing. The plan was to have a side-by-side taste testing of both cereals to see how different or similar they really are, taste individual pebbles and loops from each cereal and see if each is a different flavor, and to throw down some fruity, hoppy beers for fun.

Patrick texted me early in the morning on the day of his visit, asking what I was up to before we discovered we both had the day off. We both had a few errands to run/things to do, but agreed to meet up in the early afternoon, over a few tasty, hoppy beverages. I knew today would be the perfect day for the fruity cereal settlement. As I headed out to the grocery store to get a few things before he arrived, Patrick embarked the hour or so subway journey to Brooklyn, making a beer stop at Whole Foods in Manhattan along the way and getting on the wrong train only once. 😜

After Patrick arrived, we had some lunch before while having drinks, so there was something to soak up all the alcohol. Samson had beef phở and I shared my Vietnamese bún thịt nướng with Patrick, which he proceeded to eat at a small Muji table while sitting on the ottoman of our roommate, Clint's, big-boy chair (which later happened to make Patrick look like a small grandpa man).

Patrick shared the beers he brought with us, Night Shift's tasty, tasty Whirlpool and Firestone Walker's Leo v. Uranus Ursus (hahaha oops).

After lunch, we took a long, half-hour walk to get some fresh air, sunshine, and delicious toasted marshmallow-topped milkshakes at Dutch Boy Burger. After we were sufficiently stuffed, we returned back to my place to digest and relax more (which meant starting work on a super elaborate Rickommended Eats dinner). I sort of, but not-really-fully planned to make butter paneer with fragrant basmati rice, one of my favorite dishes (and really one of the few Northern Indian dishes I can make decently well), so that's what I did. I was delighted to hear that Patrick actually enjoyed it. I can probably safely say that this was probably his first Rickommended Eats meal experience.

After during dinner, Patrick and I had more beers, splitting an Omnipollo Aniara and finally moving onto our dessert of more Categorical Error and fruity cereal.

The verdicts of the evening included: Fruity Pebbles taste more subtle and limey, Fruit Loops taste more vibrantly lemony, the individual pebbles and loops all taste the same among their respective cereals, beer is delicious, I can cook pretty good food, Patrick doesn't hate Brooklyn, we all need to hang out and eat food and drink beer more, and I love Fruity Pebbles.

Check back soon for more sweet Rickommended Eats updates and/or head on over to Patrick's blog, Benedict Beer Blog, and get reading about beer! Know of any Fruity Pebbles-inspired foods that I should try or beer pairing recommendations that Patrick and/or myself could write about in future posts? Let us know!