Beer Cheese

What is beer cheese you ask? Well, that really depends on who you ask.  They may tell you a certain brand or may not have a clue of what it is. Beer cheese combines 2 of my favorite things. No, it isn't rain drops on roses or whiskers on kittens. It is beer and cheese.

Beer cheese is a sharp cheddar or processed cheese (aka Velveeta) spread found mostly in Kentucky. There are many different local brands and many different takes on it, but they all have about the same ingredients. Either a sharp cheddar or a processed cheese, beer, paprika, garlic, dry mustard, horseradish, cayenne pepper, just to name a few. There are also different varieties like "mild" and "hot" that set each unique recipe apart from one another. Beer cheese is mostly ate with random crackers or carrots or celery. It is also found in some soups or on certain southern sandwiches.


There are many different stories about beer cheese's began, but it appears to have first been served in the late 1930s at a restaurant in Clark County, Kentucky known as Johnny Allman's. He use to call it his 'Snappy Cheese' and it was a hit. His 'Snappy Cheese' aka Beer cheese is so popular in the city of Winchester, Kentucky that an annual Beer Cheese Festival.





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Memorial Day, To Honor Our Heroes

Memorial Day is a national holiday in the United States that is observed every year on the last Monday in May and is known as Decoration Day. Most governmental offices are closed and most people have the day off work. Memorial Day originated after the Civil War to honor Confederate and Union soldiers that gave their lives during battle. In modern day, it has been extended to honor anyone who has died serving during the US military. On this day, people often visit cemeteries and decorate the graves of their loved ones or people who have died while serving our country.  Many volunteers also take the time to place a small American flag on every grave in our national cemeteries.

While you are grilling out and partying with family and friends, remember those who came before you and fought for your country. It is their great sacrifice that gave you the freedom to celebrate this three day weekend. So pop a cold one, raise a toast to the men and women who paid the ultimate price this land. Wishing you a blessed and safe Memorial Day.

Picture from www.familyfirst.com

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Altering Length of a Varchar Field on Production SQL Table

If you are using MS SQL Server 2008 R2 DB Server, and needing to alter the length of a varchar on a live production table without effecting the current data.

Example:
You have a table called MyTable and have a column called MyColumn that is currently varchar with length of 500 and wish to make it length of 1000.  This table is actually a production SQL Table.

ALTER TABLE MyTable
ALTER COLUMN MyColumn VARCHAR(1000)

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SQL Joins (INNER JOIN Tutorial)

SQL joins are used when you want to combine rows from more than one table in a database. A JOIN is a means of combining fields from two or more tables by using a common field.

First things first, before I show you an example, I will tell you the most common types SQL JOINs you can have:

INNER JOIN:
This will return all rows when there is at least one match in both tables.
LEFT JOIN: This will return all rows from the left table, and the matched rows from the right table.
RIGHT JOIN:
This will return all rows from the right table, and the matched rows from the left table.
FULL JOIN:
This will return all rows when there is a match in at least one of the tables.

The most common type of all the JOINS is the INNER JOIN or a simple join. This is the example I will be showing you more of today.

Table 1: Customer ID Name 1 Walmurt 2 Turgat 3 Mojulrs 4 Kroogers

Table 2: Orders CustomerID OrderID Date Amount 2 1001 1-1-2015 $100 4 1002 1-4-2015 $400 2 1003 1-6-2015 $200 3 1004 1-6-2015 $100

Now, lets JOIN these two tables with a SQL Select Statement.

Select Customer.ID as CustomerID, Name, OrderID, Date, Amount from Customer
INNER JOIN
Orders on Orders.CustomerID = Customer.ID;

The results to this statement will produce the results below.
CustomerID	Name	OrderID	Date	Amount
2	Turgat	1001	1-1-2015	$100
4	Kroogers	1002	1-4-2015	$400
2	Turgat	1003	1-6-2015	$200
3	Mojulrs	1004	1-6-2015	$100

Please note, several operators can be used to join tables, such as =, <, >, <>, <=, >=, BETWEEN, LIKE, and NOT, just to name a few. However, the most common operator is the equal symbol.


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Change a:link & a:hover for a Div Alone (CSS)

How do you change a:link & a:hover for a stand alone div in a style sheet? Last week I ran across this exact issue and had to think about for a bit to solve it.  Since that was the case, I thought I would blog about it to help anyone else with this issue.

