Red meat: There’s a reason it’s called a porterhouse steak. Red meat should be served with something full-bodied — brown ales and porters, such as Samuel Smith’s of England, are perfect with steak because “they have caramelized and roasted flavors that match up perfectly with the char on the meat,” says Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and author of The Brewmaster’s Table.

Fish: Lagers go well with most fish, says Beaumont, but the best match is Belgian-style wheat.

Sauces and gravies: Anything with a rich sauce should be paired with a brown ale or porter. The bitterness will revive your tastebuds, which are muted by the fats in the sauce.

Desserts: Keep the beer sweeter than the dessert; otherwise, your beer will taste sour, advises Beaumont. Strong stouts,such as Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, go with just about everything, from ice cream to fruit tarts.

(Originally printed in Men’s Health, March 2006 issue).

Note: This chart only lists candidates for the two major parties. If anyone can find one that shows where the Green/Libertarian/Constitution party candidates stand please post a link in the comments.

One of my coworkers recently spent the money he and his girlfriend had saved up for a new MacBook and a fancy vacation in Mexico to pay for surgery on their dog’s knees. Sara and John discovered last month that something as simple as getting rid of fleas isn’t as cheap as it used to be. According to Newsweek, the high cost of human health care is also being reflected in the cost of taking care of a sick pet. It brings up a quandary of moral issues stemming from the slew of financial problems people are faced with nowadays, and it really sucks.

Even prior to reading this article, Rachel and I had been talking about ways to cut down on our water use and do more environmentally friendly thing. This weekend we took the plunge and bought a Brita filter/pitcher. With each filter costing about $6.00 and being able to filter 40 gallons of water, it only costs us $0.15/gallon to drink clean water from our tap. It definitely tastes better than regular tap water, and I think I like it more than bottled water now too.