In CSS:

/*
* Normal Links
*/
a, a:visited {text-decoration: none; color: red;}

/*
* Div only link effects
*/
div.greenclassname a:link {  color: green; text-decoration: underline;}
div.greenclassname a:hover {  color: green; text-decoration: none; }
div.greenclassname a:visited {  color: green; text-decoration: underline;}


In HTML:

<a href="#link">Normal link</a><br />

<div class="greenclassname">
      <a href="#link">Green link</a>
</div>


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Shop Local Challenge

Today I wanted to take upon myself a personal challenge.  I wanted to challenge myself to shop local for at least one meal.  So with that said, I ventured down to my local Farmers Market in downtown Winchester, KY while visiting my home here in the states. Although it wasn't my first trip to visit the farmers market, but it was my first time to visit at their new location. They now have a new home located across from the parking lot of IGA in the heart of Winchester on Main Street just a little bit up from the Post Office.  This new location is convenient and provides a lot of room for future growth.

The information below is taken directly from my Yelp review for the Winchester Farmers Market. I hope after reading it, you try at least once to shop local or visit your local farmers market in an attempt to make one meal that is entirely local.  I think that is what most refer to as "Farm-to-table" if you will. Farm-to-table  refers to a movement concerned with producing food locally and delivering that food to local consumers. What better way to practice this than to go to your local farmers markets and roadside stands.  Get to know the people that make your food.  Talk to the people that grow your crops.  See the faces behind the produce that feeds you and your families.  Keep their dreams alive.  Challenge yourself and your friends to shop local at least once.  See what you think of it.  Go a day without popping into your local big box store and buying something shipped in from who knows where.  I bet you will like it.  Take the challenge.  If you do, let me know how it goes by posting here or emailing me Chad@ChadCompton.com.  I am by no means asking you to dump a bucket of cold ass water on your head or give money to a charity or take naked selfies for awareness for some random cause.  Just asking you to get out and try to buy an item or two locally.  What will it hurt?  Talk to the person that made that item possible.  Shake their hand and thank them for their hard work and determination.  They deserve it.

****Start My Yelp Review****

I love to shop local and buy local products as often as I can, that is why I love it when the Winchester Farmers Market is in season. I opted out of shopping at the big name box store today and bought everything local right here at the Farmers Market. All of these fine venders are KY Proud and some are even 100% Organic. Very impressive group of folks and so friendly.

The new Winchester Farmers Market is located across from the parking lot of IGA in the heart of Winchester on Main Street just a little bit up from the Post Office.

Here you can buy handmade baskets so you can carry all the items you purchase. They have locally made soaps, lotions and shampoo from The Soapery (www.mockingbirdsoapery.com). You can get fresh local produce or buy plants you can put in your own garden. The local green houses are well represented here such as Bushels & Pecks (859-771-5398), My Father's Garden (myfathersgarden@hotmail.com), Beech Springs Garden Barn (www.beechspringsgardenbarn.com), and Sycamore Spring Farm just to name a few.

If you are more interested in heat, Back Porch Hot Sauce (859-744-7606) can spice up any meal with their homemade sauces. Grab you a cup of coffee or ice brew from Creative Coffees (www.creativecoffees.com) locally owned/operated and roasted just a mile or so up the street. If coffee isn't your thing, stop in and see Andy Hammon of Hamon Haven Winery (859-745-4161) I am sure his wines will be to your liking if you are 21 or older of course. There was also Reese Farms selling their tasty relishes that you can even sample. Reese Farms also had fresh sausage, bacon, and pork chops. Gosh I can't say no to a good pork product. YUMM!

So if you are in the area on Saturday 8 - 12 or Tues 4 - 6 during season, stop on in adn see these fine folks. Support your local farmers and artisans. Make Kentucky Proud. We need more people like this to keep making this world a better place.

****End My Yelp Review****

The following pictures are also taken from my review.  See the faces behind the products that you are more than likely already using or buying.

Back Porch Hot Sauce 
selling their spicy sauces.

Beech Springs Farm Market selling
their great produce. 

Hamon Haven Winery
 selling their great local wines.

Creative Coffees selling locally roasted
 coffees and iced coffee.

Sycamore Spring Farm
lovely flowers. 

Sycamore Spring Farm a
 Barnes Family Farm 

Home made soap smell fills
 the air from The Soapery.

Reece Farms selling their tasty relishes.

Hand made lotions from
The Soapery felt like silk.

My Father's Garden a local
 organic greenhouse. 

Bushel & Pecks Greenhouse selling
their locally grown plants.  

Handmade baskets

Reece Farms selling
fresh sausage and bacon.

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